It’s that time of the year again, when every choral group in the city has a Lenten concert, an Easter concert, or a Holy Week concert. We start this week with some of the best ones for the upcoming week. PREACHING FROM THE CHOIR: >> When the first concert on the list requires a trip to Baltimore, you know that it is going to be good. The Tallis Scholars, one of the best choral groups…

This piece was written by DCist contributor Cynthia Rockwell. Sure, you could bask in the seasonal spirit and check out the classics this weekend, but if you’re looking to escape the incessant holiday cheer, here are a few ideas for cinematic diversion: >>Attention Cate Blanchett fans, we have not one but two films starring the willowy beauty opening this week. First is the slick black-and-white espionage thriller The Good German, Steven Soderbergh’s homage to film…

Last January, as my girlfriend and I were making our way down towards U Street en route to see some Unbuckled alumni play the 9:30 Club, she talked me into checking out Nethers, the opening band, instead of grabbing a few drinks at DC9. “You never know, they might become your new favorite band.” Little did she know how right she would be. I was immediately smitten with the laid back, psychedelic folk rock…

We couldn’t help but ask ourselves a few questions after hearing that Matthew Fox would be in D.C. to promote his new movie, We Are Marshall. Did he finally get off the island for the interview, or were we just going to be in another one of his flashbacks? How would we get answers out of a man who spent days refusing to cooperate with “the others” in an old empty shark tank? Would it…

When last we spoke with We Are Scientists, it was October of last year. Their debut album, which already had a few singles in the UK charts, wouldn’t be released in the US until the following January. Since then the band have taken the UK by storm, touring with the likes of Art Brut, Maximo Park and the Arctic Monkeys. Overall, it’s been quite a year for the New York based trio, or so we…

Aligning Minds create soundscapes. Their atmospheric music evokes isolated locales, rainy nights in the city, frost covered fields in the early morning sun. At the show we caught, Aligning Minds didn’t need to create a locale so much as to enhance it — the work was already done for them in the leaking and chilly fourth floor at Love on a drizzly Wednesday night. Introduced to this electronic live performance duo by innovative local promoter…

Don’t let the threat of Polonium poisoning crush your dreams of becoming a spy or the inevitable prison sentence keep you from robbing a bank. We understand your desire to solve ancient religious conspiracies shrouded in mystery and international intrigue, but perhaps you don’t want to get your hands dirty. Joshua Czarda, the brains behind Ravenchase Adventures, has a solution. He and his crack team of writers and actors want you to step inside a…

She started out as an art student in Boston. Then she became the founder/curator of the world’s first traveling gem sweater museum. Now, on the strength of her “lady raps,” Leslie Hall of Leslie and The Lys is rising through the ranks of Internet stardom. Maybe it’s the gravity defying hair, Sally Jesse Rafael glasses, or the now famous gold pants. Whatever the cause, Hall fans are some of the strongest, carrying her off MySpace…

Hopewell is a five piece hailing from New York City perhaps best known by the company they keep. Lead singer Jason Russo formerly played bass for space-rock pioneers Mercury Rev. Hopewell’s acclaimed album “Hopewell & the Birds of Appetite” was produced by Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev and Sleater-Kinney) and Bill Racine (Rouge Wave, Phantom Planet). They’ve played shows all over the world with tour mates like the Brian Jonestown Massacre, British…

Two years ago, I heard an interesting piece on public radio about a one-woman play that was in the middle of a critically successful run at Manhattan Ensemble Theater. I had missed the introduction of the segment but listened raptly as the author, whose voice sounded very familiar, described how she had come to write a show about the lives of Iraqi women during the American military occupations. My jaw hit the floor at the…