FRIDAY: >> In case you missed Chapel Hill's The Old Ceremony (pictured) last time they were in town, they'll be at the Rock and Roll Hotel tonight with Junior League, Unwed Sailor and John Pringle. We've raved in the past about lead singer Django Haskins' Nick Cave-meets-Ben Folds stage presence, and since then we've picked up their 2006 release Our One Mistake. If you can't make the show, we highly suggest giving them a listen... more ›

LaTur went down to the U.S. Army Band’s annual performance of Tchaikovsky’s "1812 Overture" at the Sylvan Theater and got this fantastic capture of The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Presidential Salute Battery's cannon salutes. Talk about great timing. Here's the EXIF.
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>> Vancouver rock collective They Shoot Horses, Don't They? will play their experimental marching band/circus music backstage at Black Cat, with Ostinato and Karate Bear. If you like weird, fun and loud, you'll want to be there at 9 p.m., $8. >> It's time once again for the U.S. Army Band’s annual performance of Tchaikovsky’s "1812 Overture" — complete with cannon salutes from The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Presidential Salute Battery.... more ›

A couple of weeks back, we found ourselves at IOTA paying $10 to see two bands we were previously unfamiliar with (Iowa City's Death Ships and Chapel Hill's The Old Ceremony). The experience left us feeling satisfied and slightly adventurous. We wanted to make a regular habit of checking out bands based on 30-second clips and "borrowed" tracks from elbo.ws. And that's partly why we were at IOTA last night to see mellow Canadian folksters... more ›

Flickr user wyntuition took this wonderfully lit long exposure from the top of 1201 Pennsylvania Avenue. The Old Post Office has a fantastic haunted feel here. What a great view from your office, but we have to hope our photographer won't be working nearly as late tonight! EXIF. more ›

A lot of effort goes into attending a concert -- paying outrageously high ticket prices, figuring out transportation and putting up with obnoxious crowds are the first things that come to mind. This is why we tend to reserve our hard-earned dollars for those bands we really like. But something drew us to the 'burbs last night to see Chapel Hill's The Old Ceremony at IOTA, a band we weren't entirely familiar with. In the... more ›

When your alumni game features less than one former player for each year your franchise has played, and none of them play goalie, something might be wrong. The 2006-2007 season was a chance for the Washington Capitals to take a long, sometimes painful look at the prospects it has drafted and traded for in recent years. Over the season, the team discovered that these young players were generally young, inexperienced and insecure. With the right... more ›

MONDAY >> Remember the days when you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing the Goo Goo Dolls' hit single "Name"? Yeah, we drink heavily to forget it, too. Well, it turns out the boys named Goo are headlining the 9:30 Club two nights in a row with Augustana. Maybe we shouldn’t be so hard on them; both nights are sold out. >> Steven Tyler of Aerosmith fame is going to be rocking the George... more ›

If you aren’t in the mood to cross the Potomac for Thai (us), or if you have not yet jumped on the Bangkok 54 bandwagon (us again), then consider The Old Siam a low-key alternative. Since opening early last year in the old Mickey’s Patio location, it’s remained very much a neighborhood haunt. It’s a little out of the way for us, too, but when we’re heading toward Barracks Row, we stop in for... more ›

Wednesday’s unseasonable warmth called for sunny day music. A happy coincidence then, that Ben Kweller, a purveyor of cheerful college rock, was headlining the 9:30 club that evening. Looking at the small crowd of underage early arrivals jostling for position, a question came to mind: is Kweller an artist or a phase? To paraphrase a famous film quote, it seems that he gets older but his fans stay the same age. The answer came... more ›

As you have hopefully heard (or at least read in Wikipedia), it's not Adam's Morgan -- Adam doesn't own the Morgan. The neighborhood was given its name during D.C.'s school desegregation in the 1950s, when the all-white John Quincy Adams School and the all-black Thomas P. Morgan School were both integrated. Adams School still exists on 19th Street just north of the Washington Hilton, but Morgan School, which was located at the corner of California and 18th Streets where the Marie Reed tennis courts and ball fields are, was demolished around 1971. more ›

Barracks Row Restaurant Crawl Next Weekend Have you been to 8th St. SE lately? The place is going crazy! New places like The Old Siam and World Cafe are snuggling into the Hill neighborhood next to old standbys like Banana Café and Levi's Port Cafe. They're even putting in a Dunkin' Donuts on the corner of 8th and Pennsylvania! Hellooooo Coolattas. The folks along Barracks Row are pretty excited about it too, and they're throwing... more ›

FRIDAY: >> Seattle singer-songwriter Rosie Thomas is recording a new album with Sufjan Stevens, has toured with both James Mercer and Sam Bean, and we wouldn't be shocked if she had "Sub Pop" tatooed on her butt. There's no arguing she's got the street cred to draw a crowd tonight at Jammin' Java in Vienna. But Thomas also has a penchant for exploring topics (and melodies) that seem to place her more in the "sometimes... more ›

Written by DCist contributor Genevieve Smith. more ›

MONDAY >> Ray Suarez will discuss his book, The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration. However, he’s doing his discussion at the Fairfax County Government Center, so you can bet there will be plenty of people there saying, “But…what about our awesome fleet of school buses?” 12000 Government Center Parkway, Fairfax, Virginia, at 7:30 p.m. TUESDAY >> Hey, faithful readers. Have you been enjoying the awesomely bad spectacle that is CBS’s... more ›

DCist is feeling both excited and overwhelmed by the amount of independent film screenings around town this week. Two new ones kick off tonight: Black Maria Film Festival at the Hirshhorn and the 13th Annual DC Environmental Film Festival. more ›

When the next chapter of Washington's baseball history is written this spring, Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium will once again become a focal point of this city's attention. Since the Redskins moved out in 1997, it has mostly been a soccer field. And no matter how much D.C. United and MLS hype Freddy Adu, chances are you haven't stopped by in some time. As you're standing in line to see the Nationals in the... more ›

The Old Patent Office, the 1830s-era building in Gallery Place that is the home to the National Portrait Gallery, just got a major infusion of needed cash to build an enclosed canopy over its courtyard. The Post reports that Washington philanthropists Robert and Arlene Kogod have given the Smithsonian Institution $25 million for the project. That gift will help make the great enclosure (pictured here), designed by the esteemed Sir Norman Foster who designed a similar glass roof at the British Museum, a reality. more ›

Two weekends back, DCist took a trip to the Old Post Office Pavilion. We weren't there to mingle with tourists in the food court, we went for the view. With the Washington Monument closed for security upgrades, the tower of the Old Post Office is the next best thing. Its free access and normally low traffic is one of the best relatively low-key tourist sites in the city. (Please note that the National Park Service's... more ›

Because we like to keep you in the know, here's an updated list of upcoming shows, through middle of October or so (if we've missed anything, please let us know!). A couple of DCist-ers will be in attendance at the Thrills show tomorrow night at the Black Cat, so come on out! 9/17: Lungfish, Black Cat 9/18: The Thrills, Black Cat 9/23: The Walkmen, 9:30 Club 9/24: Fiery Furnaces, Black Cat 9/25: Travis Morrison, Galaxy... more ›