FRIDAY:

>> Ted Leo and the Pharmacists are at the 9:30 Club with Kristeen Young and Partyline, $15, 9 p.m. Also Saturday with Kristeen Young and Ris Paul Ric.

>> DC9's Liberation Dance Party hosts Brooklyn's Jaguar Club. $6, 9 p.m.

SATURDAY:

>> The Historic Sixth and I Synagogue hosts The Eight, D.C.'s part of a "worldwide Hannukah party" featuring the LeeVees, DeLeon and D.C.'s own Black and White JohnsonsJacksons. $12/$18, all ages, 9 p.m.

>> If you're set on snagging tickets for this year's Messiah singalong on Sunday, don't forget that tickets will be given away starting at 10 a.m. (we recommend getting there by 7 a.m. to make sure you get yours).

>> Don't miss the last day of the Corcoran College of Art + Design's Off the Walls holiday art sale. All sales of fine art, jewelry and other items go to benefit the Student Activities Programming Board. Admission is free, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

SUNDAY:

>> The National Gallery hosts In Search of the Essay Film, a special lecture with Hofstra English professor and author of American Movie Critics: An Anthology from the Silents until Now, Philip Lopate. The event features screenings of Alain Resnais' 1955 classic Night and Fog and Alan Berliner's 1996 widely acclaimed masterpiece Nobody's Business. 2 p.m. in the National Gallery's East Building Concourse, Large Auditorium. Free.

>> The Black Cat's annual Rock 'n' Shop event offers an opportunity to do a little holiday shopping while downing a few PBRs with your friends. Gift-giving doesn't get any more painless than this, folks. Free, 8 p.m.

>> La Maison Française is hosting an unusual cabaret concert that has been wildly successful in France, Jazz and the Diva, a collaboration between classical soprano Caroline Casadesus and jazz violinist Didier Lockwood, with pianist Dimitri Naïditch (mostly in English for the Washington performances). $25, 7 p.m. (also Monday and Tuesday, when they will present their original French version).

Charles Downey contributed.