It appears bringing a mattress on a bus isn’t specifically against the rules.

>> Could Harptallica actually be a Metallica tribute band consisting entirely of harp players? Yes, yes it could — see video above for proof. At Iota, opening for recent Three Stars alums Yeveto. $12, 8:30 p.m. >> Bar Rouge is hosting Lolita and Gilda’s Burlesque Poetry Hour, which will feature writers Dean Smith, Piotr Gwiazda and Remica Bingham reading from their work and then auctioning off a piece of clothing off their backs at…

Hayden Panettiere, the young star of NBC’s Heroes, is getting mixed reviews on YouTube for her performance singing the National Anthem in D.C. on Wednesday as part of the Capital Fourth concert at the National Mall. Judge for yourself….

The early part of the week is looking a little light for shows, but after the Fourth things really get rolling through Sunday night. MONDAY >> After coming down with a case of “David Letterman throat” last week, Morrissey was forced to reschedule three shows, including his gig at Madison Square Garden in NYC. Right now it looks like NYC’s loss is our gain, as we just recieved an email from the staff at Wolf…

FRIDAY: >> It may be that we’ve simply gotten so, so, so many press releases about The Horrors show tonight at the Rock and Roll Hotel, and we’ve been beaten into submission to mention it. Give the punky-garage rock revivalists a chance for $12 at 8:30 p.m., and let us know if they’re worth all the fuss. Seattle’s Schoolyard Heroes open, plus locals Scanner Freaks. >> One of the most anticipated new hip hop albums…

>> Music junkies raised in an era of candy-coated pop or Seattle-based indie should check out a screening of The Day The Country Died: A History of Anarcho-Punk 1980-1984 at the Black Cat tonight. The flick features rare performances caught on tape before the era of ubiquitous personal video recorders, along with interviews from artists and activists. $5, 9 p.m. >> DC Rap invades the Velvet Lounge with another edition of Hell is for…

>> As we mentioned earlier in Reader, Meet Author, Vanity Fair editor Cullen Murphy will be at Politics and Prose tonight to read from and sign copies of Are We Rome? As long as we can ruled by Simon Woods, I’m all for saying, yes, please, let’s be Rome. 7 p.m. >> Tickets are still available for tonight’s performance of Leoš Janáček’s Jenůfa at Washington National Opera. Our critic called this production WNO’s “best…

With visions of sugar plum fairies dancing through their heads, the -Ists began to get into that holiday mood. Well, some did. Austinist wasn’t as the NY Times dissed them and a local Tex-Mex institution sold out. Making them feel better was music, sweet music and the local theater getting name checked on “Heroes” Chicagoist tried to wrap their heads around a religious movie being banned from a Christmas themed park. To wash that…

Person is a crappy singer. There, I said it. His performance last night at the Rock and Roll Hotel had me thinking I had stumbled upon a tragic highschool talent show. The kind where talent-less wonders are given a forum to sing into real microphones instead of into their shower nozzles, and the result isn’t pretty. Person aka Miguel Lacsamana takes himself way too seriously. Fortunately much of his singing was drowned out by the…

World AIDS Day, observed today, has particular relevance and importance for the District. The city has the distinction of suffering from one of the nation’s highest rates of HIV infection, afflicting 1 in 20 residents, ten times the national average, and 1 in 7 African-American men. The District’s response to the problem has been so ineffectual (some say the city is 10 to 15 years behind where it should be) that in August D.C. Mayor…