Arts and Events: September 2008 Archives

MUSIC: Venerable UK/French synth-pop ensemble Stereolab are at the 9:30 Club, and tickets are still available for $25. 7:30 p.m. doors, with Atlanta's Atlas Sound and local electronica outfit Chessie.

When we last saw Jacksonville's Black Kids, they were priming the Black Cat mainstage crowd for Aussie electro-pop sensation Cut Copy. This time, they sold out the Black Cat in their own right, despite their former tourmates playing a larger venue just down the street. If there were any questions as to whether the Black Cat crowd merely contained dance-hungry kids who couldn't get into the 9:30 Club show, they were warranted as even Black Kids singer Reggie Youngblood commented that even he wasn't sure which show he'd pick, given the option.

>> Baltimore's Fertile Ground will be taking part in the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival. They'll be performing at the 9:30 Club. $25, 6 p.m.

"This is the song that’s made us whatever we are today," said Oxford Collapse singer/guitarist Michael Pace upon introducing "Please Visit Our National Parks." He then added, "I have no idea what that is." This sense of confusion over the Brooklyn trio's place in the indie rock paradigm is understandable.

Nizam Ali — whose parents, Ben and Virginia Ali, opened Ben's Chili Bowl 50 years ago — and Tracey Gold Bennett will be at the Busboys and Poets in D.C. to discuss and sign copies of their new book, Ben's Chili Bowl: 50 Years of a Washington DC Landmark. 6:30 p.m.

          

It was an Australian electronic spectacular on Friday at the 9:30 Club, with Melbourne's Cut Copy and Sydney's The Presets taking the stage, along with Heartbreak from London. The crowd was sold out and in a dancing mood, and the bands served them well.

DCist's guide to lectures and panel discussions in the D.C. area

philliefan99 caught a skateboarder mid-flight at Sunday's Crafty Bastards arts and crafts fair in Adams Morgan. The striking black and white further intensifies the focus on the skater's face, as he, for a moment, spreads his arms to glide above the pavement. EXIF.

For those of us who spent our childhood (or adulthood) glued to oldies radio stations, reliving a mythical golden era, Martha Reeves is more than just a household name. Her years with the Vandellas constituted one of the most successful runs during Motown's halcyon days in the mid-'60s. You can't flip on BIG 100.3 FM or go to a wedding these days without hearing "Dancing in the Street" or "(Love is like a) Heat Wave", and "Jimmy Mack" and "Nowhere to Run" have never fallen out of steady radio rotation. Mrs. Reeves came to town last week -- to play a show, sure, but also to pay Congress a visit in support of her chosen cause, musicFIRST.

>> The Young Dubliners -- well, youngish -- bring their Emerald Isle-by-way-of-the-Golden State nu-traditional celt-folk to the the Birchmere. Locals Scythian open. 7:30 p.m., $20.

>> French pianist Hélène Grimaud (pictured) has been playing in our area about once a year recently, and she is back this week, with the National Symphony Orchestra (October 2 to 4). Guest conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya leads Grimaud in Beethoven's fourth piano concerto, as well as the Consecration of the House overture and Shostakovich's fifth symphony, in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets: $20 to $80, with reduced tickets possibly available to patrons ages 18 to 25 (you now have to register with the Attend! program).

Tia Lessin's path to her first feature documentary as a director started right here in Washington D.C., and carried her through production duties on some of the biggest profile documentary projects of the past decade, including three Michael Moore films (and his TV series), and Martin Scorcese's Dylan doc, No Direction Home. With her co-director Carl Deal, she has created one of the definitive documents of the impact of Hurricane Katrina, told through one young couple who attempted to weather the storm in the Lower Ninth Ward before being forced to flee on the rising waters. Trouble the Water was a particular highlight of the films we saw at this year's SILVERDOCS documentary festival earlier this summer, and the film is opening today for a brief run here in D.C. at the Landmark E Street Cinema, where Lessin and Deal will be on hand at a number of screenings this weekend. Tia Lessin answered a few questions for DCist about her experiences making the film.

     

A little over a year ago, Conner Contemporary Gallery announced the closing of their gallery space in North Dupont to start renovations on a new building in Northeast D.C. This Saturday is the inaugural opening of the new space, and DCist got a sneak peak.

FRIDAY:

The after effects of Hurricane Katrina rarely get headlines these days. A historic presidential election, economic troubles, and other natural disasters have seen to that. Still, the suffering continues for many despite the inattention of the national debate. While artists don't have ability to enact policy changes to save a city on the brink, they can use the stage and microphone to draw attention to this ongoing issue.

We're not quite sure what's going on here, but color us intrigued. Flickr user elocke apparently took this detail of an art car at last weekend's H Street Festival. You can check out other details of random vignettes, but alas no shot of the entire car. Anyone catch a glimpse of this gaudy spectacle? EXIF.

The financial news is far from rosy, but there is good news this morning for the city's classical music lovers. It looked to be a rudderless, vanilla season for the National Symphony Orchestra, without a Music Director since the departure of Leonard Slatkin at the end of last season. But the NSO has just announced a September surprise: veteran conductor Christoph Eschenbach (pictured), most recently of the Philadelphia Orchestra, will be appointed Music Director for the 2010-11 season. He will also hold the position of Music Director of the Kennedy Center, working with that organization's president, Michael Kaiser, on concert and festival programming.

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

            

Yesterday, DCist got the chance to preview the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History's new Sant Ocean Hall, which opens to the public this Saturday. Our photographer, Meaghan Gay, said "It really is a very cool space. I am kind of a museum freak, and this blows away the Natural History museum in NY, or the one in Vienna for that matter. This is a totally interactive space, with video touch screens all around." The musuem is making a huge effort at interactivity — you can follow them on their web site, on Flickr, on Facebook, on YouTube and even on Twitter.

Back in 2007, L.A.'s The Broken West seemed to make a point of stopping through D.C. on a weekly basis. In the space of a few months, they opened for The Walkmen, The Long Winters, and shared a bill with The Whigs. Each time I caught them they were pretty good -- never great -- but didn't quite live up to the tried-and-true California power pop of their proper debut, I Can't Go On, I'll Go On. Their latest, Now or Heaven, is a little more done-up, with more blips and beeps and an altogether denser atmosphere.

MUSIC: Big night for local music at Iota, where Three Stars alums Bellflur are coming together with members of Exit Clov, The Bonapartes, Cobra Collective and Sun Child for a large band set. Pree, the current project from former Le Loup guitarist May Tabol and her rotating cast of musicians, will be opening. 9 p.m., $10.

         

Written and photographed by Martin Locraft

We can't get enough arts listings around here, so we're happy to see the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington launch CultureCapital.com this week. Check it out for listings of visual and performance arts and entertainment all over the region, mostly from the bigger venues in town. You can sign up for their mailing list for weekly deals, as well.

• WaPo columnist Courtland Milloy has Officer James Haskell's version of events as told to investigators into the shooting death of 14-year-old DeOnté Rawlings: "Asked by investigators to describe how DeOnté was firing and running at the same time, Haskell said the boy was running with what police later said was a .45-caliber semiautomatic in his right hand while firing back over his left shoulder."
• A Maryland state delegate who called for "DUI" license plates that would be issued to people convicted more than once of drunken driving has been charged with driving under the influence himself. [AP via NBC4]
• A developer plans to put a Fatburger in on Florida Ave. near Howard University. [renew shaw]

Fresh from a stay in the Catskills playing this year’s New York installment of All Tomorrow’s Parties, Built To Spill came to town last night with just one album in its repertoire for the evening. The trend of playing classic albums in their entirety continues to grow, particularly with ATP’s Don’t Look Back series initiating so many such shows for their festivals. And if you’re going to spend time rehearsing the whole record, might as well take it on the road rather than just keep it for the one festival, right? It’s lucky that BTS decided not to limit their performances of 1997’s Perfect from Now On just to the ATP festival date; last night’s 9:30 Club crowd was treated to a performance that infused the decade-old record with renewed vigor.

Yesterday we told you about FLUX, the umbrella group of arts organizations proposing to turn Cook Elementary into a multi-use art space. During our discussion with Warehouse's Paul Ruppert, we also got some more information about a separate push to convert the unused space underneath Dupont Circle. Ruppert, along with Adam Griffiths from the Washington Project for the Arts, and Julian Hunt, an architect with Hunt Laudi Studio, have formed an "ad hoc committee" as part of the new Artist Coalition for Dupont Underground.

LECTURE: Concerned about whether the Large Hadron Collider has destroyed the Earth yet? The topic seems likely to dominate the discussion tonight at the Natural History Museum's Baird Auditorium. Get there at 7 p.m. to hear astronomer Rocky Kolb, particle physicist Joe Lykken, and cosmologist Michael Turner "debate what dark matter and dark energy are, and discuss upcoming research, including how accelerators, particle detectors, and telescopes will be used to determine what the 96% unseen portion of the Universe is." Tickets for The Dark Side of the Universe: Dark Matter and Dark Energy cost $20 or $10 for students with valid ID; call 202-633-3030 for more info.

Flickr user soleil1016 took this photo of the old Waffle Shop on 10th Street NW, giving it an appropriate classic or historical look, since it's been shut down for awhile now. We especially like the bright building reflections in the windows. EXIF.

>> Up-and-coming saxophone sensation Marcus Strickland lent his sound to Mos Def on Sunday night. Tonight, he'll be leading his own group through 8 and 10 p.m. sets at Blues Alley. Tickets are $20 + $12.50 minimum/surcharge.

      

Written by DCist contributor Spencer Ackerman

At the end of the 2007-2008 school year, 21 schools in the DCPS closed for good. During the summer, the city put up a request for proposals for ways to reuse the buildings, and via the Bloomingdale blog, it looks like some of our local arts supporters grabbed on to the opportunity.

MUSIC: Built to Spill's 1997 album, Perfect From Now On, is pretty close to being perfect. We'd wager the main reason the band hasn't yet sold out its 9:30 Club show tonight, where they intend to play the entire album from beginning to end, is that the ticket prices are a little steep. OK, and maybe also because they have a reputation for being unable to keep themselves from turning into a jam band when they play live. Let's hope that $25 buys us a little less jam and a little more perfection. With The Meat Puppets and The Drones. 7 p.m. doors.

Leo Villareal, 41, is a New York-based artist who works with light. He debuts new work in Washington this month: Leo Villareal: New Work opens on Friday at Conner Contemporary Art and his installation in the concourse walkway between the East and West Buildings of the National Gallery of Art is already underway and expected to be complete by late fall. The NGA installation will be on view for a year, and consists of approximately 42,000 computer-programmed LED nodes that run through the hallway.

>> "R&B Live" is a new event taking place at Posh after successful runs in other cities. The inagural show will feature Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry. $40, 8 p.m.

Today's POTD features a sweet pair of Adidas Gil Zeros in the Redskins colors/Chocolate City style, from Flickr user dharmabumx. With the Cardinals defeat in the rear view mirror, the 'Skins are gearing up for the clash with longtime arch enemies the Dallas Cowboys this Sunday at 4:15 p.m.

TUESDAY

The projection screen at the back of the stage flickered to life with a giant from the District's past, when it truly was Chocolate City. The clip featured Petey Green, the legendary talk show host, who gave the audience his own inimitable thoughts on the proper way to eat a watermelon. Thus began Amino Alkaline--The Watermelon Syndicate, Mos Def's new concert production that teams the MC with a 25-piece band. Potent hip-hop grooves, supplied by some of the country's finest young jazz and orchestral musicians, coupled with the rapper's on-point delivery resulted in an impressive performance that showcased a consummate artist in his prime. The Kennedy Center also deserves credit for mounting this event, which drew as diverse an audience as one is likely to see in a formal concert hall setting.

Welcome to Talk to Me, Baby, a new feature where we highlight the city's best talking events: the free, the cheap, and the spendy at the area's museums, galleries, and auditoriums. As always, stay tuned to Popcorn and Candy for film screenings and their related discussions, and to Reader, Meet Author for book talks.

While we're a fan of rustic buildings as much as anyone, it seems strange that the D.C. Superior Court would boast the type of wear and tear that you'd usually see on a woodshed, battered through years of inclement weather. Sure, it's got plenty of character - but Flickr user polytropos provides the photographic evidence that it might be time for the city government to invest in a bucket of paint or two.

>> The Folger Consort performs its first program of early music on historical instruments this weekend, Music from the Court of Isabella d'Este (September 26 to 28). The setting is the warm, intimate acoustic of the Folger Shakespeare Library's theater (201 E. Capitol St. SE).

FRIDAY:

Flickr user murkiv shares this photo of a violin resting in its case at Eastern Market. The shot is a great reminder that with a small change in perspective, everyday objects can become quite remarkable. EXIF.

Back in the second Clinton administration, when No Depression proudly billed itself as "The Alternative Country (whatever that is) bi-monthly magazine," no band seemed to carry more potential to bring this music into the mainstream with its integrity intact than Old 97's. Solidifying its four-man lineup in Dallas in 1993, the band -- an amalgamation of the Meat Puppets, Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, The Replacements, Merle Haggard, and yeah, okay, The Beatles -- released a couple of albums on Chicago's fine "insurgent country" label Bloodshot Records before being called up to the majors. The trio of albums they made for Elektra Records circa 1997-2001 (including Too Far to Care, widely regarded as their pinnacle) mostly delighted critics and fans, but failed to move units in major-label volume.

Some hometown art pride was announced today: the Lunder Conservation Center, run by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery, just received the biennial Keck Award from the International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works. The award goes to an "individual or group who has contributed most toward promoting public understanding and appreciation of the accomplishments of the conservation profession." Unlike any other museum, the Lunder Conservation Center has floor to ceiling glass walls that allow the public to get a first hand view at the conservation techniques used by the museum. The center is available for viewing during regular hours at the Reynolds Center.

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

HAPPY HOUR: The Argonaut, the very first pub to herald in all the changes we've seen to H Street NE over the last couple of years, is celebrating its 3rd anniversary tonight. Take advantage of $5 off beer pitchers and free reign on the excellent jukebox all night long.

We wish Flickr user Sanjay Suchak had added this great image of the U.S. Army band conductor taking a bow to the pool a little earlier than this week. He took this back in June during one of the many performances military bands have on the Capitol steps during the summer. Concerts by every branch go on almost every day from June through August....which means we just missed the last of them. Is it too early to start looking forward to next summer?

In 2006, local artist Sondra N. Arkin was given an enviable but extremely difficult job: acquire the defining volume of works that captured the breadth and scope of D.C. art to display in HeART of DC, the City Hall Art Collection at the John A. Wilson Building. She was given funds through the D.C. Commission on Arts and Humanities, access to their temporary art bank, six floors of empty hallways, and mere months to make it all happen. By that October, she'd purchased 155 pieces of art and borrowed 18 from the art bank to round out the collection of D.C.'s greatest artists.

       

Written and photographed by Martin Locraft.

MOVIE: The 2008 AFI Latin American Film Festival kicked off last night, and tonight they've got Mexican director Alex Rivera in person for a q&a after a screening of his latest film, Sleep Dealer, which was a big hit at Sundance and is being compared to The Matrix. At the AFI Silver Theater, 7 p.m.

Flickr user Warren Wallace took this great shot of all the development in Southeast. The twilight sky and glow from the streetlamps give the scene an almost historical feel, as if we'll be seeing this in chronicles of D.C. development. EXIF.

       

Looks like quite a few of you went down to cheer on competitors in this past weekend's 3rd annual Nation's Triathlon. William Schultz, 39, took first place in the challenging 1.5K swim in the Potomac River, 40K bike route and 10K run through downtown D.C., with a time of 2:01:50. Megan Knepper was the first woman to cross the finish line, at 2:17:37. And the District of Columbia's most famous participant, Mayor Adrian Fenty, took 149th place out of 1443 men (168th overall) with a time of 2:30:10. Not too shabby, Mr. Mayor. You can view the searchable race results here.

MUSIC: Catch Montreal's Miracle Fortress tonight at the Black Cat's backstage, with John Davis's new post-Georgie James project, Title Tracks, and Meredith Bragg. $10, 9 p.m.

A big group of Flickr contributors went out to capture images of last night's Harvest moon. It was difficult to choose just one, but today's POTD from Flickr user erin_m is a striking example, with the bright sphere hovering over the Capitol building. I see the moon behind the shadow of the cloud, ready to pounce. We'll see if we can't post some more Harvest moon shots later on.

              

Thousands of people braved the brutal heat this past weekend to check out two of our local annual festivals: Arts on Foot and the Adams Morgan Day Festival. As reward for sweating it out, they got treats galore (the $2-4 tasting plates at Arts on Foot were especially good, like tiramisu cups from Co Co Sala) and performances aplenty, like Brazilian and Salsa dancing at Adams Morgan Day. A friend and I took advantage of the free tours in Penn Quarter and walked through the new Museum of Crime and Punishment (which usually sets visitors back $17.95). Check out what our photographers Martin Locraft, Mary Cunningham, and Flickr contributors saw, and tell us your favorite part in the comments.

>> Jaguar Wright has always been neo-soul's bad girl, and that's been a large part of her appeal. The Philly native will be at The Republic for her D.C. engagement. $20, 8 p.m.

      

Guess all that time spent on the road did David Berman some good, eh? Despite his reputation as a hermetic, troubled intellectual, Berman was in rare form when he performed with his Silver Jews at the Black Cat on Wednesday night. Sure, Berman might have had the stage presence of an English professor--what did you expect?--but he genuinely seemed to be enjoying himself up there as he paced up and down the stage, dryly singing his way through a night full of wordy, cerebral narratives. It helped that his band, anchored by wife Cassie, was totally on point and that the night's setlist--heavy on songs from the recent Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea, as well as the band's 2001 masterpiece Bright Flight--was impeccably chosen and sequenced.

>> At age 95, Mississippi born Pinetop Perkins is still hammering out the blues on his piano. He will be performing for free with the Nighthawks at the Kennedy Center Theater Lab (a Millennium Stage production). He may even be sneaking a smoke onstage, like he was when we saw him a few years back—doesn't he know that's gonna knock years off his life? Free, 6 p.m.

With the National Museum of the American Indian already on the mall, art that represents the American Indian doesn’t often show up at other local museums. But George de Forest Brush: The Indian Paintings, a National Gallery of Art show that opened this weekend, presents insight into both the work of an obscure painter and into 19th century Native American life.

Washington National Opera opened its fall season on Saturday night, with an ultra-conventional but visually lavish production of Giuseppe Verdi's classic La Traviata. One of the so-called Big Three from the ground-breaking middle of Verdi's operatic career, the opera's libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, a poet so compliant that he became a sort of punching bag for the composer, is a miracle of dramatic concision. In this opera, you can actually watch Verdi forcing the conventions of Italian opera that he inherited — the cavatina, the cabaletta, the banda, the toast scene — to bend to the telling of a story. That story, about a courtesan who finds love outside of society's moral strictures and is punished for it, also resonated personally with Verdi. A widower, he resented the criticism he received from his contemporaries for living with the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi before they were ultimately married.

It's written right here in subsection 218 of the "Sacred British Cows" chapter of the (Semi)Professional Rock Critics' Catechism and Field Manual that any discussion of former Jam and Style Council frontman and prolific rock-folk-soul journeyman Paul Weller must mention that he's Huge in the U.K. and more of an Anglophile footnote in the U.S.

Flickr user Marek_K's capture of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian is impressive enough. But I couldn't help thinking that the black and white - and the building's smooth curves - create a sort of inanimate companion piece to Colin Lane's improvised cover for The Strokes' 2001 Is This It LP. You have to admit, for D.C., that's one alluring structure.

MONDAY:

In this week's agenda, the focus is on contemporary music. Earlier this week, the opening concert in the Mobtown Modern contemporary music series, at the Contemporary Museum in Baltimore, prompted us to think about concerts in Washington in the same vein.

• Cary Silverman has conceded the Ward 2 Democratic primary race to incumbent Jack Evans, though he says he still lacks confidence in the election results. [City Desk]
• Mayor Fenty will take part in the Nation's Triathlon in D.C. on Sunday. Check out the spectator guide here if you'd like to catch some of the race. [D.C. Wire]
• By popular demand, we are reminding you once more that Adams Morgan Day is on Sunday. Fans of meat on sticks: take note.

FRIDAY:

can be a tense, devastating play, but it comes most alive when its characters are laughing.

Provisions Library, D.C.’s learning laboratory for the arts and social change, which opened its doors in September of 2001, launched a new initiative this past summer, BrushFire. By staging socially-minded public art events nationally, BrushFire aims to promote discourse about democracy, including key political and social issues such as the war in Iraq, immigration, the environment, the economy and health care. The highest concentration of BrushFire events is in the D.C. area, with over a dozen arts organizations holding events in the months leading to the November elections, and several of these exhibitions open this weekend. We touched on a few of them in yesterday’s Arts Agenda, but get out your calendars, because here’s the full run-down.

The DCist Flickr pool has been filled with some sharp nature shots of late. Allow us to indulge once more with this entry from cooperme, of a striking flower from the U.S. Botanical Gardens. The angle of the light and placement of the camera make the petals deceptively glacial. EXIF.

Toy model kits, usually relegated to the enthusiastic hobbyist, are turned on their head at Anti-Plastic, currently showing at Flashpoint. The show is filled with nostalgia, juxtapositions and exploration. Artist Anthony Cervino uses scraps of toys and the wiry, plastic structures typically used to contain the parts of pre-assembled model kits, such as planes or cars, and deconstructs them to create various low-relief sculptural settings and landscapes.

Despite that avuncular beard, Lucas was not a kindly mentor (like Obi-Wan Kenobi), but instead kind of a dick (like Grand Moff Tarkin). He wouldn't let her wear a bra, explaining matter-of-factly that "there's no underwear in space." (That didn't stop him from dressing her in chainmail lingerie for Return of the Jedi in 1983, kicking off my sexual awakening a decade or so ahead of schedule.) Fisher weighed a decidedly un-Hutt-like 105 lbs. when Lucas cast her; he told her to drop ten. Hollywood is a cesspool of bantha poodoo, no? Dude actually owns Fisher's likeness, too, so, sez Fisher, "when I look in the mirror, I have to send him a couple of bucks." But even after all that, she doesn't hold a grudge.

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

This weekend, you shouldn't even need to leave your own neighborhood to find some new art just waiting to be admired. Fourteenth Street NW has the big coordinated openings, but a number of places from H Street to Alexandria will be having gallery openings and festivals (which, hopefully, won't be rained on).

       

Former GOP presidential candidate and governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee surprised practically all of the country a few months back when he ably and deftly spoofed himself on an episode of Saturday Night Live, proving that he was not only a good sport about his candidacy and didn’t take himself too seriously, but that there were some discernible comedic chops there. Last night at the DC Improv, Huckabee proved his SNL appearance was no fluke, winning this year’s DC’s Funniest Celebrity competition, now in its 15th year and benefiting VSA arts, a non-profit dedicated to providing people with disabilities greater access to the arts.

MONUMENTS: The Pentagon Memorial opens to the public for the first time tonight at 7 p.m. It will be open 24 hours a day thereafter, but plenty of people will be heading down tonight to see it for themselves on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The Navy Band and the Sea Chanters Chorus will perform a musical tribute to mark the opening from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Don't forget about the bus route changes, and be prepared for large crowds on the Metro.

For the past seven years, the Kennedy Center has launched its season with Prelude, a month-long series of events that are available to the public for free or at a low cost. Prelude gives a chance for new patrons to see the range of performances the Kennedy Center offers, while regular patrons have a chance to experience more contemporary and innovative works.

EXIF. 

MUSIC: The Silver Jews make a rare appearance at the Black Cat tonight, with Tel Aviv-based Monotonix, $13, 8 p.m.

This year’s Metro DC Dance Awards honored the best of the city’s dancers, choreographers, and companies on Monday night at the Kennedy Center. As evidence of the flourishing dance hub Washington is consistently becoming, it was standing room only for the sold out ceremony.

Summer's almost over, folks - anyone who walked outside early this morning and felt a slight chill in the breeze can attest that the days of sweaters will be upon us rather soon. That said, we found this picture — taken by Flickr user Jing a Ling and featuring a flight of dessert wines at Cleveland Park wine bar Enology — reminiscent of our favorite colors of the transition to autumn: splashes of oranges, yellows, and one (or three) reds. EXIF.

>> Butch Warren played with the finest in jazz throughout the 1960s, including Thelonious Monk and Dexter Gordon. He has gone through periodic rough spells over the past several decades, and let's just say that a conversation with him can lead to some interesting places. That's just one of many reasons to catch the legendary bassist and his band on Wednesday nights at Columbia Station (2325 18th Street, NW). Call 202-462-6040 for set time and cover information.

MUSIC: Adorable indie rock en Español songstress Julieta Venegas plays a free show at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage at 6 p.m. Here's hoping she plays that sweet "Casa Abandonada" track from the 2002 KCRW Sounds Eclectic Too compilation.

I really like the effect of today’s Photo of the Day from Flickr user ebreidy. This is pulled off by using a selective focus lens called a Lensbaby. The way the focus is placed and the subjects' positioning of the legs really gives you the feel it was captured as she was falling. Great black and white treatment pulls it together with a hint of mystery. EXIF.

>> Ever since she burst onto the scene with Groove Theory, Amel Larrieux has maintained her status as a top flight vocalist, dabbling in R&B and jazz. She'll be taking up residence at the Birchmere for two successive nights. $35, 7:30 p.m., also Thursday.

MOVIE: Bummed out to be back in the thick of the daily grind today? Metro up to Silver Spring and catch a 7 p.m. screening of The Muppet Movie for a little dose of sunshine. Tonight's presentation is one of a handful of encore screenings held over from the AFI Silver Theater's Jim Henson's Legacy program, which ended Aug. 24. Can you picture that?

       

Otherwise known as the Mother of All Meat on a Stick Events, Maryland's annual Renaissance Festival opened in Crownsville, Md. on August 23 and runs every weekend until October 19, with all the men in tights and corseted bosoms you could ask for. Our photographer Martin Locraft hit up the festival last weekend, though if you're into watching burly dudes toss two-story high logs, get over there this Saturday and Sunday for their Scottish Celebration weekend. See the festival web site for more information.

>> The U.K.'s latest Britpop export, the Kooks, are sure to please folks left longing for the halcyon days of the Blur/Pulp rivalry. Their Monday night headlining gig at the 9:30 Club is sold out, but maybe if you're lucky, you can show up early and buy an extra ticket off of one of the hundreds of lovestruck adolescent girls sure to be in attendance. With Illinois, sold out, 7 p.m.

We're always on the lookout for gutsy photography — and this shot from Flickr user Brian Knight Photography would certainly wake most cameras in the middle of the night with a cold sweat. But high risk shots often times lead to extraordinary rewards: the composition, even rapidly speeding through the greens and grays of a rural Virginia road, is of the highest quality. EXIF.

Steve Gillon will be at the New America Foundation to discuss The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation. 12:15 p.m.

After lying dormant for most of the summer, the Classical Music Agenda stirs to life in the first week of September, as news of upcoming concerts filters into the mailbox. Washington offers an extraordinary number of free concerts most weeks, so we will start there.

FRIDAY:

For those familiar with the original work, there's something daunting about the fact that when intermission rolls around during Catalyst Theater's production of Christopher Gallu's adaption of , we know that all there's really left to see is the interrogation scenes -- and they aren't going to be brief.

Flickr user mosley.brian brings us this bitter-sweet reminder that Happy the Hippo will soon be leaving us. No word yet on his official departure date or where the big guy will end up. So, make the most of the time we still have with Happy and stop by the Zoo to bid farewell, because before you know it he'll be gone, and we'll only have our memories to keep us warm. EXIF.

We've been hearing about ArtSpace in Shaw for some time, and on August 13 we stopped by during one of their open studios, which go on every Monday. The nonprofit offers classes and studio time to local adults.

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

              

Written and photographed by DCist Contributor Nestor Diaz

Arts lovers, we hope you've cleared your calendar for the next two weekends. The 2008-2009 season kicks off en masse with nearly every gallery in the region opening new exhibits. Both Dupont and the 7th Street corridor are coordinating openings this weekend, so let's see what they've got:

Signature Theater's Broadway-bound musical has a story that is so much more appealing than its lyrics, that it's tempting to wonder whether the whole thing might have worked even better as a play.

MUSIC: Three Stars favorites Shortstack are back at the Black Cat's backstage, with Sons of Guns and Zeke Healey. $10, 9 p.m.

"Capable of rapid buildup and extensive defoliation" are not words one wants to hear with regards to creepy-crawlies.  Sounding the arrival of the bagworm, Flickr user and aspiring helminthologist volcanojw recently spent a prolonged period observing and documenting the larva peeking out of its shell.  Don't be mistaken by their aesthetically pleasing cone-shaped bags...these worms will consume the buds of your arborvitae, cedar and juniper plants and cause branch dieback and open, dead areas.  EXIF.

This month the area's museums are chock full of celebrations, openings, anniversaries and festivals. Enough to keep your dance card filled and your brain active.

MUSIC: Local alt-country singer-songwriter Rose hits the Velvet Lounge, with Stella Schindler and Blueheels. $8, 9:30 p.m.

Woo woo! The summer drought is over! Tons of companies are back this September with their season openings, and we'll try to catch as many as we can. Here are some highlights.

Our photographers must have had their drama hats on over the long weekend, as we've seen a number of awesome staged shots in the DCist pool, like yesterday's wading man. Flickr user akkleis happened upon this "terrible accident" from the balcony of the National Building Museum. Won't someone help him up?

The Washington National Opera naturally wants to increase the audience for opera in the nation's capital. To that end, its last couple seasons have featured a free simulcast of one of its productions via an immense screen on the National Mall. Large crowds have shown up, with better or worse results depending on the weather. This year, the company has just announced, it will slightly modify this program, by offering its free broadcast to crowds in Nationals Park, in imitation of a similar initiative at San Francisco Opera.

>> The funky sounds of Mojai will be on display at the Eighteenth Street Lounge every Thursday in September. 6:30 to 9 p.m.

>> Howard alumna and American Idol background singer Sy Smith will be in town performing with local soul mainstay Wes Felton at Bohemian Caverns. Smith recently released her third album, Conflict. $5 after 8 p.m., 6 p.m.

>> The Black Cat brings local favorites Len Bias and math rock royalty from Don Caballero and AtomBombPocketKnife, under the name The Poison Arrows, to the backstage. $8, 9 p.m.

Check out this mysterious shot from Flickr user gbmcinephoto. The subject itself is great: where is this person going? What has his day been like? Is it the end of the day and he just wants to escape? Or did he just wake up, no doubt worrying his day is not exactly off to a great start? Great mood, tone, and framing; it's an image that really pops out and makes you think for a little while.