The turnout on Super Tuesday is expected to be large — and not just at polling places. As anticipation builds over how voters in 22 states will cast their presidential primary ballots, restaurants and bars in the nation’s capital are preparing to accommodate those who will be coming in to watch the results over patriotic potables.

The best places in the nation’s capital to watch the results — in today’s Express.

Finally got a chance to head out to Cantler’s this weekend for their notorious crabs. It’s something I’ve been dreaming of doing since first moving to D.C. almost 2 years ago. We got crab cake sandwiches, onion rings and iced teas at Cantler’s, walked around the historic downtown and sat on the wharf eating ice cream from Storm Bros. A great day.

We also attempted the “Dine & Dip” at the Omni Hotel on Sunday in Woodley Park. The brunch was pretty good but by the time we had finished, our waitress informed us that with 175 other parched folks already at the pool, the “dip” had sold-out.

We got a rain check for this week and will be back on the 4th.

A bunch of us had an opportunity this weekend to visit BODIES, a controversial traveling exhibit currently on display at the Rosslyn Dome in Arlington. It features unclaimed human bodies (from China) that are preserved through a process called polymer preservation, in which body fluids are removed and replaced with liquid silicone rubber. The results are fascinating. Here are the basics of what I learned:

• Smoking is bad. One display featured two lungs, that of a healthy individual and that of a smoker. The latter was blackened and probably one-third the size of the healthy one. Underneath a placard stating that each pack of cigarettes cuts 2.5 hours from your life, a plexi-glass box was filled with discarded packs and lighters from those in attendance.
• Skin is the body’s largest organ. To demonstrate this, a display showed a single piece of flattened skin from one body. It was pretty amazing to look at.
• Our digestive system is long. Another display showed an entire human digestive system, from mouth to anus. Seeing it all like that, in one place, helped demonstrate the extraordinary ability of our body to coordinate complex processes.
• Babies grow fast. An optional part of the exhibit showed the development of fetuses, starting as something the size of a pencil’s eraser and then doubling in size every week or so.
• Testicles aren’t kidneys. As one astute observer – who had a little difficulty identifying parts of the human anatomy – learned, those things hanging below the stomach are part of the male reproductive system.

This isn’t anything like you’ve seen before. A doctor with us said she hadn’t even see the body presented in such a way during med school.

And if that’s not an endorsement, I’m not sure what is.

So, unless you’re new here, you know that recently I’ve been harping on Party DC.

I’ve never been completely thrilled with the level of service and professionalism that they’ve exhibited at their events – and this weekend’s Wine Festival trip was a prime example, when buses didn’t leave until an hour after their scheduled departure and a complete lack of organization left hundreds of paying customers aimlessly wandering Arlington.

Responding to that specific issue, Patrick Barton, Party DC’s president, e-mailed me last night. In part, he said, “It takes a while to load several hundred people on buses trying to load coolers, making sure they get on the same bus w/ all their friends, making sure all buses are completely full, people running on/off the bus after they have already sat down because they forgot something or rather use the restroom at the restaurant (even though they are restrooms on the bus), etc.”

He also responded to my concern that the company’s chaperones are allowed to drink during events, often leading to confusing and conflicting directions at day’s end. “Though our staff members are allowed to partake in the social aspects of our events, they know they are to maintain and keep up certain professionalism,” he said.

Barton says these aren’t “excuses” but “issues that we run in to on our end that exacerbate the situation.”

I’m appreciative of the time Barton took to get in touch with me directly – although I’m still not sure he adequately addressed some of the bigger issues raised (like, for example, oversold trips). But his taking the time to reach out to me is certainly a step in the right direction.

What’d you think?

Read his complete (and long) e-mail after the jump.

Hey Marc,

Thank you for the feedback – we appreciate both negative and positive comments.

I respect your opinions, but let me share a few facts w/ you:

1. The main staff and I arrived at Front Page at 9:30 in the morning to set up and get ready for the pre-party that started at 10am (this was also after extensive testing of the scanning system, and setup of our tent at the wine fest the day before). Though we offer free continental breakfast to all guests, and started an hour later than Gold Cup, including the loading of the buses, the vast majority of the guests arrived at the very end of the pre-party making a last minute check-in for several hundred. It was pretty dead there until after 9:30, over half-way thru the check-in process.

2. Buses started loading at 11am. It takes a while to load several hundred people on buses trying to load coolers, making sure they get on the same bus w/ all their friends, making sure all buses are completely full, people running on/off the bus after they have already sat down because they forgot something or rather use the restroom at the restaurant (even though they are restrooms on the bus), etc.

3. We are now using, and for the last several parties, state-of-the-art scanning systems, and had 17 of our own staff at the event. If you had specific questions, there should have been someone there to answer it, including myself, as I try to attend all our events as well – as I have for the past 15+ years (yeah, we have been around that long – lol). If you had a specific question and we were not able to answer/address it, I apologize (but that is not normally the case). Another problem w/ the check-in besides the late arrival, were people we talking on their cell phones once they got to our scanning systems and didn’t know what to do as they were not paying attention, did not have their tickets out, or had folded their printed tickets so many times, it made it more difficult to scan.

4. Though our staff members are allowed to partake in the social aspects of our events, they know they are to maintain and keep up certain professionalism. If you know of a specific incidence or individual staff member that was unbecoming to our business, I would like to hear about it – name, bus number, etc.

5. We used to post the exact times and dates of our ticket price increase, but after the price increased we received correspondences from too many people saying they were out of town, sick, their servers were down at work, etc. and wanted us to give them the tix at a lower price. We use a ticket agency and can not flip flop back and forth on the prices each time someone wasn’t able to buy a ticket due to issues like the above. We keep the lower pricing down for a longer period of time, and we sold the majority of both our Gold Cup and wine fest tix at the very lowest price – also, a $29.99 ticket for the wine fest, and $69.99 ticket for Gold Cup are money losers for us (again, prices were we sold the most tix). Also, for the wine fest, the later ticket price increases were due to the fact that we added a large tent, tables, chairs, linens, and security out at the wine fest (something that became very useful during the 85+ degree, sunny day). These were additional items that were not originally advertised as part of our package. We also try to be perfectly honest and address any questions folks may have about ticket price increases, etc. as soon as they come in – below is an example of what I replied to you regarding Gold Cup and ticket price escalations, etc. over six weeks before this year’s Spring Gold Cup actually took place (5 hrs after we had received your initial email):

We are running deep discounts on Bus Trip tix right now ($30 – $40 below where they will end up in just a few weeks).
We do not offer any group discounts since the rate is already so low, but I would suggest purchasing the tix soon, so you can take advantage of this incredible deal.

6. I send out emails to all the ticket holders detailing the upcoming event, usually two days in advance, so that will give them time to reply w/ any questions they may have in advance. The email I send usually has details on the pre and post parties, what to bring, what you can/can’t bring on the buses, IDing requirements, etc. I see that you were sent four of these over the last year – two for the wine fests, and two for the last two Gold Cups – we go out of our way to try and provide our guests w/ info as well as give them ample time to ask any questions – kind of like you did w/ the ticket pricing six weeks before Gold Cup – we encourage this, and will continue to do so.

These are not excuses that I am presenting above but rather issues that we run in to on our end that exacerbate the situation.

Obviously, opinions like yours matter to us, as I wouldn’t have taken the time to address your concerns otherwise.

Again, I appreciate the time you took to explain your less than satisfactory experience, and we respect your concerns.

If we have lost you as a client, for that I am sorry, in addition to the problems you have explained above.

Thanks Again,

Patrick Barton, President
Party DC Events, LLC
11951 Freedom Dr., Suite 1300
Reston, VA 20190
Local – (703) 929-3735
F – (703) 327-0480
Toll Free (800) 370-0573

Surprise, surprise: It didn’t take much to find others disappointed and done with Party DC. A quick round-up of comments reveals:

• “yeah. I agree. total crap.”
• “I’ve never participated in a boycott before, but this one is as good as any.”
• “An hour of someone’s package in my grill is unacceptable, but I only boycott French Products. Is Party DC French?”
• “they are AWFUL. reminds me of a shitty spring break travel group. avoid at all cost”

Any other haters out there with us?

We couldn’t have asked for better weather at this weekend’s Vintage Virginia Wine Festival. And between the 85 degree temperature, live music, free food samples and mediocre (yet copious) amount of vino, Saturday was pretty great.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of Party DC, the event planning company that organized our bus transportation to and from Bull Run. If you’re a young professional here in the nation’s capital, chances are good that you’ve been on one of Party DC’s trips – or at least heard of them.

I’ve been on several, to fall and spring Gold Cup and the Wine Festival (twice). But to be honest, I’ve never been happy (or even remotely satisfied) with Party DC’s level of service or professionalism – in fact, no one I’ve spoken to has.

Here are Five Reasons That Party DC is Awful:

• Terrible website. It’s slow, crashes browsers and is impossible to navigate. Worst of all, it makes purchasing tickets a pain. Forget about trying to find or view event photos.
• Scaled pricing. Yeah, it’s common with other event tickets, but Party DC doesn’t tell you the exact dates of when prices will increase – or what they will increase to. What ensues? An unnecessary guessing game intended solely to pad their bottom line.
• Oversold trips. A completely unacceptable practice. At spring Gold Cup this year, many full-paying customers were forced to stand on the hour trip out to the Plains, Virginia.
• No pre-trip orientation or organization. Time and time again (this past weekend being a prime example), Party DC employees have offered no direction to the hundreds of customers arriving at the Front Page. This inevitably results in a huge backlog and massive confusion when attempting to load buses. And Party DC buses leaving on time? Laughable.
• Drunk chaperones. Party DC “hires” people to staff buses, but these same people are allowed to drink and do what they want at the event. You can imagine what kind of leadership and organization this inspires — especially at the end of the day.

It’s no surprise then: Party DC events are consistently a screwy mess. So, from this point on, I’ll be boycotting their equally screwy trips.
Who’s with me?

Dave Attell put on a hilarious show Friday night. But I left wondering a perplexing question: Who’s more obscene – the notoriously offending comedian … or the foul-mouthed HBO employees running his tour?

When we got to the Lincoln Theater around a half hour before the doors open, my buddy and I marched to the end of a line already stretching down the block. Ushers assured us though that there would be enough seats for all of us. They were right and soon we were filing inside, where there was the typical buzz that accompanies taped events like these (i.e., sound guys checking mics, camera cranes getting in position, etc.). Nothing seemed too out of the ordinary.

But no one could’ve prepared me for the army of headset wearing producers, running up and down the aisles, barking orders at anyone in sight. A group sitting next to us was told by one particularly pleasant lady that since they were sitting in front of the cameras, they would not be allowed to stand during the show. When they objected and asked to be moved, the producer asked them where they thought they were going.

Another real loon was just uttering every possible obscenity into thin air (or, her little headset), while most of the audience looked on in bewilderment. We thought she might be part of the opening act. Alas, none of it really mattered once Dave got on stage. He was a truly class(less) act and brought the house down.

For those not there, hopefully, the HBO special will be out soon. Unfortunately, for those watching at home, it’ll only include the obscenities from the comedian — and not his traveling sideshow.

The comedian Dave Attell (named one of the “25 Funniest People in America” by Entertainment Weekly) will be taping an HBO special this Friday at the Lincoln Theater on U Street.

Attell is probably best known for his Comedy Central show Insomniac, where he traveled around the country, got liquored up, stayed out all night and documented it all with a crummy disposable camera. In my humble opinion, his experience at the Wiener’s Circle in Chicago should forever be immortalized in television history. It was priceless.

To get free tickets to one of his two shows (7:15 or 9:45 p.m.), you need to e-mail the following information to daveattell@broadwayvideo.com:

1. Your full name
2. Your e-mail address
3. Your phone number
4. Your preference for show 1 or 2. (I’ll be at show 1.)
5. The number of tickets you want, 2 max.

Move fast. I’m sure tickets will be gone soon — and the Jaeger commercials are priceless.