>> The Black Cat’s backstage is going to be pumping out the punk noise tonight as Antelope stops by, with Thank You and The Andalusians. $8, 9 p.m. >> DC Scores, a local nonprofit that provides innovative after-school programming to Washington kids, is hosting its 10th Annual Poetry Slam tonight. The event will feature 300 of the District’s public elementary and middle school students competing for the coveted Golden Mic trophy — obviously it…

Given that this is bound to be a slow day at work, what better time for Gilbert Arenas and adidas to launch GilTV, undoubtedly the next phase of The Takeover. Included are four new commercials — The Black President (above), Cooking With Gil, Agent Zero and Gilbert’s Island — all seemingly ripped right out of the pages of The Wizznutzz. Let’s hope those guys are at least getting some royalty checks from this. On…

MONDAY >> The Library of Congress Mary Pickford Theatre in the James Madison Building kicks off 5 weeks worth of free Monday night rock and pop films with a rare showing of the 1966 documentary, The Big T.N.T. Show. David “Man from Uncle” McCallum hosts Ray Charles, Petula Clark, the Lovin’ Spoonful, Bo Diddley, Joan Baez, the Ronettes, Roger Miller, the Byrds, Donovan, the Seeds, the Modern Folk Quartet, and Ike and Tina Turner taped…

Monday >> If you’re not a Springsteen fan, the place to be Monday night is the Black Cat for an evening of dance-punk. Kentucky’s VHS or Beta (pictured) are supporting the recent release of Bring on the Comets along with Los Angeles’ Moving Units, whose catchy 2004 single “Between Us and Them” is reason enough get you up and moving. Local favorites Soft Complex will be opening. $13, 8 p.m. Tuesday >> The Austin Chronicle…

It’s hard to identify Jim Fairchild without first acknowledging that he was formerly the guitarist in the Modesto, Ca. group Grandaddy. Fairchild, however, has kept himself busy since the group’s demise in 2006, touring with numerous other bands and also finding the time to record and release his first solo record under the moniker All Smiles. The resulting Ten Readings Of A Warning, a collection of charming, laid back lo-fi pop that belies his…

With jambalaya simmering in the corner, and people waiting in line to get a haircut, you wouldn’t have thought you were in a bar, let alone at a rock show. But last week, upstairs from haircut-and-a-shot night, The Red & The Black was in fact hosting a lineup of several very different styles of local music. Despite a modest midweek crowd — consisting mostly of other bands — one group from Baltimore introduced a unique…

Kris Racer left the punk scene to do some solo soul searching. The former frontman for Ohio based Tagline is being taken very seriously by critics, with an acoustic presence comparable to Elliot Smith and Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carabba. He sings with sincerity, speaking to the twenty-somethings across the country about work, relationships, and the future. But Kris isn’t just another moody musician. There’s a nerdy quirkiness that separates him from the rest, and…

>> DAM! Fest kicks of with its first night of shows featuring a dozen different bands at three venues, including New York’s A Place to Bury Strangers (don’t miss our interview with the band) and Dirty on Purpose at the Rock and Roll Hotel, Vandaveer and Julie Ocean at the Red and The Black, and Foreign Islands at DC9, among many others. Check out our guide to the DAM! highlights. >> Two film festivals open…

MONDAY >> This ain’t not J-Pop, we swear. If you want good old-fashioned Japanese rock ‘n’ roll (OK, it’s true, we don’t really know what that’s supposed to sound like either), The Captains from some place in Japan (the city name on their MySpace page uses Japanese characters) will drop by The Red & The Black tonight. They will be supported by Sugarcane Crawl, formerly known as Blues Hammer, and D.C.’s The Bourbon Dynasty. 9…

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…