FRIDAY >> The legendary Patti Smith is at the 9:30 Club tonight, and tickets are incredibly still available for $25. Doors at 9, show at 10 p.m. >> The idea of attending a lighting display, particularly after Christmas, might sound a bit cheesy. But the Garden of Lights in Wheaton might just change your mind. The designer tours the county gardens each year for inspiration for his display; this year, it invokes the four seasons….

Seattlest watches as a S.L.U.T. is born and Seattle Flickr users go nuts over a local art installation. A restaurant critic demands a Diner’s Bill of Rights over a gnat next to her drink, and, in lieu of a Portlandist, Seattlest debates with itself over the identity of the Northwest’s crown jewel. Seattlest also joins the guys from Fantagraphics for an ill-fated gun party in the woods. LAist saw national headlines soar this week with…

Do you have memories of long hours spent in video arcades, slowly becoming desensitized to the flashing lights, the boops, the beeps, the whistles and wails? Of endlessly trying to get the change machine to take that last crumpled dollar, to give you four more games before it was time to head home? Or maybe for you it was a dark-wood-paneled basement at your best friend’s house, where you played an Atari 2600, a Colecovision,…

FRIDAY: >> Palace of Wonders is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a literal circus of performers both tonight and Saturday. Acrobats, burlesque performers, magicians, freaks and rope trick artists are just some of the acts that will take the stage, and fortune tellers will be on hand near the bar. Tickets are $15 in advance (click here), and $20 at the door. 7 p.m. to midnight tonight, 7 to 2 a.m. on Saturday. We recommend…

There are plenty of NBA trade rumors floating around out there with the draft less than 30 hours away, and while the Wizards are keeping a relatively low profile as a team, that doesn’t mean the players aren’t keeping busy. Above is one of the new NBA ’08 Live commercials that feature our still beloved Agent Zero with Maryland native and future NBA superstar Kevin Durant. Angry T has the other two if you’re…

Enrollment at Virginia Tech will be strong and steady this fall even after the shootings that killed 33 people on April 16 made international headlines. From the Roanoke Times: Tech received deposits from 5,215 students planning to enroll as freshmen this fall. That’s up from 5,185 last year. The school has a target of 5,000 students after the first week of classes. Last year’s initial group dropped to 5,084 by that time last year. The…

We’d like to start this week’s run-down by wishing a very happy birthday to parent blog Gothamist, which turned four on Friday. If it wasn’t for them, the rest of us wouldn’t be here. They celebrated their birthday by nabbing an interview with Entourage star Adrian Grenier, who misses NYC public transportation when he’s working in LA. They also reported on NYU students protesting a band whose name is also known as a slur,…

FRIDAY: >> Baltimore’s Fertile Ground return to 9:30 Club for a concert with collaborator Raheem DeVaughn called Let’s Do It Again. Also singer Anthony David. 9 p.m., $22. >> Gallery Openings of Note: Maria Friberg opens her show, titled embedded, at Conner Contemporary, reception 6 to 8 p.m. That’s embedded #4 at left. Also we checked out a preview of Colby Caldwell’s new show, Small Game, at Hemphill Fine Arts on Wednesday, and definitely recommend…

Oh, the holiday shopping season. Preparing the troops to invade local malls, throwing punches over a video game player, listening to Jingle Bells until your ears bleed. Good times. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Don’t know what to get mom-in-law? Finally impress her with your cultural know-how by gift wrapping some ART this holiday season. Galleries are listening, and have a few deals for you bargain shoppers. >>Cheap for Charity: What’s better…

“This is our last song,” the instrumental group Ratatat’s guitarist Evan Mast repeatedly said before more than half of the songs they played at the Black Cat on Wednesday night. At the time, it threw me off, but when thinking about it later, I realize it makes a lot of sense. Ratatat’s music, each and every song, is most definitely the last song of a video game. You know the song I’m referring to —…