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Alsarah and the Nubatones’ new album, Silt, starts off with a catchy call-and-response pop number, but you won’t hear “Habibi Taal” on Hot 99.5. It’s sung in Arabic and includes accompaniment on the stringed, pear-shaped oud and a hand-held wide-frame drum. Languid, traditional numbers like “Bilad Aldahb” and “Rennat” spotlight Alsarah’s melancholy as she longs to return to the Nubia that was; other tracks emphasize happier times, channeled by the percussionist’s stroked and slapped rhythms and the high-pitched picking of the oudist. Read more >>> Alsarah and the Nubatones perform with DJ Underdog at 8 p.m. at Tropicalia, 2001 14th St. NW. $8–$12. (202) 629-4535. tropicaliadc.com. (Steve Kiviat)
EAT THIS
A new bar called Handsome Cock has opened on U Street NW from the owners of The Codmother. Yes, that’s really the name, despite objections from the landlord. Name aside, the place is pretty chill. The limited food menu includes chicken wings, chicken quesadillas, burgers, nachos, and fish tacos, and the bar serves whiskey and beers like Fat Tire, Yuengling, PBR, Natty Boh, and Schlitz. You can get a beer and shot for $6 and play games like Taboo and Apples to Apples. Handsome Cock, 1334 U Street NW; (202) 265-0708. facebook.com/handsomecockdc. (Jessica Sidman)
OH AND ALSO
Friday: Comedian Lily Tomlin entertains audiences with decades worth of jokes when she performs at the Music Center at Strathmore. 8 p.m. at 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. $29–$81.
Friday: British soul singer Daley brings his Prince-inspired hair and live act to 9:30 Club. 8 p.m. at 815 V St. NW. $20.
Friday: Baltimore band Other Colors joins local groups Buildings, Big Hush, and Howling Void for a night of rock ‘n’ roll at The Dunes. More information available on Facebook. 8 p.m. at 1402 Meridian Place NW. $10.
Saturday: New Orleans pianist Jon Batiste makes music that’s both steeped in jazz tradition and accessible to anyone. For those who feel that jazz in the 21st century has lost the populist or folk-music aspects that were so crucial to its beginnings, Batiste provides the antidote. It’s surely no coincidence that he’s playing Washington Performing Arts Society’s first presentation at the Howard, Washington’s historic “theater of the people.” Read more >>> Jon Batiste and Stay Human perform at 8 p.m. at Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. $30. (202) 803-2899. thehowardtheatre.com. (Michael J. West)
Saturday: Moody garage rockets The Jet Age celebrate the release of their new album, Jukebox Memoir, with a performance at Comet Ping Pong. Deconstructed pop act The Caribbean and Baltimore shoegaze group Early American also perform. 10 p.m. at 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW. $10.
Saturday: Comedian and monologist Quique Aviles offers his humorous musing on language in a new one-man show, Tongues: Sin Pelos en La Lengua, at GALA Hispanic Theatre. 8 p.m. at 3333 14th St. NW. $15.
Sunday: Jolted to prominence by her early 1990s “Beach Portraits,” Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra has made a career out of photography and video work of young people. For “The Krazyhouse,” her newest video installation, Dijkstra recorded a group of five people she found at a Liverpool nightclub (called The Krazyhouse), dancing along to a DJed set in a studio she had built in the back of the club. The result is both revealing and uncomfortable. Read more >>> The exhibition is on view Wednesdays 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Thursdays through Sundays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., to June 15, at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, 500 17th St. NW. $8–$10. (202) 639-1700. corcoran.org. (Jordan Larson)
Sunday: Local roots act Bumper Jacksons presents a folk percussion show at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue with special guests Christylez Bacon and Steve Hickman. 8 p.m. at 600 I St. NW. $12–$15.
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