There are no shortage of Dickensian options for D.C. theatergoers, from the traditional Ford’s production to the indulgent Arena Staging, set in 1941. The innovative RussianGeorgian-influenced dance-inspired theater company Synetic has thrown its hat into the ring, and the results are worth seeing, if not as unique as one might expect. Given its history of wildly divergent takes on popular classics, it’s a bit of a surprise that this Christmas Carol, in many ways, is…

Southeast Jerome. Sheriff Gonna Getcha. Coach Janky Spanky. The Ghost of Southeast Jerome. Most of the 2005 season, and a few times last year, Clinton Portis showed that he wasn’t only electric on the field by holding press conferences dressed up as ridiculous characters, who he named and gave purposes. The get ups were such a hit that they even made a t-shirt about them (hey, we all knew that Snyder wouldn’t let a chance…

At this weekend’s Virgin Festival, we snagged a few spare moments with Spoon’s songwriter and front man, Britt Daniel, and drummer Jim Eno. The Austin-based quartet has been one of indie rock’s most beloved for more than a decade. They recently released their sixth album, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, to warm reviews pretty much everywhere (you can hear the whole album on their label’s site here). After enjoying their set, I headed back…

MONDAY >> Ris Paul Ric, formerly of Q and not U comes solo to the Black Cat back stage. 9 p.m., $7. >> A little emo pop never hurt anybody, neither did pretty pretty lead singers (see photographic evidence). Leave your pretentions at the door and check out the All American Rejects and Rooney tonight at 9:30 (it’s sold out, but Craig may be able to cut you a break). Join your friendly neighborhood 17…

There are bits and pieces of music info floating around out there that we thought you should know about, dear readers. At first we’d thought we’d try to put them together in some sort of organized manner, but then decided we were too lazy for that. So what follows? Just some tidbits about events and news that we threw together in a random fashion. Because we love you like that. >> A couple of performances…

(Review by DCist guest reviewer Peter Denton) While most indie bands are content to pander to their local constituents and bring the pork home to their narrow fan base, Interpol is following Hillary Clinton’s lead and has their eyes set on breaking through to a national, mainstream audience. Sure, the couture-clad gents from NYC might not be tacking to the center on abortion rights or injecting their songs with overtures to the religious right, but…

A pair of sold-out Wilco shows and a Teenbeat reunion highlight our picks for this week. MONDAY: >> Rambunctious retro power pop group The Futureheads, at right, play the 9:30 Club, with Shout Out Louds & The High Speed Scene opening. $12. Stream their video for “Hounds of Love” here. TUESDAY: >> Feminist electro-popsters Le Tigre, fronted by ex-Bikini Kill singer Kathleen Hanna, are at the 9:30 Club this evening. Unfortunately, local band Measles Mumps…

The City Paper has an enjoyable cover story about the slow disappearance of jukeboxes in D.C., and how jukebox junkies are reacting.Today, D.C. Vending operates about 125 jukeboxes, about half of them in bodegas and other Latin-music joints. “They stopped playing music like they used to,” Tom says. “There’s not as many ‘Cheers’ around….That’s given way to the T.G.I. Friday’s, the big places.” The big places like to supply the music for free, via a…

This DCist is home sick today with a splitting headache, bad cough and congested sinuses. We would try to rest more, but we can’t get much sleep because of low-flying helicopters over our apartment. Despite being bed-ridden, we’re very thankful for laptop computers. So we thought we’d take care of some minor housekeeping and update some of our links to D.C.-area blogs we’ve been looking at as of late. — The Upstate Life … We…

A follow up on our earlier posting that hot blogger band The Arcade Fire was making their way towards our fair city late January: The Ghost of Gordon Sumner and The Upstate Life have done a wee bit of research and discovered the exact location and date of the sure to be sold-out show. The band will be playing the 9:30 Club on Sunday, January 30th. Tickets will be $12 (not including that pesky service…