FRIDAY:
>> The High Heel race isn’t the only time you can see lots of men wandering the streets of D.C. in huge, comical wigs. Tonight is the Fourth Annual Wig Walk, during which crowds of folks with wigs will meander from bar to bar in Adams Morgan to raise money for the Children’s National Medical Center Foundation. Join in the fun at Toledo Lounge (6-8 p.m.), Madam’s Organ (8-10 p.m.) or Adams Mill (10-12 p.m.). There are drink specials for those who buy a wristband, $20 ahead of time or $25 at the door.
>> Arlington Arts Center is a safe bet tonight, with so much going on under one roof. They’re opening the show Unlimited Edition, featuring works that “explore the relationship between consumption, mass reproduction, marketing, and art.” Kathryn Cornelius will also perform live via webcam, acting out instructions that the night’s gallery visitors send her on Twitter. In the upstairs gallery, AAC resident artists open A Spacial Difference, while downstairs, AAC students show off their own exhibition. In the Tiffany room, Pink Line Project hosts a Tee Party; check out fashion designs by Kristina Bilonick, Billy Colbert, DECOY, DC51, Cory Oberndorfer, and Lisa Marie Thalhammer. And at 7 p.m., Bilonick and Colbert join Project Beltway’s Rachel Cothran and a few others to discuss the intersection between fashion and art. The night runs 6 to 11 p.m.
>> The Gene Ween Band may be a side project, but they generally throw plenty of Ween songs into the mix for their live shows. Pajo opens the show at the Black Cat. 9 p.m., $18.
>> Reliable locals Jukebox the Ghost play the Rock and Roll Hotel with The Postelles and Pretty & Nice. 8:30 p.m., $10.
>> The Dissident Display Gallery on H Street NE is hosting a “Nightmare Before Christmas” party, with DJs Adrian Loving and Chris Burns on hand to get the grooves going. $5 suggested donation.
SATURDAY:
>> Biology professor Marion Lobstein leads a poinsettia- and evergreen-filled tour from 12:30 to 5 p.m. titled Holiday Splendors at the National Arboretum and U.S. Botanic Garden. The tour starts at the southeast corner of 4th Street and Independence Ave SW, and will include “an extensive bus tour around the arboretum, with short walks to view hollies, dwarf conifers, the Japanese bonsai and Chinese Penjing collections, and plants with winter fruit and flowers,” as well as a look at the Botanic Garden’s holiday exhibition. $66.
>> Eurok will be at the Eighteenth Street Lounge for a DJ set. 9:30 p.m.
>> Ted Leo’s solo set in the Black Cat‘s backstage is sold out, but if you’re dying to get in, maybe plan to go to Mousetrap upstairs ($10, 9:30 p.m.) and see if you can score an extra off of someone in the Red Room.
>> Jeremy Enigk of Sunny Day Real Estate fame is more into solo acoustic Christian rock stuff these days, but hardcore fans won’t want to miss him at Jammin’ Java this weekend with Andy Zipf and Distrails. 9 p.m., $18 advance, $20 at the door.
>> Strap on your candle-laden crown and head to the House of Sweden After Dark St. Lucia Day Ball. A steep $80 entrance fee gets you access to the black tie party, a Swedish buffet dinner, rooftop winter bar, live music and a “Lucia procession.” 8 p.m. to 1 a.m.
SUNDAY:
>> Don’t miss our film picks of the week, including a special screening of Jim Henson’s holiday classic, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, at the AFI Silver. 1 p.m. (also Saturday and Monday).
>> The Folger Consort presents a concert program called Spanish Christmas, devoted to motets, villancicos, and instrumental music from 17th- and 18th-century Spain. The Concord Ensemble, lutenist Charles Weaver, and keyboard player Webb Wiggins will join in the performance in the decorated theater of the Folger Shakespeare Library. 2 p.m. and 5 p.m.
>> Richmond’s Gwar are still serving up their kitschy thrash metal sideshow, so if you’re in the mood for costumed, cartoonish violence, head to the 9:30 Club. Kingdom of Sorrow and Toxic Holocaust will warm up the crowd. $20.
Photo by Chris Staley
