Wonk'd: Yglesias Don't Play That
Bold facers display their blithe indifference to the common man in this week's Wonk'd asAlan Greenspanlaughs uproariously at the unsuspecting pawns in Borat ,Bill Clintonignores dead bodies in the street, and feyKarl Rovewon't even give a guy a courtesy nod.James Bakerstill keeps it real by hanging at bars - but only if they're really classy. At least there's alwaysMarion Barry, who's hip to the hot spots, and down with the cool styles. All these celebrity drinking habits, plusGrover Norquistreduced to buying last season's irregular suits off the rack, after the jump.
There's no grace period here. Your pleas for "a few weeks to learn the new faces" meet our deaf ears and blind eyes. Now go and make sure you keep your functioning senses tuned to the nominally famous people who tread these pastures, never forgetting to email us (with "Wonk'd" or "Sighting" in the subject line) when you hear, see, or smell their ilk. Many thanks, and one condolence: we wish they were better looking and friendlier too, but they're not.
* I sawAlan Greenspanwhile waiting in line at the Georgetown Loews Theater on Saturday [11/4]. He was leaving after seeing either an earlier showing of Borat or whatever movie was in the adjacent theater that ended at the exact same time. He didn't seem to be accompanied by anyone besidesAndrea Mitchell.
* SawGrover Norquistlooking at suits at the Marshall's on Route 1 south of Old Town [11/6]. He was with a blond, wife-ish looking woman.
* SpottedAnthony Bourdain[11/14] minding the shop and terrorizing the wait staff, at his restaurant Les Halles .
* My boyfriend and I saw ABC anchorTerry Moranhaving a drink at Dragonfly last Wednesday [11/9] around midnight. I was going to approach him to say hello (and ask "Why is Nightline still on the air?") but he was soon met by a very young, very attractive brunette. They were laughing and talking like they knew each other pretty well. Did I mention she was young? They left together after about 20 minutes.
*James "Mr. Wolfe" Bakerwas at the Round Robin Bar at The Willard Hotel Monday night [11/13] with three other people (one of whom I felt like I should have recognized, but DC has so many crusty old crackers it's hard to keep track of 'em). His table was immersed in conversation about tall Republicans (apparently Michael Steele is 6-4) before they started reading a New York Times article about Tony Blair calling for change in Mideast policy, which makes sense as the Iraq Study Group was having a videoconference with Blair that day. Baker was drinking a light wine garnished with a piece of fruit. Not exactly manly, but as he's currently trying to save the world, no one gave him any grief for it.
* At the Chi-Cha Lounge on Sunday night [11/12] around 7pm I spottedMarion Barryand an unknown female companion. After talking to the bartender, I learned that Barry dined at the table by the DJ booth with the aforementioned female companion. The woman was younger, maybe early 30s, didn't seem like a hooker. Barry was sipping cognac and watching the Steelers game. He wore a dated white and blue Reebok zip up track jacket, a bluetooth ear thingamajig, and a baseball cap (cap was removed due to Chi-Cha lounge policy, which lay bare his nasty, molting, balding head). The woman busied herself with a hookah. The pair left together with their leftover food.
* At approx 9pm last night [11/14], on the corner of 46th street and 6th Ave. in Manhattan, I witnessed a pissed off cabbie punch his drunk passenger in the face, leave him lying motionless in the gutter, and drive away. A crowd quickly assembled to gawk/dial 911. Roughly 30 seconds after the cabbie sped off, former PresidentBill Clintonand 6-8 secret service guys walked by (walking north on 6th). There was no possible way he could have missed what had just happened (or the drunk guy laid out in the streets). Yet our compassionate ex-pres just kept on walking. Funnily enough, the gawk/dial 911 crowd quickly turned into a "Bill Clinton shook my hand!"/"Did you see his hair?"/"shit, is that guy breathing?" crowd.
* I was leaving the 9: 30 club on Friday night [11/10] and passedMatt Yglesiasheading east on U. St. He was loudly chatting with friends and referring to himself in the third person in Bob Dole fashion, "Matt Yglesias does this," and "Matt Yglesias knows that." Pretty funny.
* I passedKarl Rovein Lafayette Park [11/13]. It was overcast and cold so the park was empty, and I spotted him 20 yards out. He passed me without even acknowledging my existence and I turned to watch him as he walked away. When he got to H Street, the light was about to turn so he quickly scampered across the crosswalk and headed up 16th obliterating any delusions of grandeur when I saw that he totally runs like a girl.
* I sawGeorge Stephanopoulosat the William B. Travis State Department Building at about 3: 20 pm [11/16].