Last night I went to BloomBars in Columbia Heights for the first time. Don't let the name fool you, BloomBars is not an establishment that serves libations. If you're thirsty or just like to get loose before you listen to music, you can go next door to Wonderland.

BloomBars is a community artspace located on 3222 11th Street NW. The small venue looks as if its a gift from the artistic squatters living upstairs, with paintings and a stage.

My friends and I went to see Kissey Asplund a "future/electro-soul vocalists and Shantell Martin the "illustrator of auras". Their music was hot!

So was the venue. (No AC or cooling on this hot DC summer night!) The two musicians put on a good show, and I think that if the crowd hadn't been so overheated there would have been done dancing.

While BloomBars may still be a little rough around the edges, it promises to be a fantastic addition to the DC art scene and the Columbia Heights community in general. The vision of the place is to serve "a unique mix of music, art and an invitation to interact with strangers" where "local meets local, and local meets global."

Sign up for their mailing list to be in the know about more "spontaneous, underground" events.