FRIDAY: >> The city’s free concert series follows MC Hammer with a rare appearance by salsa legend Willie Colon, 7-9 p.m. at Woodrow Wilson Center. >> President Nixon’s White House counsel John Dean will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his book, Broken Government, which examines “the institutional damage he believes the Republican Party has inflicted on the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government during the Bush administration.” 7 p.m. He’ll also be…

LaTur went down to the U.S. Army Band’s annual performance of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” at the Sylvan Theater and got this fantastic capture of The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Presidential Salute Battery’s cannon salutes. Talk about great timing. Here’s the EXIF….

>> Vancouver rock collective They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? will play their experimental marching band/circus music backstage at Black Cat, with Ostinato and Karate Bear. If you like weird, fun and loud, you’ll want to be there at 9 p.m., $8. >> It’s time once again for the U.S. Army Band’s annual performance of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture” — complete with cannon salutes from The 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) Presidential Salute Battery….

There is a lot of great jazz coming up in the D.C. area throughout the next week, much of which is FREE, an important word here at DCist. Of course, the big news for jazz aficionados is the annual Big Band Jam, which began on April 20 and runs through April 29. We already told you about the service bands playing at Blues Alley, but there are many other shows to check out. Here are…