ENNIO, Art Films at NGA, and More: City Lights for April 18–25
Opens Friday; With a Wine and Chocolate Party Saturday: Ennio at AFI Silver After graduating from Rome’s Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia with a degree in composition, Ennio Morricone found himself in a condition familiar to many of those who study the creative arts: educated, talented, and broke. He took odd jobs playing trumpet on the…
New Worlds, Atmosphere, and More: City Lights for April 11–17
Opening Sunday: New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts I wrote about this exhibit for March’s Spring Arts Guide, but after seeing it in person it felt especially important to boost my recommendation of New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024. During the press tour, Katie Wat, chief curator…
Curtis Sittenfeld, District Dreamers Film Fest: City Lights for April 4 to 10
Thursday through Saturday: The DC History Conference at MLK Library The 50th annual DC History Conference will offer presentations from historians, journalists, graduate students, and current and former area residents with specialized knowledge on the myriad aspects of D.C. life from the 1700s to the present. Thursday night, April 4, the event kicks off with…
Washington Women in Jazz Festival: City Lights for March 28 to April 3
Saturday and Sunday: The 14th Annual Washington Women in Jazz Festival Though the 14th annual Washington Women in Jazz Festival has already hosted multiple events this March, it is closing out the month with a hopping, final weekend. Saturday starts off with a live recording of the Washington Women in Jazz podcast the Turnaround and…
Revolutions, Plant Sales, and Cider: City Lights for March 21–27
Thursday, Saturday, and Wednesday: Women’s History Month DCAF Fundraiser at ANXO Cider ANXO Cider is honoring Women’s History Month with a ton of events at their Brightwood Park location, housed within Brightwood Pizza & Bottle, raising funds for the DC Abortion Fund. Upcoming March events include Wednesday wine tastings accompanied with music by local DJs…
New Work From Justin Weaks: City Lights for March 14–20
Saturday and Sunday: The Music of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel at Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church Although romantic-era composer Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) received the same education as her famous younger brother Felix Mendelssohn (best known for the ubiquitous “The Wedding March”), even her own father declared her musical output as “only an ornament” to her calling…
Bratty and Soomin Ham’s Photos: City Lights for Feb. 29–March 7
Thursday: Bratty at Songbyrd On the opening track of TRES, the third album by 23-year-old Culiacán, Mexico, native Jennifer Abigail Juárez, the singer-songwriter confesses over a gentle acoustic guitar that she wants to “Write a new album/ One that’s really worth it.” That sort of frankness and insecurity, narrated in Juárez’s sweet soprano voice, has…
Last Wednesday, Rhett Miller: City Lights for Feb. 22–28
Thursday: Last Wednesday at Quarry House Tavern Most fledgling high school musicians who want to rock out find a few friends to jam with in a very accepting parents’ basement or garage and that’s about the extent of their music career. Last Wednesday, a Maryland-based rock quartet, have long graduated past the garage door, playing…
A Gatsby Party and Billy Dee Williams: City Lights for Feb. 15–21
Thursday: Billy Dee Williams at MLK Library If the mere mention of the movies Brian’s Song, Lady Sings the Blues, and Mahogany makes you break out into Eddie Murphy’s Nutty Professor II hand-clapping “Billy Dee! Billy Dee!” then the arrival of Billy Dee Williams’ autobiography, What Have We Here? Portraits of A Life (out now),…
Deap Vally, Topper Carew: City Lights for Feb. 8–14
Friday: An Evening with Topper Carew at AFI Silver You may have to be a native Washingtonian of a certain age to remember Topper Carew. The filmmaker’s most visible product in pop culture at large may be D.C. Cab, the 1983 hit comedy that starred Mr. T, Gary Busey, Irene Cara, and a host of others…
El Laberinto del Coco, Bonnie and Clyde: City Lights for Feb. 1–7
Thursday: El Laberinto del Coco at UMD’s Clarice Smith Center El Laberinto del Coco is a 2017-formed Puerto Rican group led by percussionist Hector “Coco” Barez that melds powerful Afro-Puerto Rican bomba percussion, jazzy Latin horns, and Santana-esque guitar, with Latin pop and rap vocals. Bomba is a folkloric Black Puerto Rican style of music…
Marc Cary, tick, tick…BOOM!, and More Best Bets for Jan. 25–31
Opens Friday: tick, tick…BOOM! at the Kennedy Center Starting Jan. 26, the Kennedy Center will put on a new production of tick, tick…BOOM! The play is an earlier work of Rent creator Jonathan Larson, an artist whose life has become inextricably linked to his art. Known not just for Rent but for the fact that…
Mindplay, Cowboy Bebop, and More Best Bets for Jan. 18–24
Opens Friday: Mindplay at Arena Stage “You can do terrible things with this,” Vinny DePonto shares about his skills as a mentalist. “Or you can make people feel less alone in their own heads, a sort of collective catharsis. That’s what the show is an attempt to do.” We are discussing Mindplay, which takes Arena…
MEN ARE ANIMALS and More Best Bets for Jan. 11–17
Friday through Sunday: MEN ARE ANIMALS at 11:Eleven There’s no doubt that art can be sexy, but most galleries don’t come with an “adults only” warning. Not so for MEN ARE ANIMALS, a pop-up event taking place at 11:Eleven gallery this weekend that’s exclusively for viewers over the age of 18. Curator Joshua Cook selected…
Elvis Burlesque, Milarepa Dorji, and More Best Bets for Jan. 4–10
Friday and Saturday: 13th Annual Elvis’ Birthday Fight Club Every year, for two weekends only, Elvis Presley briefly comes back to life to host a bizarre, glamorous, and utterly original fight show. Catch him and his D-list celebrity sidekick, Kittie Glitter, this weekend as they oversee raunchy and ridiculous fights between unforgettable characters, like Godzilla,…
New Year’s Eve, Beyoncé, and More Best Bets for Dec. 21–31
Tonight: RENAIDDANCE: Beyoncé Celebration at Union Stage Even after two nights of FedExField shows in August that drew A-list attendees like Vice President Kamala Harris, or the recent Renaissance Tour movie that sold out theaters across the District and broke box office records, the DMV (and the world, if we’re being honest) still can’t get…
Dance Club, the Spirit of Kwanzaa, and More Best Bets for Dec. 14-21
Tonight: Holiday Desserts Around the World at S. Dillon Ripley Center Food historian and cookbook author Francine Segan has lectured on a true smorgasbord of topics: from the art of dining in Downton Abbey, to the 21st-century breakthroughs in Italian ravioli to the myth-laden secrets of libidinous foods like oysters and ginseng. When it comes…
Girl From the North Country, A Touch of Red, and More Best Bets for Dec. 7–14
Friday: Smithsonian Associates Talk: The Christmas Truce of 1914 via Zoom This holiday season, it’s worth taking some time to remember a famous Christmas from history. On Friday, Dec. 8, the Smithsonian is hosting a talk with historian and battlefield guide Simon Jones on the Christmas Truce of 1914, a spontaneous outbreak of peace and…
(Mostly) Classical Music for the Holidays
Red ribbons and evergreen wreaths festooning door fronts and gates, twinkling lights brightening the evenings, menorahs lighting up windows, and the smell of pine and hot cocoa wafting through the crisp air at holiday markets. It’s December in D.C., and the music of the season adds to this most wonderful time of year, creating a…
Anjimile, Hailu Mergia, and More Best Bets for Nov. 30–Dec. 6
Tonight: Rogê at Millennium Stage Brazilian singer Rogê, born Roger Jose Cury, initially established his name performing for 10 years at the premier samba club, Carioca de Gema, in the Lapa neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. Rogê, who began playing guitar at age 10, tells City Paper, “Lapa was an amazing time. It was kind…
Liz Phair, Dorothea Lange, and More Best Bets for Nov. 22–29
Saturday: Liz Phair at the Anthem Thirty years ago, Liz Phair released her debut, Exile in Guyville, loosely conceived as a track-by-track feminist response to the rock machismo of the Rolling Stones’ 1972 record Exile on Main Street. We live in a postmodern era of constant remakes, reboots, and revivals, but Phair’s lo-fi Exile was…
Mipso, LaTasha Barnes, and More Best Bets for Nov. 16–22
Highlights this week include LaTasha Barnes at the Kennedy Center, Punk Rock Flea, Mipso, and art from Kee Woo Rhee and Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi.
Blonde Redhead, Dolly Parton, and More Best Bets for Nov. 9–15
Tonight: Blonde Redhead at Howard Theatre Blonde Redhead—the New York City-based, internationally created, dream-pop trio consisting of Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace—recently released their first album in almost a decade, Sit Down for Dinner. Lush, atmospheric, and misty, the songs on their 10th album are some of their best and also…
6LACK, Sun June, and More Best Bets for Nov. 2–8
Highlights this week include the Romanian Film Fest, Sub-Radio, Baltimore’s 6LACK, and Austin’s Sun June.
Fred Zafran Photos, LYRICS TO GO, and More Best Bets for Oct. 26–Nov. 1
Upcoming plans include El Alfa in Virginia, music writer Marc Masters on cassettes, Union Stage’s Shrek-themed ball, a visual arts celebration of hip-hop, and Fred Zafran’s photos.
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