We don't understand why Benjy Ferree is not a big star. The Three Stars alum plays roosty indie gems and has great stage presence — he's a funny and engaging and a strong performer. He's toured with Spoon and The New Pornographers and is signed to Domino Records (Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, etc). And his band is basically a D.C. supergroup, with Laura Harris of The Aquarium, Amy Domingues and Jonah Takagi from Garland......

>> Yesterday we profiled Five Four, the hardest working all girl band in the city, with the cutest shoes, in a Three Stars piece. Tonight you can see those shoes up close and personal at DC9, $8. If that's not the dose of local music you were hoping for tonight, how about Meredith Bragg at the Black Cat, or Gist at Iota? >> Ever thought, I'd like to get a new perspective on Scientology. A......

The first, instantly noticeable aspect of Fredericksburg, VA's Pash is the luminous voice of singer/guitarist Merideth Munoz. With a voice that partially recalls Rainer Maria's Caithlin de Marrais and has a rock edge reminiscent of Pretty Girls Make Graves' Andrea Zollo, Munoz has the vocal tenacity to halt anyone who may have stumbled across a track on their MySpace page. Munoz met guitarist Erik Bruner-Yang and his roommate, drummer John Bibb, when they all went......

>> The Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance isn't anywhere nearly as embarrassing as Riverdance and its ilk -- think real jigs without the terrible music and costumes. Accompanied tonight on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage by traditional Irish musicians Billy McCominskey, Zan McLeon and Jim Eagan. Free, 6 p.m. >> Three Stars alums The Beanstalk Library are playing the Black Cat's backstage, with John Wayne Hero. 9 p.m., $8. >> It's a little......

Last spring, we interviewed New Rock Church of Fire for a Three Stars piece, and they revealed to us their deepest desire as a band: to play the Black Cat. Well, Santa apparently reads DCist, because tonight the Alexandria natives are getting their wish. Tonight they'll play the Cat's main stage with Velvet, Mas y Mas and Hammer No More The Fingers. Originally slated as a CD release show for NRCOF, it'll be more of......

Monday >> It’s Saint Lucy’s Day! Hej Hej, the DJ night dedicated to Scandinavian pop and rock, is getting festive for this start of the Christmas season with drink specials and holiday hits in addition to their regular fare. Pop into Café St.-Ex in your finest crown of candles, and you might even get a free drink. 10 p.m., FREE. >> Le Loup are also celebrating tonight, in a homecoming of sorts for the local......

FRIDAY: >>Great quadruple bill comes to the Rock and Roll Hotel: Three Stars alums Jukebox the Ghost (pictured right) and tour diarists These United States join DCist fave Ra Ra Riot and Sam Champion. All that for the low, low price of $10 before, $12 at the door. Show 9 p.m. >> The Black Cat once again hosts Cryfest, everyone's favorite dance party that pits The Smiths vs. The Cure, brought to you by DJs......

FRIDAY: >> It’s been over six years since he last had a properly released album, but crooner Bilal (left) has still managed to catch people’s attention with some of his latest material. Too bad it was illegally leaked and now his label is threatening never to let the refined product see the light of day. Regardless, his Black Cat performance should be noteworthy. 9 p.m., $22. >> We’ve told you about Deleted Scenes many times......

Everybody's favorite Portland-based literary music makers, The Decemberists, have had to cancel their Long And Short Of It tour, just two dates in. One of the band members has been ill, and as it turns out, hadn't gotten as well as they'd hoped in time to tour. That includes the expansive four-night residency they'd scheduled at the 9:30 Club for this weekend. If you'd already bought tickets, you can get a refund at your......

MONDAY >> You cannot avoid Toots Hibbert on TV these days. Well actually, it is just that Nissan car commercial with the Clash's version of Toots & the Maytals' "Pressure Drop." The guy who penned that song, "Reggae Got Soul," and numerous other R&B flavored Jamaican numbers is at the 930 Club with the latest version of the Maytals. Hot D.C. go-go combo Mambo Sauce were just added as openers. $26 >> If solo indie......

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 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......

Disoriented and Seeing Stars WaPo reviewer Tom Sietsema has released his 2007 Washington Post Dining Guide online. You can catch it on newsstands this weekend. At the top, Cathal Armstrong's Restaurant Eve has broken through to the four-star category, and his revamped Majestic also made the list. Newcomers Central Michel Richard (3 stars), Proof (2.5), Farrah Olivia (2.5), and Hook (2.5) also made it onto the list. A surprising omission was Brasserie Beck, which Sietsema......

FRIDAY: >> Two shows for DAM! Fest tonight, with events at Rock and Roll Hotel and the Red and the Black. The former includes an appearance by recent Three Stars subject the Beanstalk Library, plus The Exit, Dragons of Zynth and The Teeth. Stick around for the free afterparty, We Fought the Hej, a combo of two of our favorite DJ nights, Hej Hej and We Fought the Big One. >> Don't forget to check......

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 &......

Saddle Creek Records was kind enough to let us offer DCist readers a couple of free MP3s in honor of the first Georgie James music video, which just hit the Internets for the first time yesterday. Sure sure, you're busy listening to the new Radiohead album you just downloaded this morning, but go ahead and download these while you're at for later listening. They're free, after all. Both tracks are from the band's recently......

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......

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......

We were as surprised as anyone to discover we had never done a Three Stars feature on Georgie James. With a big, heralded entrance onto everyone's radar last year fueled by lots of live shows and an EP that won the hearts of pop lovers throughout the city, they became one of D.C.'s premiere bands. The band is driven by Laura Burhenn and John Davis (formerly of Q and Not U), doing their best take......

>> Could Harptallica actually be a Metallica tribute band consisting entirely of harp players? Yes, yes it could -- see video above for proof. At Iota, opening for recent Three Stars alums Yeveto. $12, 8:30 p.m. >> Bar Rouge is hosting Lolita and Gilda's Burlesque Poetry Hour, which will feature writers Dean Smith, Piotr Gwiazda and Remica Bingham reading from their work and then auctioning off a piece of clothing off their backs at......

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......

>> Tonight's Girl Talk show at Black Cat is sold-out, but if you're desperate to go after reading our interview with opener Dan Deacon, craigslist has some options. Also White Williams, 8 p.m. >> The Hall Monitors heated up the DCist servers with their Three Stars appearance a few months back, and tonight they'll be warming up the stage for Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray's Heavy Trash and Denmark's pshychobilly trio Powersolo at the......

>> Don't miss our full preview and interview with Bonde do Role, playing tonight at the Black Cat with Plastic Little and local experimental audio/visual artist Edie Sedgwick. $10, 8 p.m. >> >> DC9's got The Daybreak Line and The Beanstalk Library, who we recently profiled in a Three Stars piece, and Athens, GA's The Winter Sounds. $8, 9:30 p.m. >> I have vivid memories of watching the significantly creepy 1960 TV version of......

Since they popped onto the local scene just a few months ago, Le Loup has been making major waves. They were filling local music venues, getting signed to a great label, and setting up tours with big name artists in the time it takes most bands to decide on a name and set up a MySpace page. They've worked their way into our hearts here at DCist too, as a Three Stars band and headlining......

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......

FRIDAY: >> Though perhaps not quite as high profile anymore as some other D.C. bands from the mid-1980s, the cryptically-named 9353 always had, and still maintains, a dedicated group of fans. You may never have heard of them, but in addition to playing with some of the biggest local names like Scream, G.I. and Iron Cross, they also shared bills with Public Image Ltd, Sisters of Mercy and the Butthole Surfers back in the day,......

It's been almost two years since VHS or Beta brought their explosive electronic rock to a non-DJ show in D.C., which is too long for us. On Saturday the Kentuckians came to the Rock and Roll Hotel, bringing buzz band Walter Meego and local faves The Vita Ruins. Unfortunately we missed The Vita Ruins' opening set, but judging by our past experience, the atmospheric Three Stars and Unbuckled alums put on a good show. Walter......

>> Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry feels "disrespected and misled" by Mayor Adrian Fenty regarding the changes the administration made to the development of Poplar Point, where plans for a new stadium for D.C. United have now been abandoned. [WTOP] >> The accused "D.C. Madam," Deborah Jeane Palfrey, is alleging that national security concerns related to the fact that Muslim men used her escort service before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks might......

Good morning, Washington. As you make your way into work on this fine morning, a note to fans of Canadian super group Stars: "Your Ex-Lover Is Dead"? Good song. "Set Yourself on Fire"? Good song. Setting your ex-lover on fire? Apparently not cool. Attack of the Dubyas: Washington Post Radio (WTWP) is shifting to a "personality driven talk format." And whose personalities (I hear you cry) will be driven into us courtesy of the once-anodyne......

>> The Rock and Roll Hotel welcomes the country's first deaf hip-hop group, locals Helix Boyz. Prince Darius and Sho Roc bring an energetic following from nearby Gallaudet University and fun beats that, as you might imagine, you can feel thumping in your body through the speakers. Doors at 8 p.m., $10. >> Daniel Levitin will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his latest book This is Your Brain on Music in conversation......