MONDAY: Peter J. Gomes, pastor of Harvard’s Memorial Church, will be at Politics and Prose to read from his book The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus. Gomes believes Christians should be heeding the messages of Jesus, not objectifying the man. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: Washington Post literary critic Michael Dirda wants you to know it’s OK to love Fowler’s Modern English Usage. How else would you learn that the “n” in damning, when it means “fatally conclusive,”…

>> “Japanese Action Comic Punk” band PEELANDER-Z hits DC9 tonight, along with Massachusetts power-poppers My So-Called Friend, Lights Resolve and up and coming locals The City Veins. $8. >> The Lisner Auditorium is hosting Malian traditional guitarist Vieux Farka Toure (son of the late great Ali Farka Toure) and Tinariwen, a band of musicians from the Sahara who meld North Malian guitar stylings with blues, middle–eastern, reggae and rock influences. 8 p.m., $15-$45. >>…

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We’re not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness – we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did a little research and found that Massachusetts…

FRIDAY: >> At 11 a.m. today or noon tomorrow, grab the kids and a box or twelve of tissues and head down to the National Archives for a screening of An American Tail. Part of their celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month, they’re sharing the story of Fivel and his cheese-paved streets with the next generation. We can only assume they’ll watch it over and over like we did, each time hoping Fivel doesn’t go…

This Saturday is the sixth annual Free Comic Book Day, which is exactly as awesome as it sounds. Independent shops all over the country will be handing out a hearty selection of comics to anyone who wants one. The idea emerged as a way to introduce people to the art form who might only associate comics with this guy or a childhood fascination with Superman. These days comics are as diverse as any other medium,…

FRIDAY: >> Attention all nerds: This is like our Lollapalooza or something. First Person: Stories from the Edge of the World is an event being held tonight by National Geographic Live, which features some sort of “collaboration” between NPR’s Neal Conan and Liane Hansen, the Celtic/early music crossover group Ensemble Galilei, and actor Bill Pullman. Together this crew will narrate excerpts from the journals of great explorers such as Jacques Cousteau, George Mallory, and Charles…

If you didn’t muster the courage to apply for the D.C. Comedy Fest back in January, then at the very least, watch the people who did. Starting tonight, the fest will feature three night’s worth of shows, including an ode to what Bush did right, finalists in a short comedy film fest and auditions for Leno and Lettermen where big-deal bookers like Bob Read of Last Comic Standing will hover in the audience, sniffing out…

MONDAY Gary D. Cole built a career thriving at the apex of contradiction—CIA lawyer turned theatre artist, staunch conservative at Cal-Berkeley, a Bush campaign supporter who never let his politics get in the way of producing vital art. Those worlds collided after a Presidential appointment to the NEA was withdrawn because he once produced Poona The Fuckdog (a funny, smutty little play local theatre-goers may remember being produced by Cherry Red Productions). Cole retraces his…

DCist sees jury duty as an excuse to get the hell out of the office, and maybe, just maybe, actually get to sit in judgment on an O.J. Simpson-like courtroom drama (well, spare that whole murder and being sequestered forever thing). Most District residents see otherwise, apparently. Yesterday the Examiner reported on a new study which found that fewer than 1 in 5 D.C. residents selected for jury duty actually bother to show up, and…

If he weren’t merely a cartoon character, Comic Book Guy from “The Simpsons,” well known for branding things he dislikes as the “worst ever,” may have taken aim at mayoral aspirant Vincent Orange. Why? Well, beyond the debacle known as Orange’s first and only poll, the Examiner informs us today that Orange may have come dangerously close to breaking D.C. electoral law on Tuesday (the article, unfortunately, is not available online). News has it that…