>> Tonight is the annual 17th Street High Heel Race. The classic D.C. drag event kicks off officially at 9 p.m., but you'll want to take your position on 17th St. NW between Church and R well before that (we'd recommend 7 at the latest). If you're looking to make a queer night of it, don't forget about the Hug-In planned at the U Street Rite Aid at 7 p.m., and the pre-Hug-In Happy Hour......

FRIDAY: >> It's raining, and you've got some serious partying to do tomorrow night, so we'd recommend taking in a movie and saving your strength. Don't miss our movie picks for the weekend here, including special Halloween screenings of Nosferatu at the AFI Silver Theater. Also of note tonight, The American City Diner screens Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho at 8:30 p.m. >> If you’re more in the mood for getting your eardrums absolutely destroyed, Japanese metal......

FRIDAY: >> Octogenarian fiddler Joe Thompson (at right), said to be the last black traditional string band player, plays a free show at The Kennedy Center's The Millennium Stage with fellow folk musicians Wayne Martin on fiddle and Bob Carlin, a clawhammer style banjoist. 6 p.m. >> Space rockers The Gulf sold out their D.C. show in April, and are coming back to play at the Red and the Black with the Joonies, Twin Earth,......

FRIDAY: >> Though perhaps not quite as high profile anymore as some other D.C. bands from the mid-1980s, the cryptically-named 9353 always had, and still maintains, a dedicated group of fans. You may never have heard of them, but in addition to playing with some of the biggest local names like Scream, G.I. and Iron Cross, they also shared bills with Public Image Ltd, Sisters of Mercy and the Butthole Surfers back in the day,......

Plan your naps accordingly, set your alarms, and stock up on your Red Bull, folks. The DCist, Blisspop and Brightest Young Things super duper 9:30 Club extravaganza is finally upon us! At the ripe old age of 3, we're wondering if we can still muster the energy for a show that starts at 11 p.m., but with the talents of DJ Will Eastman, Georgie James, The Dance Party and Soft Complex luring us towards 815......

We'll have a full preview tomorrow, but here's a friendly video reminder about the show we're co-sponsoring with BrightestYoungThings and Blisspop at 9:30 Club, featuring Georgie James, Soft Complex, The Dance Party and a set by DJ Will Eastman. This Saturday at 11 p.m. for a late show, $10.......

Because we like to bring you great bands and great things to do around D.C. as often as we possibly can, DCist has teamed up with Bliss Pop and Brightest Young Things in the name of a great night at the 9:30 Club. On September 8, join your favorite internet types and your favorite music types as DJ Will Eastman, Georgie James, The Dance Party and Soft Complex fill our city's finest music hall with......

>> Having drawn comparisons to Neutral Milk Hotel since recording their debut album in D.C. last summer, Donny Hue and the Colors, featuring members of the Carlsonics, Nethers, Washington Social Club and Meredith Bragg and the Terminals, will play for free at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage at 6 p.m. If you can't make it there in time, the performance will also be broadcast live on the web. >> Check out our review of......

MONDAY: Oliver August will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his latest book Inside the Red Mansion, which chronicles the hunt for China's most-wanted fugitive, Lai Changxing. For more information, check out this short film on the making of the book. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: Writer Dominic Cicere will be holding a book release party at Galaxy Hut for Near Wild Heaven, which contains a collection of poems, a short story and a screenplay on......

FRIDAY: >> The Millennium Stage Conservatory Project concludes this weekend at the Kennedy Center. Promising young musicians from the nation's best conservatories will be giving free concerts in the Terrace Theater: Eastman School of Music (tonight), Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University (Saturday), and Shepherd School of Music, Rice University (Sunday). All concerts begin at 6 p.m. and can also be experienced by live simulcast through the Millennium Stage Web site. >> Garrison Keillor brings......

FRIDAY: >> DCist Exposed opening reception, OBVS. 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., at Warehouse. >> If you're looking for more hip art happenings afterward, head over to the Hirshhorn After Hours party, which goes until midnight. It's a celebration of the opening of Virgil Marti and Pae White's new site-specific installation in the Hirshhorn lobby, which is the latest in the museum's Directions series. Ian Svenonius is spinning and it looks like there'll be a number......

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......

FRIDAY: >> It's the DAM! Festival, son. We've already written a blue streak about it, so check out our recent music archives for some great interviews and MP3s from participating artists, and weigh your options between The Red and the Black, the Rock and Roll Hotel, or Velvet Lounge, full schedule with too many bands to list here. Of course, the non-DAM! show of the night is clearly Baltimore's Spank Rock, who'll be bringing their......

Ten hours and counting! The task is yours, our clever readers. Send your best "X meets Y" descriptions of Annie to us by midnight tonight for your chance at two tickets to see Scandanavia's pop princess combine her powers with D.C.'s own DJ Will Eastman at Bliss on Friday night. The show promises a diplomacy-meets-rebellion atmosphere. We kid. As always, we're pretty impressed by what you've provided so far. Keep the goods comin'! You don't......

It's been a fun three months for us here on the DCist music staff, ever since we debuted the Three Stars local music feature. We've been to lots of shows, heard tons of great music, and discovered just how many great acts there are out there in the Washington area. And we're only just getting started. As we said in the first Three Stars ever, we're going to keep doing this until we run out......

Today brings the final installment of the November Three Stars, a sit down interview with the Routineers, Three Stars' first encounter with D.C.'s legendary label, Dischord. Tuesday we reviewed The Caribbean's new album, Plastic Explosives. Yesterday we interviewed DJ Will Eastman. Three Stars will return in December. The Routineers are comprised of Amanda MacKaye (yes, those MacKayes), Bill Nesper, Ryan Nelson and Todd McDonald. Amanda, Ryan and Todd played in a band called Jury Rig......

Today we bring you the second installment of the November Three Stars, an interview with DJ Will Eastman. Yesterday, we reviewed Plastic Explosives, the new album from The Caribbean, and tomorrow this Three Stars will conclude with coverage of the Routineers. DCist Kyle Gustafson assisted in the preparation of this piece. DJ Will Eastman Since 1998, DJ Will Eastman has been haunting the clubs of DC, spinning the newest and best in pop (indie, Brit,......

Welcome to the November edition of Three Stars. Tomorrow, we'll have an interview with DJ Will Eastman, on Thursday we'll take a look at the Routineers, and today we discuss The Caribbean and their recently released album, Plastic Explosives. Plastic Explosives, The Caribbean We want to get the details out of the way first. The Caribbean is a local band, composed of members of a handful of local acts past and present, including Townies, Smart......

FRIDAY: >> You just can't say the D.C. music scene doesn't care. Check out the 2-night Katrina's Piano Fund benefit concert at Black Cat, featuring a packed line-up of local acts. Friday's got Monopoli, the Routineers, the Washington Social Club, the Ambitions, Andy Zipf, and DJ Will Eastman. Saturday is Wooly Mammoth, The Whips, Owls and Crows, Edie Sedgwick, Rose, andDJ lil' e. $12 for one show, or maximize your band-to-dollar ratio and pay just......

Good news D.C. Unlike last weekend, we'll only have to suffer through this rain today; Saturday will be dry and Sunday will be beautiful. Awesome. FRIDAY: >> We hear some big movie opened this week, with "lazer swords" and some dude wearing a black hat. What was it called again? Eh, who cares -- especially when you can watch "Napoleon Dynamite" again on the big screen. The Landmark E St.'s Midnight Movies bring pretty much......

MONDAY: >> Local indie rockers The Bonapartes and high school group Sid Space (despite their youth, we hear good things) are at the Galaxy Hut in Arlington. Free! TUESDAY: >> The Lucksmiths, who play twee-ish guitar pop straight outta Australia, come to DC9. Check out an mp3 here. Ladybug Transistor opens. $10. WEDNESDAY: >> iPod DJ Night, now officially over a year old and still going strong, is downstairs at Saint Ex this evening. THURSDAY:......

If you can make it through the 4-5 inches of snow that are sure to shut down our fair city this weekend, we've got some picks to round out your weekend of snowball fights and hot chocolate. FRIDAY: >> Velvet Lounge celebrates its sixth birthday this weekend with a Friday lineup of Meredith Bragg and the Terminals, The Small Shouts (featuring Olivia from Washington Social Club), Debutants, and Greenline. >> On-the-rise female rapper Jean Grae......