Reverend Billy and his Church of Stop Shopping are of the opinion that the masses have an opiate other than religion. And if it's the merchandise that keeps us in line, then there is no time of year when we binge on our fix of choice like the holiday season. Bank accounts and credit card statements across the nation can do the testifying for us on this point. And so it is at the most......

According to one observer, when the monument the Revisiting Series examined this week was unveiled on M and Connecticut Streets NW, the place was absolutely buzzing. The heroic bronze figure sat draped in his academic robe, book in hand, and looked out on the streets packed with the wide spectrum of adoring fans: men, women, and children “of all races and nationalities.” It was May 7, 1909. The Marine Band played "The Star-Spangled Banner" and......

As we are still recovering from the gluttony that was Thanksgiving, and since it was pretty slow news week in, well, everything, we are light on the transit news, too. But first, which D.C. Council Member likes to ignore laws? You get one guess and the answer is after the jump. Photo by AlbinoFlea......

>> The silent film version of the original Chicago will be presented with live musical accompaniment at the AFI Silver Theater. 7 p.m. >> New Yorker music critic Alex Ross will be at Politics and Prose to read from The Rest is Noise, a history of the 20th century through its music. 7 p.m. >> Brooklyn's Black Dice are at the Rock and Roll Hotel with Ecstatic Sunshine, Baltimore's Ponytail and The Methamphetamines. 8......

Flickr user musely gets a gold star today for both effort and execution, for this clever series of shots lining up currency with the D.C. buildings depicted on them. We suspect this is one of those things that seems simple, but in practice is a lot more difficult than it looks to get everything in focus and lined up perfectly. The nice thing about our city? You can tour all those landmarks and plenty......

Sloganeers, running through December 9 at the DC Arts Center, is part of DCAC’s Curatorial Initiative program, in which established curators nurture emerging ones, and in the process, create unique group exhibits. This month’s exhibit, curated by Liz Flyntz, examines the use of slogans in artwork. While common in advertising, slogans often serve a different purpose when appearing in an artist’s work. Lou Laurita’s two displayed gouache on paper works, The Caveat and The Blind......

>> D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said that he will "continue to stand right beside Natwar Gandhi," in the wake of the widening D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue embezzlement scandal. [WaPo] >> The Anacostia Farmers Market is closing down today after providing fresh produce to D.C. residents for nine years. [WJLA] >> Silver Spring's artificial grass will stick around for another couple of months at least. [Free Ride] >> Get ready for the Million......

With monuments and museums, Washington, D.C. is a haven for history buffs. But what do most of us really know about Virginia? The Kathy Harty Gray Dance Theatre will combine a history lesson with dance with two performances of “Women in Virginia and Other Favorites” this weekend at Northern Virginia Community College's Alexandria campus. The performance will include excerpts of the company’s touring program “Stories to Remember about Women in Virginia”, which covers 400 years......

It's hard to believe that a musical could get you hooked on phonics. But spelling suddenly becomes irresistible in "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," the touring production of the Broadway hit, now playing at the National Theater. The pleasing, goofy show takes an amalgam of precocious, oddball kids and makes you root for them all. There are archetypes for sure -- the obsessive Asian kid, the nasal, self-important geek -- but each one......

Is there anything new that can be added to the debate over the legality and morality of abortion at this point? Finding anyone without a pretty firm opinion is difficult enough. Finding fresh perspectives on an issue this divisive, studied, thought through, and argued over is even rarer. Tony Kaye's Lake of Fire, a documentary 17 years in the making, doesn't necessarily present any new information. But it collects all those varying perspectives and passionate......

Jake Gyllenhaal was frequently quoted this week when, in an interview, he declared that he "Hates preachy message films." No one's going to think twice about something like that coming from Dwane "The Rock" Johnson, but from someone doing press junkets for a film raising awareness about a U.S. government practice it clearly finds abominable, it's bound to elicit a ringing chorus of, "Say What?!?!?". Rendition is a movie so focused on its message that......

Monday >> It's been quite a while since Czech avant-rockers Už Jsme Doma have toured the U.S. If you've never had the chance to see them live over the course of their 22-year career, tonight at the Black Cat backstage is your chance. The band has defied easy categorization with its loud, chaotic and proggy punk sound, but it matters little what you call it. It's amazing stuff, and takes on an even more intense......

LAist began the month with a new food series exploring the popular and unknown late night eats around town. If a Top Chef winner opened up a late night spot in Los Angeles, denizens would flock it, yet the LA Times and other media might be wary. Turning to sports, the Dodger season was quite memorable in the way that it imploded and the LA County Sheriff's Department made some games of their own such......

FRIDAY: >> Do the right thing and head to 9:30 Club for a show hosted by the strange gathering of the likes of Gypsy Eyes Records, The Federal Reserve and haberdasherie Propper Topper for a benefit for the DC Public Library Foundation. Kitty Hawk, Vandaveer, Revival, These United States and many more make up the crowded bill. 7:30 p.m., $20. >> The Brunettes (pictured right) perform sickly sweet but addictive pop duets, and they'll be......

Movers get a bad rap. Their companies are frequently thought of as fly-by-night operations. Usually they lose or break some of your things, and they help you lose your security deposit by scratching the walls. They're always expensive, and it usually takes longer than you would have hoped. But they work long hours doing a strenuous job everybody hates — you rarely hear someone talking excitedly about lugging all their stuff to a new home.......

The condom saga continues, as community groups have returned as many as 70,000 of the D.C.-branded condoms provided by the health department. Despite assuring the public that the condoms, which bear the slogan "Coming Together to Stop HIV in D.C.", are safe and effective, the city eventually gave in and agreed to phase them out, agreeing that they were now so mistrusted as to no longer be effective, de facto. The uproar began when the......

When watching Synetic Theater's take on The Fall of the House of Usher, it seems almost inevitable that the talented troupe would tackle the work. The themes and abstract nature of Poe's short story are keenly suited to Synetic's signature style, one of gothic moods and Irina Tsikurishvili's original, attention-grabbing choreography. The story is familiar, of course: Edgar is summoned to the house of his friend Roderick, who claims he and his sister are suffering......

The male/female rock duo formula is a time tested tradition. Whether it owes to the simplicity of the setup, the contrasting timbres and harmonies possible, or some sort of subliminal sexual tension is anyone's guess. But from Richard & Linda Thompson to Quasi to the White Stripes to Sonny & Cher, and even, um, Roxette, there's no denying its appeal. The Aquarium popped up in D.C. a full half decade ago, quietly building a following......

The morning after seeing Toronto’s Metric, I had a brief water-cooler conversation with a co-worker who had caught the band the last time they rolled through town. “I've always been surprised how quickly that band blew up,” he said. “It seems like they got huge almost overnight.” I nodded in agreement, having seen them fill a 1,200-capacity club the night prior. After giving the matter some thought, however, I realized that Metric’s rise to the......

>> Veterinarians at the National Zoo have euthanized Ume, an 8-year-old male cheetah, due a to the animal's ill-health. [AP] >> Little Richard is even more wolf-faced crazy than you ever imagined. [BrightestYoungThings] >> D.C. Sports blogger Jamie Mottram is heading to Yahoo! Sports. [Mr. Irrelevant] >> Queen of Sheba gets a decision ... No, wait. [14th & You] >> The U.S. attorney's investigation into the shooting of 14-year-old DeOnté Rawlings by off-duty police......

We first heard about the creepiest media stunt we could possibly imagine yesterday: The soon to open Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in D.C. planned to purchase a ticket on a Delta Shuttle flight from New York to DCA for their wax statue of President Abraham Lincoln. This morning, after tossing and turning all night with nightmares about being seated next to the slain leader, we have press photos waiting for us in our inbox.......

>> Akron/Family's folk-influenced jams will pour out of the Rock and Roll Hotel tonight, with Greg Davies, Raleigh's Megafaun, and Stamen and Pistils. $12, 8 p.m. doors. >> The awards have already been announced, so it's a good time to check out the end of the D.C. Shorts Film Festival now that they're offering one of several "Best-Of" collections screening at 10 p.m. tonight -- odds are good you won't have to sit through......

Dan Evans is the Charlie Brown of the post-Civil War American west. He just can't win. His wife looks at him with disappointment and disdain. His eldest son thinks he's a lily-livered coward. His creditors bully and insult him. Even nature thumbs her nose at him, refusing to give him the rain he needs to water the pastures that could feed his starving cattle. Only his youngest son still looks at him with admiration, mostly......

MONDAY >> They put it pretty well themselves, and since it's all about them anyway, we're just going to repeat what the Black Cat had to say about their anniversary party tonight: "After 14 years of pouring you guys drinks, then picking up the glasses, working the doors, and sweeping the floors, we've decided that it's time to dedicate a night to ourselves. Black Cat staff bands, staff DJs, and staffers will be hanging out......

Photo and review by DCist contributor Valerie Paschall Atlanta psych-noise rockers Deerhunter may have built a reputation over the past year for shocking their live audiences, but last week the band seemed visibly shaken. The previous night, guitarist Colin Mee departed the group, making Thursday their first show in several years as a quartet. This shift in the band’s chemistry was the latest in a string of personal and public relations disasters in the past......

This week at Overheard, we'd like to take a moment to give thanks for a segment of the population that we feel is unfairly maligned. That's right, we're talking about you, Mr. Stares Blatantly at Women's Breasts on the Metro. And you, sir, who just nearly walked into a pole while leering at the woman who just walked past. We raise our glasses to the guy surreptitiously taking pictures of girls' rear ends on the......

Matt Sharp and Rivers Cuomo have a number of things in common. They’ve both been in Weezer for starters. They both have a tremendous gift for a catchy melody. They both look good in thick-rimmed glasses. They’ve both put bands they’ve been in on indefinite hiatus. Where they depart though is in what happened after their bands’ respective hiatuses. Cuomo, after having revealed perhaps a bit too much of his inner monologue for his own......

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Repertory: Stranger Than Paradise "You go to some place new and everything just looks the same," says Eddie, one of the two hipster-slacker protagonists of Jim Jarmusch's wickedly funny second feature. Press materials made a big deal of the origin of the film, pointedly calling it "A New American Film by a New American Director." There's......

Travistan and the Dismemberment Plan. There. I wanted to just throw those out there right at the start and get them out of the way, as they're the two points of reference reviews are inevitably going to go to time and time again for Morrison's new record. They're also two things to which Morrison may already tire of comparisons. And, of course, they're the essential pieces of the questions on many a hopeful fan's lips......

Nobody enjoys having to muscle through a dense crowd of people on the metro platform. Especially on those days when everyone is so eager to get on the train that they don't even wait for anyone to get off before surging onboard. Times like that, we wish we had some magical power to transport past the crowd, but then again if we could do that, we wouldn't be taking metro to begin with, now would......