The first time I heard Haywood Turnipseed Jr.’s comedy was when he hosted weekly bingo nights at Kangaroo Boxing Club in Columbia Heights, back in 2013. Since then, I’ve seen him around everywhere; performing at open mics, hosting open mics and at various non-comedy settings around town.
When I conducted this interview, I just watched him perform at an open mic produced by Last Resort Comedy at Town Tavern in Adams Morgan.
He had the crowd laughing near crying and then he busted out a story about the time he met Rosa Parks. If you ever see him around, be sure to ask him about that.
(Updated at 1:12 p.m.) An Adams Morgan bar is suing D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration over what it calls “false” reports by agency investigators, it announced today.
Madam’s Organ at 2461 18th St. NW claims the ABRA officials made the inaccurate reports during an investigation last September. The bar “seeks to recover damages for defamatory statements” made by those investigators, according to a complaint filed in D.C. Superior Court earlier this month.
The Super Bowl commercial that had Mike Tyson singing the Michael and Son jingle also starred some local talent: a bartender from Madam’s Organ (2461 18th St. NW).
Sam Crossed, who works at the Adams Morgan bar and moonlights as a real-life professional boxer, is the man laid out by Iron Mike in the 30-second advertisement.
“It’s almost like I hit the lottery, honestly,” Crossed said of his big role. (more…)
(Updated at 12:33 p.m.) A man was shot in the head along a busy part of 18th Street NW early this morning, say D.C. Police.
Third District Commander Jacob Kishter said by e-mail today the victim of the shooting was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Kishter added this afternoon that the shooting occurred in front of the Amsterdam Falafelshop (2425 18th St. NW) at approximately 2:47 a.m. this morning.
Madam’s Organ owner Bill Duggan said his son heard a single gunshot while bartending on the roof of his business at 2461 18th St. NW.
“We complained earlier to the police that they were all just standing in the street and not patrolling the sidewalk or the area in general,” Duggan added.
Several people took to Twitter this morning to discuss the shooting.
So someone just got shot in Adams Morgan about 10 yards away from me…
— DrunkenGobbler.com (@DrunkenGobbler) August 29, 2015
Somebody got shot in the head in Adams Morgan tonight!!
— Ben O'verbitch (@car0lina_R3d50) August 29, 2015
Well if you hear about a guy shot in cold blood in Adams Morgan I was witness….
— Daniel Larkins (@ElwoodLarkins) August 29, 2015
Outside of Adams Morgan last night after my show and a dude got shot by Heaven and Hell. Had to remove myself from that block asap
— N O N F I C T I O N (@FlashFrequency) August 29, 2015
This story will be updated as more information is available.
Image via Google Street View
(Updated at 10:24 a.m. on Tuesday) Madam’s Organ has a message for the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board: “Rescind the fart fine.”
That’s what the Adams Morgan bar wrote in a new MoveOn petition launched today.
Last month, the bar was fined $500 by the ABC Board after a yearlong investigation revealed it violated a settlement agreement by leaving its windows open while a live band played there in 2014.
The reason for opening the window, explained Madam’s Organ owner Bill Duggan in June, was that the live band’s drummer “opened the window to let [a] fart out.”
“People get stabbed and shot in these other establishments,” continued Duggan. “In ours, someone farts and cracks a window and they spend a year on it.”
Now, Madam’s Organ is pushing back.
“To show the ABC Board there is no public support for their ridiculous ruling and waste of taxpayer money in a year long investigation, hearings and appeals, we created a petition,” wrote Madam’s Organ office manager Tucker Ewing in an e-mail to Borderstan.
The new petition, says Duggan, is an attempt at bringing awareness to what he sees as meddling by the D.C. government.
“Seems ridiculous that the government has everyone from the assistant attorney general on down sign off on a fart fine,” Duggan says.
This isn’t the bar’s first attempt to convince the ABC Board to take back its fine.
On June 29, Madam’s Organ formally filed a request to ask the board to reconsider its decision, but the ABC Board rejected the request in a wordy response letter.
“[Madam’s Organ] asserts that the Board erred as a matter of law by finding that Madam’s Organ’s conduct violated its settlement agreement because the agreement, when broadly construed, would permit the opening of the window in this case,” wrote the ABC Board.
“[Madam’s Organ’s] argument is bloated,” continued the board. “No evidence is proffered to show that the parties to the settlement agreement contemplated the gastrointestinal challenges of employees, the controversies inherent in any culinary selections, or indeed any concern for the olfactory assaults on the patrons that the establishment attempted to avoid.”
In other words, settlement agreements seem to supersede stinky smells.
Though the ABC Board has said it will not reconsider the fine, Madam’s Organ could still appeal the board’s decision with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.
Photo via flickr/Adam Fagen
(Updated at 3:29 p.m.) Popular Adams Morgan bar Madam’s Organ was fined $500 yesterday for leaving its windows open while a live band played there one year ago.
The Alcoholic Beverage Control Board said in an order released yesterday that the 18th Street hangout was being fined specifically for violating a settlement agreement brokered in 2008.
“The doors and windows of the establishment will remain closed from 12:30 a.m. until closing when live music is being played,” reads the original settlement agreement, which is also included in the order.
According to the report, an Alcohol Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) inspector personally observed a live band playing “directly in front of one of the establishment’s ground floor windows” between 1:30 and 1:33 a.m. on June 22, 2014.
In April, Madam’s Organ General Manager Carlos Wilcox testified at an ABRA hearing that he “personally closed the windows during the performers’ first break of the night,” and that the band’s drummer “needed air and cracked a window.”
Madam’s Organ owner Bill Duggan admits the drummer did crack open the window slightly. Why?
“He opened the window to let [a] fart out,” Duggan said. “He cracked it open for five minutes, then the inspector showed up.”
“Twenty f—–g years with not one violation and this is what they came up with,” Duggan says. “People get stabbed and shot in these other establishments. In ours, someone farts and cracks a window and they spend a year on it.”
According to the order, Madam’s Organ has 30 days to pay the fine, but Duggan says an appeal may be in the works.
Photo via Flickr/Adam Fagen
