Out and About: Weekend Picks
FRIDAY:
ART: If you can't get enough of that Olympic fever, Civilian Art Projects presents photographer Gesche Würfel's depiction of the transformation of London's landscape in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games. Go for Gold! opens tonight with a reception from 7 to 9 p.m.
SPOKEN WORD: The Expressions Series: Hip Hop Festival!!! is being held tonight and Saturday at the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Performing Arts Center. The festival will celebrate some of the area's best dance, music and spoken word acts. Slated to take part are Three star alums Fly Gypsy, Culture Shock DC, Urban Artistry, Dimensions of Funk, Just Tap, Tappening and DJ 2-Tone Jones . $22 in advance, 8 p.m.
MUSIC: One of DCist's favorite local acts, Caverns, are releasing their new EP, We Lied, this weekend at Comet Ping Pong. Featuring three new songs and a Frodus cover ("December 21, 2012"), the EP is a limited release that will only be available at live shows. 10:30 p.m., $8, with like-minded locals Detox Retox and Prisms.
Local hip-hop duo DTMD (Dunc Toine Making Dollas) will be making their performance debut downstairs at the Velvet Lounge tonight, on the heels of the release of a solid first EP, The Basics. Also on the bill: Surock, Maverick, DJ Eurok, DJ Underdog, Orbit and host Reemstarr. $5, 9 p.m.
SATURDAY:
MOVIE: Don't miss our film picks for the week, which includes the Terra Cotta Warriors Film Festival, featuring a kung fu triple feature of Hero, Lao Tou Ho, and Legendary Weapons of China. The series starts at noon at National Geographic's Grosvenor Auditorium. $10 per movie, or $24 for all three. Tickets may be purchased online.
ART: Curator's Office presents DRAG: Jason Horowitz, a collection of large-scale and extreme close-up photographs of expressive drag queens. Opening reception is 6 to 8 p.m.
MUSIC: Tickets can still be had to catch Mission of Burma at the Black Cat. Office of Future Plans will open. $15, 9 p.m.
Also still available for purchase: supergroup Nouvelle Vague, featuring new wave and punk songs performed in their signature bossa nova style, at the 9:30 Club. 8 p.m., $25.
JAZZ: Octogenarian Chico Hamilton is a bona fide jazz legend, having been named an NEA Jazz Master. He will be leading a group in a rare local performance at Bohemian Caverns, supporting his latest release, Twelve Tones of Love. Tickets to the 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. sets are $25. Read our full preview here.
LECTURE: The increasingly popular Nerd Nite is back at DC9, this time featuring informative and entertaining talks from Matt Buffington ("Excuse me, are you going to eat that maggot?"), Nevin Martell ("The Lost Art of Calvin and Hobbes Creator Bill Watterson"), and Amber Reynolds ("Stormchasing - On the ground and up in the sky"). 6:30 p.m. We're told advanced tickets have already sold out, but a limited number of tickets will be available for viewing the event downstairs on TV monitors. That'll cost you $6.
SUNDAY:
JAZZ: Renowned saxophonist Joshua Redman will bring his latest trio to UMD's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. 8 p.m. $42/$9 students. Our full preview is here.
PERFORMANCE: Drishtipat D.C., a local human rights organization, is hosting One World, Many Voices, to commemorate the United Nations' International Mother Language Day. The celebration of cultural diversity will take place at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue, and will feature South Asian dance performances, Native-American songs, music from the Andes, belly dancing, tango, and more. 6-7:30 p.m. Free.
MUSIC: Leslie & the LY's is really Leslie Hall, aka Mother Gem, the ultimate in glam kitcsh pop rock performers. All Junior Gems are requested to take in the spectacle at DC9, 8:30 p.m., $10. Christopher the Conquered and Shock Diamond open.
UK-based Editors replaced the bombastic, guitar driven rock of their first two albums with bombastic, synth heavy rock on 2009's In This Light And On This Evening, but they always put on a great show. Check them out on Sunday at the 9:30 Club to close out a great week of concerts here in the District. Hotly tipped Brooklyn act Antlers open along with The Dig. $20, doors at 7 p.m.