The Ponys play the Black Cat Backstage tonight with Jay Reatard. $10, Doors at 9 p.m. The Ponys are one of those buzz bands that seem perennially plagued with the “next big thing” tag. Hailing from Chicago, a city full of legends of all sorts and more than a few hype-worthy up-and-comers, theirs is a difficult task. But 2006’s Turn the Lights Out picked up where Celebration Castle left off and took it one step…

If Thursday’s show at the Red and the Black was any indication, this year’s 6 Points Music Festival looks to be a good one. The local fest, in its fourth year but only its second with a wider reach, aims to someday be a D.C. version of South by Southwest and helped its cause by bringing a diverse indie bill to H Street NE. The show began with Brooklyn’s The Lisps, followed by Chicago’s Scotland…

Knowing little about either band, DCist attended Wednesday night’s performance by Chin Up Chin Up and The Oxford Collapse, armed only with a few tracks from each heard on Myspace, glowing reviews from Pitchfork, Mojo and a host of other publications, and a promise from a good friend that we would not regret it. Success on the Black Cat Backstage tends to be dependent on two things: your ability to soldier on despite often questionable…

Chances are you’ve already seen or heard the Robbers on High Street but just don’t know it. The band has been through D.C. a handful of times in the last two years, supporting artists like Fountains of Wayne, The Sleepy Jackson, Ambulance LTD and VHS or Beta. They’ve been the house band on Last Call With Carson Daly and also had songs featured on The Wedding Crashers Soundtrack as well as Six Feet Under…

Think that there isn’t a middle ground between highbrow cultural esthetics and the baser pleasures of reality TV? Well, there’s a new kid on the DC arts scene that wants to prove otherwise. Barrelhouse, a DC-based, independent literary magazine straddles the line between popular culture and literary criticism very well. Their first print issue is a mix of poetry, fiction, essays and an interview with the lovely Emmylou Harris. Barrelhouse does literary the way we…

(Interview by DCist contributor Austin Dienst) Curtis Sittenfeld has recently been getting a lot of attention for her new book “Prep.” It has been on The New York Times Best Sellers List for two weeks and for good reason. Sittenfeld creates such an authentic teenager in her protagonist Lee, that it brings those angst-filled, self-conscious years of high school to life in a way that shows like the “OC” cannot. All of the uncertainty and…

Along with the following picks, don’t forget to check out DCist’s Arts Agenda (First Fridays in Dupont!) and Music Agenda for events that might tickle your fancy this weekend. FRIDAY: >> Intimate roots-rocker Jolie Holland (at right) brings her sparse yet uplifting music to Jammin Java in Vienna. With guitarist Brooks Williams. 8 p.m., $12. >> If you’re a fellow The OC freak (hey, we wear our obsession proudly on our sleeve), you’ll remember pre-lesbian…