It's taken roughly three years, but The Wonderland Ballroom finally has a real web site. Moving away from the drab, desolate wasteland of design faux pas and '90s-esque, sparkling banners known as MySpace, The Wonderland Ballroom now has a much cleaner and simpler site for touting their food and beer. The site now includes their full menu, as well as a listing of their current selection of beers, a photo gallery - including snapshots from......

We're frankly mostly of the mind that New Year's Eve is best spent at a house party with good friends -- going out to a club is almost always overpriced and often a big letdown. But in the event you don't have a party to attend, are new in town, or for any other reason are facing tonight without a firm plan, here's a few of our suggestions on how to have a fun and......

FRIDAY: >> The 18th Street Lounge's regular Wednesday night reggae stars SEE-I are at the Rock and Roll Hotel to celebrate the holidays with some friends who are sure to get you dancing too -- DJ Mat the Alien and remix artists Fort Knox Five. Tickets for the Happy FKX-XMas are $10. >> Rufus Wainwright begins a two-night stint at the 9:30 Club tonight with his sister, Lucy Wainwright Roche. Tickets are still available for......

Fans of Petworth bar Temperance Hall better get up there for their Sazerac cocktails as soon as possible—the bar is on its way out. Don't throw out your arms in plaintive questions to the heavens yet, though. While the bar will go, a bar will stay; the property has been sold to the folks behind Columbia Heights' The Wonderland Ballroom. Following a tip from Prince of Petworth, we caught the Wonderland owners, Matthew McGovern......

>> Tonight's a big night for music, beginning with a celebration of one of the great musicians of the 20th century, Frank Zappa. His son, Dweezil, leads a group of Zappa-alums for this tribute, which takes place at Warner Theater. 7:30 p.m., $50/$75 + Ticketmaster fees. >> Tonight, the musical flavor of New Orleans comes to the Wonderland Ballroom tonight as Yamomanem takes the stage. Call 202-232-5263 for cover information. 9 p.m. >> Also tonight,......

FRIDAY: >> Do the right thing and head to 9:30 Club for a show hosted by the strange gathering of the likes of Gypsy Eyes Records, The Federal Reserve and haberdasherie Propper Topper for a benefit for the DC Public Library Foundation. Kitty Hawk, Vandaveer, Revival, These United States and many more make up the crowded bill. 7:30 p.m., $20. >> The Brunettes (pictured right) perform sickly sweet but addictive pop duets, and they'll be......

>> Tickets are still available to see Argentine-Swedish songwriter and solo classical guitar player José González, he of the awesome indie cover songs (and a bunch of originals, too) play the 9:30 Club. Doors 7:30 p.m., $20, with James Blackshaw. >> Washingtonians are, for better or for worse, often defined by their work, so tonight at the Goethe Institut the DC Asian-Pacific-American Film Festival has a collection of shorts related to job issues called......

TUESDAY: Tomorrow is a treasure trove for science and sci-fi junkies. Our reviewer raved about The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula. Hear author Eric Nuzum muse on the undead at Wonderland Ballroom, 1101 Kenyon St. NW, which will offer drink specials, while Olsson's will have books for sale at the bar. Fangs and capes encouraged. 7 p.m. Over at Politics and Prose, author Ira Flatow will discuss his lengthily titled......

When the advance promo single from The Beanstalk Library landed in our hands in the midst of that blinding heat wave in early August, it seemed perfectly timed. The one-two punch of “Elephantitis”, a rushing, gushing power-popper, and “Fake It”, with its requisite jangle and harmonies, was the perfect antidote to midsummer malaise. Now the proper full-length, America at Night, is finally out, and the band’s finally got the album they’ve been working on since......

As we head into the weekend, we'd like to make a small public service announcement. Though we've been enjoying unseasonably cool temperatures the past week, the heat is coming back, and we'll be back to our usual late August sweatbox by tomorrow. We realize that the heat and humidity can make you cranky and irritable. But we beseech you to try to keep your temper cooler than the air outside. We fully grant you your......

>> Tonight, Yamomanem brings the funky sounds of New Orleans to the Wonderland Ballroom. The music starts at 9 p.m., no cover. >> A native of China’s Hunan province, vocalist Coco Zhao discovered jazz at 17 and later studied at The Shanghai Conservatory of Music. He comes to the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage tonight at 6 p.m. Free. >> Two guitarists come to town on Thursday. Jazz guitarist Wayne Wilkinson, a former member of the......

>> Fort Reno has Antelope, Scanner Freaks, and OmegaBand tonight, at the usual 7:15 p.m. start time. Check out our Three Stars interview with Scanner Freaks and album review of Antelope for a preview of the show. >> The Bang -- featuring Three Stars veteran Anthony Pirog -- is playing at Wonderland Ballroom with Pilesar and the Quagmire, 10 p.m. >> Former Washington Post writer Jeffrey Frank, now a senior editor at The New......

MONDAY: A Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and the wife of Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Connie Schultz will be at Politics and Prose to discuss her book ... And His Lovely Wife, which is her behind-the-scenes look at Brown's campaign and their marriage. 7 p.m. In Last One In, Nicholas Kulish, who was embedded with a Marine attack-helicopter squadron for the Wall Street Journal, spins a slightly unbelievable tale of a gossip columnist who ends up covering......

>> The funky sounds of New Orleans come to the Wonderland Ballroom tonight with Yamomanem. The music starts at 9 p.m. >> It may come as a surprise, but some of the most innovative jazz in the world is now coming out of Norway. The scene's music is known for its fearlessness and avant-garde sensibilities. The Zanussi Five, led by bassist Per Zanussi, is one such group and they are making a stop at Twins......

MONDAY As a part of its ongoing “Face It: We Are Probably All Going To Die or at the Very Least, Suffer Immeasurably” Series, Politics and Prose kicks off the week with a visit from Stephen Flynn, author of The Edge of Disaster, which, apparently, we are teetering on (cf. “all going to die,” “suffer immeasurably”). Also: CSI: Miami is on tonight! 5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 7 p.m. TUESDAY The art of letter writing is......

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......

>> Kicking off unofficial "Actors with Books" day in D.C., Don Cheadle and John Prendergast, a senior advisor to the International Crisis Group and co-founder of the ENOUGH Campaign, visit Borders to discuss their collaboration Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond. [1801 K St, NW Free, 6 p.m.] >> On a lighter note, Bruce Dern sits down a Theater Lab tonight to talk about his long career......

It seems that some nefarious characters fell down the rabbit hole last Friday night. The City Desk reports that the Wonderland Ballroom--Columbia Heights’ enclave of kitsch, quirkdom, and delicious foot-long hotdogs--fell victim to an armed robbery by three masked men. Yesterday, as Wonderland filled up with the tragically hip for weekly trivia night, bar co-owner Matthew McGovern sat down and gave us the scoop: when the perps entered the bar around 9 p.m., it was......

Michael Jantz is our hero. The Cleveland bred folk/indie-rocker moved into the District a few years ago after leaving his mark on the Midwest to save us from our end-of-the-week doldrums. Sunday evenings can be somewhat of a downer, but Jantz has found a way to take back the night…as a weekly host and feature artist at Wonderland Ballroom. He draws talent from both inside the District and beyond, and headlines these intimate shows with......

The agenda's coming in a little late this week, many appologies. Before we get into our picks, we'd like to wish a very happy 5th birthday to Jammin' Java. The Vienna venue that started out small has come far since its beginning, earning acclaim and great acts along the way. Head on out to the 'burbs (and if you take the metro, wear a belt), and pay Jammin' Java a visit sometime this month. Might......

FRIDAY: >> Provisions Library's Cartoon Film Series continues tonight with Ducktators, Dutch director Wolter Braamhorst's look at the use of cartoons as propaganda during World War II. The film, originally released in 1997, sheds light on how entertainment and war have gone hand-in-hand since at least the 1940s, and features interviews with famed Loony Tunes animator Chuck Jones. 7 p.m., free. >> Be sure to check out the Arts Agenda for details on the gallery......

Before we kick off this week's suggestions, a quick note about Sunday's show at the Black Cat. The Lovely Feathers were good, Dr Dog was great, and The Spinto Band was freakin phenomenal. What a tremendous bunch of characters those guys are, we haven't seen head shaking like that since That Thing You Do. TUESDAY: >> We'll be honest -- we can't exactly picture Trent Reznor playing in an amphitheater. But it's a plan so......

Back in December on one cold snowy night, DCist walked upstairs at DC9 and into a unique blend of smooth melodic pop rock, country, bluegrass, and Americana that left us feeling intoxicated with the smooth stylings of Alec Gross and the Districts' “whiskey rock.” A self-taught guitarist from the age of 15, harmonica player, and talented singer/songwriter, Alec defines all that is the hardworking musician. As they currently write and record tracks for their new......

This post comes to us from DCist contributor Rob Birgfeld In the eyes of many, a good bar must have certain things. Ambience, a good DJ, a nice selection of fine wines, liquor, and various micro-brewed beers. To others, the list of requirements is far shorter; Cheap beer and pinball. Despite the incredible advancements in video game graphics, story lines, and the countless renditions of Golden Tee, pinball remains king of the American dive bar.......

Can a bar created to cater to young professionals itself be gentrified? That's the question on the minds of some Columbia Heights residents who have watched Wonderland Ballroom race rapidly from a non pretentious neighborhood hangout to an aggressively hip lounge, complete with the corresponding aggressive pricing and Orange Line clientele. After opening in 2004 in a residential neighborhood in Columbia Heights at the old site of the gay bar Nob Hill, Wonderland developed a......