Temples is a hard band to love. Not because its two singles aren’t insanely catchy retro-psychedelia that sound like they could have come out in the late ’60s. It’s precisely because this English band is devoted to sounding so studiously vintage that love is pushed aside for admiration and raw emotion suppressed for clinical analysis. Yet four tunes the band has released are simply tremendous pastiches. Read more >>> Temples performs at 8:30 p.m. at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. $10. (202) 483-5000. dcnine.com. (Christopher Porter)
EAT THIS
The night before Thanksgiving is one of the biggest going-out nights of the year, and El Cucho is prepared. The Columbia Heights Mexican restaurant will offer a late night happy hour beginning at 9 p.m. with two tacos for $3, $1 chips and salsa, $3 Tecate tallboys, $4 margaritas on tap, and $2.50 elote callejero (corn). Also try two new hot drinks for $8: The Serpent and the Apple with vanilla bean and bitter orange peel-infused mezcal and pomegranate apple cider as well as the Bebida Caliente with spiced rum, pineapple-ginger syrup, apple bitters, and cinnamon. El Chucho, 3313 11th St. NW. (202) 290-3313. (Jessica Sidman)
OH AND ALSO
Wednesday through Sunday: Begin celebrating the Christmas season before Thanksgiving: The Joffrey Ballet performs The Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House through the weekend. 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Friday–Sunday at 2700 F St. NW. $39–160.
Wednesday: Enjoy some of D.C.’s best local rock at the Black Cat when Paperhaus, The North Country, and Gallons to Ounces join New York’s Watermelon on stage. 8 p.m. at 1811 14th St. NW. $10.
Thursday: Some may argue the hours following a rich, luxurious meal are best spent napping, not dancing. But should you fight through the effects of tryptophan this Thanksgiving, D.C. is rife with opportunities to burn off those potatoes and gravy. The Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage invites swing dancers to show off their kicks beginning at 6 p.m. Should you prefer something more contemporary, DJ Rex Riot has you covered at DC9 and dancehall DJ Spyda spins Jamaican hits into the early hours at Tropicalia. Read more >>> The Thanksgiving Swing Dance Party begins at 6 p.m. at the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, 2700 F St. NW. Free. (202) 467-4600. kennedy-center.org. “No Offense” begins at 9 p.m. at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. $3. (202) 483-5000. dcnine.com. “The Re-Union” dancehall party begins at 10 p.m. at Tropicalia, 2001 14th St. NW. $10. (202) 629-4535. tropicaliadc.com. (Caroline Jones)
Friday: Thanks to the 1987 film The Princess Bride, folks of a certain age are unable to look at Mandy Patinkin and see someone other than Inigo “You killed my father, prepare to die!” Montoya. (Sorry, Homeland fans.) But Joe Brack, whose hit one-man show from the 2012 Capital Fringe Festival, My Princess Bride, returns to Fort Fringe stage this month, says his play is an ode not only to Rob Reiner’s masterpiece but also to William Goldman’s 1973 book, a classic he’s loved since his preteen years. The play runs Nov. 29 to Dec. 22 at The Shop at Fort Fringe, 607 New York Ave. NW. $20. (202) 737-7230. capitalfringe.org. (Alexis Hauk)
Friday: Arena Stage begins performances of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?, the stage adaptation of the classic Sidney Poitier film. 8 p.m. at 1101 Sixth St. SW. $85.
Friday: Acclaimed poet Nikki Giovanni discusses and signs copies of her new collection, Chasing Utopia, at Busboys and Poets 5th & K. 6 p.m. at 1025 5th St. NW. Free.
Saturday: Anchored by the dusty vocals of Nico Fox, D.C.’s Real Clothes gets dirty with its roots-rock influences, caking acoustic guitars and fiddles in hiss while it ruminates on love and communication. This weekend, the band performs a benefit show for Casa Ruby, a D.C. nonprofit that supports the Latino LGBT community. They’ll be joined by the equally lo-fi Raw Feels, from Fredericksburg, Va., who sound like a lost side project of Sebadoh or Pavement with plenty of drone and mumbled vocals, and Lilac Daze, which pulls equally from the sophisticated twee pop of The Pastels and the bratty scuzz punk of Times New Viking. Real Clothes performs with Lilac Daze and Raw Feels at 7 p.m. at CD Cellar, 2607 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. Donations requested.(703) 248-0635. cdcellarva.com. (Jordan Larson)
Saturday: Head to Union Market throughout the weekend for Thread, a shopping event featuring 30 different artists and retailers. Stick around on Saturday night for performances by The Walkmen, Sunwolf, and DJ Will Eastman. 7 p.m. at 1309 5th St. NE. $25–$125.
Sunday: The act of self-immolation has a long and terrible history, from the National Mall earlier this year to Tunisia and Vietnam in times of political turmoil. On Jan. 16, 1969, at the end of the hopeful Prague Spring, a Czech history student named Jan Palach lit himself on fire in protest of the Soviet oppression of Czechoslovakia, launching a series of impassioned anti-communist demonstrations. In her new HBO Europe miniseries Burning Bush, Polish director Agnieszka Holland trains her eye on Palach’s legacy. Holland will discuss her adaptation of historical sources before the three-part series is screened in full. Agnieszka Holland speaks at 2 p.m. and the miniseries screens at 3:30 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art East Building Auditorium, 4th Street and Constitution Avenue. NW. Free. (202) 737-4215. nga.gov. (Jordan Larson)
Sunday: Fly Rebel Society performs a benefit show at Tropicalia; a portion of proceeds from the concert will be donated to Safe Shores. Find more information on Facebook. 7 p.m. at 2001 14th St. NW. $10.
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