Civil rights leaders like Rev. Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III and others are gathering with supporters on Freedom Plaza at 10 a.m. this morning to march to the Justice Department in a “March Against Hate Crimes.” NBC4 says that organizers hope the march will bring attention to racism and recent hate crimes against African Americans that have been popping up around the country. The march was also designed to bring attention to the Jena…

Against Me! – the most accessible folk-punk band in the world – took the stage around 7:30 yesterday and were all business, plowing through twenty or so samplings of their fierce, Guinness-fueled brand of melodic rock in around an hour and a half. Those who managed to sneak out of work early to catch a good spot in the not-quite sold out crowd left drained and ready for the caloric replenishment that only the…

The Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS) is presenting an exciting double bill of adventurous piano-based jazz this Sunday at Lisner Auditorium. Performing will be The Bad Plus (pictured right) and pianist Jason Moran (pictured below), two acts who consistently refuse to be limited by traditional notions of what a jazz performance should or should not be. Moran and The Bad Plus have played together on the same bill before and, unsurprisingly, their common outside-the-box approach…

Written by DCist Contributor Sarah Stonesifer The Diamondback – University of Maryland: >> Hartwick Towers, an off-campus apartment building, was the scene of a fire on Friday, Oct. 12. The fire has come under scrutiny by both students and city officials, as the building is not equipped with sprinklers and fire alarms did not function during the fire. Students were left on their own to find alternative housing until they were let back into their…

We’ve arrived at another Friday, Washington, so welcome to it. Some sad news to note off the bat, however, as the Post brings word that the last movie theater left in the Dupont Circle neighborhood, the AMC Loews Dupont 5, will go the way of Visions and the Janus 3 before it and close its doors forever in January. We can certainly attest that the last few times we went to see a film…

After waiting all summer, and oh, nearly 30 years since the last time a D.C. voting rights bill made it to the Senate floor, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has scheduled the cloture vote on S. 1257, the DC House Voting Rights Act of 2007, for Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. But whether the bill has the 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster is still unclear, so voting rights activists are asking supporters to rally…

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. Over the past few weeks, events have conspired to place race squarely at the center of the debate over public education in the District of Columbia. After appointing Michelle Rhee the first ever Chancellor of District Schools, Mayor Fenty found himself faced with a barrage of criticism and innuendo from the Washington Post drawing attention to the fact that she was not…

A man died in Seat Pleasant, Md. on Saturday afternoon after he was subdued by officers during a confrontation, handcuffed, and then tasered after he was already restrained. The Post has more details on the story of how Marcus D. Skinner, 22, received two Taser shocks, one from each of two officers on the scene, a Fairmount Heights officer and a Prince George’s County officer. Skinner had been combative with the officers even after he…

We were excited to stumble across this fantastic clip of D.C. icon Petey Greene on YouTube today. In the clip, for reasons we’re not really sure about, Greene explains how to eat a watermelon on his show, “Petey Greene’s Washington” on WDCA-TV. If you’re unfamiliar with (or perhaps too young to know about) the life of Petey Greene, the famed ex-con turned civil rights activist turned TV and radio personality is the subject of…

There have been many great performers in Music Land, for example Bono, Freddie Mercury, and Madonna, just to name a few. There are also many folks who go out of their way to exude cool via ironic t-shirts purchased at Urban Outfitters and meticulously unkempt hair. It’s one thing to dance with a pretty girl in the audience, but how many rock stars put a guitar in her hands and then proceed to wrap their…