True story: In 2011 I went to Cosmic Pizza (I've been there various times in the past for food, drink & some shows) wearing a Chris Matthews jacket (a family member had been given it for free & stashed it away in the
basement with other worthless items. It was butt ugly, like a varsity jacket with brown suede arms & a huge CM show patch on the back- so I thought I'd wear it out for fun that night.) I might have forgotten this fact, had it not
been for the remarkable number of times I was approached by eager, friendly strangers (at Comet) inquiring whether I worked on the CM show & the repeated mention of Chris Matthews being a regular. "You know he
comes in here all the time?" I'm like, "I found it in the trash," or "Chris was giving them away from his trunk." Then they would sort of smirk, or look incredulous & walk off. I've never been approached by so many strangers anywhere- ever. After PG broke & the further MKJAY connections- I recalled the incident & something smelled fishy.
FYI, Cosmic is located right in the middle of blocks of well-off suburbs. It's definitely not in an urban setting. Also, I always noticed that there was a run down looking abandoned house on the corner of the first row of houses closest to Cosmic. I don't recall being able to see into any windows or anything- the shutters were closed. Seems unusual that no one would renovate, or fix up such a valuable property. Also, keep in mind that DC is known to be the most heavily wooded Urban City in the US. Behind the Cosmic, Politics & Pros etc
complex, in the suburban area, there's a large random tract of woods. The woods don't have a trail or anything- they look run down & shitty. Nearby there are also various entrances into Rock Creek Park from the very same suburbs Cosmic is centrally located. Rock Creek Park is a much larger, from previously mentioned tract of shittily maintained woods, btw. Just thought I'd post this seeing as Matthews has been mentioned in the news lately. BTW, that Chris Matthews jacket incident was one of the last times I went to Cosmic. At the time (2010-
11) I had a friend who lived within walking distance, so it was nice to go there & sit outside & have a drink on occasion. I remember there was loud modernesque art installation shit hanging from the ceiling. The ping pong area was in the middle area (between bar/dining area & back room for shows) & It usually just seemed to have a
few groups knowingly indulging in this ironic kinda jokey gimmick. or maybe that was just me- I'm sure there are plenty of nerds who loved it & I wouldn't be surprised if it was popular w/ kids during fam hours. there's a pretty sizable, but kinda poorly maintained & weirdly laid out parking lot in the back of the Cosmic complex- almost always packed- the site is not immediately metro accessible. I noticed some long ass trucks there at night- I
think they prob have a loading dock/door- I know for a fact there is a back-stage area for some of the people who perform there- it wasn't like a dressing room, but rather rough & you had to go down a few stairs after the door. It looked like a cluttered utility space of sorts. there might have been further doors- I don't recall, just thought I'd mention it. Lastly, the bathrooms at Cosmic are very novel- they are "invisible" in the sense that they look like
they're part of the facade of log cabin (really). There's nothing about it that screams door, like knobs & so forth. Just a fat, awkwarly heavy, chunck of wood you have to push at the right spot for it to open. Hugely contrasts w/ the industrial, angular, loftesque, concrete look otherwise present. Perhaps there's some smirking irony in this design choice.