For a record label, Sublime Frequencies’ crate-digging is extreme in its far-reaching trippiness. Since 2003, label cofounders Hisham Mayet and Alan Bishop have collected rare records and made field recordings around the world, then released them in limited editions. But the label doesn’t just offer music. Sublime Frequencies’ folk cinema has captured song and dance from trance ceremonies in Southern India, polyphonic singing in Ethiopia, and many other customs around the world. Tonight, Mayet’s showing his own recent ethnographic films, Vodoun Gods on the Slave Coast and The Divine River: Ceremonial Pageantry in the Sahel, two impressionistic, nonlinear moving snapshots of visual feasts. Read more>>> The films screen at 8 p.m. at Local 16, 1602 U St. NW. $10. (202) 265-2828. sublimefrequencies.com. (Christopher Porter)

EAT THIS

Today is National Egg Cream Day, and to celebrate, DGS Delicatessen is offering free chocolate egg creams with dinner. A bonus reason to celebrate: today’s the birthday of general manager Brian Zipin, who put the drink on the menu. DGS’s classic version of the egg cream includes U-Bet chocolate syrup, soda, and milk. DGS Delicatessen, 1317 Connecticut Ave. NW. (202) 293-4400. dgsdelicatessen.com. (Jessica Sidman)

OH AND ALSO

Tonight: Mary T. & Lizzy K, Tazewell Thompson‘s play premiering at Arena Stage tonight, focuses on Mary Todd’s relationship with a character who plays only a minor role in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln: Elizabeth Keckly. A former slave who raised the money to buy her freedom, Keckly eventually wound up in D.C. as a seamstress to society women before Mary Todd eventually hired her to work at the White House. She became the first lady’s personal dresser, and Thompson’s play dramatizes the friendship that developed between the two. Read more>>> 8 p.m. at Arena Stage, 1101 6th St. SW. $85–$100. (Ian Buckwalter)

Tonight: “Expansions,” a new show at the tiny Transformer gallery, holds its opening reception tonight, featuring works by Eames Armstrong, Benjamin Edmiston, Matt Hollis, Victor Koroma, and Megan Mueller. 6 p.m. at Transformer, 1404 P St. NW. Free.

Tonight: Didn’t get tickets to see Janeane Garofalo at Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse? Instead, check out the Consensual Sext comedy show at The Dunes, hosted by Andrew Bucket and featuring music by Margot MacDonald. $5 suggested donation at 1402 Meridian Place NW.

Tonight: It’s hip-hop throwback night! British rapper Slick Rick performs at the Howard Theatre with Rakim. 8 p.m. at the Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. $37. Meanwhile, over at the Fillmore, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony take the stage. 8 p.m. at the Fillmore, 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. $38.

Saturday: Washington Improv Theater continues its seventh annual Fighting Improv Smackdown Tournament, a bracketed improv competition that runs to April 13. For five weeks and six rounds, 67 three-person teams with names like “Angry Unpaid Hookers” and “Magic Johnson’s Immune System” will face off with only one rule: The performance has to be made up on the spot. Read more>>> 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. at Washington Improv Theater at Source, 1835 14th St. NW. $10. (Alexis Hauk)

Saturday: For more laughs, check out comedians Ted Alexandro (whom we wrote about the last time he was in town), Dave Siegel, and Mike James when they perform at Sixth & I. 7:30 p.m. at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. $20.

Saturday: Last year, Cassie Meador, the artistic director of the Takoma Park-based Dance Exchange walked 500 miles from her home in the District to one source of its energy, a mountaintop in West Virginia. In an effort to understand on a visceral level where that power was coming from, she spent several months doing the whole carry-a-pack, walk-all-day, sleep-on-the ground thing—-then came back and created a dance about it. Read more>>> 8 p.m. at Dance Place, 3225 8th St. NE. $8–$22. (Amanda Abrams)

Sunday: Some think St. Patrick’s Day should be spent downing as much whiskey and green beer as one can manage, and then drinking some more. But spending the day at the local watering hole gets old fast, so why not leave the shamrock shaking to the professionals? Local burlesque troupe Tilted Torch presents an evening of poetry, belly dance, and classy exhibitionism that it’s calling “Modern Elegance.” Read more>>> 9 p.m. at Bossa, 2463 18th St. NW. $12. (Caroline Jones)

Sunday: British electronic music artist Goldie performs at U Street Music Hall alongside Bailey and Slant. 10 p.m. at U Street Music Hall, 1115 U St. NW. $10.

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