The Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) is presenting an exciting double bill of adventurous piano-based jazz this Sunday at Lisner Auditorium. Performing will be The Bad Plus (pictured right) and pianist Jason Moran (pictured below), two acts who consistently refuse to be limited by traditional notions of what a jazz performance should or should not be. Moran and The Bad Plus have played together on the same bill before and, unsurprisingly, their common outside-the-box approach... more ›

Steadfast friendships, a taste for whiskey, and a penchant for Iron Maiden and Fugazi. These are the driving forces behind New Rock Church of Fire. The band is made up of bassist Mitchell West – who works with political advertising by day and brews his own beer (Mitchale) by night, guitarist and lead vocalist Floyd York – who pays the bills with a slew of odd jobs from catering to real estate photography, and drummer... more ›

The green-ness of the station comes mainly from environmental news pieces that the DJs read about things like solar power, renewable energy, and the use of cow dung for flooring. Their Web site also notes the station's transmitter is run on renewable energy and they have a lot of links for various ways to do good stuff for the planet. more ›

I don’t spend much time listening to the radio anymore. What with WHFS having gone Latin and DC101 moving further and further towards an “All Nirvana, All the Time” format, I’ve had to turn to 94.7 The Arrow for anything approaching rock. Problem is, I’ve never much been a fan of classic rock, much less classic rock stations that promote themselves via TV ads starring a guy with a "radio in his finger." Yeah, you... more ›

The members of Dead Meadow were born in the wrong decade. While the D.C. scene of the ‘80s and ‘90s revolved around harDCore punk, typified by bands like Fugazi and Rites of Spring, the future members of Dead Meadow found themselves drawn to the Zeppelin-style hard rock of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Jason Simon, Mark Laughlin, and Steve Kille played separately in bands on the periphery of the D.C. music scene, including... more ›

Last night DCist ventured north to Charm City for a three band lineup made in blogger heaven. L.A.'s Cold War Kids, Denmark's Figurines and Minnesota's Tapes 'n Tapes brought the music that all the indie kids have been gushing about to a great little club called Fletcher's. The review in 20 words or less: Cold Ware Kids were really, really good. Figurines were not. Tapes 'n Tapes pretty much rocked. Fletcher's is a tiny (probably... more ›

Two weeks ago I declared an experiment in vegetarianism. One carnivorous Eating In after another met growing requests for coverage with less carnage. When one writer begged that DCist create something that did not feature a dead animal I knew I had overlooked it too long. I decided to embrace the opposition, and get in touch with my inner veg. Now, fully entrenched in my new lifestyle, I feel like I'm coming into my own. Though catered lunches and business trips to areas of the country that are decidedly pro bovine have often left me dining on potato chips, I've found many aspects of being a vegetarian quite simple – even satisfying. more ›

Leave it to the caffeine-infused minds of Seattle to come up with the answer to our dial-in woes. According to Governing Magazine, Seattle residents will no longer be subjected to Glen Hollis' rejects when they make a call to city hall. more ›

This week in music is all over the place, going from indie, to folkie, to blues, and yes, modern rock. more ›

Good morning, Washington. We hope you had an enjoyable weekend - whether it was checking out the D.C. United game (they tied Chicago 0-0 and will play again next weekend), discovering the FSM in the Metro, or checking out Howard's homecoming. Be prepared for wet weather today - today will be cloudy with rain developing later in the day and temperatures in the 50s. more ›

Last night’s Teenage Fanclub show got off to a very rough start. The band took the stage to muted applause around 10 PM and launched into "It’s All in My Mind", a track from their new album Man-Made. At least, that’s what the setlist DCist scored said the first song was. And it very well might have been, but we can’t be sure because it sounded like one big bass guitar note with some incoherent mumbling under it. Not good. The 930 Club rolled the stage forward to compensate for the smallish crowd, but it sounded like someone forgot to tell the soundman, who was trying to fill up half the club with the full soundsystem. The sound stayed a muddled mess for the next few songs as well. At first we thought it might be where we were standing(way up front, stage left), so we went upstairs and tried both sides of the balcony, but that didn’t work either. While we were wandering around trying to find a sweet spot, Gerard Love stepped up to the mic to sing "Starsign" and it sounded so bad that we seriously contemplated leaving. more ›

>> 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. more ›

Continuing on with the WHFS obituaries ... Today marks the first full day in over 20 years that FM 99.1 has not carried HFS. It could be argued that the end of WHFS was inevitable. The station began going downhill some time ago -- perhaps at the introduction of "Loveline" in the place of the Top 11 at 11, the inexplicable addition of Metallica to the playlist, or the mainstreaming of alternative music in the... more ›