Bhangra, an infectious folk music and dance style from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan, has slowly crept into the mainstream club scene. The driving force behind this increase in popularity are the South Asian DJs of Great Britain and North America, who took this traditional form and infused it with the programmed sounds of hip-hop, dancehall, and techno. One of the most well-known names in this movement is DJ Rekha (pictured), a New......

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: Romance & Cigarettes John Turturro's third film as a director is the sort that seems tailor made to become a cult classic. Not nearly polished or glamorous enough to be the sort of Broadway to big screen musical hit that Chicago or Hairspray was, it was too oddball to fit into the heads of most......

Reuters has a video up of a performance outside the White House yesterday by a Dutch magician called Ramana, in which he appears to levitate. Ramana apparently trained at something called the Academy of Magical Sciences in India, but sources tell us he had to drop out during his senior year to go on a long, circuitous trip with his two best friends in search of an evil nemesis. Now that David Copperfield has......

Written by DCist contributor Meghan Welsh Cultures will collide this weekend at The Kennedy Center as Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Company presents the world premiere of "Chico Latino," a work which explores the intersection of Asian American and Latin American communities throughout the Americas. "Chico Latino" is a fusion of Latin and Asian modern dance, and the program will also include classic works by the choreographer, inspired by his experiences, such as a visit......

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: The Darjeeling Limited By now, five features into his career, it's likely you already have a strong opinion on Wes Anderson. Despite his tendency to borrow liberally from his own film and literary heroes, from Kubrick to Fitzgerald to the entire French New Wave, a Wes Anderson film feels like a Wes Anderson film from......

>> Tickets are still available to see Argentine-Swedish songwriter and solo classical guitar player José González, he of the awesome indie cover songs (and a bunch of originals, too) play the 9:30 Club. Doors 7:30 p.m., $20, with James Blackshaw. >> Washingtonians are, for better or for worse, often defined by their work, so tonight at the Goethe Institut the DC Asian-Pacific-American Film Festival has a collection of shorts related to job issues called......

One could say sitarist/composer Anoushka Shankar has music flowing through her veins. Daughter of Ravi Shankar, the most celebrated indian musician in the world, she grew up immersed in the ancient traditions of indian classical music. With her 2005 release, Rise, the 26-year old musician, who will be performing with her father at the Kennedy Center this fall, began a quest to merge her musical heritage with more contemporary sounds and influences. Thus, it comes......

The most recent exhibition at the Smithsonian's Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, organized with help from the National Museum of African Art, Encompassing the Globe: Portugal and the World in the 16th and 17th Centuries, is as much a chronicle of history as it is a document for how art records history. Trying to pigeonhole this exhibition into a one category is difficult. It is more than just the fact the exhibition displays more than 260......

>> 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.......

MONDAY: Min Jin Lee will be at Politics and Prose to read from her debut novel, Free Food for Millionaires. No, it doesn't promote welfare for the wealthy. It's actually about a first-generation immigrant trying to find balance between the ways of her parents and American culture. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: We don't know what to think about 2006 Tour de France winner Floyd Landis. His win last year was surrounded by controversy over whether he......

FRIDAY: >> It may be that we've simply gotten so, so, so many press releases about The Horrors show tonight at the Rock and Roll Hotel, and we've been beaten into submission to mention it. Give the punky-garage rock revivalists a chance for $12 at 8:30 p.m., and let us know if they're worth all the fuss. Seattle's Schoolyard Heroes open, plus locals Scanner Freaks. >> One of the most anticipated new hip hop albums......

This post was written by new DCist contributor Sriram Gopal Unlike its cinema, music, dance, and literature, India's dramatic arts have made very few inroads in garnering any international exposure. So it was a pleasant surprise to learn that Jana Natya Manch (The People's Theater Forum), or JANAM, one of India's most active street theater groups, would be stopping in DC for a week as part of its U.S. tour. The political theater group......

It's a little dreary out today, isn't it? Please accept this video of adorable baby meerkats at the National Zoo trying to dig holes as a token of our concern for the mental well being of Washingtonians in desperate need of a sunny, warm spring day. [DCGuide]. >> There are plenty of things D.C.'s federal workers can complain about: shifts in the administration, incurring public ire during tax season, being treated like a number in......

>> Welcome to March and another First Friday in Dupont Circle from 6 to 8 p.m. Find the gallery locations here. >> We've all got our old movie favorites. If you pop in Gone with the Wind everytime you're home sick, or channel surf for old episodes of I Dream of Jeanie on a Sunday afternoon, you're just the person Mark Bennett is drawing for. His India ink draftings of the fictional homes used in......

Restaurant Week is becoming the must have fashion accessory for the D.C. area this winter. Everyone’s got to have one. Case in point: Silver Spring, a long-suffering suburban “edge city” that has been on the upswing for the last few years is officially entering the fray to show off its shiny new dining scene February 5-11. THIS JUST IN: The price for a 2-course lunch will be just $12, while a 3-course dinner will be......

I've somehow been assigned the slot of taking over DCist Heather's POTD duties this week as she leaves for a long trip to India, despite the fact that I know next-to-nothing about photography. But nevertheless, here I am, and this shot by Flickr user calcitrate caught my eye. EXIF data is here. Other notable shots included a classic sunset, and this explosion of Christmas lights.......

Hey there, Washington. We're sorry to say there isn't a lot of cheery news this morning. For starters, the rain is finally back. Um, it should be over by Friday. That's optimisitic, right? In fact, the headlines this morning were so tough for us to swallow (see below), we feel the need to at least try to brighten up your day just by linking to Cute Overload. Because nothing says we love you like......

>> The Washington D.C. Human Trafficking Meetup which tonight hosts freelance photographer Kay Chernush in the Langston Room at Busboys and Poets. Chernush will present photos she took while on assignment for the U.S. State Department in India, Thailand, Italy and Hong Kong in 2005 for their annual Trafficking in Persons Report which "serves as the primary diplomatic tool through which the U.S. Government encourages other countries to help fight forced labor, sexual exploitation, and......

What happens when a Cambridge trained historian goes foodie? In Lizzie Collingham’s case you get an interesting story that’s 5 parts history, 1 part culinary, and wholly entertaining to read. In her Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors, Collingham couples excellent story telling with exhaustive research. The result is a historical perspective on Indian fare that is as mouth watering as it is informative. Lizzie scorns those seeking authenticity when searching for perfect Indian.......

If there was any silver lining to the cloud of cigarette smoke District residents nervously enjoyed in area restaurants and bars last night, it's that hookah bars may be granted a blanket exemption from the smoking ban that the City Council endorsed yesterday on a 12-1 vote. Council-member Jim Graham, whose Ward 1 enclave includes a number of the Middle Eastern-themed establishments, has announced that he will introduce an amendment to the smoke-free legislation to......

The worst part about National Geographic magazine, if there is a worst part, is the between-the-pages fold. It cuts large images right in half. The pages are too small. It’s like a magazine for ants. How are we supposed to see the pictures if they can’t even fit them in the magazine? It needs to be at least ... three times bigger. Until they make some changes, DCist has found a solution: check out the......

Today will be mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain, with highs in the lower 60s. Matthew Bradley posted this photo of historian Howard Zinn to DCist photos yesterday. Also, it's only one more day before DCist celebrates Cinco de Mayo at Chief Ike's! Same-sex Couples Prohibited from Filing Joint Taxes: D.C.'s Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi ruled yesterday gay couples could not file taxes jointly in D.C., even if they were......

>> Don't forget to catch part of the US ASEAN Film, Video & Photography Festival before it ends on Saturday. The festival features fifteen nominated and selected films by talented independent filmmakers from Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. The accompanying photography exhibitions showcase works that capture the beauty of Southeast Asia. Films are shown in the National Geographic Society's Gilbert H. Grosvenor Auditorium. You can buy tickets here. >> Another photography exhibit of interest opens......

FRIDAY: >> Everybody knows that the only true thing going on tonight is the DCist happy hour! From 5-8 p.m., DCist editors and contributors will be at Biddy Mulligans on Dupont Circle, starting our weekend off with a Guinness or four. Definitely drop on by with some friends for a chat, a rant, or to confirm that we are indeed real, live people as opposed to automated Gothamist bots. >> Additionally, Hot Hot Heat are......

After several weeks of renovations, Savino Recine is set to open his new dining lounge at One Dupont Circle. Recine, whose eponymous Savino's Café and Lounge previously inhabited the location, closed his three-year-old fine dining restaurant and lounge after realizing the marriage was less than optimal. Recine has switched concepts and rechristened the space Cloud. The decor will reflect the new theme, with "a pearly, iridescent white floor, white faux leather seating, and gauzy white......

So what does an embassy of a country that just dissolved its government look like? Well, as you can see at left, the Royal Nepalese Embassy, on Leroy Place in Kalorama, is pretty quiet. We aren't sure what happens to diplomatic staff abroad when one's country undergoes a radical shift. But the embassy did issue a press release detailing a translation of the king's proclamation. (Look under Announcements, you can't link directly to the press......

President Bush today appointed former Presidents Bush (41) and Clinton (42) to spearhead a private fund raising effort to aid victims of the tsunamis that hit southern Asia. After a somewhat tepid response, the U.S. has now promised $350 million in aid. With the death toll still rising, President Bush met with the former presidents and urged Americans to "join a broad human relief effort" by giving to "reliable charities." The Bloomberg news agency reports:......

As today's Post notes, many in the D.C. area have been personally affected by the deadly tsunami that struck Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand this past weekend. DCist is at a loss for words. The disaster struck some of the poorest regions of the world, and we encourage all of our readers to do what they can to send some help to the region. The Sri Lankan Association of Washington D.C. provides an opportunity......

Happy Monday, D.C.! We hope you enjoyed your holidays. If you're back at a half-empty office like DCist is, keep checking back for periodic updates - we're still on a slower-than-normal publishing schedule, but we'll have a few posts throughout the day. Thousands Killed in Southeast Asia: The big nonlocal news story is that a huge earthquake caused tidal waves throughout southeast Asia this Sunday, killing more than 20,000. The hardest hit countries were Indonesia,......

We have to say that we haven't been more intrigued about a restaurant than the Bleu Group's IndeBleu, which is set to open at Seventh and G streets NW later this month. The opening lines from its press release set the bar high for the fusion Indian-French-lounge-restaurant-experience: "Think Parisian cachet set against the lively backdrop of South Beach. Think refined linens splashed with exuberant colors. Think of world-class French cuisine accented with the exotic flavors......