Photo by Ghost Bear

MUSIC: I like to listen to the The Ting Tings while I fold my laundry, because I hate folding laundry, and The Tings Tings have a way of making sad rooms just a little bit happier. The UK indie pop duo are at the 9:30 Club tonight, with local DJ par excellence Will Eastman. $15, doors at 7 p.m., and tickets are still available.

LECTURE: Retired Air Force Colonel Frederick D. Gregory, the first African-American to command a space shuttle mission, is speaking at the Anacostia Community Museum tonight about his life growing up in D.C. as part of the museum’s “Hometown Achievers” series. 7 p.m.

MUSIC: Fever is another one of those bands that we’re suddenly hearing about everywhere we go. They’re at the Velvet Lounge with True Womanhood and The Mae Shi from L.A., $10, 9:30 p.m.

READING: Foreign policy geeks should note that Washington Post foreign correspondent Philip P. Pan is at Politics and Prose to talk about his book, Out of Mao’s Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China. 7 p.m.

MOVIE: Bruce Brown’s classic surfing art flick, The Endless Summer, is the best way we can think of to escape the heat and pretend you’re at the beach without having to drive to the shore. At the Library of Congress’ Mary Pickford Theatre at 7 p.m. Free.