My brother called me last night from South Florida, where he leads the glamorous life of a private pilot.

“Yeah, I’m sitting outside at this little cafe, sipping an espresso with sambuca, watching the girls stroll by.”

“You sound like grandpa,” I joke, “hey, I can’t hear you, there’s some crazy noise.”

“Just this cool Greek band,” he replies, “oh, and there’s this cute Cuban girl starting to bellydance.”

Apparently neither are regular performers, they just decided to enjoy some impromptu joie de vivre. Right out on the sidewalk.

Then it hits me – does this ever happen in DC?

Now, I’m not one of those people who bitch about our fair city’s social scene. I certainly have torn it up here in my day. I’m also not one of those people who constantly compares DC to other cities, like, say, The City. It’s a pretty ridiculous and unfair comparison, in my book. So I was a tad upset with myself for suddenly feeling jealous of my brother’s tropical lifestyle.

Until I parsed it. We are in the midst of a disgustingly HOT-HOT-HOT DC summer, and yet we don’t get the joyful mayhem that should go along with it. All we get are tourists and complaining lobbyists (the “I need to get me back to Missour’a” ‘s).

Where are our crazy sidewalk bands?
Where are our impromptu bellydancers?
Come on people, help me out here!
Hit me with your best DC-is-HOT scene…

This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs