FRIDAY: >> The 18th Street Lounge's regular Wednesday night reggae stars SEE-I are at the Rock and Roll Hotel to celebrate the holidays with some friends who are sure to get you dancing too -- DJ Mat the Alien and remix artists Fort Knox Five. Tickets for the Happy FKX-XMas are $10. >> Rufus Wainwright begins a two-night stint at the 9:30 Club tonight with his sister, Lucy Wainwright Roche. Tickets are still available for......

>> Detroit garage rockers Gore Gore Girls are at DC9 with two local acts: the Highballers and the Droptops. 9 p.m., $10. >> Don't miss our full preview of the Stones Throw concert tonight at Black Cat. 8 p.m., $20. >> Looking to crash one of those well-monied D.C. holiday parties for free food and drinks? Via BrightestYoungThings, a handy list. >> Thievery Corporation's Rob Garza's latest side-project, Dust Galaxy, will be at the musician's......

Good morning, D.C. Thanks to all of you who came out to the Voting Rights Happy Hour last night. We had a great time meeting everyone and chatting about the future of full voting rights for D.C. Our friends and co-hosts at DC Vote were thrilled to be able to sign up so many new interested members and volunteers for their upcoming Voting Rights March on April 16, so thanks to them for coming out......

Leave your offices and go to Eighteenth Street Lounge! DCist Voting Rights Happy Hour kicks off at 6 p.m. Thanks to Flickr user kungpaocajun for use of his creative commons photo, and DCist Tom for his photoshopping skillz.......

Isn't it nice that you don't have to wonder what you'll be doing tonight? There's just no question -- you'll be at tonight's DCist Voting Rights Happy Hour, co-hosted by our friends at DC Vote. It's true, a vote on the bill before the House has been delayed, but that's all the more reason for us to gather tonight in solidarity for full voting rights for a congressional representative for the District. We need to......

Hoyer and Pelosi Need Your Input: Mike Panetta, D.C. Shadow Representative, informed us that voting rights activists are pushing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to bring the voting rights legislation that was derailed last week back to the floor of the House this week. They're afraid that if it gets pushed off until next week, it may well get lost in the usual congressional shuffle. Panetta has......

We've hosted a couple of outrageously fun events in the last few months, but recent discussion on the DCist staff email list had us pondering: when was the last time we threw a straight up happy hour? Because people like happy hours, and if DCist is about anything, it's about giving the people what they want. Of course at this very moment we're all glued to our televisions, tuned to C-SPAN watching general debate......

We get a lot of CDs here at DCist, and at least 90 percent of them are nothing more than DJ mix tapes. So it was a bit of a pleasant surprise when Beau Tand’s self-titled debut album arrived and we heard what sounded like David Bowie crooning about French model and actress Francoise Hardy over programmed beats. Sure it’s more 1980s Bowie than Ziggy Stardust, and that might be enough to drive some listeners......

Thunderball may define their music in press releases as “cinematic, dub-laden compositions full of intrigue,” but their newest album on D.C.’s Eighteenth Street Lounge Music label, Cinescope, is a mess – a disorderly combination of too many benders while watching Rat Pack films and “Shaft in Africa” with some forgettable guest vocal tracks. The album doesn’t start out so cluttered, however. Openers “The Road to Benares” and “Electric Shaka” (with suitably electric vocals by Afrika......

While local and federal official scramble to adequately respond in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, individual donations are fast approaching $100 million, reports the Post, while communities and organizations have started campaigns to offer cheap or free housing to the thousands left homeless in the hurricane's wake. Below are more local events to benefit the victims and information on how you can help: -- The K Street Lounge (1301 K Street, NW) is hosting a......

Review from DCist contributor Jake Wolman. You can see more photos from last night's show here Last night, DCist attended the first of three consecutive sold-out Thievery Corporation shows at the 9:30 club. Thievery Corporation, who got their start here in D.C., is the brainchild of Eric Hilton and Rob Garza, the owners of the Eighteenth Street Lounge (and label), DJs who've long been known for their exotic remixes and sophisticated international style. They......

Today will be mostly cloudy with a 50 percent chance of showers and highs in the upper 60s. Baby Porcupine Makes Debut at National Zoo: A baby porcupine born earlier in April has made its debut at the National Zoo. Although not born with fully developed spines, the National Zoo points out that the baby quills were sharp enough to stick into a leather glove after they had dried. See this National Zoo page for......

Now that the Arcade Fire afterglow is starting to wear off, we here at DCist have begun to think about other music. (No, and not just Interpol. Ok, perhaps a little.) The Washington Area Music Association's annual awards show, the "Wammies," is coming up, and they were nice enough to throw some free tickets in our direction. After all, nothing is more fun than attending an event co-sponsored by the 18th Street Lounge and the......

Life in the District, a "savvy guide to getting by in Washington, DC" edited by Jason Novak, comes off Labor Day weekend with a new design, and a few new articles posted to boot. If making your way through gridlock to return to work on a wet, grey D.C. day makes you long for the weekend, Life in the District has something to kick off your planning: a second Friday happy hour to be held......