Dumbarton Oaks has a lot to offer visitors: the beautiful grounds, the gorgeous house, the low price of admission (it’s free to enter the museum!). It also has hundreds of Byzantine and early Islamic textiles, a collection scholars and art historians consistently praise. Last week, Caroline Kipp, the new curator of contemporary art at the George Washington University textile museum, told City Paper that textiles are part of “how we construct the world around us”—that’s “why textile metaphors are so woven into the way we talk about things.” She wasn’t talking about Dumbarton Oaks specifically, but its new exhibition, Ornament: Fragments of Byzantine Fashion, presents nearly five dozen of those textile pieces to help us think about how the people before us covered and constructed their world. The pieces are fragile, but they’re also preserved and shared in its online textile catalogue. That publication helps bring the scraps together into a globally accessible whole, letting us all think about what Kipp calls “the threads of life.” Take a look online or in person. —Emma Sarappo
FRIDAY
War and PiecesIf the dish ran away with the spoon and had a porcelain love child, it might look something like the chaotic fine china sculptures of Dutch artist Bouke de Vries. War and Pieces both pays homage to and upends the tradition of decorative dinner sets and figurines, the likes of which are abundant across Hillwood Estate’s collections. De Vries draws inspiration from 17th and 18th century European figurines that were arranged in elaborate scenes on tabletops, with the earliest examples molded out of sugar (and later porcelain). Read more >>> The exhibition runs to April 5 at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. $5–$18. (202) 686-5807. hillwoodmuseum.org. (Stephanie Rudig)
Cigarettes After Sex will leave you, well, wanting a cigarette. 6 p.m. at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $30.
Sleater-Kinney is down one member but up one new full-length release. 8 p.m. at The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. $37.50–$62.50.
The Yemen Cultural Institute for Heritage and the Arts invites Washingtonians to a night of traditional and contemporary Yemeni music. 7 p.m. at Eaton DC, 1201 K St. NW. $30–$40.
SATURDAY
PatioBuzzed-about Brooklyn post-punk trio Patio (they were recently named an NPR Favorite New Artist and one of Stereogum’s Best New Bands of 2019) make their D.C. debut in promotion of their first album, Essentials. In the midst of a quarter-life crisis in 2014, music journalist Loren DiBlasi joked to her friend and guitarist Lindsey-Paige McCloy that she played in an imaginary band called Patio. The two soon decided to make the band a reality and recruited newly-minted drummer Alice Suh to round out the group. Drawing inspiration from their dreams, Talking Heads, and chicken sandwiches, the women of Patio sound like old pros as they deconstruct the mythology of the millennial ego. Read more >>> Patio perform at 10 p.m. at Comet Ping Pong, 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW. $12. (202) 364-0404. cometpingpong.com. (Mercedes Hesselroth)
Megan Phelps-Roper, the granddaughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, will discuss her new book Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving the Westboro Baptist Church. 3:30 p.m. at Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free.
Grammy-winning Best New Artist Alessia Cara plays at The Wharf. 7:30 p.m. at The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. $40–$175.
Nashville-based Ruston Kelly tours ahead of his debut full-length, Dying Star, an album that “is trying to understand the human condition through suffering.” 7 p.m. at U Street Music Hall, 1115 U St. NW. $20.
SUNDAY
Kevin GatesKevin Gates’ latest headline sounds like the type of boast he’d rap in one of his songs: After flashing too much cash on a recent visit, the 33-year-old has been banned from Louisiana correctional facilities. While not incarcerated, the Baton Rouge talent has built a career with his gravel-toned street raps, balancing real-world menace with an R&B crooner’s sexplicit lyricism. There’s plenty of both on I’m Him, his latest album and the follow-up to 2016’s Islah, which nearly topped the Billboard charts on the strength of songs like “2 Phones” and “Really Really.” Read more >>> Kevin Gates performs at 8 p.m. at Echostage, 2135 Queens Chapel Road NE. $37.50–$147.50. (202) 503-2330. echostage.com. (Chris Kelly)
Tegan and Sara are diving back into High School with a joint memoir and a re-recorded album of their teenage songs. 7 p.m. at the Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. $40.50–$76.
Sawyer Fredericks is only 19 years old, but his songs tell stories that can take much older people on an emotional ride. 8 p.m. at City Winery, 1350 Okie St. NE. $20.
Julia Michaels, a writer who’s penned songs for Selena Gomez, Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato and Britney Spears, is putting herself behind the microphone. 7 p.m. at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $25.
MONDAY
Pat Steir: Color WheelPat Steir’s abstract paintings look like they belong to a different era, although it’s not always clear which one. Steir pours her works a bit like Jackson Pollock, and they casually resemble the whispery doodlings of Cy Twombly, but while her paintings stand shoulder to shoulder with postwar American titans, theirs isn’t quite her milieu. Steir’s cascading waterfall paintings are both reductive and elemental, closer to Zen brush painting than Ab-Ex tradition. Read more >>> The exhibition runs to Sept. 7 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Free. (202) 633-1000. hirshhorn.si.edu. (Kriston Capps)
16-year-old Maxim Lando, a certified piano prodigy, opens the Kennedy Center’s Young Concert Artists D.C. series. 7:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, 2700 F St. NW. $20–$45.
Don’t worry about the government for a night; enjoy The Diane Scream Show‘s Talking Heads tribute concert instead. 8 p.m. at Songbyrd Music House, 2477 18th St. NW. $10.
Joelle Charbonneau discusses her new young adult novel Verify, a story of learning to separate truth from propaganda. 7 p.m. at Connie Morella Library, 7400 Arlington Road, Bethesda. Free.
TUESDAY
The Eye of the Sun: Nineteenth-Century Photographs from the National Gallery of ArtOn the heels of mounting a photography exhibit titled By the Light of the Silvery Moon: A Century of Lunar Photographs (still on view to Jan. 5), the National Gallery of Art is now presenting another one titled The Eye of the Sun: Nineteenth-Century Photographs from the National Gallery of Art. As it happens, though, the celestial concordance is coincidental. Pegged to the 180th anniversary of photography, the 140-image exhibit focuses on works made during the medium’s first 50 years. Read more >>> The exhibit runs to Dec. 1 at the National Gallery of Art, 4th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Free. (202) 737-4215. nga.gov. (Louis Jacobson)
Six local horror authors and D.C.-based Open Boat Editing will host a night of dark tales to get your bones chilled in time for Halloween. 7 p.m. at Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. Free.
Are stadiums good for cities? DCist and CityLab will attempt to tackle that question, thinking specifically about what’s next for the RFK site. 6:30 p.m. at Solid State Books, 600 H St. NE. Free.
10 years into a storied indie career, the world remains a beautiful place for The World Is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. 8 p.m. at Songbyrd Music House, 2477 18th St. NW. $16–$18.
WEDNESDAY
Jay SomMelina Duterte composes indie rock sweet nothings as Jay Som. Her sound is often described as bedroom pop or dream pop, not necessarily because of the crooning guitars or drowsy vocals, but because it feels so intimate. A classically trained musician, Duterte has a talent for making her songs sound like full-band compositions. But she prefers to work alone, and has recorded, produced, engineered, and mixed all of her albums by herself in her bedroom studio. Read more >>> Jay Som performs at 8 p.m. at Rock & Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE. $18. (202) 388-7625. rockandrollhoteldc.com. (Casey Embert)
The Main Squeeze weave together funk, blues, R&B, and rock. 8 p.m. at Pearl Street Warehouse, 33 Pearl St. SW. $17.
Hirie‘s pop-reggae sound is unconventional and original. 7:30 p.m. at Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. $15–$30.
J.S. Ondara is “an invigorating new voice in American folk music.” 8 p.m. at Sixth and I, 600 I St. NW. $20–$25.
THURSDAY
Jukebox the Ghost presents HalloQueenThis Halloween, catch two bands (kind of) for the price of one. Jukebox the Ghost—a three-piece act of rockers who met at George Washington University in 2003—will mark the spookiest night of the year with the fifth iteration of their two-set show. In the first act, the group perform as themselves, playing pop-rock hits like “Fred Astaire,” “Girl,” and “Hold It In.” But during the latter half of the night, the trio transform into one of the most hallowed rock bands of all time: Queen. Read more >>> Jukebox the Ghost perform at 7 p.m. at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $30. (202) 265-0930. 930.com. (Meilan Solly)
Get witchy (and get a custom wand) at a makeshift Hogwarts at Union Stage’s Harry Potter-themed party. 8 p.m. at Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. $25–$75.
Or see Puddles the Clown’s genre-bending, absurdist takes on classic songs at his very own “Pity Party.” 8 p.m. at the Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. $40.
You can also forget candy and just join the sweet crowd at Chief Keef‘s show. 8 p.m. at The Fillmore Silver Spring, 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. $29.50.
NEWS AND REVIEWS YOU CAN USE
News: City Paper took a literary walking tour of U Street NW with local poet Kim Roberts.
News: Caroline Kipp, the new contemporary art curator at GWU’s Textile Museum, is expanding the collection—and our understandings of textiles.
News: The arts commission drama continues with another loss for Mayor Bowser.
Film: Reel Affirmations returns for its 26th year showing LGBTQ stories on screen.
Film: Jojo Rabbit is a wonderfully strange masterclass in using humor against hate.
Books: Three D.C. poets talk about their new collections.
OFFICE OF FUTURE PLANNING
Tickets go on sale 10 a.m. Friday for Snoop Dogg at The Fillmore Silver Spring on Jan. 19. 8 p.m. at 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. Ticket prices to be announced at time of sale.
Tickets go on sale 10 a.m. Friday for Tori Kelly at The Anthem on Feb. 4. 8 p.m. at 901 Wharf St. SW. $35–$55.
Tickets are on sale now for IYLA at Songbyrd Music House on Feb. 28. 7 p.m. at 2477 18th St. NW. $15–$50.
Tickets go on sale 10 a.m. Friday for The Revivalists at The Anthem on Feb. 29. 8 p.m. at 901 Wharf St. SW. $51–$76.
Tickets go on sale 10 a.m. Friday for WIRE at Union Stage on March 9. 8 p.m. at 740 Water St. SW. $25.