The XYZ Affair will be at the Black Cat Backstage Sunday night. With the Teeth and the High Strung. $10. Is the XYZ Affair’s first proper full-length, A Few More Published Studies, a concept album about academia? If so, it’s anything but bookish. Give the band points for originality — quoting F. Scott Fitzgerald and echoing Queen isn’t exactly a natural combination — but give them more points for ambition, because this album is a…

In last week’s Classical Music Agenda, we suggested that you attend a rare performance of Czech composer Hans Krása’s children’s opera Brundibár, performed by the talented children taking part in this summer’s Opera Camp for Kids with Washington National Opera. Well, this DCist heard the first performance of the work yesterday morning (see our review at Ionarts), and we must urge you once again to go and hear this opera if you can. There is…

We really wanted to title this Out and About: This Will Be Short Because We’re Tired From DCist Happy Hour Edition. But brevity is the soul of wit! FRIDAY: >> Drummer Cindy Blackman (who used to play for Lenny Kravitz), is bringing her jazz styling to the Blues Alley in Georgetown. >> The National Philharmonic plays the beloved season favorite, Handel’s Messiah, at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre in Rockville. 8 p.m. Call 301-762-8580 for…