You’ve probably seen the titan spirit behind GALA Hispanic Theatre during a show night. She’s the ginger-haired woman strutting down the halls and across the stage—usually in a sparkling dress and heels. Rebecca Medrano has been running one of the U.S.’s few Spanish- and Latin-focused theaters for nearly five decades.

As big changes have unfolded at the Columbia Heights theater over the past two years—largely following the death of her husband and GALA’s co-founder, Hugo Medrano, in May 2023—Medrano has been there, keeping everything on track. The Medranos’ 1976 conception of GALA, short for Grupo de Artistas LatinoAmericanos, was especially radical at the time: a space to cultivate a localized sense of community for Hispanic and Latine culture in D.C. when stories by and about those communities often went untold in the U.S.

City Paper sat down with Medrano to discuss the upcoming fall theater season and reflect on GALA’s legacy over the past five decades. 

The D.C. area looked very different in 1976. Many of the stories that fell into the Hispanic diaspora were shaped by high-charged political exile in Latin America. How did these stories shape GALA’s mission at the time and how have things changed? 

It was definitely in response to the arrival of so many political exiles from South America, all of those people were coming to the United States and their point of entry was Washington, D.C. They were looking for a place to be able to continue to create freely and to live their lives without fear of political repression. And they were very educated people … And as a result, the work we were producing was very politically cutting-edge. You couldn’t produce this in Latin America, but you could in D.C. 

The wave of immigration changed, and later you had more Central American migrants fleeing civil wars, looking for better lives and better jobs. We incorporated more music … The real European theater tradition, as people know it in Latin America, was very big in Argentina, Chile, Brazil, but not so much in Central America, because they went through such long civil wars that it destroyed most of the theater. But they had incredible visual artists and music, and did more musicals. 

We used to start shows at 7 p.m., and would go on until 9 p.m. Then we cleared the theater out and we did the same show in Spanish, sometimes with the same actors, sometimes with a different cast. But you can imagine the nightmare of people coming to the wrong play and hearing the wrong language. So it was a lot of work for us and a lot more expensive. Then we decided to do simultaneous translations, but it was also confusing to market shows that way … Finally I think it was Bob Mondello, who worked at City Paper, [who] convinced us that we should use subtitles … that’s worked ever since. 

Much of this work dates back to your own upbringing in the arts. Tell us more about this.

As a kid, I lived in Spain and became fluent in Spanish. [I] fell in love with flamenco and the culture before coming back to the United States. I attended high school in Mexico, and then spent a few years in Argentina, where I met Hugo, and we started coming up with ideas for the theater. 

Getting to experience these cultures made me much more of a Latina. You saw the richness of other people’s cultures and saw how insulated the U.S. was by comparison. It made me realize we really need to do something that authentically reflects this culture and use it to enrich our own lives and experiences. 

What shows are you looking forward to this fall?

I’m looking forward to The Cradle Will Rock because it is an innovative telling of the historic story of the fight for justice by labor unions, which is timely as unions are being threatened again today. IN Series’ The Cradle Will Rock plays on Oct. 5, 6, 12, and 13 at Edlavitch JCC, 1529 16th St. NW. $35–$72.

I also admire Woolly Mammoth’s brave and forward-looking work and The Comeuppance grabbles with the theme of multiracial youth in a changing and unknown world. (The latest play from DMV native Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is set in Prince George’s County and received 4 out of 5 stars from WCP theater critic Rebecca Ritzel.) The Comeuppance runs through Oct. 6 at Woolly Mammoth, 641 D St. NW. $56–$83.

Finally, Romeo and Juliet at Folger features two of GALA’s company actors, Luz Nicolas as the nurse and Francisca Tapia as [Lady] Capulet. I am excited to see them in this new production and also to see how the production mixes Spanish and English. Romeo and Juliet opens Oct. 1 and runs through Nov. 10 at Folger Theatre, 201 East Capitol St. SE. $20–$84.

Check out more of our 2024 Fall Arts Guide here.

City Paper’s contributors have their fingers on the pulse of what’s happening in and around the city. These arts events, however, could be overlooked if you aren’t paying attention. Lucky for you, we are.  

Below you’ll find some comedy, a folk fest and craft show, and two book talks—Emma Copley Eisenberg discusses Housemates and Bob Boilen joins Joe Boyd for a conversation on the music producer’s latest book, And the Roots of Rhythm Remain.

You’ll also get a chance to see what the two new but not yet built Smithsonians—National Museum of the American Latino and the American Women’s History Museum—have to offer with an event dedicated to Celia Cruz.

Takoma Park Folk Festival at Takoma Park Middle School  On Sept. 8

First held in 1978 and run entirely by volunteers, the painfully charming Takoma Park Folk Festival highlights living traditions of Takoma Park and Silver Spring communities and the surrounding areas. This year, the free one-day festival is featuring more than 40 acts across six stages covering a wide swath of vernacular musical stylings, plus a jam-packed juried craft show running the gamut from metalwork and jewelry to food and fiber arts. The festival runs from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Takoma Park Middle School gymnasium, 7611 Piney Branch Rd., Takoma Park. Free. —Amelia Roth-Dishy

Joe Boyd With Bob Boilen at Politics and Prose Union Market on Sept. 14

You know if a book begins with the sentence “Malcolm McLaren was bored,” it’s going to be great. Record producer/writer Joe Boyd (Pink Floyd, R.E.M., Nick Drake) follows up his memoir, White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s, with And the Roots of Rhythm Remain, a look at the history and sociology of popular music, which he will discuss with Bob Boilen at Politics and Prose. The conversation starts at 6 p.m. at Politics and Prose Union Market, 1324 4th St. NE. Free. —Christina Smart

Emma Copley Eisenberg at Lost City Books on Sept. 19 

Emma Copley Eisenberg’s road-trip novel about friendship, creation, queer coming of age, and unearthing lost histories is one of my favorite books of the year. Housemates is best enjoyed in the shade of a good tree, while listening to a nostalgic playlist your best friend made for you. Or, for one night only, it might best be enjoyed with Eisenberg, who will be in town to discuss it. The discussion starts at 7 p.m. at Lost City Books, 2467 18th St. NW. Free. —Serena Zets

An Evening Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Celia Cruz at the National Museum of American History on Sept. 20

You can’t really celebrate the life of the reigning Afro-Cuban salsa queen without a little azucar. To officially cement Celia Cruz’s legacy on the 2024 Celia Cruz Quarter, the National Museum of the American Latino, the American Women’s History Museum, and others host a free night covering all things Cruz—from panel discussions recounting her legendary status, to salsa lessons, and a dance party to the all-woman salsa band Lulada Club. The celebration starts at 7 p.m. at the Museum of American History, 1300 Constitution Ave. NW. Free. —Heidi Perez-Moreno

Craft2Wear at the National Building Museum starts on Sept. 27 

It’s D.C.’s own Project Runway, except these carefully selected designer finds are going on sale. The annual Smithsonian Craft2Wear Show will showcase jewelry, wearable art, and accessories from more than 93 artists working in contemporary American fashion. An additional 10 artists will show traditional and modern crafts from South Korea. The event runs Sept. 27 through 29 at the National Building Museum, 401 F St. NW. $20–$95. —Heidi Perez-Moreno

John Early at the Black Cat on Oct. 16

More than any other entertainer, actor, and comedian, John Early is the patron saint of dunking on millennials. Come check out his October set so you can find out how you’re still cringe, even when you’re pushing 40. The show starts at 7 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $45. —Alan Zilberman

William Gropper: Artist of the People at the Phillips Collection opens Oct. 17

For those looking for something quieter, a small exhibit of 30 pieces across two galleries highlighting the social realist painter and cartoonist William Gropper at the Phillips Collection will provide a jolt. The son of Jewish immigrants and a radical child of Lower East Side tenements, Gropper made unabashedly political works combining a satirical propensity for ghoulish villains—corrupt bosses and greedy capitalists chief among them—with a painterly attention to light and shadow. William Gropper: Artist of the People opens Oct. 17 and runs through Jan. 5 at the Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St. NW. $20. —Amelia Roth-Dishy 

Check out more of our 2024 Fall Arts Guide here.

Azymuth at the Black Cat on Sept. 5
This jazz-funk band formed in 1973, and while bassist Alex Malheiros is the only surviving member of that original trio, the group have continued to make music, with a pair of solid albums in 2020. Two years ago, Malheiros released his first album in more than a decade, and the Azymuth sound—rooted in the ’70s fusion but reverent of Brazil’s long pop legacy before and after—remains intact, and as vital as ever. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $35–$40. —Pat Padua

BLK ODYSSY at the Atlantis on Sept. 6
To residents of the Texas Capital, BLK ODYSSY is an artist to know. That knowledge should be spread outside Austin City limits. Words like “smooth vibes,” “sultry,” and “utterly intoxicating” are used to describe BLK ODYSSY’s sound, which throws a middle finger to genre boxes, dabbling in soul, hip-hop, and indie rock with touches of funk. Catch him touring with his latest album, 1-800-Fantasy. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Atlantis, 2047 9th St. NW. $35. —Sarah Marloff  

Pillow Queens at Songbyrd on Sept. 7

Whenever a band 1) you like rocking to in your headphones 2) that hails from overseas comes stateside, you do your best to make it to the show. Ireland’s Pillow Queens would be great openers for Julien Baker (playing in D.C. on Sept. 27), Waxahatchee (at Wolf Trap on Sept. 6), or (fellow Dubliners) Fontaines DC (at the 9:30 Club on Oct. 18). Perhaps All Things Go can find a slot for this queer indie four-piece on 2025’s lineup. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Songbyrd, 540 Penn St. NE. $18–$20. —Brandon Wetherbee 

Pretty Bitter and Cherub Tree at Pie Shop on Sept. 8
Two of D.C.’s most fun live bands open for Brooklyn’s riot grrrl-inspired alt-rockers Birthday Girl. Pretty Bitter serve dreamy emo synth-pop (and they say this might be their last show for a minute), while Cherub Tree’s bubblegrunge is fueled by punk sensibilities. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Pie Shop, 1339 H St. NE. $12–$15. —Sarah Marloff  

Distrito Music Fest at Songbyrd on Sept. 14

The talent and artistry pulsing through SIE7E, Tres Minutos, Max Rosado, Soroche, and JChris has made these five local Latin American bands grow in recognition in recent years. Each of them are connected by varied influences that stretch beyond the DMV, which makes boxing them into a single genre largely impossible and it doesn’t begin to do justice to the bands’ repertoire. The raw, pulsating spirit that each act delivers with ease only gets stronger with every show, and I can’t wait to see this energy take over Songbyrd at one of the few local festivals highlighting local Latin American artists. The show starts at 3 p.m. at Songbyrd, 540 Penn St. NE. $38.63. —Heidi Perez-Moreno

Joyce Moreno at Blues Alley on Sept. 14 and 15
With chestnuts like the surprise club hit “Aldeia de Ogum,” this singer-guitarist has made some of the catchiest music of MPB, the sometimes jazzy pop music that can run from bossa nova to the more eclectic sounds of Tropicalia. She’ll be in town to play the once-lost ’70s album Natureza, and the extended version of her ebullient signature anthem “Feminina.” Moreno plays at 7 and 9:30 p.m. on both days at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. $40. —Pat Padua

Kehlani at EagleBank Arena on Sept. 18

Talk about a doubleheader: On Sept. 18, self-described “raging lesbian” singer Kehlani plays EagleBank Arena in Fairfax while queer pop star/celesbian drama magnet Fletcher hits the stage at the Anthem. The Fletcher show is sold out, but tickets are very much still available for Kehlani’s show, perhaps because the artist has been embroiled in personal controversy all summer. Regardless, the queer agenda did not coordinate well on this one. The show starts at 8 p.m. at EagleBank Arena, 4500 Patriot Cir., Fairfax. $35–$129. —Amelia Roth-Dishy

HFStival at Nationals Park on Sept. 21
People of the 1990s, rejoice! I.M.P. is resurrecting the annual D.C. festival formerly run by WHFS in the heyday of alternative rock radio (1990–2006). In homage to HFStival’s roots, this year features Incubus, Bush, Liz Phair (replacing Garbage), Jimmy Eat World, Girl Talk, Violent Femmes, Tonic, Filter, and Lit, headlined by the Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie (great news for those who missed their dual anniversary tour last September). The festival starts at noon at Nationals Park, 1500 South Capitol St. SE. $150–$250. —Taylor Ruckle

LEIF at the Pocket on Sept. 23
In our Spring Arts Guide we introduced D.C. to the WRIZZARDS, a Filipino multi-genre collective. LEIF, who makes pop infused with alt rock, is part of that collective. The show starts at 7 p.m at the Pocket, 1506 North Capitol St. NW. $15–$20. —Sarah Marloff

Local H at Pearl Street Warehouse on Sept. 23
Touring behind one of their best LPs in Local H’s 30-plus year career, 2004’s Whatever Happened to PJ Soles?, Scott Lucas and Ryan Harding are lifers that fit on nostalgia bills but don’t attempt to relive the glory days. Instead they just provide excellent albums and stellar live shows that incorporate radio-friendly unit-shifters from the ’90s, introspective ballads from the ’00s, oddly effective covers from the ’10s (Lorde?), and screeds of righteous indignation triggered by right-wing politics in the 2020s. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Pearl Street Warehouse, 33 Pearl St. SW. $25–$40. —Brandon Wetherbee 

Bad Moves at the Black Cat on Sept. 27

We would be remiss not to mention the record release show for the local indie quartet recently described in this very paper as the “purveyors of anthemic guitar pop songs for underdogs.” You can also sample Ocelot Brewing’s latest musical beer collab, this time with Bad Moves and dubbed Outta My Head, a “power hop” IPA with bright, bold hops, malted oats, flaked wheat, and a 6.3 percent ABV. Added bonus: Ekko Astral open. The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $20. —Sarah Marloff  

Outerloop at Pie Shop on Sept. 27
Not to make choices harder for you, but across town from Bad Moves’ record release show, post-punk band Outerloop are celebrating the release of their EP, which WCP critic Dora Segall says “packs a dense and eclectic array of lyrics and instrumental layers.” The show starts at 8 p.m. at Pie Shop, 1339 H St. NE. $15. —Sarah Marloff  

Adeem the Artist at DC9 on Sept. 29

Country music comes in any color you can find on a pride flag—not just the usual red, white, and blue. Nonbinary Knoxville singer-songwriter Adeem the Artist proved it on their albums Cast Iron Pansexual and White Trash Revelry, and they continue to capture the spectrum on their latest LP. Anniversary is another twangy and boldly political collection of songs that renders the culture of the American South in all its manifold hues, both light and dark. The show starts at 8 p.m. at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. $20. —Taylor Ruckle 

Crush Fund at Comet Ping Pong on Sept. 29

“Unwanted Attention” makes for an easy two-word summary of the perils of trans visibility in 2024. In the hands of New York City queercore trio Crush Fund, it also makes for a raucous punk shout-along (produced by the incomparable Marissa Paternoster of Screaming Females). Likewise, the title of their latest EP, New Fixation, forecasts your relationship with the band, once you see them live—just be cool about it. The show starts at 9 p.m. at Comet Ping Pong, 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW. $15. —Taylor Ruckle 

Infinity Song at Songbyrd on Oct. 1

Infinity Song, a band of four Detroit siblings, will play Songbyrd fresh off their All Things Go debut a few days earlier on Sept. 29. The up-and-coming R&B band got their big break in 2016 when Jeymes Samuel sent a video of the group busking in Central Park to Jay-Z. They later signed with Jiggaman’s label Roc Nation. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Songbyrd, 540 Penn St. NE. $25. —Serena Zets

Chromeo and the Midnight at the Anthem on Oct. 3

It’s been a decade since the Montreal electro-funk duo Chromeo took the dance music scene by storm with “Jealous (I Ain’t with It),” but Dave and Pee are back with a polished yet still funky sound and tackling fraught subjects like relationships in your 40s. Complementing them is the Midnight, a band whose synth-tinged rock instrumentals hearken back to ’80s power ballads that will have you feeling like an action hero. The show starts at 8 p.m. on Oct. 3 at the Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. $45–$75. —Dave Nyczepir

Maxwell at Capital One Arena on Oct. 4

In the mid-’90s, Maxwell led the neo-soul charge with his debut, Urban Hang Suite. Nearly 30 years later, the hang continues. This fall, Maxwell headlines the Serenade Tour, his first in two years following 2022’s sold-out 25-date international arena run. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 4  at Capital One Arena, 601 F St. NW. $69.50–$79.50. —Christina Smart

Marcos Valle at the Howard Theatre on Oct. 5

Marcos Valle was a baby-faced composer when he made his 1964 debut. Since then, he’s written some of the most timeless bossa nova standards such as “Summer Samba” and “Crickets Sing for Anamaria.” Now 80, Valle has never stopped performing and growing, and his 2019 album, Sempre, is among his best. The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. $35–$50. —Pat Padua

SEB at Songbyrd on Oct. 5

Singles like “seaside_demo” and “last great american summer” might be the breezy mix of acoustics and bongos that got SEB noticed, but his wide-ranging style incorporates elements of P-pop, hip-hop, and proto-funk, among other genres. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Songbyrd, 540 Penn St. NE. $18–$20. —Dave Nyczepir

La Luz at the Atlantis on Oct. 6

Ever wish you lived inside a Quentin Tarantino-esque film about 1970s Los Angeles? This surf noir band should be your soundtrack. The show starts at 7 p.m. at the Atlantis, 2047 9th St. NW. $25. —Brandon Wetherbee 

Mass of the Fermenting Dregs at the Howard Theatre on Oct. 9

This Japanese three-piece is shoegazey and proggy, power poppy and lo-fi bedroom poppy, and more styles of music that make them difficult to categorize in the best possible way. If you’re on the fence about the live show, listen to their recently released live album and you’ll be sold. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. $20–$40. —Brandon Wetherbee

The Lemon Twigs at the Atlantis on Oct. 10

The easiest way to describe the Lemon Twigs to someone who has never heard their music is the Beatles meet the Beach Boys (or at least that’s how they were described to me before the owner of 48 Record Bar in Philadelphia put on their vinyl Everything Harmony). That’s a rather reductive explanation though, as the D’Addario brothers are two of the most creative, meticulous songwriters in progressive pop right now, which has me hoping their Merseybeat revival catches on. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Atlantis, 2047 9th St. NW. $25. —Dave Nyczepir

Empress Of at Union Stage on Oct. 10

Honduran American singer Empress Of’s latest album, For Your Consideration, is all about dichotomies: English and Spanish, romantic and transactional, throwback pop and experimental dance. She’s comfortable in all of them. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. $25–$40. —Dave Nyczepir

illuminati hotties at the Black Cat on Oct. 19

Sarah Tudzin’s indie-rock project first wormed its way into my ears and heart with their sad and slow cover of Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.” Since then, illuminati hotties have fallen on and off my radar, but their latest album, Power, is an indie bop with staying power. Parts of it are reminiscent of Tegan and Sara’s Heartthrob album—the one where they got polished and started writing dance-esque tracks. But other parts of Power wash over you in a wave with its emotional tracks of stripped-down guitar and Tudzin’s haunting voice. The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $20–$25. —Sarah Marloff

Aoife O’Donovan and Bonny Light Horseman at the Kennedy Center on Oct. 22

Continuing along the fall folk road, contemporary troubadour supergroup Bonny Light Horseman are teaming up with singer-songwriter Aoife O’Donovan for a one-night-only performance in the Kennedy Center concert hall, with support from the National Symphony Orchestra. This show is the band’s lone East Coast stop before heading to Europe on a tour supporting their excellent new album, Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free. The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. kennedy-center.org. $29–$79. —Amelia Roth-Dishy

Daphne Eckman at Pearl Street Warehouse on Oct. 24

The quickest way for me to explain why you should check out Daphne Eckman’s “sad girl indie rock” is this: I saw her perform in a forgettable restaurant on Kent Island over a year ago and her gorgeous voice and indie vibe left such an impact I tracked her down on Instagram and have been a fan ever since. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Pearl Street Warehouse, 33 Pearl St. SW. $15–$35. —Sarah Marloff

Hinds at Union Stage on Oct. 26 

This fascinating (and fun) indie pop project by Carlotta Cosials and Ana Perrote started as a duo, became a quartet, and in late 2022, reverted back to a duo. The loss of their drummer and bassist happened in a time of upheaval; Hinds recently split from their label and their management as well. Clearly the Madrid-based band are familiar with traversing change and their newest album, Viva Hinds, out Sept. 6, reflects their recent journey. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. $25. —Serena Zets

Cyndi Lauper at Capital One Arena on Oct. 27

Hard to believe it’s been more than 40 years since Cyndi Lauper knocked the pop world on its ear with the release of her debut album, She’s So Unusual. This is your last chance to see Lauper live, because the girl who just wanted to have fun is retiring from the road. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Capital One Arena, 601 F St. NW. $59.50–$479. —Christina Smart

The Go! Team at the Black Cat on Nov. 3

Sure, this is a nostalgia tour focused on the band’s 2002 debut, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, but when was the last time you listened to “Ladyflash” or “Everyone’s a VIP to Someone”? These are earworms that will still get you moving. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $25–$30. —Brandon Wetherbee

NewDad at the Atlantis on Nov. 6

I’ve been waiting with bated breath for this foursome from Northern Ireland to tour the U.S. By far one of my favorite indie bands to emerge in the past few years, NewDad make the kind of sad, gauzy, dream-pop you can get lost in—it’s no wonder NME compared them to the Cure. With its sludgy guitar, their first full-length, Madra, dropped in January and remains one of the best albums of the year. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Atlantis, 2047 9th St. NW. $15. —Sarah Marloff  

FEVER 333 at Union Stage on Nov. 7

The new-look FEVER 333 rounded out their talent with the additions of drummer Thomas Pridgen, who has toured with the Mars Volta and Thundercat, bassist April Kae, whose Instagram cover of Cardi B’s “Up” went viral in 2021, and guitarist Brandon Davis. Expect frontperson Jason Aalon Butler to keep the anti-racist, anti-fascist rapcore band grounded, even as they venture deeper into frenetic protest punk waters with tracks like “$wing.” The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. $25–$125. —Dave Nyczepir

André 3000 at the Kennedy Center on Nov. 9

André 3000 still raps, including on Killer Mike’s MICHAEL, released in 2023. He’s just not rapping on his own albums. With his solo debut, 2023’s New Blue Sun, André made a jazz album, and traded his vocals for a flute (or several flutes). Now hundreds of thousands of André, OutKast, and hip-hop fans are expanding their sonic horizons. With this show, the rapper-turned-jazz musician will make his Kennedy Center debut. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. $90.85–$310. —Brandon Wetherbee

Rare Essence & the Junkyard Band at the Howard Theatre on Nov. 10

Two of D.C.’s most acclaimed go-go bands come together over Veterans Day Weekend to celebrate the 114th Anniversary of the Howard Theatre. The show starts at 10 p.m. at the Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. $45–$85. —Sarah Marloff

Ratboys and Palehound at the Atlantis on Nov. 12

If you asked me to build this fall’s most exciting bill from scratch, it wouldn’t take me long to come up with the acts behind two of 2023’s finest albums: The Window by Ratboys and Eye on the Bat by Palehound. With one ticket, you get peak indie alt-country and some of the cleverest singer-songwriter work of recent memory in an intimate setting. It’s no wonder it sold out. The show starts at 6:30 p.m. at the Atlantis, 2047 9th St. NW. Sold out. —Taylor Ruckle

Haley Heynderickx at the 9:30 Club on Nov. 16

The folksy and ever-observant indie darling Haley Heynderickx is in the running for the artist I’ve seen live the most—and for good reason. She puts on a killer show no matter the venue. I’ve seen her perform in a chapel, in front of a dewy, empty field during the noon slot of a music festival, at Miracle Theatre, and the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage. Despite how grand (and different) each of these venues were, I don’t think anything will beat seeing her in my favorite D.C. venue this November. The show starts at 6 p.m. at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $25. —Serena Zets

Lupe Fiasco at the Howard Theatre on Nov. 16

Stalwart Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco has already released one of the year’s best hip-hop records. Samurai is clad in choruses hard as armor and wields verses like shining steel blades. With an understated, jazzy aesthetic and a 30-minute run time, it’s the most succinct artistic statement of his 24-year career. Oh, and it’s also a narrative concept album about Amy Winehouse reimagined as a battle rapper. The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. $45–$85. —Taylor Ruckle

Godspeed You! Black Emperor at the 9:30 Club on Nov. 19

The elders of instrumental post-rock are back with their new album and a tour to support it. As always, their shows promise to be beautiful and utterly hypnotic. The show starts at 7 p.m. at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $40. —Alan Zilberman

Sun June at DC9 on Nov. 20

This twangy indie band from Austin made one of the best albums of 2023, and when I saw them last year at this same venue, my “I think this might be love” ratcheted up to “I’m so in love.” If it was possible to wear out a record on Apple Music, I would’ve broken Bad Dream Jaguar with the number of times I flipped it over. The show starts at 8 p.m. at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. $18–$22. —Sarah Marloff 

Mariah Carey at Capital One Arena on Dec. 1

If you’re a fan of whistle notes (and really, who isn’t?), the self-proclaimed Queen of Christmas, Mariah Carey, will start spreading holiday cheer early in the season with a performance at Capital One on Dec. 1. The show starts at 8 p.m. on Dec. 1 at Capital One Arena, 601 F St. NW. $59.95–$580. —Christina Smart

Micky Dolenz at the Birchmere on Dec. 12

Cheer up, sleepy Jean. The last surviving Monkee, Micky Dolenz, is touring. With Songs & Stories, Dolenz will reminisce and sing about life as a member of the Prefab Four. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. $75. —Christina Smart

Check out more of our 2024 Fall Arts Guide here.

Oh He Dead, Ugly

On 2023’s Pretty, D.C.’s alt-soul band Oh He Dead gave us the lighter side of love with tracks full of gleaming pop melodies and lyrics comparing relationship partners to cherry blossoms and honeybees (for real). On their follow-up, Ugly, things are no longer sunshine and lollipops. Actually, they’re downright … ugly. The album, released today, Aug. 23, was written and recorded prior to guitarist and co-founder Andy Valenti’s departure from the band earlier this year. (In an email, the band’s manager stated “In January, Andy moved on from Oh He Dead to pursue other projects.”) On Ugly, the band’s strongest attribute as songwriters is their ability to keep the listener guessing. Much like “Doll,” the opening track on the Foo Fighters’ 1997 album, The Colour and the Shape—aka Dave Grohl’s divorce album—Ugly’s first track, “John Song,” sets the tone lyrically. It’s short but not sweet, with lead singer CJ Johnson’s raspy tone asking “Tell me why?/ Tell me how?/ I let a love/ I let him go so easy.” While the majority of the lyrics on the album deal with the ups and downs of relationships, the soundscape expands exponentially with each track. “Strange Love” puts the listener through their musical paces, starting as an ethereal sunny pop song that quickly transforms into distorted guitars, denser drums, and even a firm tambourine shake enters the mix. On “Moonshine,” the guitars go from Tom Petty-esque to California surf (complete with handclaps) within the first minute and, good lord, there’s even a guitar solo (how old school!). “Is It My Love,” a slow, short groove, wraps up at a mere two minutes, and unfortunately, due to its brevity, lands like an unfinished musical thought. “Every Last Trail,” a contemplative acoustic ballad where Johnson, sounding a bit stalkerish, looks for a lost love, singing “I’ll hike up every last trail/ I won’t stop ’til I find you standing there.” By the time the album wraps with the five-and-a-half minute blues opus “Cover Me,” every emotion associated with heartache has been touched upon. Is it cathartic? Not exactly. But if you’re in the midst of heartbreak, and are looking for some musical companions to assist in your wallowing, Ugly will wrap you like a codependent musical blanket. Oh He Dead play at 7:30 p.m. on Aug. 23 at the Atlantis. theatlantisdc.com. Sold out. —Christina Smart

Fat Vaughn, Road To Riches

Northwest D.C.’s Fat Vaughn uses music to make sense of his own chaotic reality. A seasoned vet of the local rap scene, Vaughn has released more than 25 projects and dozens of singles since his 2016 debut EP, The Journey. His tunnel-vision approach to making and releasing music turned him into one of the most consistent artists in the city. He’s not concerned with landing on a Spotify playlist or trending on TikTok, and fame is a nonfactor. “Struggle, death, and the people I love is what motivates me to keep making music,” he tells City Paper.

On July 4, Fat Vaughn released Road To Riches, a six-track EP that provides a solid introduction into the MC’s reflective and vulnerable music. There’s a continuous theme of embracing the pain that comes with loss, and acknowledging one’s own flaws and shortcomings.

On “Self,” Vaughn mourns friends and family who tragically passed away, rapping, “Thinking bout my dogs and it made me drop a tear/ How the fuck you 6 feet deep/ You was just right here.” His struggle with death is even more prevalent on the closing track, “Stargazing,” where he details coping with the loss of loved ones, and persevering through hardships in their honor. His vulnerability throughout the EP is matched with candid honesty. On “For the Win,” he doesn’t shy away from his drug abuse and involvement in violent street culture. “15s, 30s, and up, I ain’t popping no 10s/ Stainless steel on my hip, nigga don’t wanna get cleansed,” he raps. Although Vaughn mentions living a dangerous lifestyle throughout the EP, he doesn’t glorify it with vulgar exaggerations and outlandish punchlines. His street-related bars are relatively sparse and come across as sincere and realistic.

Fat Vaughn is no stranger to singing, but Road To Riches finds the MC flexing his vocal chops. He sings every hook on the album, switches registers in his verses, and harmonizes his ad libs. The light coat of Auto-Tune on his vocals makes the sentiment in his heartfelt lyrics more palpable, and the project’s spacey and melodic production hammers this home. He’s using hip-hop to process pain, which explains his extensive discography. He’s not rapping for fame or money, he’s doing it to express himself. This attitude is clear throughout Road To Riches, reflecting Vaughn’s dedication to his craft and unrelenting spirit. —Amari Newman

Zen Warship, The Renewal

For Zen Warship’s second studio album, they’ve decided to capitalize on sounds sure to leave listeners bouncing to the infectious beats the band have become known for. But while The Renewal has the upbeat spirit of modern pop, that feel-good energy is only scratching the surface of the band’s musical influences and sounds. The seven-track release features a mix of funk-disco, funk-rock, soul, and ska elements.

The decision to emphasize these sounds on The Renewal, alongside deeper, introspective lyricism, came out of COVID. Zen Warship’s debut album, Anything That Grooves, was written before 2020 and relied on a grittier guitar and jazz-infused sound. While there are hints of these same elements in their newest work, joy is the overwhelming takeaway. Vocalist Preethy Kolinjivadi notes that the feel-good vibe was a result of the eight-piece band coming together again after the pandemic. Their first release was written by a smaller group while The Renewal gave more members songwriting credits and a chance to collaborate. The result has a more classic funk feel with nods to James Brown, funk-rock pioneers Parliament Funkadelic, Jimi Hendrix, and even the type of funk-soul-pop that Stevie Wonder helped to create. But it’s not all throwback beats. The band also credit Jamiroquai, Nile Rodgers, H.E.R., and Dua Lipa as influences. There’s no sophomore slump here. —Heidi Pérez-Moreno

Outerloop, EP 02 

It’s hard to believe that post-punk band Outerloop’s new EP is a mere 15 and a half minutes long. The EP, released on June 21, packs a dense and eclectic array of lyrics and instrumental layers into just six tracks. The wide-ranging release bears testimony to Outerloop’s expansive roots, from straight rock to jazz. EP 02 is Outerloop’s first multi-track release since parting with their old bassist in May 2022 (the band did cover Slant 6’s “Double Edged Knife” on a Dischord-inspired compilation featuring Teen Mortgage, the Dismemberment Plan, and other local groups in January). The subsequent addition of a new drummer, Marty Risemberg, and bassist Erik Sleight spurred the group’s subsequent departure from a consistently heavy rock sound into a more genre-bending direction. Risemberg, like vocalist Taisha Estrada, comes from a primarily jazz background, while Sleight brings sizable electronic experience to the project. The band step outside of their established sound in particular on “Electric Alibi,” a relatively sparse track with minimal rhythm and bass and delicate vocals compared to Estrada’s typical style. This restraint morphs into a sustained, fuzzy guitar drone on Sleight’s subsequent “bass solo.”

Perhaps most striking on EP 02 is Outerloop’s use of English and Spanish to infuse their lyrics with social commentary. On the second track, “Huracán,” they use the two languages to capture a power dynamic within Estrada’s native Puerto Rico; she sings in Spanish from the perspective of residents pushed out of their homes and in English from that of the land-grabbers: “No, I do not feel your pain/ You have 30 days.” While most of EP 02 is a listener-directed call to address issues like sexism and social media surveillance, Estrada also uses Spanish to turn inward. The final track, “Estremecido,” compares leaving a lover to Moses’ birth mother leaving him to float down the Nile River with guilt-laden lyrics like “Te dejé/ Estremecido” (“I left you/ Trembling”). 

Outerloop’s new EP may go in too many directions, but it does so with musical and conceptual integrity. From delightfully unpredictable instrumentals and moments of melodic dissonance to poignant subject matter, the project lays out a promising blueprint for perhaps more cohesive releases to come as the band continue to settle into their new lineup. —Dora Segall

Truth or Dare, “H.S.B.F.” 

If you’re looking for a pop-punk anthem to close out the summer, look no further than Truth or Dare’s debut single, “H.S.B.F.” Released on Aug. 9, the just-shy-of-4-minute track has the pulsing beats, sing-along lyrics, and sassy angst that makes you want to drive fast or dance while screaming the song’s chorus: “And if Virginia is for lovers/ And Maryland’s for fun/ Then D.C.’s for the kids who won’t sit still for anyone.” Truth or Dare is clearly a homegrown act. So is “H.S.B.F.,” which was recorded at 38North Studios in Falls Church, produced by Reese Clutter, who’s worked with D.C. bands Beauty Pill, and Cherub Tree, and mastered by Baltimore’s Mat Leffler–Schulman (Dan Deacon, Jon Batiste, De La Soul). It’s unclear who among these names is responsible for putting some more gloss on the band, whose three-track demo from January has a much fuzzier, granulated DIY sound that’s a little more punk grit than pop polish. 

“H.S.B.F.” stands for high school boyfriend and the song charts the course of teen romance and growing up. None of it’s groundbreaking, but the driving, and sometimes distorted, guitar gives you the thrill you listen to pop-punk for and shouting along with vocalist Tori—especially if you grew up in a small town like I did—feels especially cathartic. This is a track to listen to on your last road trip of the season or even on your headphones as you head out for a late August run. But it will certainly be best experienced live in a small venue where you can dance out your angst. Either way, it’s guaranteed to make you want to move. —Sarah Marloff

Strutman Lane, “Restless Nights”

Summer’s coming to an end and while I’m glad the record-breaking heat is dying down, I’m feeling restless. There’s so much of D.C. summer left to enjoy before Labor Day: outdoor concerts and movies, dips in your local public pool, bike rides, kayaking on the Potomac, sweaty Sunday mornings at the Dupont Circle farmers market, and more. “Restless Nights,” the newest single by pop funk band Strutman Lane, released July 19, is the perfect soundtrack to these last sweet dregs of summer. The band’s accompanying music video pulls back the curtain on the song’s recording and helps you see the funk instrumental arrangement come together. The song’s smart use of piano and saxophone is reminiscent of Stevie Wonder’s iconic “Superstition” and similarly makes you want to dance. —Serena Zet

Listen along to all these new tracks with our Spotify playlist.

Thursday: Missy Elliott’s Out of This World Tour at Capital One Arena

It’s not often that an artist’s first headlining tour happens nearly 30 years after their debut album. But when that artist is Missy Elliott, one of the most original, innovative hip-hop artists ever, one can forgive her for taking her time getting to the road (she was too busy hitting people with the hee). The announcement of Elliott’s Out of This World tour, which will hit Capital One Arena on Aug. 8, was exciting enough. The fact that she’s performing with Timbaland, Busta Rhymes, and Ciara is enough to make Gen X squeal while running to find their shell toe Adidas and tracksuits. “I think it was divine intervention,” Timbaland, rapper and Elliott’s producing partner, tells City Paper of the tour coming together. “Everybody was ready to go on the road together. That’s what I believe. It was an idea that was maybe brought to Missy and Missy agreed … and good thing she agreed because she brought magic together.” While Elliott has performed at festivals in the past few years and had a guest spot during Katy Perry’s Super Bowl performance in 2015, her more recent public appearances have centered around accolades—including receiving an honorary doctorate from the Berklee School of Music and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. According to Timbaland, the tour is “a celebration of all our music throughout 30 years of what we’ve given to the game. It’s like giving back to the fans.” Both Elliott and Timbaland, who met in high school, hail from Norfolk, Virginia, and consider D.C. a hometown show. “It’s the DMV,” says Timbaland. “It’s definitely hometown. Everything about the DMV is hometown.” Missy Elliott with special guest Timbaland, Ciara, and Busta Rhymes play at 7 p.m. on Aug. 8 at Capital One Arena, 601 F St. NW. capitalonearena.com $59.50–$895. —Christina Smart

Friday: Sad Summer Festival at Merriweather 

You can see a pattern of seasonality in rock music. Winter is for metal or goth—all that leather gets pretty warm—while fall is more for singer-songwriter fare or gentle Midwest emo like American Football. With the days getting warmer and wedding season going into full effect, spring is for danceable music, whether it’s LCD Soundsystem or the Faint. But summer has always been about pop punk. Teenagers, or maybe the young at heart, are the target audience for music defined by fast beats, faster hooks, and short attention spans. Nothing beats driving around in the suburbs on languid, warm summer nights while you listen to another snotty vocalist scream about how they cannot wait to escape the mediocre suburb they’re stuck in. What better way to relive that precise feeling than Sad Summer Festival, a one-day pop punk showcase in Columbia? The planned community is arguably the apotheosis of the suburb, so bands like the Wonder Years and Mayday Parade will fit right into that feeling of angst that no afternoon at the pool or beach can solve. Other highlights include We the Kings, a band whose tune “Check Yes, Juliet” sounds like it was created in a lab for young fans to shake their fist toward the sky while holding back tears. Many years ago, I was once a teenage pop-punk fan in Columbia, or the “Columbubble” as it was widely known, and this lineup instantly transported me back to a period where teenage angst got in the way of what should have been the most carefree period of my life. Or maybe it was? Either way, all that’s missing is a trip to Double T diner after the mandatory noise curfew cuts off the music. Sad Summer Festival starts at 2 p.m. on  Aug. 9 at the Chrysalis at Merriweather Park, 10431 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia. sadsummerfest.com. $72. —Alan Zilberman

Saturday: Claire’s Camera at National Gallery of Art

Prolific director Hong Sangsoo seems to release movies on a schedule almost as frequent as the 42 bus. This month the National Gallery of Art provides local moviegoers with a seasonal sample that just touches the surface of his sprawling work, and Saturday’s program focuses on two of Sangsoo’s films made with the great Isabelle Huppert. One of Sangsoo’s more lighthearted films, the 2017 (mostly) comedy Claire’s Camera is nevertheless fueled by all sorts of meta-tensions. Huppert stars as the eponymous photographer, a teacher/poet visiting Cannes. Claire meets Manhee (Kim Minhee), a sales rep for a film production company who has been unceremoniously fired for unspecified reasons. However, she’s been sleeping with the director, who was involved with Manhee’s boss—both of whom Claire happens to run into on the same day. What makes this romantic entanglement so intriguing is that Min-hee, a frequent Sangsoo collaborator, was herself in the throes of a fraught affair with the married director. With such behind-the-scenes drama at play, the film before us is deceptively breezy, yet Sangsoo injects the easygoing plot with strange touches: In one close up of Claire walking with the amorous director, her heavy heels seem a meaningful contrast to the director’s casual shoes. Claire’s Camera was reportedly churned out in a few days while Huppert was in Cannes promoting the film Elle. Min-hee has explained that Sangsoo would write the script the morning of the shoot, and the crew and actors would scramble to get everything in place. But despite or because of its off-the-cuff origins, the film plays out like a spontaneous outpouring of creative energy. It lasts just 68 minutes, and in terms of surface narrative, not a lot happens, but Sangsoo lets us in on the layers of meaning that bubble under even the most seemingly ordinary encounters. The double feature opens with Sangsoo’s 2012 film, In Another Country, which stars Huppert as three different women. In Another Country and Claire’s Camera screen at 2 p.m. on Aug. 10 at the National Gallery of Art East Building, 4th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. nga.gov. Free, registration required. —Pat Padua

Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday: Godzilla Vs. Hedorah at AFI Silver

What if Godzilla was the heroic beast in an ecologically conscious psychedelic musical? That’s the improbable conceit behind this wild 1971 science fiction thriller that was the first and only Godzilla movie directed by Yoshimitsu Banno. Originally titled Godzilla vs. The Smog Monster for American audiences, this film offers a new kind of scaly villain, one who feeds on garbage and huffs smokestacks. The screaming, smoggy carnage creeps in on ginormous smog feet when Marine biologist Dr. Yano (Akira Yamanouchi) and his son witness a horrifying sea mutant that thrives on pollution—and, worse, makes a heavy metal mockery of the stages of insect life by morphing into different horrifying forms, from yeasty mega-walrus to a sleek flying craft emitting poison gas that leaves everyone in its wake dying an excruciating death. It’s a bleak outlook for humanity, but the apocalypse is leavened by Banno’s fertile avant-garde imagination. While Godzilla movies often lose steam when humans dominate the screen, here the human spectacle keeps up with the monster magic in vivid psychedelic dance sequences, from an underground rock club threatened by Hedorah’s primordial ooze to a protest party on Mount Fuji used to lure the ozone-destroying shape-shifter into a climactic battle with Godzilla. Director Banno got his start as a stage actor, and worked as an assistant to Akira Kurosawa on films such as Throne of Blood and The Bad Sleep Well. Godzilla vs. Hedorah reinvigorated a series that had gotten stodgy—the last thing you can say about this movie, which not only features rock music but hallucinatory animated interludes and one sequence that starts as a mere split screen and divides into a dizzying multicellular picture of a world in crisis. Naturally, Banno didn’t get to make another Godzilla movie. Godzilla vs. Hedorah screens at 9:40 p.m. on Aug. 10, 9:15 p.m. on Aug. 11, and 9:15 p.m. on Aug. 14 at AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. silver.afi.com. $13. —Pat Padua

Wednesday: The Courettes at Pie Shop

At the middle of their worldwide tour, the Courettes, a rock band marked by the infectious doo-wop harmonies of the Ronnetes and the manic tempo of the Ramones, will make a stop in D.C. this week. The duo, made up of Brazilian vocalist and guitarist Flavia Couri and Denmark drummer Martin Couri, have already made a name for themselves across Europe following the release of their first album, Here Are the Courettes, in 2015. They’ve since played at Eurosonic in Holland and punk festivals in Germany, and headed back to Denmark for the Copenhagen Psych Fest. Now they’re looking to leave a mark in the U.S. The duo and couple have released three full studio albums (not including 2022’s B-sides and outtakes from their 2021 release Back in Mono). In 2020 they signed with the legendary British label Damaged Goods Records, where they share a home with seminal English punk band Buzzcocks and Australian punks Amyl and the Sniffers. Much of the Courettes’ music draws from the garage rock and girl group sounds from the ’60s and ’70s giving their sound a glimmer of nostalgia. Pie Shop has paired the Brazilian/Danish band well, billing them with D.C.’s own Cinema Hearts. Caroline Weinroth’s project blends a pageantry, dark doo-wop, and punk for a deeply alluring sound. The Courettes with openers Cinema Hearts play at 7:30 p.m on Aug. 14 at Pie Shop, 1339 H St. NE. pieshopdc.com. $12. —Heidi Perez-Moreno

Daily through Sunday: Awa Sal Secka’s Ladies of Jazz at Signature Theatre 

Inside Signature Theatre, the songs of Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, and Sarah Vaughan are being channeled and echoed through the voice of Awa Sal Secka. The performer and playwright, who was born in New York and raised in a Gambian household, has been performing locally since she moved to the area in 2005—her first show at Signature was roughly seven years ago, when she played an apostle in Jesus Christ Superstar. Today, She and her powerhouse vocals that span two-and-a-half octaves are paying homage to the women who defined jazz. Secka opens the show with “Take the ‘A’ Train,” which was written by Billy Strayhorn and performed by Vaughan alongside other jazz greats, including Duke Ellington. Another classic Secka performs is “I Put a Spell On You,” along with other songs from Simone’s discography filled with anthems for the Civil Rights Movement. That includes “Mississippi Goddam,” which was originally written in response to two 1963 events: the murder of Medgar Evers in Mississippi and the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama; many of the lyrics were censored upon its initial release. Secka will also sing from the repertoire of Nancy Wilson, whose musical career spanned five decades. The 16-song set highlights some of jazz’s most prominent and prolific musicians over the past century. Awa Sal Secka’s Summertime: Ladies of Jazz runs July 31 through Aug. 4 at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. sigtheatre.org. $46. — Heidi Perez-Moreno

Saturday and Sunday: The Latinx Movement Festival at Dance Place 

People of the Latine diaspora tell their stories from infinite angles, which is exactly what Mexican American movement artist and choreographer Gabriel Mata hopes to champion with his inaugural Latinx Movement Festival. The two-day event features performances from six dance collectives and movement artists, including Carne Viva Dance Theatre, Xochipilli Dance Company, and Latina Jewish interdisciplinary artist Amelia Rose Estrada. These performances tell stories of identity, the restless feeling of being displaced in unfamiliar environments, and seeking connection to one’s history and culture. Mata, who moved to the D.C. area seven years ago and has since graduated with a master’s in fine arts from the University of Maryland, will perform a duet with Estrada that the two choreographed with the hope of reclaiming their bodies and identities as queer people and immigrants. Another performance, titled “Nepantla: Magia Ancestral,” looks at Mexican folklore’s connection to nature, but also bodily expression and magic, while also examining how it relates to the present day. Choreographers Julio Medina and Salome Nieto, performing as a duo, seek to tell a larger story of what it’s like to feel displaced as people of Mexican descent living in the United States. There will also be free community workshops led by some of the performers teaching bachata, butoh, and sabor, which will take place Friday, before the festival officially starts. It took a year and a half for Mata to bring his vision of creating a safe space to celebrate the diversity of the local Latine dance artistry to life. Such spaces, he says, are rare in the D.C. area. Being in its first year, Mata hopes to see momentum from the festival create support, feedback, and guidance for the next one. He’s also open to feedback and discussion around using the term “Latinx”—a source of sociopolitical and cultural tension—in their name. The Latinx Movement Festival runs Aug. 3 through 4 at Dance Place, 3225 8th St. NE. danceplace.org. $30. —Heidi Perez-Moreno

Sunday: The Mountain Goats and New Pornographers at Wolf Trap

Every year Wolf Trap manages to bring together a unique pairing that audiences didn’t know they needed. A highlight of this season is the one-night-only co-headlining show featuring North Carolina’s the Mountain Goats and Vancouver, BC’s the New Pornographers. The two bands take different approaches to what falls under the large umbrella of indie rock. The Mountain Goats’ erudite bent comes from prolific singer-songwriter John Darnielle’s high-concept riffs on underexplored subcultural corners. What type of person is into collecting knives? How does it feel to be an old professional wrestler? They’ve got an album for just about any tangent. The New Pornographers, however, take a much more straightforward approach, layering their saccharine pop hooks on top of wry, complicated sentimentality. Together, the evening can be seen as a coronation of the mid-’00s indie-rock boom that finds itself continuing to thrive and settling nicely into the green manicured pastures of the amphitheater establishment. The Mountain Goats and the New Pornographers play at 7 p.m. on Aug. 4 at Wolf Trap, 1551 Wolf Trap Rd., Vienna. wolftrap.org. $43–$133. —Matt Siblo

Sunday: Donnell Floyd at MGM National Harbor 

When Donnell Floyd officially retired from go-go at the end of 2019, his farewell show exceeded all expectations. Along with an array of local stars, Stevie Wonder and rapper Doug E. Fresh joined Floyd on stage to celebrate his 40 years of contributions to go-go culture. During his 18 years with Rare Essence, Floyd rapped on and co-wrote the band’s biggest hits of the ’90s: “Lock It,” “Work the Walls,” and “Overnight Scenario.” Initially a saxophone player for the band, Floyd also became Rare Essence’s second mic rapper. Dubbed “The King of the Go-Go Beat” after another Rare Essence hit, Floyd went on to lead 911 and other popular go-go groups. In 2017, he took his band Team Familiar to Nigeria to perform for the Yoruba king known as the Ooni of Ife. While his retirement from go-go felt inconceivable to longtime fans, for Floyd, it was inevitable, mostly due to his aggressive vocal style. But even after Floyd debuted his well-received R&B band, Push Play, occasional returns to go-go have also been inevitable. In 2022, Floyd joined Rare Essence at the MGM National Harbor for a 45th-anniversary reunion show. On Sunday, Floyd returns to go-go one more time for a night billed as “King of the Go-Go Beat: One Night in All White” featuring the fabulous Ms. Kim, Rappa Dude, Frank “Scooby” Marshall, Jasen “O” Holland, Darrin “X” Frazier, Michael Arnold, Marcus “dotcom” Young, Sean Geason, and Darryl “Blue-Eye” Arrington. Driving the beat will be Eric “Bojack” Butcher on drums and Milton “Go–Go Mickey” Freeman. According to Floyd, he has received nearly 50 solid offers from area promoters eager to put together a go-go concert. He chose Tricky, Inc.’s Mark Pendergrast due to his interest in an elaborate production. “I wanted to have a great state-of-the-art production,” says Floyd. “I saw this as an opportunity to increase my legacy while putting together an incredible show for people.” One Night in All White starts at 6 p.m. on Aug. 4 at MGM Grand Ballroom, 101 MGM National Ave, Oxon Hill. markpendergrastevents.com. $65-125. —Alona Wartofsky

Ongoing: Isabella Whitfield’s Best Regards at Hamiltonian Artists

There’s an uncanny quality to the works of D.C.-based artist Isabella Whitfield, currently displayed in a delicately balanced arrangement at Hamiltonian Artists. Many of the sculptures depict commonplace objects rendered in incongruous materials, often paper. Subtly surprising, her works come across as sleight of hand or pulling one over on the viewer: a paper life vest seems to actually be inflated, and a sea of papercast utility signs in pastel Tupperware hues looks as sturdy as the real thing. Call it pulp fiction. Whitfield is also a papermaking associate at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center and seems to delight in inverting expectations, creating objects that are harder or softer than their real-life counterparts and making permanent things temporary (or vice versa). One piece is particularly unexpected; it’s easy to miss if you’re not cross-referencing with the image list. Tucked tight into a corner up in the ceiling, “How to stop a cycle” is a tiny cutout of scrap metal showing a horse and a pegasus facing off. It begs for a closer look, but it’s tantalizingly out of grasp. All the works in the show warrant closer inspection, both to figure out how they’re constructed, and to pick up on some of the finer details of their presentation. The show’s title, Best Regards, is a nod to a commonly used email sign off that can be genuine or passive-aggressive, used to express actual goodwill, annoyance, or thinly veiled disgust. Getting such a salutation can be destabilizing—does this person hate me or are they just professional?—and similarly, Whitfield’s works leave the viewer turning over the seemingly simple things. Best Regards runs through August 10 at Hamiltonian Artists, 1353 U St. NW. Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. hamiltonianartists.org. Free. —Stephanie Rudig

Thursday: Under the Cherry Moon at Franklin Park

In a city with literally hundreds of outdoor movie night options, it’s somewhat surprising there aren’t more Prince-themed options. Sure, it’s not unlikely to see Purple Rain on a lawn near you, which makes sense because it’s Prince’s best movie, but the unlikely showing of the artist’s much more forgettable flick makes this screening of 1986’s Under the Cherry Moon even better. Prince’s directorial debut isn’t as memorable as his on-screen debut, but few films featuring the Purple One and Lake Minnetonka are. The follow-up to Purple Rain, Under the Cherry Moon is more style than substance but at this point, who cares? It’s a black-and-white film with Casablanca vibes shot in Nice, France. The story and acting leave a lot to be desired—Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave it two thumbs down and it tied Howard the Duck for Worst Picture of the year at the 1986 Golden Raspberry Awards—but the soundtrack is Prince’s Parade! You’ll want to attend this screening to celebrate Prince’s life and, most importantly, dance to his music. Outdoor film screenings are less about what’s on-screen and more about taking in the sights under the stars. When it comes to Under the Cherry Moon, the vibes are way better than the on-screen product. Under the Cherry Moon screens at 8:30 p.m. on July 18 at Franklin Park, 1332 I St. NW. downtowndc.org. Free. —Brandon Wetherbee

Friday: Chungking Express at Freer Gallery of Art

Deliriously entertaining, at once quirky and profound, Wong Kar–Wai’s 1994 breakthrough is one of the pivotal films of the 1990s. Thanks to the impressionistic, kinetic cinematography, Chungking Express is a feast not only for the eyes and ears, but a vividly suggested platter for the nose and tongue. Wong’s split narrative follows two lovelorn law enforcers who frequent the same Hong Kong fast food counter. First up is Cop 233 (Takeshi Kaneshiro), who becomes obsessed with two things after his girlfriend leaves him: cans of pineapple that expire on May 1, 1994, and a mysterious, elusive blond (Brigitte Lin) who turns out to be a drug smuggler. The pineapple quest unresolved, the plot shifts to Cop 663 (Tony Leung), whose paramour leaves him after he changes her regular take-out order. But this officer has another choice in the form of new snack, bar worker Faye (Faye Wong), who’s obsessed with the Mamas & the Papas hit “California Dreamin’” and falls for the uniformed regular. Two cinematographers worked on this film; Andrew Lau shoots the first thread like a dazzling new wave crime drama. But Christopher Doyle, who shot most of Wong’s most successful films, almost finds a new visual language for the Faye segment, his camera swooning much like its characters. Two of many delicious moments sum up its magic: In a mesmerizing slow-motion aside, Faye stands in front of a fan at one end of her lunch counter, gazing at her beloved and sending her scent his way, to no avail. And in the movie’s best joke—Faye sneaks into 663’s apartment, redecorating and switching out labels on the canned food in his pantry: When he eats a mislabeled can of sardines, it’s as if he’s trying them for the first time. It’s hilarious, but also a moving metaphor for the way love transforms us. As Faye changed his taste buds, and his life, Wong changed cinema, if only for 104 minutes. Chungking Express screens at 7 p.m. on July 19 at the Freer Gallery of Art, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. asia.si.edu. Free. —Pat Padua

Saturday: Girls Rock! Showcase at the Black Cat 

The work happening at Girls Rock! DC’s annual summer camps go beyond teaching girls how to rock out in a band. For a week straight, counselors and program leaders echo the words and mantra that would have changed the life of its own executive director Noel Schroeder if she’d heard them as a teenager. “My voice matters,” she says. The D.C. chapter—similar to hundreds of girls’ rock camps that have formed across the country—has spent 17 years working to provide a space for girls and women to feel comfortable speaking their minds and making their own decisions. Campers learn a lot in just a few days, such as working with band coaches to play instruments and write their own music. Program leaders also take the opportunity to expand the training to go beyond music, by helping youth find their sense of expression. They also learn to collaborate with bandmates and fellow campers alongside coaches, preparing them for future situations when they’ll need to compromise and work with a team, whether that happens in a band or not. Seeing these campers take to the stage to perform after only a week is superbly joyful. It’s why the performance tends to sell out year after year. The magic behind this weekend’s Girls Rock! Showcase isn’t simply floating down the Black Cat stage, but the product of a weeklong effort to build stamina, confidence, and in today’s young girls. July Summer Camp Showcase starts at 11 a.m. on July 20 at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. (A second showcase takes place on Aug. 10, same time, same place.) girlsrockdc.org. $30. —Heidi Perez-Moreno

Saturday: The International Colombian Festival at Catholic University

Colombia celebrates its Independence Day on July 20, and here in D.C. Colombians and supporters can celebrate at the International Colombian Festival. Home to Indigenous residents, descendants of European immigrants, and descendants of enslaved Africans, Colombia is the third most populous Latin American country, and this event offers a chance to experience some of the tropical locale’s music, dance, and food. In a nod to the large number of Salvadorans who live in the D.C. area, the festival also honors them by including guest participants from El Salvador too. Musical acts on the bill include Teno El Melodico, a Colombian salsa choque vocalist with a warm voice who sings and raps over a tuneful mesh of salsa and reggaeton, and Cathia, who lends her smooth vocals to polished yet bouncy cumbia and Latin pop. Also on the roster is Los Embajadores Vallenatos, a singer and accordion duo who perform fast-tempoed folkloric vallenato music, and La Marvela, a local all-women band known for their harmonies, percussion, and activist spirit. Dance company participants include El Tayrona, a Falls Church-based Colombian folk dance company, and Flor de Café, a local Salvadoran dance troupe. Attendees, while watching the performances, can dine on culinary offerings including  arepas, corn dough patties stuffed with various ingredients that have been eaten in Colombia since precolonial times. The International Colombian Festival runs from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on July 20 at Catholic University, 598 John McCormack Rd. NE. colombianfestivaldc.com. $20–$25. —Steve Kiviat   

Tuesday: Tinariwen at Warner Theatre

Tinariwen’s guitar work, specifically from band members Ibrahim Ag Alhabib and Alhassane Ag Touhami, is so impressive it’ll make you want to pick up a guitar as soon as you get home or put one down forever. With more than 30 years into a recording career, 40 as a collective, the group of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of Mali may be the most internationally relevant guitar-based band working today. In the last year they’ve graced stages in Australia, France, Japan, and Saudi Arabia. They’ll be playing across the United States and Canada this summer before hitting most every major Western European city in the fall. Their infectious and universal music is truly international and it sounds like it could have been made as soon as guitars were electrified. There’s noodling reminiscent of early 1950s Les Paul-era jazz and pop. There are riffs on par with 2020s Queens of the Stone Age. Tinariwen’s desert blues have a lot in common with the best psychedelic music. They make hypnotic head-nodders and toe-tappers that are easy to get lost inside. If you’re listening in headphones, time slips away. If you’re seeing them live, that’s when you’ll either want to pick up or put down that guitar at home. Tinariwen play at 8 p.m. on July 23 at Warner Theatre, 515 1th St. NW. livenation.com. $20–$108. —Brandon Wetherbee

Wednesday: The Dollyrots at Atlas Brew Works

With the help of Pie Shop, Atlas Brew Works, the sometimes music venue and beloved neighborhood brewery, will be the local stop for the current tour for L.A.-based, Florida-bred pop-punk-rock band the Dollyrots. Formed by bassist-vocalist Kelly Ogden and guitarist Luis Cabezas, the Dollyrots bring the force and noise of punk in their bubblegum hooks and sunny lyrics that their own two kids get to watch as audience members. The band have released eight albums, including a few extended plays, live albums, and Christmas-themed tracks, since forming shortly after the results of the 2000 presidential elections. Disillusioned with George W. Bush and convinced the world was going to end, the band took their music full-time. That torch they carry has kept pop-punk music alive since the genre experienced commercial success in the 2000s, when acts like Jimmy Eat World, Sum 41, and Blink-182 reshaped the punk of their predecessors into radio-friendly pop. These influences are alive on the Dollyrots latest album, Nights Owl, which came out last October. Their Wrapped in Sunshine tour plays off the name of one of their newest singles, emblematic of the light and energy behind many of the melodic choruses the band is known for. Philadelphia-based Soraia and local band (and self-titled “punk nerd party people”) Curse Words open. The show starts at 7 p.m. on July 24 at Atlas Brew Works, 2052 West Virginia Ave. NE. atlasbrewworks.com, $20. —Heidi Perez-Moreno

The bright tambourines of the Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There” can be heard from most corners of Devry and Sean Jones’ Manor Park apartment. The song plays from a tucked-away corner where the couple’s record player sits atop IKEA shelves holding more than 3,700 albums.

Putting on a record as the two prepare dinner is part of their postwork ritual. As “I’ll Be There” plays, the Joneses recall the summer of 1970 when the song was released. Despite the polarity in their musical tastes—Devry prefers folk and ’80s, Sean gravitates toward punk, emo, and hip-hop—they grew up listening to the Jackson 5. It’s why they selected the iconic pop group’s Greatest Hits as their May record of the month. 

“We grew up listening to these albums, but without each other,” Devry tells City Paper. “It gets us to talk about where we were in our lives being in different places.” 

The album was one of their three picks from Byrdland Records’ New Columbia Record Club. Now in its third year, the local record store’s vinyl subscription service offers members a single record from a curated selection of three every month. The selections, curated by Byrdland’s owners Joe Lapan and Alisha Edmonson and the store’s vinyl director and buyer Jonathan Druy, are broken into three categories: new releases, classics, and local. Members also receive free entry to various events at Byrdland, including early access appointments to Record Store Day and its sister venue Songbyrd Music House. 

There are no shortages of vinyl subscription services today—VYNL and Vinyl Me, Please are popular online options—but Lapan and Edmonson wanted their version to hone in on the local music scene to give members (and local acts) a deeper sense of community. Even the name, New Columbia Record Club, is a local reference playing off the New Columbia Statehood Commission that formed in 2014 to coordinate efforts for statehood and voting rights for D.C. residents. 

The store’s dedication to local acts is on display each month when Edmonson, Lapan, and Druy select an album from DMV artists. Previous artists have included local soul legends Skip Mahoaney & the Casuals, rapper Wale, and R&B-meets-rock band Oh He Dead, but Lapan says the decision is a balance of what the store can get its hands on and what the three of them are listening to. The team has also enlisted Electric Cowbell, a D.C.-based independent record label that specializes in small-batch vinyl releases, to help curate monthly selections. 

Byrdland’s idea for starting their own vinyl subscription service began back when Songbyrd was a one-stop shop in Adams Morgan, combining the record store, venue, and eatery in a cramped two-story building. The space constraints, however, kept their vinyl inventory too low. 

That changed in 2020, when the record shop spun off into its own dedicated space near Union Market. Byrdland gave Lapan and Edmonson the leg room to expand their inventory from 1,000 records to more than 7,000 in the store at any given time. It’s also created opportunities to offer more in-store events, such as concerts, album release parties, and listening parties. 

“We grew into a larger, more proper record store,” Lapan says. 

Since the club launched in 2021, membership has increased from 15 to more than 60, according to Lapan.

“There’s nothing like the sound of vinyl,” says Taunja Pegues, a fourth-generation Washingtonian and one of the club’s first members. For her, signing up for Byrdland’s Record Club brought back memories of joining mail-order music clubs when she was a teenager in the ’80s. Her physical collection began when she was 10 and she credits club services for helping her discover new genres.

“That was the first way that [I] really listened to music, so just seeing the whole full circle moment and being involved in it is great for me,” Pegues says. 

With the New Columbia Record Club, Lapan says Byrdland is able to build an avenue for members to discover local talent and expand their music taste. Record stores have historically played crucial roles in building and sustaining local music and art scenes, often serving as bridges between artists and listeners. 

This connection is increasingly important in the digital age, says Philip Basnight, singer and guitarist of D.C. indie-rock group Broke Royals. Although music streaming services can help independent artists build their platforms, they still have to compete with an oversaturated music market that might leave listeners too overwhelmed to seek out new music. Record stores are a good place to cut through the noise. 

D.C.’s vast and eclectic music history makes selecting the monthly local pick for club members no easy task. The team meets regularly to discuss selections for each month and together they might recommend albums based on conversations with local bands, new releases, or turn to classics (such as June’s pick, Fugazi’s 1993 album, In On the Kill Taker, and April’s First Take, the debut album from the Arlington-raised Howard University alum Roberta Flack). Sometimes they simply gauge how club members are feeling when they come to pick up their selection. 

Byrdland’s expanded inventory has also helped the store and fans solidify relationships with local artists and keeps the store up to date on new music, which they offer club members through special edition releases or other exclusive offerings. In 2023, for example, when DMV rapper Oddisee released his 10th studio album, To What End, members of the New Columbia Record Club were eligible to receive an exclusive vinyl.

When Broke Royals released their third album in 2022 (on Byrdland’s in-house record label), the store held an exclusive listening party where club members received free entry. Longtime members Devry and Sean Jones attended. The couple left with the Broke Royals record in tow. Two years later, it’s still displayed on their IKEA shelf, waiting to be replayed during dinner.

City Lights welcomes you to Pride Month. As per usual you’ll find our regularly scheduled event previews below, but if you’re looking for something a little—or a lot—more queer, check out Blvck Hippie below along with the first half of City Paper’s 2024 Pride Guide. For parade and festival lovers, this is the weekend. You can get all the details for Capital Pride at capitalpride.org.

Friday: Historically Speaking: Alice Randall, My Black Country at NMAAHC

This year has seen a surge in conversation about the various states of Black country music due, in part, to Beyoncé’s showstopping Cowboy Carter album and Shaboozey’s country chart-topper “A Bar Song (Tipsy).” (The Woodbridge native is also featured on Cowboy Carter.) My Black Country: A Journey Through Country Music’s Black Past, Present, and Future, a new book by professor, songwriter, and author Alice Randall, continues the conversation on the page. In My Black Country, Randall explores the contributions of Black musicians and songwriters to the genre, as well as her own distinct role in this musical and political history: Randall became the first Black woman to cowrite a No. 1 country hit, Trisha Yearwood’s 1995 song “XXX’s and OOO’s (An American Girl).” Randall is both scholar and subject, making for a unique perspective that’s rooted in her work and lived experience. The book centers on the radical joy of recognizing the power of Black influence and creativity on American culture. Alice Randall talks at 7 p.m. on June 7 at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, 1400 Constitution Ave. NW. nmaahc.si.edu. Free. —Serena Zets 

Saturday: Blvck Hippie at Quarry House Tavern

When he was working on The Godfather, producer Robert Evans said he wanted the audience to be so deeply immersed in Italian American culture they could “smell the spaghetti.” Blvck Hippie offer a comparable degree of immersion into indie DIY culture, so much so that, after listening to a few tracks of their 2021 debut LP, If You Feel Alone At Parties, you’ll swear you can smell the warm PBR and stale menthols. This album is not at all concerned with seeming aloof or cool. It’s at times borderline unnerving, like a mental health crisis on a public bus, with desperation bleeding through the cracks in lead singer and creative mastermind Josh Shaw’s voice. But there’s always a purpose, something Shaw is reaching for—and if they don’t quite get there on that track, maybe the futility was the point. The Memphis band’s official mission statement is “tryna show Black kids they can be weird too,” and they pursue this laudable goal with a version of drama kid energy that feels like it’s actually been allowed to grow up on its own terms. Shaw credits Kid Cudi with inspiring them to push their music creatively. “There was this Black dude making a grunge album, playing all the instruments, and being super vulnerable about men’s mental health,” Shaw said in a 2023 interview with Alternative Press. “I want to be everything that Kid Cudi was for me as a kid.” Cudi-inspired iconoclasm combined with a love of Julian Casablancas’ songwriting helps make every Blvck Hippie song feel like a diary entry. The band’s sound has already been compared to everything from Blood Orange to the Violent Femmes, but it’s still evolving. Their new album, Basketball Camp, out June 14, plays like a scaled-up sequel to Parties, a psychological epic that has scope and emotional range rivaling that of Cudi’s Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven. “For so many years I believed nothing gets better,” Shaw says in a spoken-word section of “Try To Stay Lucky,” Basketball Camp’s final track. “I had no idea I could be doing things that, like, actually made me happy.” Blvck Hippie play at 10:30 p.m. on June 8 at Quarry House Tavern, 8401 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. quarryhousetavern.com. $19.84. —Will Lennon

June 9: Gary Clark Jr. at Wolf Trap

Once a child prodigy playing guitar in the same Texas clubs where Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan got their start, Gary Clark Jr. spent the last year of his 30s in pandemic lockdown, seeing his world change in radical ways from the Black Lives Matter protests across the country to the insurrection at the Capitol. During that time he worked on his latest album, JPEG RAW, which was finally released on March 22 of this year. As on his previous album, 2019’s This Land, on JPEG RAW Clark confronts some societal ills head-on, but the call to action on the aggressive opener “Maktub” (Arabic for “destiny”) is deeply personal—offering a way to heal in these troubled times by embracing art and rocking out. On JPEG RAW, the Austin native has eased into a wide-ranging style, riffing on sounds from across the American musical continuum with a bevy of guest artists including jazz trumpeter Keyon Harrold, Appalachian roots artist Valerie June, and Australian alt-pop singer-songwriter Naala. George Clinton appears on “Funk Witch U,” a number that has a deep Prince-like psychedelic swoon, while Stevie Wonder takes the lead on the 1970s-inspired “What About the Children.” The diverse influences and inspirations show that this guitar god is shattering genre conventions and expanding sonically into new territories. In 2019, Clark played a sold-out show at the Anthem, and it was an unforgettable performance. Emerging from a backdrop of smoke and fog, his fire engine red Epiphone Casino slung low on his hip and donning a large suede hat, he opened with his signature song “Bright Lights,” the Texas blues-rock burner that brought him international fame at Eric Clapton’s Crossroads show a decade before. Clark demonstrated an indelible coolness as he commanded the stage with his virtuosic and prodigious playing: Expect nothing less when he plays in support of JPEG RAW this weekend. Gary Clark Jr. plays at 8 p.m. on June 9 at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center, 1551 Wolf Trap Rd., Vienna. wolftrap.org. $45–$109. —Colleen Kennedy

Tuesday: Sheppard at DC9

If summery optimism can be packaged in musical form, Australian indie-pop trio Sheppard have managed to do just that with their latest release, Zora. The writing of this album from this sibling band, however, was done at probably the least optimistic time ever: the pandemic. “We were trying to cheer ourselves up with this album,” lead singer George Sheppard tells City Paper. “We were writing it during COVID. We spent that entire year going, ‘Alright, we’re going to own this. We’re gonna sit there and write and record a song every single month.’ It was a huge challenge for us.” The challenge paid off and Sheppard—which includes George’s sisters Amy and Emma Sheppard—will make that clear on their current tour, which stops at DC9 on June 11. The trio recently relocated from Brisbane to Nashville, but family continues to play a huge part in their work. Zora’s idealistic feeling can be credited to the siblings’ grandmother Zora. “We constantly had her in our thoughts because she’s been through some of the biggest challenges that I could imagine any human going through. She was shipped away from her home [in Croatia] at 18 years old because of a war-torn country. She had seven children with the love of her life, who then passed away from lung cancer when he was 50, leaving her to raise those kids on her own. So she’s been through a lot and at the end of the day, she’s still the happiest person we know…. We wanted to sort of capture that in an album … knowing that there’s always going to be a new dawn.” The 86-year old Zora is also known to get down at Sheppard shows. “She actually pushes the fans to the side,” says bassist Emma. “She’s always at the front in the mosh pit. She loves it and she just sits there crying… Big fans of us know who she is so they allow her to come in and they look after her in the crowd.” Sheppard play at 8 p.m. on June 11 at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. dc9.club. $15–$55. —Christina Smart

Ongoing: It Was Only a Dream exhibition at Hamiltonian Artists

You’ll hardly see a face stepping through Edgar Reyes’ autobiographical walk-through and mixed-media exhibit, located a block away from the U Street Metro station. The Baltimore-based multimedia artist and educator takes attendees through the patched recollection of growing up Chicano in the Washington D.C., area, where he emigrated from Guadalajara, Mexico, at age 5 and had to assimilate to American culture. The memories of his own family and their Mexican and Indigenous roots have blurred over the years, which Reyes attempts to piece together through this 14-piece installation. The puzzle starts at the exhibit’s entrance, where a single 1980 Chevy Silverado rearview mirror hangs on the walls, depicting the blurry landscape that Reyes recalls walking away from when he left Mexico. “That’s the saddest part,” Reyes says. “It’s leaving, saying goodbye.” The memories he’s procured—displayed through an array of prints, woven blankets, sculptures, and Catholic scapulars—are hard to fully contextualize at first glance, but the storyline is tied together the details. On a digitally woven baby blanket, Reyes unites prints that recall cultural aspects of his Chicano identity, including Catholic crosses, red roses, and Mesoamerican Indigenous graphics. Reyes also displays abstract images inspired by archived family photos, where many of the relatives found in these pictures are either too distant to immediately recall or have since died. In some photos, the eyes of cousins and uncles are hidden behind sunglasses or turned to their side. But they are photographed on family farms, hoisting shrines of the Virgen de Guadalupe on their shoulders as a group and taking part in the culture Reyes feels nostalgic for. There are also memories he attempts to recreate through AI-generated images within wooden light boxes. These works raise larger questions, such as the role of masculinity and criminality within Chicano culture, Mexican American beauty standards, and assimilation. It Was Only a Dream: New Works by Edgar Reyes runs through June 22 at Hamiltonian Artists, 1353 U St. NW. An artist-led walkthrough starts at 3 p.m. on June 8. Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and by appointment. hamiltonianartists.org. Free. —Heidi Perez-Moreno

Friday and Saturday: Brazilian Guitar Masters Festival at Miracle Theatre and Catholic University

This weekend offers an opportunity to hear Brazilian masters of guitar from two different generations, who each bring their own unique songcraft touches: Yamandu Costa and João Bosco. Costa, 44 is a Latin Grammy-winning instrumentalist who plays a seven-string acoustic guitar rather than the customary six-string model. Raised in the southern grasslands area of Brazil, not far from Uruguay and Argentina, Costa, who initially was taught by his dad, has become acclaimed for his speedy, high-pitched finger work on tuneful, leisurely Brazilian samba and bossa nova, as well as on upbeat tango, Roma jazz, and swing jazz. Costa—who has played with orchestras, but will be solo on Friday at Miracle Theatre—is fond of flashy staccato runs up and down the strings with his fingernails moving in multiple directions. While such pyrotechnics helped establish his reputation, his playing is often most affecting when he slows down and lets the melodies sink in. On his recent duet album, Helping Hands, his picking and strumming alongside that of his classical guitarist wife, Elodie Bouny, is downright pretty. 

Bosco, now 77, has a college degree in civil engineering, but his passion was singing and playing guitar. Bosco was raised in a family of musicians, and in college he began listening to Miles Davis alongside the samba and bossa nova he was already familiar with. Soon after, while living in Rio de Janeiro, he began writing gorgeous and passionate songs with acclaimed lyricist Vinícius de Moraes. For decades now, Bosco has been writing joyous sing-alongs, busy but beautiful rhythmic sambas, and tender slow songs. Bosco is adept at playing percussion-like rhythms on his guitar as well as sweet, picked notes. On an early composition of “Vida Noturna,” his sentimental guitar chords are joined by jazzy piano and a romantic melody that he whistles and sings. Some of his compositions have taken on a greater meaning in Brazilian culture. He and the recently passed psychiatrist turned lyricist Aldir Blanc wrote a song “O Bêbado e a Equilibrista” that served as an amnesty anthem calling for the return of the Brazilians who were forced into political exile by Brazil’s then-military government. Bosco will be appearing with a band featuring Ricardo Silveira on electric guitar, who will only enhance the lushness of some cuts and the bouncy cadence of others. Yamandu Costa plays at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 31, at Miracle Theatre, 535 8th St. SE. educarteinc.org. $50–$70. João Bosco plays at 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, at the Catholic University Hartke Theatre, 3801 Harewood Rd. NE. educarteinc.org. $40–$50. —Steve Kiviat

Saturday: Children of the Gospel Choir’s 30th Anniversary at Lisner Auditorium

Over the past 30 years, thousands of students in grades 4 to 12 from the DMV have become members and alumni of the Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir. After a competitive audition, selected students participate in a year of choral training, intensive workshops, and a variety of performance experiences. “The roots of the Gospel Choir was to give a platform to the young people of the District of Columbia and the larger DMV area where they could express themselves and bring gospel music as an art form to these main stages,” shares WPA’s artistic director Michele Fowlin. Over the years, the Choir has performed at the White House and the Washington National Cathedral, for major events—such as President Barack Obama’s first inaugural prayer service and the national memorial service for South African President Nelson Mandela, and it has sung with noteworthy musicians such as jazz pianist Matthew Whitaker and Broadway and pop singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles. In celebration of COTG’s 30th anniversary, this grand concert will feature former artistic directors Evelyn Simpson–Curenton and Dr. Thomas Tyler, as well as choreographer Diedre Neal, joining Fowlin, and this year’s cohort of Children of the Gospel Choir members, and more than 50 returning alumni. Fowlin, a public educator for more than 25 years, knows the importance of investing in arts and music education, citing studies showing that students involved in such programs earn higher grades, are more likely to complete high school, and likelier to attend and finish college. She notes that while some alumni of the program are now acclaimed artists such as opera singer Solomon Howard (who performs with the Metropolitan Opera), and Broadway star Stephen Scott Wormley, COTG has touched many more lives. “We’ve had those who have started their foundation here, and they’re now doctors, lawyers, and politicians,” she says. “They gained their confidence, speaking ability, and their discipline, right here in the arts.” Written by COTG’s first director Simpson-Curenton, who will direct the piece, the song “There’s a Dream/The Impossible Dream” has been performed by COTG since 1993, uniting 30 years of singers into one shared voice. Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir starts at 7 p.m. on June 1 at Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St. NW. washingtonperformingarts.org. $30-$40. —Colleen Kennedy

Saturday: Shannon and the Clams at the Black Cat

Shannon and the Clams are rock ’n’ roll lifers, but they still feel like the next big thing. Now seven albums into a 15-year career, they are riding the line between the buzzworthy bin and a legacy act. The four-piece are able to consistently release music that will make you want to dance and start a band, regardless of your musical proficiency or age. Their newest album, The Moon Is in the Wrong Place, is one of their deepest. It’s centered around the sudden death of the fiance of lead singer and bassist Shannon Shaw. While the group’s first six records may have more in common sonically with Guided By Voices and the Detroit Cobras, fellow band lifers that have a healthy appreciation of all things original in rock ’n’ roll, Shannon and the Clams’ latest album should satisfy those aural cravings, but it also offers some lyrical catharsis on par with Mount Eerie or Songs: Ohia. Just listen to the opening lines of the album’s closer, “Life Is Unfair,” (“How do you expect me to understand/ That the love of my life was taken away from me/ All the blossoms blooming/ Twilight looming/ Without you on this earth/ Life is unfair/ Yet beautiful”), and you’ll understand how their new stuff is deeper. But you’ll still want to dance. Shannon and the Clams play June 1 at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St NW, blackcatdc.com $25-30. —Brandon Wetherbee

Saturday and Sunday: Bill Evans at Blues Alley

Bill Evans, whether by way of a blessing or a curse, shares the same name with one of the most famous and influential jazz musicians of all time. The elder Evans, a pianist, who died in 1980, made his breakthrough working with trumpet titan Miles Davis. And would you believe it? The younger Evans, a tenor and soprano saxophonist (who is very much alive), did, too. In otherwords, this Evans has had to work that much harder to make a name for himself in jazz, what with that other guy’s shadow falling on him. Evans’ work with Miles came in the jazz legend’s 1980s electric era, which turns out to have been a boon. The work immediately identified Evans with the fusion movement, and in that regard he’s never been out of work very long. After Miles, he was a member of Mahavishnu Orchestra and of Elements; he also worked with Herbie Hancock, Randy Brecker, Medeski Martin & Wood, and most of the other major fusioneers. Yet he has never, in his 40-plus-year career, touched down at our own Blues Alley. That long-overdue engagement finally happens this weekend, which also serves as a release party for his 26th album, Who I Am, and a reintroduction to American audiences after years of working internationally. Evans leads an all-star fusion quartet with keyboardist Kevin Hays, bassist Gary Grainger, and drummer Dennis Chambers. Watch out: They burn. Bill Evans performs with Kevin Hayes, Gary Grainger, and Dennis Chambers at 7 and 9 p.m. on June 1 and 2 at Blues Alley, 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. $50 (plus a $7 fee). bluesalley.com —Michael J. West

Ongoing: Spring in a Moon Jar at the Silva Gallery x Latela Curatorial

The Silva Gallery x Latela Curatorial is located in the lobby of the Silva apartment building, but it’s far beyond the average lobby art. Latela has a multipronged practice that advises individuals, businesses, and organizations building their art collections, offers support and resources to artists, and curates exhibitions. Latela has often worked with area apartment buildings and frequently draws from a well of local artists, a way of reinforcing and supporting the local creative ecosystem in its own backyard. The latest show at the Silva is from D.C.-based artist Julia Chon, who works under the moniker Kimchi Juice. Chon has been visible around town with several large-scale murals, a collaboration with the Phillips Collection for its 100-year anniversary, and exhibitions of her painted earthenware kimchi pots. Much of her work pulls from Korean mythology and symbolism, and her mural work often leans toward the epic, in both size and subject matter. Spring in a Moon Jar shows a different mode of work for the artist. The paintings here are smaller and more intimate, focusing on Korean floral arrangements called “cocoji” and domestic scenes of women resting, washing, or fixing their hair—the picture of relaxation and being alone but not lonely. The floral arrangements feel suspended in their dark backgrounds, like pieces of nature plucked and preserved first in a vase and then in paint. What better respite could there be from a hot summer day than popping into an air-conditioned gallery and being surrounded by serene, restorative art? Spring in a Moon Jar is on view at the Silva Gallery x Latela Curatorial through June 30, open to the public Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon until 5 p.m. latelacurtorial.com. Free. —Stephanie Rudig

Opening Tuesday: New York City Ballet Presents George Balanchine’s Treasured Jewels at the Kennedy Center

The Georgian American choreographer’s name belongs right before any mention of his more-than-half-century-old, mineral-rich ballet Jewels. That’s largely because of the kaleidoscopic walk-through of brilliant stones that are still shining behind the windows of Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry store on Fifth Avenue in New York. The three-part 1967 premiere of Jewels at the New York City Ballet allowed audiences to look into those emeralds, rubies, and diamonds as George Balanchine saw them. When the show first hit the stage, theatergoers were confused. Although it has since been performed at dance companies across the world, including stints on renowned stages for the Royal Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet, the storyline wasn’t easy to follow. Decades into his career as a dancer and choreographer, Balanchine had a penchant for readapting fantasy novels and narratives that could play out in dazzling theatricality on stage. But the plot behind Jewels isn’t as linear; it’s an ode to the personalities and lives of those gemstones inside the window displays. They don’t speak, but rather glimmer. Next week, that storied ballet will come to life at the Kennedy Center. Although the standard version performed worldwide is based on choreographic revisions to the first act of the ballet, “Emeralds,” in 1976, it still resonates with those displays that caught Balanchine’s eye. “New York City Ballet’s production of Jewels is performed as George Balanchine choreographed it and remains true to his vision,” according to a NYCB spokesperson. New York City Ballet will perform Jewels at 7:30 p.m. from June 4 to 9 at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. kennedy-center.org. $39.–$139. —Heidi Perez-Moreno