Walking around D.C. you sometimes catch posters for shows at the Black Cat or 9:30 Club hung up in random places. They always seem a bit ragged and most often ripped up from the elements or from bored hands. Unfortunately, the street isn't the most forgiving gallery, but silk-screened gig posters do bring art to the masses. Sweet: The Graphic Beauty of the Contemporary Rock Poster brings this medium in from the cold and displays......

Written by DCist contributor Brett Gellman Maryland Basketball (10-7, 0-2 ACC) snapped its four-game winning streak after losing to Virginia Tech last Saturday in heartbreaking fashion, 67-66. The Terps were missing Eric Hayes, the team's starting point guard, for the second straight game due to an ankle sprain, and it was highly evident from the results on the court. Greivis Vasquez took over the ball-handling duties and had a horrid night: 2 of 14 from......

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......

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.......

George Mason capped a successful holiday week by beating South Carolina yesterday to take third-place in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla. Will Thomas paced the Patriots with 22 points and 11 rebounds, solidifying his place on the All-Tournament team. George Mason kicked off their tournament with an 87-77 win over 18th-ranked Kansas State. John Vaughan's 21 points led the team, which put all five starters in double figures. Folarin Campbell's 25 points made......

The mid-November start to the NCAA basketball season tends to get lost in the universe of sports coverage. This is probably due to the staggered opening nights around the country, but can also be attributed to competition with other sports -- college football entering its stretch run, the NFL in midseason, even the NBA's opening weeks garner more attention than college hoops. We're not about to let this exciting time slip through the cracks. With......

>> One of the biggest names in smooth jazz, altoist David Sanborn, begins a five night stint at Blues Alley tonight with daily 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. sets. Tickets are $50 + $12.50 minimum/surcharge. >> Our first must see of the week takes place at Twins Jazz, where the club will feature three ensembles under the direction of local saxophonist Brad Linde. The University of Maryland Jazz Chamber Ensemble will play the first set......

Written by DCist contributor Brett Gellman The Maryland Terrapins (4-5, 1-4 ACC) enter Byrd Stadium for their home finale tonight when they take on #8 Boston College (4-1, 4-1 ACC) in an Atlantic Division showdown. The Terps are reeling from a three game losing streak after falling to UNC 16-13 last Saturday while the Eagles national title hopes fizzled after Florida State stunned BC 27-17. Both teams look to rebound after the disappointing losses. While......

Written by DCist Contributor Josh Kramer The Hatchet — George Washington University >>David Horowitz, organizer of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, spoke Thursday night at GWU. Horowitz criticized the university and for its reaction to the students who hung ironically critical posters on campus, but spent most of the talk explaining the history of the Ottoman empire and what he believes is the rise of "Islamo-fascism." Horowitz also tried to claim that he is not a racist.......

>> Rachelle Farell, one of the few vocalists who successfully straddles the line between jazz, R&B and pop, will be playing at Blues Alley tonight, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Sets are at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. The rather outrageously priced tickets are available here. $60 + $10 food/drink minimum. >> Two local ladies of jazz come to Twins Jazz tonight for our first must see. Trombonist Jen Krupa, a member of the Navy Commodores......

This Thursday marks the start of the Fall Festival of Indian Arts, a program that is now in its fourth installment. This year's festival is entitled Celebrating Freedom, in honor of the 60th anniversary of Indian and Pakistani independence. Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh & Co., a local dance company, is staging the event and its mission is to mirror the modern South Asian experience by presenting traditional Indian dance forms in tandem with modern stylings. The......

Written by DCist Contributor Sarah Stonesifer The Diamondback – University of Maryland: >> Hartwick Towers, an off-campus apartment building, was the scene of a fire on Friday, Oct. 12. The fire has come under scrutiny by both students and city officials, as the building is not equipped with sprinklers and fire alarms did not function during the fire. Students were left on their own to find alternative housing until they were let back into their......

Many of you have already visited the "Solar Village" since it opened its gates last Friday on the National Mall. Last weekend the long lines literally wrapped around each house entered into the 2007 Solar Decathlon, with people eager to get a tour from the students, alumni and faculty from each university competitor. The ten competitions have been judged all week, from Architecture last week to Engineering today, with individual winners announced for each leg......

You'd think that, once the Almighty found himself on the business end of God Is Not Great, Christopher Hitchens' latest broadside, there'd be hell to pay. Instead, Hitchens' book became an international bestseller, racking up laudatory reviews and garnering an even larger audience for his witty contrarianism. Which makes one suspect that perhaps The Hitch is on to something. As if it needed more attention, yesterday God Is Not Great was named one of five......

Written by DCist Contributor Fredo Alvarez Campus Pride, the nation's largest non-profit student LGBT organization, this week launched its Campus Climate Index, an online report card that allows LGBT students from colleges across the country to rate their schools on their inclusiveness and support of LGBT students, employees and their allies. Schools are rated on a scale from one to five stars based on a voluntary survey. Of 80 public and private institutions that......

>> Via Mid-Atlantic Art News, nearly every one on the Washington Post arts staff has been slammed over last Thursday's article on art in the White House Green Room. The Seattle Post-Intellgencer blog calls Post writer Jacqueline Trescott's race labeling of Jacob Lawrence as "the greatest African-American artist of the 20th century" a "disgrace," the staff photographer inept, and most hilariously, Blake Gopnik, who gets skewered though he wasn't even involved with the article,......

We noted awhile ago that the owners of the Birchmere had been in talks to open another venue in Silver Spring — while that has fallen by the wayside, it looks like Live Nation will be moving in instead. The Clear Channel spinoff, which produces concerts and owns music venues around the country, including Nissan Pavilion, various Fillmores, and the House of Blues chain, signed a letter of intent to build in an old J.C.......

Attention, women of College Park! Please be aware that there is a creepy ass dude breaking into homes, crawling into bed with women while they sleep and trying to molest them. The Post reports that a series of straight-up skeezy events perpetrated by the same man occurred in the neighborhood around the University of Maryland early Thursday morning, including two home invasions that resulted in the sexual assault of at least four women in their......

>> President Bush is set to announce plans to reduce the American troop presence in Iraq by around 30,000 by next summer -- which is the same, pre-surge level it was about nine months ago. [AP via WTOP] >> D.C. firefighters put out a fire in the parking garage at Union Station this morning. [AP via WTOP] >> The 2007 American League of Lobbyists Hoops for Hope Charity Game is tonight at GW's Smith Center,......

"Petraeus Says Objectives in Iraq Are Largely Being Met" [WaPo] "Slow Progress Being Made in Iraq, Petraeus Tells Congress" [NYTimes] "We are winning in Iraq, General Petraeus says" [London Times] "Petraeus says U.S. troop levels can be cut" [Reuters] >> A noose was reportedly found hanging in a tree near a building that houses several African American campus organizations at the University of Maryland. School officials are treating the incident as a possible hate......

Good morning, Washington. For those of you who were inconvenienced by yesterday afternoon's Red line mishap, we're sure you'll be glad to hear that the suspect who Montgomery County police chased into the tunnel got away. The whole incident started just after 2 p.m. when officers, acting on a suspicious-person call, spotted Michael J. Brown, a man known by area police and who is wanted in Baltimore for several charges of theft. After a chase......

Good morning, D.C. If you live in Wards 1 or 2, don't forget to turn out to vote today in the special election for District I member of the State Board of Education. There's only one name on the ballot, that of veteran education reporter Mary Lord, but as we mentioned before, there's also a write-in candidate, first-year teacher in DCPS Jason Crawford. Check out each candidate's web site and decide for yourself. If......

Saxophonist Matt Rippetoe is a busy man. A mainstay within the D.C. jazz circuit, Rippetoe plays regularly with several different groups that cover a variety of styles. He has performed at Bohemian Caverns, Blues Alley, Cafe Nema, Jo-Jos, Tryst, Utopia, Columbia Station... basically all the local places. The time has finally arrived for him to take charge as a band leader and this Sunday, June 29th, at 8 p.m., he will celebrate the release of......

D.C.'s jazz community lost its matriarch when Ronnie Wells (pictured right) succumbed to lung cancer in March 2007. One of D.C.'s premier jazz vocalists, Wells began her career in the mid-60s when she started performing at clubs throughout the city. Over the course of her career, her music took her to festivals and around the world. In 1983, she accepted an appointment to the University of Maryland's music program, where she designed a jazz vocal......

This city has always produced fine jazz musicians, but the scene has had its ups and downs. In the 1990s, D.C.'s jazz landscape was very different. This was a time before the resurgence of U Street and Adams Morgan as centers for live music, and it also seemed as though there was a dearth of young talent in the city. While top notch national acts always came to the Kennedy Center and Blues Alley,......

Five years ago, Carol Trawick began funding the highest paying art competition in the area at the time. The Trawick Prize, held at Creative Partners, was open to artists working in all media, with the high cash prizes often won by new media artists working in video, digital technologies and installation. Encouraged by Fraser Gallery owner Catriona Fraser, Trawick began a similar competition open only to painters three years ago: the Bethesda Painting Award. The......

Everyone needs a vacation, even musicians, and the summer is quite naturally a time that the classical music world slows down. So this is it for your Classical Music Agenda, until August. This week's installment will be a little longer than normal, because there are several interesting things happening over the next couple months. If you want to hear some music this summer, you can, and here's where. HEADLINES: >> The most important classical music......

On Friday, Deborah Jeane Palfrey made her much-hyped prime time television debut on 20/20, chatting with Brian Ross about her D.C. escort business but saying her "gals" didn't engage in illegal activities. Ross was a bit incredulous that she actually believed no sex was taking place, but Palfrey quickly confirmed that said face was indeed straight, pointing to a contract her escorts signed saying they would be fired if any criminal activity took place. While......

We're still getting over the amazing Big Band Jam and next week we'll tell you all about the Kennedy Center's annual Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival. In the mean time, there's plenty of great jazz to be had in our fair city. >> Trumpet player Sean Jones, a young lion who was recently chosen to be a member of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, brings his group to Blues Alley. Jones is touring......

In the wake of last Monday's deadly shootings at Virgina Tech, many local college students are discussing campus security and the implications for their schools. In addition to holding a slew of vigils and showing support for their peers in Blacksburg, collegians wonder how such a tragedy could occur on American campuses and what university officials are doing to protect their students. American University administrators are taking a second look at their emergency response plan,......