MONDAY
>> As much as we’d like to crack whiplash jokes, apparently the joke is on us as thrash metal group Slayer plays the first of two sold-out shows at the 9:30 club (the second is on Tuesday). As one of many sold-out 9:30 club shows this week, we can only suggest Craigslist if you don’t have your ticket to this headbanging extravaganza. 7 p.m.

TUESDAY
>> Local experimental darlings Hand-Fed Babies, with their unique brand of dub/noise will be playing the Black Cat tonight, Food For Animals opens. We restrain from putting the names of these two bands together, with a nice “are” in between. Backstage, 9 p.m., $6.

>> If you want to hear the man behind the sounds of Fugazi, Minor Threat and Jawbox, come to Crooked Beat Records tonight as long-time Dischord sound engineer, musician in his own right and owner of the legendary Inner Ear Studios, Don Zientara, delivers an in-store performance. The store only has limited room, so come early or miss out! 7 p.m., free.

>> It’s Mardis Gras, and the place to be is the cajun-themed Red & the Black. Either sit downstairs and enjoy some gumbo, or head upstairs to hear Le Bon Temps Krewe. The bar offers “drink specials, bead throwing and much more,” so get ready to get all of that sin out of your system. $8.

WEDNESDAY
>> DC9 offers us a big meal of rock n’ roll reminiscent of the early 90’s, with Baltimore metal group Anamide, Virginian grunge rockers Sematic, and D.C.’s own hard-rockers Numa. $8.

>> If you couldn’t get tickets to see Gym Class Heros and K-OS at the 9:30 club before they sold out, head over to DC9 late-night for a free after-party, where K-OS and DJ CA$$IDY will be spinning rock and new wave.

>> Way back in the fall of 2005 when we started our Three Stars feature, The Caribbean was one of the first bands we checked out. Now’s your chance to get up close and personal with one of D.C.’s finest. They play the Black Cat’s backstage tonight with Omaha’s Little Brazil. $8, 9 p.m.