5 Things: Blues, Architecture, H&M and the ThighMaster

Happy hump day, Old Towners! Here are 5 Things for your Wednesday:

Lunchtime Blues — Anthony "Swamp Dog" Clark will be performing for free at noon beside the Potomac at the Canal Center Plaza amphitheater (44 Canal Center Plaza). The man can play a mean harmonica. Take a listen.

Old Town BAR — The city’s Board of Architectural Review for the Old and Historic District has a long docket tonight, including a request to alter and update the façade of Austin Grill. The turquoise may not be long for King Street. The meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in City Hall. 

H&M Opening — OK, so this isn’t happening until noon tomorrow. But do you think anyone will start waiting in line today for a chance at an all-access fashion pass worth up to $300?

Exercising Ingenuity — Actress Suzanne Somers may have popularized the ThighMaster in the 1990s, but who created it? Mystery solved when you go to the National Inventors Hall of Fame and Museum, located in the atrium of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, 600 Dulany St. in Alexandria. The current exhibit, “Exercising Ingenuity,” highlights patents, trademarks and inventions that emerged from the fitness, nutrition and exercise industries. The museum is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday. It is accessible from the King Street and Eisenhower Avenue Metro stations.

Were dragons real? — These and other questions will be pondered over at a National Gallery of Art talk and tour at 1 p.m. titled “Dragons in Art,” looking at the gallery’s own collection. The 50-minute discussion begins in the West Building’s main floor at the rotunda. The gallery is located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th streets, NW along Constitution Avenue.