Weekly Music Agenda
MONDAY
>>Satisfy your cheese cravings as former American Idol star (and Richmond, VA native) Elliot Yamin plays the 9:30 Club, with the Last Goodnight and Josh Hoge. $25, Doors at 7 p.m.
>>Australian pop singer Ben Lee -- he of the short-lived Bens and "Catch My Disease" moderate fame -- comes to Alexandria's Del Ray neighborhood to play the Birchmere. Joining him is are Cary Brothers. $19.50, 7:30 p.m.
TUESDAY
>>Dinosaur Jr. just can't stop re-uniting. Their relatively recent comeback album, Beyond, was a solid return to form, and despite the years, these guys still bring it with their feedback-drenched power-trio jams. An odd combination of opening band names: Awesome Color and Dead Confederate. At the Black Cat, $20, 8 p.m.
>>Your favorite "Jessica Rabbit" rocker, Devil Doll, brings her sultry live show to the Red and the Black. $8, Doors 8 p.m.
>>Rockin' workhorses Cold War Kids return to D.C., yet again. We've been a big fan of theirs in the past, and this show's sold out, but Craig has a few alternative options. At the 9:30 Club, with Richard Swift and The Rumble Strips. (Please note that their Wednesday show has been canceled)
>>Tuesday night sure is loaded with good shows. The Woggles -- that ageless bunch of garage-dwelling retro-rockers from Georgia -- plays DC9. We can't imagine a better place to check them out. And just to add fuel to the fire, they're joined by D.C.'s terrific purveyors of garage, The Hall Monitors. With Must Love Trash. $8/10, Doors at 8:30 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
>>Does anything say the holidays like a game of Drunken Jenga with your friends in Northeast DC? The latest craze to sweep the District rocks the Rock and Roll Hotel with a DJ set of dance-punk and indie pop while you play Jenga, drunkenly. Free, 8 p.m. - 2 a.m.
THURSDAY
>>Denver punk band Planes Mistaken For Stars promise this is their last tour. Two of the band members have already formed a new band called Git Some. We're not even kidding. Catch what could be their last DC show ever at the Red and the Black. $10, Doors at 9 p.m.
>>In the pick of the week, M.I.A.'s stop at the 9:30 Club has been sold out for a while. A few Craigslist options remain.
FRIDAY
>>Great quadruple bill comes to the Rock and Roll Hotel: Three Stars alums Jukebox the Ghost and tour diarists These United States join DCist fave Ra Ra Riot and Sam Champion. All that for the low, low price of $10 before, $12 at the door. Show 9 p.m.
>>The Black Cat hosts Cryfest, a dance party pitting The Smiths vs. The Cure, brought to you by DJs Steve EP, Killa K, and Krasty McNasty. 10 bucks to get in, Kleenex available at the door, 9:30 p.m.
SATURDAY
>>Durham, NC-based group Little Brother are two of the hardest-working, and most entertaining, rappers in the business. See if Phonte breaks out into an '80s pop tune-singing alter-ego during their Black Cat show. Evidence of Dilated Peoples and Reef the Lost Cause will also be performing. 9 p.m., $15.
>>A great cause and a pretty cool event to benefit New Orleans' displaced musicians. Mike Mills of R.E.M. and Al "Carnival Time" Johnson will perform at an event hosted by the Future of Music Coalition, and the invitation is here. It's $200 a person, but if you're feeling particularly generous this holiday season, it sounds like an awesome event. More details here.
SUNDAY
>> Savannah sludge band Baroness visits DC9, with openers Cholera and Salome. Doors 8:30 p.m., $8/10.