Perhaps the most interesting aspect of The Fake Accents is their ability to make their inherent contradictions seamlessly coexist. One might not expect that the same band who records and listens to their own practice sessions would also write a disclaimer on their first album that most of the songs that they'd written were actually just ripped off of other songs. Their songs are identifiable by both their catchy hooks and their noisy guitar riffs.......

>> The Black Cat's backstage is going to be pumping out the punk noise tonight as Antelope stops by, with Thank You and The Andalusians. $8, 9 p.m. >> DC Scores, a local nonprofit that provides innovative after-school programming to Washington kids, is hosting its 10th Annual Poetry Slam tonight. The event will feature 300 of the District's public elementary and middle school students competing for the coveted Golden Mic trophy -- obviously it......

Given that this is bound to be a slow day at work, what better time for Gilbert Arenas and adidas to launch GilTV, undoubtedly the next phase of The Takeover. Included are four new commercials -- The Black President (above), Cooking With Gil, Agent Zero and Gilbert's Island -- all seemingly ripped right out of the pages of The Wizznutzz. Let's hope those guys are at least getting some royalty checks from this. On......

MONDAY >> The Library of Congress Mary Pickford Theatre in the James Madison Building kicks off 5 weeks worth of free Monday night rock and pop films with a rare showing of the 1966 documentary, The Big T.N.T. Show. David "Man from Uncle" McCallum hosts Ray Charles, Petula Clark, the Lovin' Spoonful, Bo Diddley, Joan Baez, the Ronettes, Roger Miller, the Byrds, Donovan, the Seeds, the Modern Folk Quartet, and Ike and Tina Turner taped......

Monday >> If you’re not a Springsteen fan, the place to be Monday night is the Black Cat for an evening of dance-punk. Kentucky’s VHS or Beta (pictured) are supporting the recent release of Bring on the Comets along with Los Angeles' Moving Units, whose catchy 2004 single “Between Us and Them” is reason enough get you up and moving. Local favorites Soft Complex will be opening. $13, 8 p.m. Tuesday >> The Austin Chronicle......

MONDAY >> Performing as Phosphorescent, Matthew Houck (right) dropped his latest effort, Pride, at the end of last month. Reviews for the album have been glowing for the Southern-bred multi-instrumentalist. He’ll be making an appearance at the Black Cat with the help of his touring band. 9 p.m., $10. >> With an album titled Heavy Deavy Skull Lover, you’d be right to guess that The Warlocks aren’t exactly members of a pep squad. Still, their......

It's hard to identify Jim Fairchild without first acknowledging that he was formerly the guitarist in the Modesto, Ca. group Grandaddy. Fairchild, however, has kept himself busy since the group's demise in 2006, touring with numerous other bands and also finding the time to record and release his first solo record under the moniker All Smiles. The resulting Ten Readings Of A Warning, a collection of charming, laid back lo-fi pop that belies his......

With jambalaya simmering in the corner, and people waiting in line to get a haircut, you wouldn’t have thought you were in a bar, let alone at a rock show. But last week, upstairs from haircut-and-a-shot night, The Red & The Black was in fact hosting a lineup of several very different styles of local music. Despite a modest midweek crowd — consisting mostly of other bands — one group from Baltimore introduced a unique......

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......

Kris Racer left the punk scene to do some solo soul searching. The former frontman for Ohio based Tagline is being taken very seriously by critics, with an acoustic presence comparable to Elliot Smith and Dashboard Confessional's Chris Carabba. He sings with sincerity, speaking to the twenty-somethings across the country about work, relationships, and the future. But Kris isn’t just another moody musician. There’s a nerdy quirkiness that separates him from the rest, and......

>> DAM! Fest kicks of with its first night of shows featuring a dozen different bands at three venues, including New York's A Place to Bury Strangers (don't miss our interview with the band) and Dirty on Purpose at the Rock and Roll Hotel, Vandaveer and Julie Ocean at the Red and The Black, and Foreign Islands at DC9, among many others. Check out our guide to the DAM! highlights. >> Two film festivals open......

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 &......

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......

MONDAY >> This ain’t not J-Pop, we swear. If you want good old-fashioned Japanese rock ‘n’ roll (OK, it’s true, we don’t really know what that’s supposed to sound like either), The Captains from some place in Japan (the city name on their MySpace page uses Japanese characters) will drop by The Red & The Black tonight. They will be supported by Sugarcane Crawl, formerly known as Blues Hammer, and D.C.'s The Bourbon Dynasty. 9......

FRIDAY: >> The city's free concert series follows MC Hammer with a rare appearance by salsa legend Willie Colon, 7-9 p.m. at Woodrow Wilson Center. >> President Nixon’s White House counsel John Dean will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his book, Broken Government, which examines "the institutional damage he believes the Republican Party has inflicted on the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government during the Bush administration." 7 p.m. He'll also be......

Consider this a warning. The Black Lips, Atlanta's favorite juvenile delinquents, have the capability to turn any live show into a living, breathing OSHA health hazard. Even if managing to avoid the quartet's spit, vomit, blood and urine, one should still expect to exit the club soaked in PBR. Admittedly, the antics, which have also included on-stage intra-band brawls and makeout sessions, could originally be attributed to both teenage drunkenness and lack of technical......

Move over, Jason Kreis. In the forty-eighth minute of the twentieth game in the twelfth season of Major League Soccer, D.C. United's Jaime Moreno became the league's all-time leading scorer with a deftly taken penalty kick. Moreno's 109th career goal put the cap on a solid 3-1 victory over Red Bull New York. On an uncharacteristically brisk August evening at RFK Stadium, United surprised the Red Bulls and never looked back. The 18,748 in......

Like a beach-side romance, several local bands are coming to an end this summer. The Sentiment (pictured), who we profiled in a Three Stars piece last summer, said farewell last night at Fort Reno. Let's French (***) are "being exiled" and are playing their last show on August 17 at the Black Cat. The Hard Tomorrows, who graced the stage of our second Unbuckled show, just called it quits last month. Say it ain't so!......

>> 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......

Monday >> Canada’s post-punk four piece Uncut just released their latest album Modern Currencies in the U.S. on July 17th and will be at DC9 tonight with special guest Patrick Krief of The Dears. Just like their name says, they are raw: loud, bold, and off the wall. Check out the stopmotion animated video for their recent single, "Darkhorse" which includes a fire bombing Ronald McDonald and an army of pissed off Care Bears. 8p.m.,......

On an October evening in 2002, I found myself driving down picturesque Route 29 with two good friends. Mirah was on tour, but not stopping anywhere closer to D.C. than Charlottesville. And we simply had to see her. Five years later, the singular singer-songwriter with the beautifully delicate voice is on the road again, and while she's stopping in D.C. this time, I can't go, so I had to make a side trip to......

MONDAY >> Today's Fort Reno show features local indie poppers Greenland (***) with Statehood and Kitty Hawk. The weather report calls for clear skies, but bring water. 7:15 p.m., free. >> How about another free event? The Black Cat backstage will feature movies about punk rockers Murder City Devils and Anti-Flag. 9 p.m., free. >> This week marks the sixth year of the Hip-Hop Theater Festival, sponsored by the DC Commission on the Arts and......

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone may be an unusual name for a band, but it makes sense: basically a solo project by Owen Ashworth, the band uses mostly battery powered keyboards and electronics recorded on a four track. The results on his first three albums were intimate, ethereal electronic pop songs. On the most recent disc, "Etiquette," Ashworth decided to expand his sound to include guitars, strings, pianos and so on, especially on songs like......

You've heard it all a million times before — nobody dances at shows here! People don't get into the music! There's just no soul in D.C.'s music scene! The Hall Monitors heard your cry and happily came to answer the call with their brand of throwback garage rock & soul reminiscent of the guitar and Motown greats that made most of us (well, OK, me at least) learn to love music in the first place.......

MONDAY >> This is a grand week for Three Stars Alums. First up, we have the magical lyrics of new-wave pop rockers LeJeune(***) playing D.C.'s beloved Fort Reno Park. Also playing tonight are Pup Tent and Engine Room. Show starts at 7:15 p.m., free. >> Next in line, take in the Dischord-influenced sounds of Cataract Camp (***) as they play the backstage at the Black Cat. Back in 2006, we predicted that this band would......

As you'll recall from last summer's round of Crime Emergency-associated legislation, teens in the District were forced to obey a curfew of 10 p.m. throughout the summer months in an effort to stem the tide of law breaking that was often blamed on youths being out on the streets, up to no good. Did it help? Not particularly as far we could ever tell, though it did allow police to release figures about how many......

MONDAY >> The wait is over! We've been anxiously awaiting the start of Fort Reno's season, and the day has finally arrived. Head up to the park and hear one of DCist's favorite local outfits, Deleted Scenes, along with Mass Movement of the Moth and The Boom Orangutangs. >> It's movie night at Galaxy Hut, and tonight the theme is 80s Surf Films. Get your Point Break on and drink an Alagash or twelve. It......

It's summer and our beloved Arts Editor is away this week, so the agenda is a little on the short side. Here are a few things to see. >> We have written before about the Washington Project for the Arts\Corcoran's Experimental Media project. Starting this week, WPA\C is hosting a new show called SiteProjects DC. Curator Welmoed Laanstra has asked 15 local artists to create site-specific outdoor artwork, both installations and performances, through July 28,......

MONDAY >> DC9 scoured the globe for tonight's lineup. The Comas hail from Brooklyn and Chapel Hill and specialize in the darker shades of psychadelic rock. The Veils are here all the way from New Zealand, with some "if you like The White Stripes, you'll love The Veils"-style blues-inspired rock. Locals Zulu Pearls round out the lineup with solid, basic, indie rock. We're incapable of hearing their name without thinking of "Zuzu's petals" from It's......

By DCist Contributor Mehan Jayasuriya It's about an hour before The Pipettes are set to take the stage at the Black Cat and by rights, the band should be exhausted. This is the second gig on their first major North American tour and having flown in from their hometown of Brighton, England only a few days prior, you'd think that the band would be succumbing to the effects of trans-Atlantic jetlag. Unlike the dozing......