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S A T U R D A Y

About a month ago, Howard Stern sneered that Haitian music merely consisted of people screaming while banging on trash cans. While some Haitian music does, in fact, vaguely resemble that simple-minded characterization, his analysis can’t be used to describe the groove-filled guitar-based sound known as compas. Top Vice, an ensemble said by many to be Miami’s leading practitioner of this afro-Caribbean style, visits town tonight in a benefit for WUST-AM’s weekly Haitian music and news program—which doesn’t feature any whiny shock-jocks. At 10 p.m. at the Arthur Fletcher Elm Center, 4004 13th St. NW. $20-25. (301) 598-9194. (Steve Kiviat)