MONDAY >> Those looking to kick the month off with a bang might be out of luck, as it looks like there's not a whole lot going down tonight. Still, it's not a total wash, as all the usual suspects — the Black Cat, DC9, the Velvet Lounge and the Rock and Roll Hotel — will have their bars open and waiting for the District's disillusioned masses. >> DJ Jahsonic has a new Monday night......

>> The Black Cat's backstage is going to be pumping out the punk noise tonight as Antelope stops by, with Thank You and The Andalusians. $8, 9 p.m. >> DC Scores, a local nonprofit that provides innovative after-school programming to Washington kids, is hosting its 10th Annual Poetry Slam tonight. The event will feature 300 of the District's public elementary and middle school students competing for the coveted Golden Mic trophy -- obviously it......

>> The Senate might have to work all weekend, in advance of a possible vote on Sunday on whether to take up a $50 billion war funding bill that calls for a troop withdrawal from Iraq in 12 months, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned. Be prepared to hear all your Senate staffer friends complain about this at happy hour tonight. [The Hill] >> Foxhall Road will be closed to traffic between MacArthur Boulevard......

MONDAY >> Performing as Phosphorescent, Matthew Houck (right) dropped his latest effort, Pride, at the end of last month. Reviews for the album have been glowing for the Southern-bred multi-instrumentalist. He’ll be making an appearance at the Black Cat with the help of his touring band. 9 p.m., $10. >> With an album titled Heavy Deavy Skull Lover, you’d be right to guess that The Warlocks aren’t exactly members of a pep squad. Still, their......

We're a little short-staffed today, so if you've got any picks to add for this weekend, please leave them in the comments. FRIDAY >> This weekend the Uptown Theater is playing the final cut of everybody's favorite movie about replicants running amock, and young Darryl Hannah being super sci-fi hot, Blade Runner. >> If an apocalyptic future isn't exactly what you're in the mood for, try on Seattle's dream folk rockers, Band of Horses, for......

FRIDAY: >> It's raining, and you've got some serious partying to do tomorrow night, so we'd recommend taking in a movie and saving your strength. Don't miss our movie picks for the weekend here, including special Halloween screenings of Nosferatu at the AFI Silver Theater. Also of note tonight, The American City Diner screens Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho at 8:30 p.m. >> If you’re more in the mood for getting your eardrums absolutely destroyed, Japanese metal......

FRIDAY: >> The Howard Homecoming events could make an entire Weekend Picks feature by themselves, but don't forget to consider some of the less publicized goings on we're recommending as a way to enjoy the fun without the insane crowds. >> Tickets are still available for the amazingly cheap (only $10!) Catalyst Theatre Company production of Kafka's The Trial. Check out our review over here, and get your tickets — did we mention they’re only......

The 2nd year of the District's Awake! Music Festival is making it's grand sophomore entrance tomorrow night in clubs across town. News about the festival is traveling far and wide, with a sponsorship and podcast from everybody's favorite online radio station, WOXY, an interview on the local news, and more. A few last minute changes have been made to the festival — namely the unfortunate cancellation of Cloud Cult's set, and of the Rock &......

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.......

Sunday shows usually result in small crowds, but that wasn't the case at DC9 this weekend for a solid triple bill. We'd seen and enjoyed The Lucksmiths and The Ladybug Transistor before at the venue and they didn't disappoint this time. The two were joined by Still Flyin', a massive collective that plays indie-tinged old-school reggae who we'd been looking forward to seeing. Melbourne, Australia's The Lucksmiths play quirky, sweet, super catchy indie pop, and......

MONDAY >> At the ripe young age of 24, Patrick Wolf has already achieved a lot: three albums of brooding electronica and orchestral pop, modeling campaigns for Burberry, headlines in the British tabloids and at least one on-stage altercation that found the lupine violinist attacking his strung-out drummer with a cymbal. Drama notwithstanding, Wolf's latest, the surprisingly upbeat The Magic Position, is undoubtedly one of this year's best. Come see what all the fuss is......

MONDAY >> Three Stars alums The Chance and J. Forté + the Secret Pop Band, D.C.'s favorite lofi power-poppers, are playing a great double-bill (bothThree Stars veterans) at the Black Cat Backstage. 9 p.m. $6. TUESDAY >> Yet another revival of West Side Story comes to Wolf Trap and stays there until Sunday. Apparently it's the 50th anniversary. 8 p.m. with matinée shows at 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. $18-68. WEDNESDAY >> The Rock......

MONDAY >> Fiending for some good ol' bluegrass and Americana? San Francisco's The Pine Box Boys will be delivering just that at the Red and the Black tonight. With two drinks tonight, you'll also be served free beans and rice. We suggest some whiskey to wash it all down. Or, The Whale and Revival open. 9:30 p.m., $8. >>Enjoy the slightly cooler weather by taking in Georgie James, Perfect Souvenir and Brandon Butler at Fort......

>> Fort Reno has Antelope, Scanner Freaks, and OmegaBand tonight, at the usual 7:15 p.m. start time. Check out our Three Stars interview with Scanner Freaks and album review of Antelope for a preview of the show. >> The Bang -- featuring Three Stars veteran Anthony Pirog -- is playing at Wonderland Ballroom with Pilesar and the Quagmire, 10 p.m. >> Former Washington Post writer Jeffrey Frank, now a senior editor at The New......

UPDATE: Thanks to Kiki Schneider for the new photo of the fire in action! Andrew Wiseman is the author of this post An orange Old Town Trolley bus burst into flames today just before 6 p.m. on Rhode Island Avenue, NW between 11th and 12th Streets. Before arriving on the scene, this DCist saw and smelled black smoke from outside the Mt. Vernon Square Metro at about 5:50 p.m. and 9th Street was hazy......

>> Tickets are still available for Fiery Furnaces, dios and Orphan tonight at Black Cat. $15, 8 p.m. >> Check out our full preview of RAMP, performing a free show tonight at Bossa Bistro and Lounge, 9 p.m. >> DCist favorites Robbers on High Street come to Iota tonight promising to play songs from their upcoming disc, "Grand Animals." Expect another solid, fun show, along with two Chicago bands, The Redwalls and Baby Teeth.......

>> You've got tomorrow off, so put on your dancing shoes and head over to a special holiday edition of Taint, the popular electro/indie gay (but not that gay, straight folks are always welcome) dance night at DC9. Doors at 9, $5. >> Controversial cyclist Floyd Landis will defend himself against doping charges tonight when he discusses his new book, Positively False at Politics and Prose. 7 p.m. >> Asylum celebrates American independence from......

Andre the Giant, Schmandre the Giant. The other day we noticed one of these stickers on a lamppost at about 13th and R Streets NW. It's good to see some grassroots (lamp roots?) support for the D.C. United star, and Dan Steinberg over at the D.C. Sports Bog has been on the case for some time. For those who don't know, "tiene un posse" is a reference to the Andre the Giant Has a......

MONDAY >> DC9 scoured the globe for tonight's lineup. The Comas hail from Brooklyn and Chapel Hill and specialize in the darker shades of psychadelic rock. The Veils are here all the way from New Zealand, with some "if you like The White Stripes, you'll love The Veils"-style blues-inspired rock. Locals Zulu Pearls round out the lineup with solid, basic, indie rock. We're incapable of hearing their name without thinking of "Zuzu's petals" from It's......

If you're anything like us, you've been experiencing major geek covetousness ever since Google Maps launched its Street View functionality late last month. The feature (which may seem similar to past users of Amazon's A9.com) shows street-level photos of locations. Users can move smoothly from spot to spot, rotating their view and taking in the sights. Unfortunately, Google Maps' coverage of D.C. doesn't feature any of the blue outlines that signify Street View-equipped roads. But......

It's not every day that British bands come to D.C. in a red doubledecker bus. The BritBus tour stopped downtown yesterday, bringing three new groups — Jyrojets from Scotland, The Crave from Brighton, and Julia Jones from London via Wales — around the country at a top speed of 45 miles per hour. According to bassist Tom Swann from The Crave, it took four days to get from Denver to St. Louis, and although the......

If you've been to the box suites at RFK Stadium, you may have noticed photos of acts that have played the stadium lining the hallway - U2, New Kids on the Block, the Promise Keepers and so on. But after we finished laughing at the New Kids, one plaque off to the side caught our eye: "Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, site of Olympic football, 19 July-4 August 1996." What? The Olympics were at RFK? There......

TUESDAY >> DCist favorites the Vita Ruins are playing this very night at DC9 for $8. You're tired of barbequing and sitting around on your back porch by now, aren't ya? >> Love them? Hate them? Secretly listen to them while you take a nice warm bath and have a good cry? Keane performs to a sold out crowd at the 9:30 Club tonight. WEDNESDAY >> DCist's own Sriram Gopal will be playing some......

Memorial Day is this Monday, meaning a lot of Washingtonians have a three day weekend. With the extra day comes extra opportunity to take a day trip (or two) around the area. We polled our staffer for some good destinations in the area to share, so pump up the bike tires, get out the hiking boots or start the car (Zip, Flex, or your own). And if you have any other good suggestions, let us......

We thought we'd share this photo of Jemina Pearl from Be Your Own Pet at the 9:30 Club last night, opening up for Arctic Monkeys. If you missed out on the show, there's plenty of live music to choose from tonight. >> Swedish garage rock band Mando Diao are known for their combustive live shows as much as their music: super catchy '60s power pop twinged with a hint of dirt. They've won awards galore......

On Friday the Washington Post ran a story about the city's plans to step up their graffiti removal tasks after a recent rash of tagging in Wards 1, 2 and 4. The graffiti began appearing six to eight weeks ago, stretching from the Logan and Shaw neighborhoods to communities in upper Northwest along Georgia Avenue and 13th and 14th streets. Banneker Community Center near Howard University, under renovation, was among the places hit. But the......

Summer is coming and so is one of our favorite pastimes: compiling our summer reading list. Remember back when you were in middle school and you were required to read a certain number of books on the school's list by the time classes were back in session? Yes, we realize some of you saw this as a chore. But if it weren't for those lists, we may never have picked up books that have become......

News on the DCist tip line and NBC4 is that the Georgetown Branch of the D.C. Public Library is on fire. The building, on the 3600 block of R St., NW, is currently under renovation. Beginning at 12:45 this afternoon, we could see the smoke from the western edge of Dupont. The library was built in 1935 and has a number of historical documents and paintings which fire fighters are trying to save. NBC4 reports......

FRIDAY: >> Don't forget to check out our guide to the Six Points Music Festival as it takes over the town in its second weekend. We're going to once again heartily recommend you head to Iota to catch Unbuckled alums Middle Distance Runner headline a show that also features Unbuckled alums These United States, plus Pittsburgh's Black Tie Revue. Get there early -- this is going to be a packed house for sure. $10, 9:30......

After a thoroughly dominating March, the Florida Gators cut down the nets for the second straight year. Meanwhile, in the DCist Reader-Staff Bracketfest, reader Seth Rappaport had the honor of cutting down the virtual nets. Seth built a commanding lead with perfect first round brackets in three of the four regions, then dealt his finishing blow by picking a perfect Final Four. Coming in second was our own Hayden Alfano, bracket manager extrordinaire. Thanks Hayden,......