FRIDAY:
>> Friends ‘o DCist Middle Distance Runner have had quite a ride since playing our special Unbuckled/Anniversary concert last September. Despite a few bumps on the road, they’ve gone from little band that could to having their first headlining slot at 9:30 club tonight. We’ll say we knew them when. With The Dance Party. 10 p.m., $10.
>> Akron/Family impressed the pants off of critics in 2005 with their self-titled neo-folk stylings. They’ll be at Rock and Roll Hotel tonight, along with the adorably precocious Three Stars & Unbuckled alums, Deleted Scenes. $10 in advance, $12 at the door. 9 p.m. show.
>> We kind of can’t believe we can use this line and have it be true, but here’s your chance to actually party like it’s 1999, back when you still thought Ralph Nader was a hero. Nader will make a special appearance for back-to-back screenings of the new documentary about him, An Unreasonable Man, on Friday and Saturday evenings. 4:20 p.m. and 7 p.m. screenings both days at Landmark’s E Street Cinema will be followed by Q&A sessions with Mr. Consumer Advocate/Election Spoiler, and Nader and director Henriette Mantel will also introduce 9:45 p.m. shows on both evenings.
SATURDAY:
>> If you thought “Happenings” ended in the 1970s, think again. May we suggest X, a live art event at BeBar, complete with a graphic design competition, electronic music, tribal belly dancers, local artists and independent fashion designers. For the competition, a juror will provide the participating graphic designers with three words, which the designers will then use for inspiration to create a poster for ‘X’ in four hours. Their laptops will be hooked up to large displays, revealing their approaches and creative process to the audience. At the end of the event, a curator will select a winning design which will be used on a promotional poster, web site and flyer for ‘X’ (we have to assume they mean future ‘X’s’?) as well as potentially incorporated into an art book. 6 – 10 p.m. $5.
>> In celebration of Sunday’s Oscars® telecast, AMC Theatres is hosting a Best Picture Showcase event at 79 theatres nationwide. Buy the Best Picture Showcase All-Day Pass and see all five films in a single day for just $30. The schedule of films is the same at every theater: Babel at 11 a.m., The Queen at 1:45 p.m., The Departed at 3:45 p.m., Letters From Iwo Jima at 7 p.m., and Little Miss Sunshine at 9:45 p.m. The only downside? You’ll have to make it out to one of these far flung participating theaters: AMC Tysons Corner 16, AMC Hoffman Center 22, AMC Potomac Mills 18, or AMC Loews Rio Cinemas 18. Still, it’s a pretty good deal, and an excellent chance to catch these films in time for your Oscars® party.
>> The MUTEK International Festival of Music, Sound and New Technologies is happening in Montréal this spring, and by the looks of it, it’s going to be a pretty big deal. So much so that the Smithsonian Resident Associate Program has put together a program based around its buzz, complete with a party highlighting MUTEK DJ Vincent Lemieux and live acts Pheek and Mossa, established ambassadors of the underground minimalist house and techno scene in Montreal. Included in the evening, which turns Smithsonian’s underground Ripley Center concourse into a nightclub, is Washington’s own DJ Menan of Music1DC. They’re calling it Montréal Underground. 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. $30, $25 for members.
SUNDAY:
>>When your job is to recommend great artists and musicians for people to see, it’s such a relief when a good friend of yours is just too talented for you to worry about a potential conflict of interest. This is just the case with Hrishikesh Hirway, an old friend from Los Angeles (via Boston and New Haven), whose musical outlet, The One AM Radio, started by splitting an early 7″ with Ted Leo and has since gathered rave reviews across the board. If you like your bedroom electronica complex and your singer-songwriters sad and hopeful at the same time, get yourself to Warehouse Nextdoor. With Pygmy Lush and Christian Brady and the Twelve Foot Scarf. $7. 9:30 p.m.
>> Not very many people in the world get a chance to see all the Documentary Short Subject Nominees, but D.C. area residents do for free at the National Archive. Follow the link for all the times and details, including screenings of other Oscars® nominees throughout the weekend. And make sure to get in line exactly 60 minutes before start time — those lines are usually crazy long.
