Weekly Music Agenda
Here at DCist, we're not trying to break music news. We're not making an effort to tell you what's going to be driving the indie kids crazy this time next year. But when it happens, well, we'd be lying if we said we weren't pleased.
Now for the agenda.
Monday:
You know that if flakes fall, half of us will be doing our damnednest to stay away from roads, where flurries turn the normally competent into drooling mouth-breathers, and the other half will be hitting the bars, celebrating the day off tomorrow with evenings that culminate in drunken snowball fights and morning hangovers that fail to obscure the fact that only two inches fell and your boss is on the phone screaming at you to get to work, extra mad because last night he totaled his H2. All the same, it's the holidays, and nothing gets you into the spirit like a night of holiday music. Tonight, the Kennedy Center presents a Merry Tuba Christmas, which it describes as "a salute to tuba and euphonium artists and teachers." The touring performance has been around since 1973, and plays Christmas music arranged by American Composer Alec Wilder. The free show begins at 6:30.
Tuesday:
Speaking of the Kennedy Center, we caught Meredith Bragg and the Terminals (with a band expanded to include cello, organ, bass, trumpet, and glockenspiel) last week on the Millennium Stage, in a smooth, elegant performance that included material the group is preparing for a new EP. These guys get better every time we hear them, and we highly recommend their Tuesday show at Black Cat, where they open for indie popsters American Analog Set and Chris Brokaw. $10.
If you can't make it to the Cat, we also officially plug Iota's Tuesday show, where you can catch the quiet-ish Britrock act Shwa, out of Washington, DC. $10.
Wednesday:
We say head back to Black Cat on Wednesday for unique multimediums The Opposite Sex (Christina Ricci not involved). The group, based locally, play melodic New Wave rock but focus equally on their visual accompaniment -- sensational scenes provided by Line of Sight Films. The cost is only $5 on the back stage for one of D.C.'s weirder local live acts.
Thursday:
Thursday is the agenda's designated night for ear-bleeding. You're going to go out this night anyway, you're not going to be in good working shape on Friday, you may as well have a pleasant ringing in your ears to drown out your supervisor's nagging and threats of termination (from your job, unless you work in a more serious business than we do). For math-y fans of the left coast, we recommend seeing Pretty Girls Make Graves at the Black Cat. Visiting from the other Washington, this female fronted quintet play music so pretty, it almost feels wrong to slam to it.
For those of you still pining for Minor Threat, we instead invite you to visit the Warehouse, where the spartan performance space is perfect for the line-up of local punk acts they've assembled. Check out Haram, Porch Mob, Bleeder Resistor, and Dischord's own Routineers, but best not to attend without earplugs.
Friday:
In our conversations with local musicians, we frequently ask which local bands local bands like the most. Two acts that receive their peers' praise strikingly often have been put on a bill at Iota, and snuggled up with three other solid performers. Come see "rock and roll troubadours" The Cassettes and quirky duo Aquarium play a five-act bill on Friday night. $10.
Saturday:
Here's the part of the agenda where we ask you to pay attention, put down what you're doing, and look us in the eye. Some months ago, a DCist contributor wrote a post on Greenland, a local rock three-piece. We dutifully followed the contributor's links to the band's page, where we listened to their streamable MP3s over, and over, and over, and over again. A few weeks ago, we made our way to a benefit show in a Florida Avenue townhouse, where the all-star lineup included Greenland (and one of our December Three Stars bands - how subtly we tease) and we were out-and-out sold. We were ready to stand next to the LaRouchies at Connecticut and K and hand out flyers on how Greenland is the truth, the way, and the light. I'm not even lying.
All of that aside, their show this Saturday at DC9 also features The Hard Tomorrows and The Alphabetical Order, which equates to a lineup of solar eclipse power and rarity. It's $8; do yourself a favor and see the bands now.
Sunday:
The 9:30 Club is the place to be for dancehall, as Sean Paul comes to the D.C., but if you can't swing the $35, we also like Supercade, playing indie rock with a hint of jam band, at DC9. $6.