FRIDAY:
For many of us, going to see Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion” recorded live was one of the few times in our early teens when both we and our parents could agree on attending the same event without rancor. But Keillor’s getting up there, and it seems more likely we’ll be sharing “This American Life” or even some yet-to-be produced program with our own kids. For now, thank goodness, Keillor and company are still truckin’ and are coming to Wolf Trap on Friday and Saturday, just in time to get us all really excited to see Robert Altman’s “A Prairie Home Companion: The Movie,” brought to you by Powdermilk Biscuits, the ones in the big blue box. $18-$44, 8:00 p.m. Friday, 5:45 p.m. Saturday.
Do yourself a huge favor tonight and head to Vienna to see Jonathan Coulton peform at Jammin’ Java. His brilliant cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot’s timeless classic “Baby Got Back” has been making the rounds on the Internet for some time now (listen to it here), and word on the street is that many of his other songs are just as enjoyable (though we have a hard time imagining him topping that masterpiece). 7 p.m., with Paul and Storm, $12.
SATURDAY:
Our own classical music guru recommends the Bartók String Quartet
performing a free concert this afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Library of Congress. No tickets required, and thanks to the holiday, we’re guessing attendance will be low. Appropriately, they’ll be performing Quartet #5 by their namesake, Béla Bartók, as well as Mozart’s Quartet in G major, K. 387.
Ian Maxwell MacKinnon and Eric Zinman will skewer President Bush and Vice
President Cheney’s at DCAC by presenting an executive focus group “hosted” by the administraion for a project of the highest stakes for the future of our country: a remake of the 1986 Tom Cruise film Top Gun. 10 pm, Tickets: $15/$12 members. Call 202-462-7833.
SUNDAY:
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Free-for-All is finally here, just in time for picnic weather and a long, leisurely holiday weekend. This year they’re serving up Pericles, Prince of Tyre, one of those pesky canonical standbys that everyone seems to agree was at least partly written by Shakespeare. The even better news is that the reviews of STC’s original mainstage production were overwhemlingly glowing. Here’s the detailed instructions we ran last year on how to make sure you get tickets and seats with the least amount of hassle. May 25-June 4.
Nothing could be finer than a trip to Carolina and a Prince vs. Outkast dance party at Black Cat. 8:30 p.m., $9.
