Results tagged “culturalcenter”

>> A solid small local show at the Red and the Black tonight, with the pleasing rock of The Charm Offensive, Cheverly Hot Noodle, and Baltimore's Lawnchair. $8, 9:30 p.m. >> It might be easy to dismiss Galactic as some frat boy-friendly jam band, but the funk and jazz-influenced quintet are practically royalty in their hometown of New Orleans, and tonight they'll perform with a series of well-respected MCs in support of their latest...

>> The 1900s are playing the Rock and Roll Hotel, not to be confused with the 1990s. Three Stars alum Shortstack will join them on the bill, along with The Dead Trees and Kitty Hawk. $10, 8:30 p.m. >> Tonight at Blues Alley one of the area's finest jazz drummers, Nasar Abadey, takes the stage with SuperNova, featuring Allyn Johnson on piano, Gary Thomas, Jazz Studies Chair at Peabody, altoist Joe Ford, and bassist...

We noted awhile ago that the owners of the Birchmere had been in talks to open another venue in Silver Spring — while that has fallen by the wayside, it looks like Live Nation will be moving in instead. The Clear Channel spinoff, which produces concerts and owns music venues around the country, including Nissan Pavilion, various Fillmores, and the House of Blues chain, signed a letter of intent to build in an old J.C....

>> The Black Cat's backstage will be a bit twangy tonight, as The Starlingtons stop by to play some of their alt-bluegrass with Portland Oregon’s folksy Casey Neill. 9 p.m., $7. >> One of the weeks few interesting author appearances is tonight at Olsson's in Dupont Circle, when Pushcart Prize-winning writer Katherine Taylor stops by to read from and sign copies of her debut novel, Rules for Saying Goodbye. 7 p.m. >> It's possible...

The 5th annual SILVERDOCS AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival officially kicked off last night at the AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center in Silver Spring with the Washington, D.C. premiere of Jim Brown's film Pete Seeger: The Power of Song. Even though the film was playing in three separate theaters within the complex, there weren't enough seats to go around for all the invited guests who RSVP'd for the opening ceremony. Festival volunteers indicated they had...

>> If you didn't make it to any of the screenings of this year's 48 Hour Film Festival entries, tonight is your best, and last, bet to check out some of the highlights. At 7 and 9:30 p.m., the AFI Silver Theater will screen the "Best Of" the festival, a good way to take in the fun of the project (which asks filmmakers to create a short in only 48 hours) without too much...

Yesterday we attended the press preview for next month's 5th annual SILVERDOCS AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival and got a sneak peak at a few of the documentary films that will be making their Washington area (and in some cases World or North American) premieres at the Silver Spring festival in June. DCist will be covering the festival once again this year, but in the meantime we thought we'd share a handful of the 100 announced...

FRIDAY: >> Attention all nerds: This is like our Lollapalooza or something. First Person: Stories from the Edge of the World is an event being held tonight by National Geographic Live, which features some sort of "collaboration" between NPR's Neal Conan and Liane Hansen, the Celtic/early music crossover group Ensemble Galilei, and actor Bill Pullman. Together this crew will narrate excerpts from the journals of great explorers such as Jacques Cousteau, George Mallory, and Charles...

FRIDAY: >> By far one of the most fun bar nights in town is always where ever the Guerrilla Queer Bar Takeover kids end up -- the mingling of gays and straights in D.C. ever a combination as terriffic as chili and cheese. So you can bet we'll be swinging by to celebrate the Third Anniversary of the Guerrilla Queer Bar Takeover at Black Cat tonight. The takeover starts in the Red Room at 9...

FRIDAY: >> Baltimore's Fertile Ground return to 9:30 Club for a concert with collaborator Raheem DeVaughn called Let's Do It Again. Also singer Anthony David. 9 p.m., $22. >> Gallery Openings of Note: Maria Friberg opens her show, titled embedded, at Conner Contemporary, reception 6 to 8 p.m. That's embedded #4 at left. Also we checked out a preview of Colby Caldwell's new show, Small Game, at Hemphill Fine Arts on Wednesday, and definitely recommend...

FRIDAY: >> Seems like it's an unofficial Film Noir Week all over town. The National Film Registry is rolling out all their classic Noir prints at the Library of Congress' Mary Pickford Theater — we'd recommend the chance to catch a free screening of Blake Edwards' 1967 feature film version of the classic television detective, Gunn, at 7 p.m., preceded by a 30-minute episode of the show it's based on, ABC's Peter Gunn, from 1959...

FRIDAY: >> The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception offers its annual Christmas Concert for Charity tonight. The Basilica's professional choir (featuring our very own DCist Charles!) will perform, followed by the choirs and orchestra of Catholic University. Admission is free, with a free-will donation to benefit the Spanish Catholic Center, a haven for immigrants to the Washington, D.C., area since 1967. The center provides services at locations in Mount Pleasant and...

FRIDAY: >> The EU Film Showcase kicked off at the AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center last weekend, and we'll have a little more about it for you this weekend. In the meantime film buffs should consider checking out Bergman Island, a documentary by another Swedish filmmaker, Marie Nyeröd, that visits legendary director Ingmar Bergman at his home on the island of Fårö. Now 88 years old, this is no doubt the final document of...

In last week's agenda, I led with picks for modern and contemporary music (some reviews to come this week), and I am happy to do so again this week. September seems to be the month for hearing classical music composed in the 20th and 21st centuries, so get out there and listen, Washingtonians. NEW, SOMETIMES STRANGE: >> Modernist composers often write for new and unconventional instruments. Isabel Ettenauer will give a free concert at the...

FRIDAY: >> The fine folks at the Black Cat are throwing themselves a 13th anniversary party tonight, and bully for them — it can hardly be an argument that the bar and music venue has become a nightlife mainstay for those of us who like our drinks cheap and our juke boxes funky. The convergence of two unlucky symbols (13 and black cats) isn't lost on the staff, who are encouraging you to go ahead...

Editor's Note: The Picks are a little lean this week, not because there isn't a ton of fun stuff to do but because we're operating on an "it's one of the last Fridays of the summer" frame of mind and can't muster the energy for more. Please tell us what you're up to this weekend in the comments, for the benefit of the group. FRIDAY: We'll be down at the ongoing opening festivities for Joe...

FRIDAY: >> It's going to be a stormy, steamy night in the District, so we'd recommend heading over to catch one of the Capital Fringe Festival's most buzzed-about plays, Rorschach's The Arabian Night, at the Sanctuary Theatre at Casa Del Pueblo. The space doesn't have air conditioning, so take a cue from our theater critic: "All in all, the dreamy, smoldering Arabian Night is worth every sweltering moment. But follow the cue of the play's...

Dignitaries and punk rockers rubbed elbows Wednesday night, packing the AFI Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring for the D.C. premiere of a documentary on landmines by local filmmakers Mary Wareham and Brian Liu. With a soundtrack by Fugazi's Brendan Canty and an art rock aesthetic, Wareham and Liu gave a complex and often alarming look at the global movement to end the use of landmines that was both informative and visually stunning.

D.C.'s own ADD filmmakers Mark Ruppert and Liz Langston are back tonight to present the first evening of their 5th annual 48-Hour Film Festival at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. Screenings kick off at 7 p.m., and run every night this week through Friday.

FRIDAY: >> Seattle singer-songwriter Rosie Thomas is recording a new album with Sufjan Stevens, has toured with both James Mercer and Sam Bean, and we wouldn't be shocked if she had "Sub Pop" tatooed on her butt. There's no arguing she's got the street cred to draw a crowd tonight at Jammin' Java in Vienna. But Thomas also has a penchant for exploring topics (and melodies) that seem to place her more in the "sometimes...

FRIDAY: >> Here at DCist we like to pimp scrappy locals and industrious indies who are charging hard against the establishment. When it comes to stand-up comedy however, sometimes we have to make an exception. This isn't to say you shouldn't support up-and-coming local comedic talent. You should. But we'd be the first to admit that there's something particularly distasteful about amateur stand-up done badly -- when a comic punts on stage, you just have...

Think nonfiction is a dish best served on celluloid? Then you'll want to take note of a number of unique opportunities to catch these screenings of new documentary films in the area.

Well, now that it's far beyond those 12 days of Christmas, you think maybe it's time to dump that Christmas tree? Yes, you could live by the principle that next Christmas is only eleven months away, but if that's a real spruce you've got, it may well be time to part ways with it. And while unceremoniously dumping it on your neighbors lawn and running is the easiest option, there are legal ways to finally rid yourself of the last of that Christmas spirit.

MONDAY: >> We've been hearing an awful lot about certain journalists who've spent superfluous time in jail for ideals they supposedly believe in -- but, before you make any contributions to that gravy train, why not hear from Marie-Helene Carleton, who'll be in town discussing the travails of her filmmaker partner Micah Garen, who was taken hostage in Iraq in 2003. Even if you're an avid news junkie, there's still a lot you don't know...

Since the death of Visions, the District has been sorely lacking in genuine art house cinema fare. But a brief sweep of the summer film landscape has turned up a much more eclectic and inviting set of mid-week options than we would have guessed, from well chosen special screenings at familiar venues to intriguing, less obvious options. Get it while the gettin's good: art houses everywhere seem to be going the way of the gray wolf.

>> More than 100 hand-colored Marc Chagall etchings illustrating the Hebrew Bible go on view this Wednesday at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center. Chagall is best-known for his colorful paintings, prints, theater sets, stained-glass windows, and murals. This series, from 1957, includes the depiction of Solomon shown at right.

Along with the following picks, don't forget to check out DCist's Arts Agenda (First Fridays in Dupont!) and Music Agenda for events that might tickle your fancy this weekend. FRIDAY: >> Intimate roots-rocker Jolie Holland (at right) brings her sparse yet uplifting music to Jammin Java in Vienna. With guitarist Brooks Williams. 8 p.m., $12. >> If you're a fellow The OC freak (hey, we wear our obsession proudly on our sleeve), you'll remember pre-lesbian...

>> The National Gallery has just opened the first major U.S. exhibition of art by Gerard ter Borch, one of the finest -- but unrecognized -- Dutch painters from the 17th century. (ter Borch's "The Suitor's Visit" is at right.) Also new at the NGA is "Six Centuries of Prints and Drawings: Recent Acquisitions," featuring works on paper that the museum has acquired within the last five years. Highlights include etchings by Rembrandt and drawings by Georgia O'Keeffe.

If you're running out of options for Northwest D.C., why not give Northeast a try? This weekend, Northeast offers the eighth annual Brookland Festival. The festival will feature live music, pub and grub specials, and a dance performance by Dance Place. Historic Brookland is one of the more fascinating neighborhoods of D.C. Home to The Catholic University of America, the neighborhood is also known as "Little Vatican" due to the high cluster of Catholic institutions...