The Steven Spielberg Saga: Bedeviled by Its Ever-Shifting Details

But check out this deal: Denny Hastert's"Speaker" marked 30 percent off the original $27.95!

Don't laugh: He's still Speaker for 19 days.

Sorry, You're Not on the List

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One in a series of occasional dispatches from parties you should have crashed.

Event:"Metal Merriment," a holiday bash hosted Thursday by online research/communications firm New Media Strategies.

Theme:'80s heavy metal.

Site: Five, a Dupont Circle nightclub.

Guests: A couple hundred political/tech types, mostly cute, white, under 35.

Dress code (per invitation):"Holiday Chic and/or Hair Metal Casual."

Dress code (in practice): The predictable D.C. sports coats and cocktail frocks.

Food: Er, every conceivable kind of pita chip.

Bar: Open! And well-stocked, thanks.

Draw: L.A.-based band Metal Skool, which filled the dance floor with its covers of Journey, Twisted Sister, Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses.

Hesitation: Something about Metal Skool's high-camp preening and Aqua Net excesses made us suspect that the band members might actually be smug hipsters making fun of an era in music and style that some of us hold quite dear.

Redemption: Their "Sweet Child O' Mine" rawwwwked !