Ragged Glory plays tonight at the Velvet Lounge. Can’t afford to pay $100 for a cheap seat at Neil Young’s upcoming DAR stop in November? You’re in luck. During our last chat with Ryan Walker from The Beanstalk Library, we found out he also put together a Neil Young cover band a few years back. They call themselves Ragged Glory, and the lineup plays something like a who’s who of up-and-coming local bands: Brian Kent... more ›

>> 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... more ›

“If I do my job as an actor, you won't notice that I'm South Asian or that I'm a woman, or even that I'm playing one of the most controversial political figures of all time. I'm portraying a person at a crossroads struggling with a difficult decision.” So says Zehra Fazal (pictured right) of her striking portrayal of Adolf Hitler in her self-produced, one-woman adaptation of Yukio Mishima’s play, My Friend Hitler, currently running at... more ›

FRIDAY: >> January at 9:30 Club tends to be a no man's land of lots of dark nights with the occassional local line-up thrown in for good measure. So we think it's great that Taint, DC9's weekly queer dance night for electro-indie goodness, and Black Cat's popular Bliss have ganged up to create INFAMY, a late-night dance fiesta featuring DJ Will Eastman and New York's DJ Bill Coleman, with special guest Daisy Spurs. Doors open... more ›

Jazz a la Count Basie seems an unlikely choice for the Black Cat. Yet, for more than a decade, Peaches O’Dell and her Orchestra have been swinging D.C. revelers into the next year. The bandleader is the subject of a special holiday edition of Three Stars. Even the most talented dance band can take a mental backseat to counting steps or following spins. The magnetic O’Dell is an exception to this rule — and several... more ›

Everyone is all about George Pelecanos these days. We interviewed him, he was on the Kojo Nnamdi Show, and he's appeared in various area bookstores to pimp his new crime thriller, The Night Gardener. If Pelecanos is known for anything, it's the local references he liberally infuses his writings with. Criminals and the police that chase them live and work in the seediest parts of the region, giving readers a glimpse into the underworld of... more ›

TUESDAY Tired of running into the virtual junta of returned Peace Corps volunteers living in our fair city and being forced to listen to story upon story about how working in an office every day will just never be as fulfilling as digging that well in Cameroon? Then this event is not for you. Former Peace Corps volunteers read from and sign A Life Inspired: Tales of Peace Corps Service. Peace Corps, 111 20th... more ›

Author George Pelecanos has been writing about life in D.C. for over fifteen years, but it's not the Washington you expect. He shuns the overdone political thriller, with the glamorization of Capital Hill and shiny Northwest. Instead, Pelecanos finds the homegrown stories of families who've been here for generations. The author, who also contributes to HBO's The Wire, was born in the city and raised in Mt. Pleasant (but now lives in Silver Spring), and... more ›

Red and white illuminated balloons will dot the streets of downtown D.C. this evening during D.C.’s Light The Night Walk to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The casual 2+ mile walk through downtown steps off from Freedom Plaza at 7:30 p.m. with onsite registration opening at 6 p.m at the Woodrow Wilson Plaza at the Ronald Reagan Building. more ›