Friday—Sunday: 19 at THEARC
O-Slice is no stranger to the stage. The 27-year-old local rapper has collaborated with spoken-word artists Dwayne Lawson-Brown and Drew Anderson in the play HOMEGROWN. And this weekend, she’ll star in 19, an autobiographical play presented by Woolly Mammoth and THEARC Theater. The show uses poetry, musical arrangements, and dialogue to tell the story of a phenomenal Nigerian American artist discovering her special voice and understanding her extraordinary gifts. The Charles Herbert Flowers High School and University of Maryland, College Park, grad started rapping at the ripe old age of 9, and hip-hop became her true passion. Her peers quickly noticed her superior lyrical skills. Four years ago Okayplayer dubbed her “one of the most technically gifted MCs” in the local underground scene. O-Slice, a self-proclaimed “perfectionist” and “multidimensional artist,” has worked diligently through dynamic live shows and viral social media content to develop a unique sound and cultivate a loyal fanbase. She writes and records her own music and directs her own videos. She also recently released a sensational debut album entitled Goodmorning, Goodnight. The full range of the O-Slice genius will be on display this weekend. “Her music and poetry feel so inherently theatrical, and it’s a great honor for Woolly to partner with THEARC to create this platform for her to share her bold virtuosity with our combined audiences,” says Woolly Artistic Director Maria Manuela Goyanes. Lawson-Brown and Anderson will co-host a special edition of “Spit Dat,” D.C.’s longest running open mic event, immediately following the Saturday night performance. 19 runs June 10–12 at THEARC Black Box, 1801 Mississippi Ave. SE. woollymammoth.net. $15.
—Sidney Thomas
Saturday: Home Rule Music Festival at the Parks at Walter Reed
The Parks at Walter Reed are billing the June 11 Home Rule Music Festival as “a celebration of Washington, D.C.’s home-grown music, culture, and community.” It is that, but it’s also a tribute to Black cultural and political tenacity. In 1973, Washington finally got home rule, which gave city residents the opportunity to elect their own local political leaders. In 1975, Jimmy Gray, a D.C. radio DJ and record label promoter, and James Plunky Branch, a Richmond-based trumpeter, started Black Fire Records, an independent label that would soon become known for releasing jazz, pan African music, and pre-go-go drum-filled tunes. This approach included funk, R&B, and Afrobeat hybrid sounds from Plunky and the Oneness of Juju and psychedelic rhythmic grooves from Experience Unlimited, now known as EU. Although the FBI had earlier created a file on Plunky for his role in student protests against the Vietnam War, he continued to be an activist. That spirit was associated with the label, which continued until 1993. Now a team led by Home Rule Records owner Charvis Campbell and the late Gray’s musician son, Jamal Gray is presenting a free concert with a record fair and the debut screening of Kia Freeman and Patrick Mamou’s documentary Black Fire. The event’s roster includes New York-based free jazz saxophonist David Murray, who played D.C. regularly in the 1970s, and Florida-raised spiritual jazz organist/pianist Doug Carn, who released records on the independent Black Jazz label that was often associated with Black Fire. Plunky and Oneness of Juju add to the bill their legacy status as an act from the Black Fire label and their timeless afro-jazz dance music, while TCB, D.C.‘s self-proclaimed “Kings of Bouncebeat” go-go, will bring that Black Fire passion to the 21st century with their energetic rototoms and keyboard. Home Rule Music Festival starts at 3 p.m. on June 11 at the Parks at Walter Reed, 1010 Butternut St. NW. homerulemusicfestival.com. Free. —Steve Kiviat
Tuesday: Linda Holmes in conversation with Ari Shapiro
There’s something particularly cozy and relaxing about reading a book set in coastal Maine. If it’s done well, the author captures the pragmatic voices of longtime locals, the soft slap of waves on rocks, and the honks of gulls and cars, transporting you to a quaint town somewhere off Route 1 north of Portland. Calcasset, the fictional village at the center of Linda Holmes’ new book, Flying Solo, and her previous novel, Evvie Drake Starts Over, is just such a town. In Flying Solo, its protagonist, Laurie, returns there to clean out a deceased relative’s house and finds a duck decoy that sets off a mystery. Amid the caper are frank discussions of friendship, romance, and what it means to be at home, ideal topics to distract you whether you’re reading on your couch, on a beach, or, in my ideal setting, on a remote island 10 miles off the coast in the Gulf of Maine. Holmes kicks off her book tour on the book’s publication date, June 14, in conversation with All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro, whose soothing tone of voice can also serve as a relaxant. And since the Sixth & I-hosted event recently went completely virtual, lean into your relaxation by turning up the AC and donning your softest duds. Flannel pajama pants? Your best L.L. Bean sweater fleece? The choice is yours. Linda Holmes appears in conversation with Ari Shapiro virtually at 7 p.m. via Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. sixthandi.org. $12–$35. —Caroline Jones
Wednesday: Japanese Breakfast and Belle and Sebastian at Wolf Trap
Anyone craving a live indie music fix should head to Wolf Trap on June 15 to witness the return of Belle and Sebastian. For more than 25 years, the Scottish band has delivered their version of introspective pop (think The Smiths but less mopey) and with their latest release, A Bit of Previous, the band has also found a unique way to support Ukraine. All streaming, digital sales, and publishing royalties that their song “If They’re Shooting at You” generates will be donated to the Red Cross to help relief efforts in the region. Joining Belle and Sebastian is alt-pop band Japanese Breakfast, led by Grammy-nominated musician Michelle Zauner. Zauner and the band have been on a bit of a tear recently, having just appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, The Late Late Show with James Corden, and helping Saturday Night Live cap off its 47th season. Add Zauner’s recent best-selling memoir, Crying in H Mart, to that list and it’s a wonder she has time to perform. Be sure to get there early, however, to check out Los Bitchos, an all-female quartet from London who write and perform mostly instrumental cumbia (a musical rhythm with roots in Colombia) songs. Japanese Breakfast and Belle and Sebastian play June 15 at 5:30 p.m. at Wolf Trap, 1551 Wolf Trap Rd., Vienna. wolftrap.org. $40–$127. —Christina Smart
Ongoing through June 18: Anacostia Portraits at Honfleur Gallery
In 2019, Elena Volkova, a Ukrainian-born photographer living in Baltimore, was co-curating a show on historic portraiture at the Maryland Center for History and Culture. She was hoping to mount an exhibit that depicted a diverse range of portrait subjects, but she was disappointed to discover how few works featuring Black people were available in the center’s archives—despite being located in Baltimore, a city that is almost two-thirds Black. Volkova sought to rectify that shortage by photographing local volunteers using a once-common but now archaic photographic technique known as wet plate collodion, which produces tintypes. The onset of the pandemic slowed Volkova’s efforts, but by 2021, she had worked out a proposal to do something similar in D.C. with the Anacostia Arts Center. The fruits of that project—nearly 100 tintypes of Anacostia residents—are now on display at Honfleur Gallery. Volkova and her interns recruited volunteers on foot, by flyers, and using social media; once she finishes the portrait sessions scheduled for June 10 and 11, she’ll have completed about a dozen shoots with residents. “I often ask if there is anyone or anything they would like to channel in their image,” she tells City Paper. “We get some interesting responses there, including celebrities, social leaders, spirits, and ‘energies.’” Her decision to create tintypes is deliberate; each image she makes is subject to the random circumstances of the shoot and cannot be duplicated, a process that has become rarer in the digital age. Each subject will eventually get to keep the photograph, too. “I feel like digital photography, while giving us amazing opportunities to document our lives, has deprived us of physical connections with photographic objects,” Volkova says. “We take thousands of photographs but never look at them.” Anacostia Portraits runs through June 18 at Honfleur Gallery, 1241 Good Hope Rd. SE. honfleurgallerydc.com. Free. —Louis Jacobson