FRIDAY:
>> Attention all nerds: This is like our Lollapalooza or something. First Person: Stories from the Edge of the World is an event being held tonight by National Geographic Live, which features some sort of “collaboration” between NPR’s Neal Conan and Liane Hansen, the Celtic/early music crossover group Ensemble Galilei, and actor Bill Pullman. Together this crew will narrate excerpts from the journals of great explorers such as Jacques Cousteau, George Mallory, and Charles Darwin, along with works by writers such as Jim Harrison and Pulitzer-Prize winning poet Mary Oliver. The readings and musical selections will be illustrated with artwork, maps and images from the Geographic’s Image Collection. $17, ($14 for members). At the National Geographic Society Headquarters at 1600 M Street.
>> While the artDC fair didn’t blow us away, it’s free until 7 p.m., so if you’re planning on going, we’d recommend hitting it up on your way home tonight.
SATURDAY:
>> Obviously, a ton of us will be at the Dismemberment Plan reunion/benefit show for Callum Robbins at Black Cat (unless they were there the night before), and there’s definitely a few more tickets floating around out there if you work at it. But if you can’t snag one, we’d recommend heading over to join what will no doubt be a too-small crowd to see The Wrens at Georgetown University’s Walsh Black Box Theatre (Prospect and N St. NW). We interviewed these indie torchbearers a while back, and they certainly deserve better than playing the same night as the biggest concert of the year. Doors are at 7:30 and the cover is $10.
>> A day of free workshops throughout the city will be held as part of Learnapalooza. Check out the list of available classes here, which include topics like “How to fry a turkey”, “Iraq and Kurdistan 101”, and “Comic Books affect on Everyday Lives”. There are 67 free classes in all. Did we mention they’re free?
>> Tickets are STILL available for Game 3 of the Wizards vs. Cavs playoff series at 5:30 p.m. No one’s saying it’s going to be pretty, but get out there and support your team, D.C.
SUNDAY:
>> We may all have had enough of the Shakespeare in Washington festival by now, but here is one more related event that should be quite good. The Washington Concert Opera will give a single unstaged performance of the first important adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello, Rossini’s Otello, at Lisner Auditorium. The WCO always invites exceptional singers, and this cast is no different, particularly in the choice of Elizabeth Futral as Desdemona. Contact the WCO directly at 202-364-5826 for ticket information: a limited number of less expensive, general admission tickets are available. April 29, 6 p.m.
>> Two or Three Things I Know About Her is one of those Jean-Luc Godard films that makes you wonder why you never permanently moved to Paris. On the one hand, it’s about a bored housewife who turns to prostitution to spice up her life, but the city is really the protaganist of this character sketch, with Godard stopping to listen to snippets of conversation on the street whenever he feels like it. It’s a mesmerizing portrait of modern life, the kind of film you can watch three or four times and still miss extraordinary bits of nuance — especially of course, the camera work of cinematographer Raoul Coutard. 3, 5, and 7 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center.
Charles Downey contributed to the Picks.
