SATURDAY

There are nights at the Pharmacy Bar, just before the normal riffraff enter, when owner Kristaps Kreslins holds court. He steps from behind the bar and ventures where no other man dares go: the Latvian section on the jukebox. Or so the story goes. It’s through such subtle promotional efforts that one might find out about Latvia’s finest indie-punk prodigies, Macitajs on Acid. After 10 years as a rock band, the brothers Kreslins—Kristaps and Laris—and cousin Gustavs Mergins don’t appear to have changed a bit: They still shovel out semi-grimy indie rock and roll whose, uh, DIY musicianship never fails to draw a smirk. What the folks back on the Baltic really think of the band’s lyrics (which are all in Latvian) after the four tours that Macitajs have taken we may never know. According to Kristaps, the band’s output consists entirely of love songs. And the translated lyrics are projected onto an overhead screen during the band’s performances so that we can all “understand the love.” Read ’em and weep, apparently, but I can’t help but smell just a bit of Baltic mirth-making or piss-taking. In any case, it’s awfully swell of them to guide us through a Latvian-style love lesson. Bring a handkerchief when Macitajs on Acid play with Golden and Rye Coalition at 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 31, at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $8. (202) 667-7960. (Mark Williams)