FRIDAY:
>> Throughout this weekend at the intimate space of Twins Jazz on U Street, enjoy some fabulous local jazz at the Alto Saxophone Summit. For $15, you can catch Charlie Young, a professor of music at Howard University, Marty Nau, a local jazz alto saxophonist, and Marshall Keys, who’s played with Lionel Hampton and Branford Marsalis. Tickets can be purchased here. 9 p.m.
>> If you recently caught “Broken Flowers,” the latest film in which Bill Murray plays a sympathetic sad sack, you might enjoy the retrospective of director Jim Jarmusch at the AFI Silver Theatre that’s been going on since August 5 and will close August 25. Tonight features “Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai” (pictured above) and “Dead Man” (starring Johnny Depp).
SATURDAY:
>> It’s the sixth anniversary of popular britpop dance night, Mousetrap, at the Black Cat. Tonight, DJ Mark Zimin will be spinning his usual mix of 90s britpop along with “club classics.” The $10 ticket will grant you admission to both Mousetrap on the mainstage and Right Round, the 80s dance night, on the backstage. Things get started at 9:30; we imagine tonight will be packed, so you might want to get there early.
>> Have you been growing some oddly-shaped, nuclear sized vegetable in your backyard garden? Well, here’s your chance if you want to show ’em off. Frager’s Hardware on Capitol Hill is celebrating its 85th anniversary by having a “Big, Ugly Tomato Contest.” From 8 a.m. – 10 a.m., you can drop off your terrifying freaks of vegetable (or is it fruit?) nature, and from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. they’ll be judged. 1115 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, free.
SUNDAY:
>> The Virginia Wine Festival closes out its weekend run today. Get thee down to Millwood, Va. to sample some of the finest Virginia wines the state has to offer. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., rain or shine; tickets will run you $20 in advance at $22 at the door. From our days tooling around the central Virginian countryside, we’re partial to the offerings of the Barboursville Vineyards.
>> What better way to spend a sleepy August Sunday than by taking in a pig race or two? The Arlington County Fair is here this weekend, spooning out more cotton candy, carnival rides, and competitive arts & crafts exhibits than you can handle, and it’s free to the public.
