Photo by Lindeberg Feller.FRIDAY:
BURLESQUE: Support your favorite tassel-wearers, fire-eaters and sideshow acts at PASTIE-AID, a benefit for local uninsured variety performers Friday at the Red Palace (1210 H Street NE). Doors 9 p.m., show 10 p.m. $10.
FOOD & DRINK: DC Brau, D.C.’s first production brewery in decades, launches its first batch of “Public,” an American pale ale, tonight at Meridian Pint (3400 11th Street NW). From 5 to 8 p.m., pints of Public will be $4, and from 8 p.m. to close they’ll be $5. DC Brau founders Brandon Skall and Jeff Hancock will also be on hand to celebrate and pass out swag.
>> The DC School of Beer, part of the Washington Wine Academy, takes to the high seas tonight for a Beer Cruise on the Potomac. The boat will be stocked with 40 beers, including some fittingly named ones like Anchor Steam and Heavy Seas Winter Storm Category 5 Ale, for tastings, along with cheeses, bruschetta and other snacks. Board at the Washington Marina (1300 Maine Avenue SW) at 8:15 p.m., set sail at 8:30 p.m., and return at 10:30 p.m. $58.50.
MUSIC: The Kids in America new wave dance party is back at Dahlak (1771 U Street NW) and they’re promising extra Human League, Echo & the Bunnymen, new Duran Duran and more (they’ll take requests). Fancy beer can also be purchased for $4. 10 p.m. Free.
>> “Local yacht-rockers” Poor But Sexy play the Rock and Roll Hotel (1353 H Street NE) tonight with lowercase letters and The Cascade. 9:30 p.m. $10.
>> The Fab Faux perform Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in its entirety, followed by a set of Beatles favorites at the Lisner Auditorium (730 21st Street NW). 8 p.m. $39 – $89.
>> Head to the Black Cat (1811 14th Street NW) for Velvet, The Chance and The Honeyguns. 9 p.m. $10.
MOVIE: The Freer Gallery’s (1050 Independence Avenue SW) Korean Film Festival continues tonight with a super creepy screening of Possessed. 7 p.m. Free.
>> Watch the 1925 Charlie Chaplin film The Gold Rush with the score performed live by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at the Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda). 8 p.m. Tickets: $28-$88.
DANCE: Dance Is The Answer 2011 kicks off tonight and runs through May 2nd, offering dance classes, workshops, performances and more. Tonight, there’s an Opening Party at the Eastern Market Fine Sweet Shop (225 7th Street SE) featuring free tango lessons and “Box o’ Art,” an art installation where visitors take things out of a box and assemble it into a new work. 6-8 p.m. Free.
BOOKS: The Bethesda Literary Festival takes place this weekend, beginning tonight with Scott Levy from Wired giving a talk on “Google and our Society” at The Writer’s Center (4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda) at 7:30 p.m., and a short story reading at the Hyatt Regency Bethesda (7400 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda) at 7 p.m. Check out the full schedule for events through the weekend. All events are free.
PHOTOGRAPHY: If you’re making a trip up to Baltimore tonight, check out DCist contributor Kyle Gustafson and Josh Sisk’s music photography at the Full Speed or Nothing show at The Windup Space (12 W. North Avenue, Baltimore). There will be a cash bar and free snacks. 7-9 p.m.
COMEDY: SNL newbie Jay Pharoah brings his impressions (Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Will.i.am) to Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse (2903 Columbia Pike, Arlington). 9:55 p.m. $24.75.
SATURDAY
SERVATHON: Team DCist will be sprucing up the Browne Education Campus in the Carver/Langston neighborhood tomorrow morning. It’s not too late to donate a little bit to the effort!
FOOD & DRINK: Hank’s Oyster Bar (1624 Q Street NW) presents its 4th Annual Oyster Fest this Saturday, offering all-you-can-eat oysters and Tröegs, Allagash and Brooklyn Brewery beers. Call Hank’s at (202) 462-4265 to purchase tickets. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. $75.
>> The Heights (3115 14th Street NW) is throwing an all-day Pig Roast on their patio this Saturday. Come in early for pulled pork on corn pancakes with lime-jalapeno sour cream, or stop by later for a pulled pork and slaw BBQ sandwich or pork platter (pork, slaw, spring onion and asaparagus salad, and cornbread). There will also be beer, spiked punch, lemonade and whoopie pies for dessert. Things kick off at 11 a.m.
>> If you’re interested in throwing your own pig roast, check out the One Nation Under Bacon class from Chef Peter Smith and Mixologist Gina Chersevani at PS 7’s (777 I Street NW), where you’ll learn how to clean and cook a whole pig, and how to pair the right drinks with it. Call 202-742-8550 to reserve your spot. $100 for the class (11 a.m.), $95 for a pig roast that night, and $50 for the additional drink pairings.
MUSIC: Happy Record Store Day! Bluebrain, whose experimental music projects we’ve noted in the past, is releasing 300 hand-numbered seven-inch vinyl copies of their new single “The Pull,” which can be played as an A side, a B side, or A and B combined to make a C side, at just 4 D.C. record stores this Saturday: Som Records (1843 14th Street NW), Smash (2314 18th Street NW), Crooked Beat (2116 18th Street NW), and Red Onion (1901 18th Street NW).
>> Danielson, the band of Daniel Smith and his “freak-folk ensemble,” performs Saturday at the Red Palace (1210 H Street NE). D.C.’s own Benjy Ferree opens. 9 p.m. $12.
>> The 4th Annual Hip Hop Showcase, featuring hip hop dancers, spoken word artists, singers, beatboxers and performances by Capital Funk, comes to G.W.’s Lisner Auditorium (730 21st Street NW). 7:30 p.m. $15 in advance or $20 at the door.
FESTIVAL: On April 16, 1862, the DC Compensated Emancipation Act was signed, abolishing slavery in the nation’s capital. Commemorate this momentous date on Saturday with readings, performances (including Farafina Kan, a West African Percussion Orchestra), a screening of the documentary Enslavement to Emancipation, and more at National Geographic’s (1145 17th Street NW) D.C. I AM: An Emancipation Day Celebration. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free.
PARTY: Break out the blue eye shadow, big hair and shoulder pads, it’s That 80s Prom at BlackFinn American Saloon (1620 I Street NW). There will be a DJ playing all 80s music, Rubik’s Cube and costume contests, $2 Coors, prom polaroids, pop rocks, fun dip and ring pops. Tickets: $20. 8 p.m.- 2 a.m.
SUNDAY
MOVIE: Frodo says clear your schedule this Sunday, and make your way to Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse (2903 Columbia Pike, Arlington) for an epic Lord of the Rings Movie Festival. This all-day event will include screenings of all three films and Lord of the Rings trivia, Gollum impersonations and costume contests. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. $10.
>> Filmfest DC wraps up this Sunday with a screening of the Swedish film Sound of Noise at Regal Cinema Gallery Place (701 7th Street NW) followed by a Closing Night Party at Bar Louie (701 7th Street NW, # D). 4 p.m. $20.
SCAVENGER HUNT: Originally planned for Saturday, the DC Challenge 2011 urban scavenger hunt has been postponed ’til Sunday for optimum weather. The new date will hopefully allow you to race around the city, in your best costumes of course, without getting rained on. And if you register with the code “BOMF”, you’ll help support Back on My Feet, who will be hosting an after-hunt party at Union Pub (201 Massachusetts Avenue NE) from 8 to 11 p.m. The hunt starts at 1:30 p.m. at The Yards Park (10 Water Street SE). Tickets: $25.
FOOD & DRINK: Discover Thai food beyond Pad Thai at the Songkran (Thai New Year) event at Wat Thai Temple in Silver Spring (13440 Layhill Road Silver Spring, MD ) this Sunday. Check out our write-up from earlier in the week to know what to expect. 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. Free.
MUSIC: Sharon Van Etten brings her “enchantingly evocative” voice to the Red Palace (1212 H Street NE). Aly Spaltro, a.k.a. Lady Lamb the Beekeeper also performs. 8 p.m. $12.
>> The Raveonettes take the stage at Black Cat (1811 14th Street NW) with Tamaryn. 8 p.m. $20.
>> K Holes, Heavy Breathing and AIDS Wolf play Comet Ping Pong (5037 Connecticut Avenue NW). $10. 10:30 p.m.
