Photo by mosley.brian

MUSIC: Catch Montreal’s Miracle Fortress tonight at the Black Cat‘s backstage, with John Davis’s new post-Georgie James project, Title Tracks, and Meredith Bragg. $10, 9 p.m.

LECTURE: National Geographic Live! hosts a lecture and panel discussion called “Journey Through Hallowed Ground: Birthplace of the American Ideal,” featuring a presentation with author Andrew Cockburn and photographer Kenneth Garrett as they share stories and firsthand accounts of historic events along the 175-mile region from Monticello to Gettysburg. $18 ($15 for NGS members). 7:30 p.m. at the Grosvenor Auditorium.

MOVIE: The Library of Congress Mary Pickford Theater screens The French Lieutenant’s Woman, one of those classic case studies of novel to film adaptations that tries to do justice to a complex literary work, but ultimately fails. It’s still worth seeing for some terrific performances by the always excellent Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons. 7 p.m.

THEATER: The Greek Embassy is sponsoring a one-night only performance with the The Shakespeare Theatre Company of the The Trial of Socrates at Sidney Harman Hall, featuring some of Washington’s most powerful legal minds as the jury and counsel, including Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. It’s totally sold out, but this is the sort of event where V.I.P.s who have tickets won’t show up at the last minute, so it’s probably worth calling the box office at 202.547.1122 to check for cancellations.

MUSIC: Northern Ireland’s fuzzy-guitared popsters Oppenheimer are at DC9, with Charlottesville’s Tim Be Told and local singer-songwriter Taylor Jenkins, aka My Brother, The Welder. $10, 9 p.m.