>> Black Cat plays host to Oakland’s Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, who’ll be pounding out their avant-rock on a few homemade instruments while performing puppet shows and giving pseudo-scientific scholarly presentations. What’s not to like? Stinking Lizaveta, an intense experimental trio from Philly, will kick things off. $12, 8 p.m.

>> Tonight is your last chance to stop by the Smithsonian American Art Museum to catch their lecture series on The Media Arts: A History. The museum’s Senior Curator for Film and Media Arts, John Hanhardt, will discuss Contemporary Video and Multimedia Practices: A Critical Survey (1990-2006). He’ll look at how the use of moving pictures has increased through the history of film and video. Free, 5 p.m., McEvoy Auditorium.

>> Iranian journalist Camelia Entekhabifard will read from her memoir, Camelia: Save Yourself By Telling The Truth at Busboys and Poets. 7 p.m.

>> How about some last minute theater plans? Tickets are still available for Folger’s latest production of The Tempest if you call (202) 544–7077. Here’s what our critic had to say: “The Folger’s latest staging of The Tempest is a light, spritely, fleet-footed thing of a play, apropos for a show about forgiveness and renewal and the casting off of old follies.”

Heather Goss contributed. Photo by Samer Farha