Matt Labash, unarguably one of the best magazine writers of his generation, has the cover of the current Weekly Standard with his piece on former D.C. mayor Marion Barry.

I’ve just started reading it, but the lede is Labash-as-usual, in this case illustrating “Barry Time:”

This translates into many minutes, even hours, of waiting for Barry to appear. So after being slated to hang out with Barry for several days, I am surprised to receive a call from his spokesperson, Natalie Williams, two days before we’re supposed to meet.

“Mr. Barry wants to start early,” Natalie informs. “He wants you to come to church with him tomorrow.”

“Great,” I say. “What time does church start?”

“Eleven A.M.,” she says.

“Okay. And what time should I meet him before church?” I ask.

“Eleven-thirty,” she responds with complete seriousness.

During the past few years Labash has filed fly-fishing with Dick Cheney, drive-by profiles of Detroit, and Katrina postmortems in New Orleans.

This guy is the real thing.