>> The holiday gift season is officially here, which means we’re going to start seeing a little more emphasis on the latter half of “arts and crafts” around the city, when the search for the perfect present for Aunt Sallie ends with you standing in front of a pile of handmade tea kettle cozies. You might want to start with the high quality stuff, and get to the Washington Craft Show this weekend at the…

>> The silent film version of the original Chicago will be presented with live musical accompaniment at the AFI Silver Theater. 7 p.m. >> New Yorker music critic Alex Ross will be at Politics and Prose to read from The Rest is Noise, a history of the 20th century through its music. 7 p.m. >> Brooklyn’s Black Dice are at the Rock and Roll Hotel with Ecstatic Sunshine, Baltimore’s Ponytail and The Methamphetamines. 8…

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, our picks here at DCist look a little slim this week. Fear not, the authors will return to our city next week with more books they think you should buy as holiday gifts. In the meantime, enjoy and be thankful for your pie. MONDAY: Mr. The Greatest Generation, Tom Brokaw, is back to give us another “epic portrait” of a defining era in U.S. history, this time the 1960s in…

FRIDAY: >> It’s been over six years since he last had a properly released album, but crooner Bilal (left) has still managed to catch people’s attention with some of his latest material. Too bad it was illegally leaked and now his label is threatening never to let the refined product see the light of day. Regardless, his Black Cat performance should be noteworthy. 9 p.m., $22. >> We’ve told you about Deleted Scenes many times…

MONDAY: Jerome Groopman — a New Yorker staff writer, best-selling author and professor at Harvard Medical School — will be at the Historic Sixth & I Synagogue to discuss his latest collection of essays, How Doctors Think. If they’re like our favorite television doctor, it’s probably “What’s the best way to humiliate my employees today?” 7 p.m. $6 TUESDAY: Min Jin Lee will be at the Johns Hopkins University-SAIS Bernstein-Offit Building to read from her…

Ryan Adams is famously: prolific, eccentric, smart, currently-sober, a very hip New Yorker, unpredictable and a little nuts. That said, nobody knows what they’re going to get when attending a Ryan Adams concert. Last night at DAR Constitution Hall, the alt-country musician gave the audience musical perfection and a heaping helping of tension. Ryan Adams and his band, The Cardinals, unassumingly took the stage to a half-empty room about an hour after the show…

Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city’s attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just…

TUESDAY: The experts at Baseball Prospectus are back at Politics and Prose to talk about America’s favorite pastime. Specifically, Clay Davenport and Jay Jaffe will be discussing It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over, a collection of stories on baseball’s most exciting pennant races. 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY: A recent New Yorker article commented on the controversy behind Stephen M. Walt and John J. Mearsheimer’s argument in their latest book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy….

Former Editor-in-Chief Ryan Avent writes a weekly column about neighborhood and development issues. I got a kick out of New York’s reaction to a report released back in April, showing that carbon emissions in the city had increased by about 8 percent since 1997. The news stories were alarmist and the leaders angry, promising to do whatever it took to reverse the trend and reduce emissions within 25 years. Admirable sentiments, but it made me…

If you’ve been complaining that Memorial Day weekend wiped out your wallet, D.C. art venues heard your pleas for something a little less draining on your finances. This weekend the city is chock full of free activities, from private gallery openings to neighborhood wide social events. Put on your walking shoes and check out the following: >> It’s time again for the annual Dupont Kalorama Museum Walk Weekend. Held on the first full weekend in…