Mmm….Cake: TBD’s Sarah Godfrey goes behind the scenes at Buzz Bakery for story of Chuck Brown‘s birthday cake. The Godfather of Go-Go celebrated his 75th birthday Sunday night with a concert at the 9:30 Club and a custom birthday cake designed by the Arlington bakery. Head pastry chef Tiffany MacIsaac, who also makes 9:30’s ubiquitous cupcakes, took inspiration from Brown’s music, drawing a bar of his song “Busting Loose” on one tier of the cake. In a way, the whole recipe was lifted from the go-go scene: “There’s a funk song that refers to D.C. as ‘Chocolate City’,” MacIsaac told TBD, “so we did a devil’s food cake with chocolate buttercream.”

Jefferson’s Slaves: The Smithsonian and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation are planning an exhibit about the lives of the slaves owned by the author of the Declaration of Independence, slated to open next Jan. 27 at the National Museum of American History, The New York Times‘ ArtsBeat blog reports.

Maybe the Aristocrats Narrator Was Right: Today, “the paper that took down the Nixon Administration” runs a guide to the upcoming season of Dancing With the Stars that consumes nearly an entire page. Discuss.

Yesterday on Arts Desk: X.O. reflects on becoming a brand. Catching up with Marty Baumann at Baltimore Comic-Con. Gawker accidentally says D.C. is awesome.