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Before each show, members of the Forestville, Md., rap trio Gods’Illa greet the crowd shouting “Peace!” Their music, a blend of insightful, optimistic lyrics and percussive instrumentals, harkens back to hip-hop in the 1990s, when MCs could still sell records speaking to civic unrest. That’s part of why Gods’Illa (pictured) is such an apt choice for the D.C. Peace Festival, a benefit concert for the local prostate cancer awareness group Pro-Seeds Project. But it’s ironic, and perhaps telling, that the concert is being held at DC9, where in 2010 five employees were charged with killing Ali Ahmed Mohammed. Though the charges were dropped, the incident ignited the local Ethiopian community. Could the D.C. Peace Festival help fund prostate cancer research and soothe local tensions in one evening? It’s worth a try. 6 p.m. at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. $10. (Marcus J. Moore)
DAVID SIMON ALERT
The Wire creator speaks at the University of Maryland today. Tickets are free, but good luck getting in. If you can’t make it, you can livestream the talk from the Clarice Smith Center’s website. 5:30 p.m. at the Gildenhorn Recital Hall. Stadium Drive and Route 193, College Park.
THEATER
If you’re a fan of Source Festival’s 10-minute plays, today and tomorrow you get to see the very best of ’em. Intersections is co-presenting four of the best shorties from the theater festival’s first four years, along with a sneak preview of a 2012 Source Festival world premiere. Performances start tonight at 7:30 p.m. and continue through tomorrow. Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE. $10.
FILM
The D.C. Independent Film Festival rolls on! Tonight’s highlight: Les Blank: Living With Film. At the U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center, 701 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. $14.