If you’re in town this week, you’ve got to be feeling the pre-Thanksgiving buzz. If you’re looking for some things to do over the next few days, you can check out these free and low cost events from my site, Free in DC. Note that there won’t be a weekend edition of Freestylin’ D.C. on Thursday, due to the holiday. Hope you enjoy your Thanksgiving—and the long weekend—from wherever you will be.
Tonight
This is a great week to play tourist in D.C., as the museums should be a lot less crowded and many of you will be off work on Friday, or possibly skipping out early on Wednesday. Two shows on view at the National Gallery of Art look pretty fabulous: “Acrimboldo, 1526-1593: Nature and Fantasy” and “The Body Inside and Out: Anatomical Literature and Art Theory”.
The U.S. Army Blues, under the direction of CW5 Charles H. Vollherbst, perform works made famous by big band legends like Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, and Stan Kenton at 6 p.m. at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.
It’s Monday night and you might know by now what that means: “The Garden” open mic night at BloomBars in Columbia Heights! Tonight’s feature performer is Desiree Bailey, a senior at Georgetown who’s originally from Trinidad and Tobago. Sign-up starts at 8:30 p.m. and performers go on from 9 to 10:30. Donations welcome.
Tuesday
Not a breakfast person? That soon may change. The first 1,500 guest will receive free pancakes at the grand opening of the new IHOP in Columbia Heights.
At 7 p.m., BloomBars hosts a film screening of American Outrage, which documents two Native American women’s fight against the U.S. government for sovereignty and land rights.
At Politics and Prose at 7 p.m., listen to Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year, who will be discussing his new book Big Citizenship, about social entrepreneurship. Joining him will be Bill Shore, founder and director of Share Our Strength, who will be talking about his book The Imaginations Of Unreasonable Men, about the effort to develop a malaria vaccine.
Wednesday
If you enjoy Bluegrass music, head over to the Kennedy Center at 6 p.m. for Bob Perilla’s Big Hillbilly Bluegrass. Over the past 13 years, “America’s defacto bluegrass ambassadors” have taken their blend of hard-driving bluegrass from the Dominican Republic to Armenia.
*SPARKLE*, Busboys and Poets 5th & K’s monthly queer-driven open mic poetry event hosted by Regie Cabico and Danielle Evennou, starts at 9 p.m. and goes until 11. $4 cover.
Amy Melrose is the creator of Free in DC, an arts, culture, and consciousness blog highlighting free and low-cost events that are all Metro accessible in the D.C. area. You can also follow Free in DC on Twitter and Facebook.