There was a time in the 1970s when male artists could become famous by simply writing and singing great songs. Seemingly average joes such as Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Paul Simon, and Elton John sold millions of records without subscribing to the psychedelia of 60s rock, the angst of punk, the glam of the 80s, or the hyper-masculinity of metal and hip-hop. Today, acts such as Coldplay and James Blunt might hint at a resurgence…

MONDAY: It’s hard to think of a more appropriate person to have written On the Wealth of Nations, part of the new Grove Atlantic Great Books series where contemporary writers flesh out the work of humanity’s most important thinkers, than P.J. O’Rourke. Harder still to imagine a time when everyone agreed that P.J. O’Rourke had a sense of humor. At Politics and Prose at 7 p.m., also Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Cato Institute,…

Last January, as my girlfriend and I were making our way down towards U Street en route to see some Unbuckled alumni play the 9:30 Club, she talked me into checking out Nethers, the opening band, instead of grabbing a few drinks at DC9. “You never know, they might become your new favorite band.” Little did she know how right she would be. I was immediately smitten with the laid back, psychedelic folk rock…

MONDAY When Elizabeth Berg titled her novel We Are All Welcome Here, she wasn’t kidding—just about every Southern-fried device and pre-Vietnam social concern is stuffed into its pages. Polio, single-parent striving, racial prejudice, nosy Southern biddies, miraculous monetary windfalls, Elvis Presley, and, of course, plucky Southern Belles that survive as if they were…maybe some sort of tree made out of some sort of metal. Anyway, Berg will be on hand at the Rockville Barnes and…

MONDAY >> E.L. Doctorow has had a storied career — a National Book Award for 1986’s Ragtime, a pair of film adaptations, and a prestigious position at New York University. Keep this in mind and don’t ask him about whether that story you heard about your Spring Breaking friends getting pulled over in Atlanta and tossed in the clink for joking about General Sherman’s relative velocity is an urban legend or not. He’s just got…

This is the third entry in this week’s Three Stars local music roundup. Check out Tuesday’s piece on Death By Sexy and yesterday’s take on Barakus. Today Jason Linkins spreads the news about Full Minute of Mercury. Pictures are from Full Minute of Mercury and Earlash, respectively. Full Minute of Mercury For many years, Washington’s most notable rock exports took the form of Dischordian austerity and the post-graduate sounds of the TeenBeat and Simple Machines…