FRIDAY:
>> Director Alex Gibney will be on hand for Q&A at tonight’s 7:10 p.m. screening of his film about detainee abuse, Taxi to the Dark Side, at the E Street Cinema. Check out our interview with Gibney over here.
>> The Red and the Black has established itself as a solid venue to catch your favorite semi-obscure band or singer-songwriter, but tonight they’re Ready Already to branch out with their first ever dance party. DJs Mister Disco (of Drunken Jenga fame) and Starrscream will do the honors starting at 9 p.m. $5.
>> Iota hosts an eclectic line-up of newish local music tonight, featuring the soul-influenced Once Okay Twice, alt-rockers The City Veins, college rock purveyors bottles/cans, and singer/songwriter Libbie Schrader. 9 p.m., $10.
>> DJ Will Eastman is back with another Bliss dance party at the 9:30 Club, this time featuring New York’s electrofunk gang 33Hz (pictured), plus DJs Dave Nada and Meistro. $12, doors at 9 p.m.
>> The Black Cat has underground garage rock heroes Dan Melchior und Das Menace, plus locals the Hall Monitors, the Breakups, and Nunchucks. And Backstage, the typically excellent “Black Catatonia” dance night features the analog-obsessed DJ DK (turntables only!), spinning hip-hop, soul, electro and just about anything else you can bust a move to. Free, 10 p.m.
SATURDAY:
>> Don’t miss your chance to catch the limited run of Yukio Ninagawa’s crazy, weird and awesome Shintoku-Maru at the Kennedy Center, part of the Japan! Culture + Hyperculture festival. $15 to $35, 1:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
>> James McBride, author of The Color of Water: A Black Man’s Tribute to His White Mother, will be at Politics and Prose to talk about his latest book, Song Yet Sung, the story of a runaway slave with the ability to see the future. 1 p.m.
>> Don’t forget to check out the RECOGNIZE! Hip Hop and Contemporary Portraiture exhibition that opened this weekend at the National Portrait Gallery. The exhibit will feature Kehinde Wiley’s portraits of hip-hop artists and work of D.C.-based graffiti artists Tim Conlon and Dave Hupp (above). Free.
SUNDAY:
>> Celebrate the Year of the Rat at the annual Chinese New Year parade along H Street in Chinatown from 2 to 5 p.m. Get there by 3:45 p.m. to catch the Giant Firecracker being set off. The usual Chinese Dragon Dance, Kung Fu demonstrations and live musical entertainment are in store. And keep this event in mind as far as traffic disruptions and street closures go.
>> Angels and Airwaves is sold-out, so consider D.C.’s own The Cassettes, at the Black Cat Backstage. With Beat Circus. Only $8, 9 p.m.
>> Don’t forget to check out our film picks for the weekend, including a trio of great new retrospectives opening at the AFI Silver Theatre.
