District hardcore and metal fans often find themselves having to traipse to our grimier sister cities to the north (Baltimore) and south (Richmond) for shows, but this fall has a diverse roster of new and old to keep most heavy music enthusiasts satisfied. 

Babe Haven at DC9 on Sept. 12

7 Seconds once asserted hardcore is “not just boys fun” and, 40 years on, it’s heartening that shows (mostly) no longer feel so starkly masculine. North Carolina’s Babe Haven are a testament to that. The queer all-women hardcore band plays a full frontal attack that is both familiar and contemporary. The show starts at 8 p.m. at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. $15. 

Inter Arma, Antichrist Siege Machine, and Pyrrhon at Atlas Brewery on Sept. 27

We are extremely lucky to have Ripping Headaches Promotions in our city, and this show is a perfect example as to why—three amazing metal bands playing in a DIY space that will sound good and be run professionally. No small feat—the District will be in real trouble when Hasan Ali retires. The show starts at 7 p.m. at Atlas Ivy City, 2052 West Virginia Ave. NE. $20.

King Diamond at Fillmore Silver Spring on Oct. 28 

King Diamond and spooky season go together like corpse paint on faces. It’s hard to imagine better scheduling than seeing the King just a few days before Halloween. The show starts at 7 p.m. at the Fillmore, 8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. $75–$300.

Touche Amore, Soul Glo, and Portrayal of Guilt at the Black Cat on Nov. 1 

Quite possibly the show of the fall—a smorgasbord of heaviness that runs from the political pissed to discordant doom plus a dash of melody and atmosphere. The show starts at 8 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $25–$30.

Enforced, All Out War at Songbyrd on Dec. 7

Two metallic titans square off like a Kaiju battle set to destroy the District. Hailing from New York City, All Out War will warm things up with their brand of metallic hardcore while Richmond’s Enforced finish things off with their tight crossover thrash. The show starts at 8 p.m. at Songbyrd, 540 Penn St. NE. $18–$20. 

The Jesus Lizard at the Black Cat on Dec. 15 

Just about everyone in this roundup owes something to David Yow and the Jesus Lizard, the gold standard for pummeling volume and antagonism. Having just seen them in June at No Values, I can attest to Yow having only grown more menacing as he enters his golden years. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St. NW. $40.

Check out more of our 2024 Fall Arts Guide here.

And for more fall music recs: Forty Shows To See and the Best World, Roots, and Jazz Music To See Live

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

Opens Friday; With a Wine and Chocolate Party Saturday: Ennio at AFI Silver

After graduating from Rome’s Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia with a degree in composition, Ennio Morricone found himself in a condition familiar to many of those who study the creative arts: educated, talented, and broke. He took odd jobs playing trumpet on the street and writing music for comedy shows to make ends meet. When he agreed to perform one such piece of gig-work miscellanea, writing a score for a movie, he had no idea he was about to become an icon of 20th-century pop culture—as evidenced by his choice to be credited under a fake name. After hearing Morricone’s early film work, the Italian director Sergio Leone sought the composer out and introduced him to the films of Akira Kurosawa. The result was the first Leone-Morricone collaboration, a sun-bleached 1964 remake of Kurosawa’s 1961 film, Yojimbo, called A Fistful of Dollars. The operatic style Morricone brought to the score has been copied and riffed off so frequently that it now seems cliche. For the time, it was revolutionary. As Morricone kept working with Leone throughout his trilogy of Dollars-westerns, he became one of the most beloved (and prolific) musicians in pop culture, going on to work with Terrence Malick, Gillo Pontecorvo, Brian De Palma, and John Carpenter. Although Morricone’s work in film sometimes earned him scorn from his contemporaries, other creatives such as composer John Zorn have claimed his music belongs in the same category as J.S. Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven. Morricone, who died in July 2020, did one of his final scores at age 87 for 2015’s The Hateful Eight. By then his work had been sampled by The Simpsons, The Sopranos, the Ramones, and Metallica. Although he preferred to think of himself as a European composer rather than a Hollywood hired gun (Morricone never made the move to California and always mixed his concert pieces along with his film scores when he presented them live), he eventually came to see his work in film as something other than a way to pay bills. “At first I thought that music applied to cinema was humiliating,” Morricone says in the interview that anchors Ennio, Giuseppe Tornatore‘s new documentary exploring roughly 35 of the 500-plus films he worked on in his six-decade career. “Then, little by little, no.” Ennio opens April 19, but Saturday ticket-holders for the 2 and 5 p.m. screenings are invited to enjoy a wine and chocolate reception presented between showings by the Italian Cultural Society of Washington D.C. at 4 p.m. on April 20 at AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. silver.afi.com. $8–$13. —Will Lennon

Saturday: Being in a Place—Special Screenings at National Gallery of Art

It may be odd to recommend a film or a series based on a venue but if you’ve ever attended a screening at the National Gallery of Art, particularly one without any previous knowledge of the film, you’ll understand why we’re recommending this. Being in a Place is a 2022, 60-minute documentary about Margaret Tait, a Scottish filmmaker who lived from 1918 to 1999 and didn’t get her flowers until the 2000s. The experimental director is still unknown to most and films like this attempt to shine a light on her work. These types of screenings are a great way to expose more people to more artists but what makes it even better is filmmaker Luke Fowler will be present for a post-watching conversation. Whether you like or loathe what you see, you can interrogate the creator. Another reason NGA programming is so excellent? The shorts screened before the main attraction. Saturday’s event features another work of Fowler, his newest from 2023, 9-minute short N’Importe Quoi (for Brunhild) about German composer Brunhild Ferrari. You’re not going to see anything like this even at AFI Silver or Alamo Drafthouse. You’re also not going to find a better price. With a barrier to entry so low, it’s criminal to pass up expanding your film knowledge at programs like this. Being in a Place screens at 2 p.m. on April 20 at the National Gallery of Art, 6th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. nga.gov. Free. —Brandon Wetherbee

Ongoing: Creating in Abstraction at Gallery B

Through April 27, Morton Fine Art brings a pop-up exhibit of contemporary art to Bethesda’s Gallery B, a public gallery managed by Bethesda Urban Partnership. Titled Creating in Abstraction: A Pop-up Project Group Exhibition of 11 Global Contemporary Artists, the exhibit is part of Morton Fine Art’s trademarked *a pop-up project, which since 2010 has served as what the website describes as a “mobile gallery component which hosts temporary curated exhibitions nationally.” While the artwork is for sale, admission is free and open to the public. Present at the opening reception was founder Amy Morton, who notes that this show is her gallery’s first return to the Bethesda space since COVID. Her enthusiasm for art is contagious, evidenced by the tirelessness with which she spoke with guests about the pieces on display. That spirit of accessibility and joy permeates the exhibit, making it worth a visit even by those unfamiliar with—or unsure about—contemporary art. There’s enough on display to interest and engage without overwhelming. The 25 pieces on view range widely in style and media, from a sculpture and graphite drawings by Nigerian-born Osi Audu to Jaz Graf’s Sutra series, delicate wall-hangings woven from paper, cloth, and the remnants of Theravada Buddhist nuns’ robes. Highlights of Creating in Abstraction include Katherine Tzu–Lan Mann’s richly colored, geometric yet naturalistic “Ewer” and “Palm Summit,” as well as Rosemary Feit Covey’s textured, layered snapshots of the natural world, particularly “Moths – Broken Flight.” Creating in Abstraction runs through April 27 at Gallery B, 7700 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda. Thursday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. mortonfineart.com. Free. —Allison R. Shely 

Ongoing: Maureen Minehan at Multiple Exposures Gallery

Keep your expectations in check when visiting Maureen Minehan’s exhibit at Multiple Exposures Gallery. Her images include a bevy of lovely landscapes, but don’t expect them to comprise a deep dive into a specific place. At least she’s honest about that: The exhibit’s title, There and Back, refers to what Minehan calls the “familiar terrain” that “escapes notice” as vacationers drive between the Washington area and the Delaware and Maryland shore. To create her works, Minehan takes photographs, then digitally blends them with watercolors she paints, providing a layer of texture. Despite her consistent technique, the images vary in their look, sometimes dramatically. Some images she made at the destination—at the meeting of ocean and sand—look more like pastel-hued paintings than photographs. Others have the rough look of Polaroid transfer prints, including a high-contrast image of railroad tracks alongside a receding line of telephone poles. Others capture an enveloping fog that turns buildings and trees into near apparitions. However, it’s with a series of isolated buildings that Minehan’s modifications prove most memorable. In several images, she captures structures seemingly bathed in sharp sunlight, even as their surroundings exude a gloomy darkness; in one, an asymmetrical, off-white building provides added intrigue from its eccentric geometry. With such images, we may not be lingering very long, but at least we have been presented with a glimpse of something worthwhile. Maureen Minehan’s There and Back runs through May 19 at Multiple Exposures Gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria. Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. multipleexposuresgallery.com. Free. —Louis Jacobson

Next Thursday: Oneohtrix Point Never at Howard Theatre

There may not seem to be much overlap between the detached coolness of the Weeknd and the frenetic anxiety of the Safdie brothers’ films, but one exists, and his name is Daniel Lopatin. Lopatin, who performs and creates under the moniker Oneohtrix Point Never (OPN), constructs sample-heavy, synthesizer-forward compositions that conjure a sense of tuneful existential dread. For anyone who was able to withstand the excruciating Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie “comedy” The Curse on Showtime, Lopatin helped make the viewing experience that much more uncomfortable thanks to his (and John Medeski) pins and needles–inducing score. On the other end of the spectrum, Lopatin also had a hand in producing the Weeknd’s 2020 hit album, After Hours, and was the musical director for the superstar’s 2021 halftime show, making the country’s biggest stage a bit more bizarre in the process. Outside of his collaborations, Lopatin has been regularly producing some of the most singular electronic music made today and comes to the Howard Theater to promote OPN’s 2023 album, Again. Oneohtrix Point Never play at 8 p.m. on April 25 at Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. thehowardtheatre.com. $35–$55. —Matt Siblo

Opens Friday: Mindplay at Arena Stage

“You can do terrible things with this,” Vinny DePonto shares about his skills as a mentalist. “Or you can make people feel less alone in their own heads, a sort of collective catharsis. That’s what the show is an attempt to do.” We are discussing Mindplay, which takes Arena Stage following rave reviews from the production’s run at Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. In our interview DePonto repeatedly says he doesn’t want to give too much away when he’s pressed for specific questions about the show. A mentalist never gives away his tricks, fair enough. But he’s personable, soft-spoken, and charming, all seen in various clips of his mind reading available online. Mindplay is partially autobiographical: DePonto shares how he inherited a magic kit from his paternal grandfather who passed away when his father was still young, how he learned more about his grandfather through the process and enjoyed performing illusions to entertain his family, and how he delved into the psychology of the mind and memory during his maternal grandfather’s battle with dementia. DePonto, who studied theater and psychology, has found a suitably unique way of intertwining the two (he’s also been an illusion consultant for the recent Angels in America revival on Broadway). It’s no surprise really that he thinks a little bit of everyday magic is important for the psyche. “Mysteries help us to expand ourselves, our minds and our souls,” DePonto says. “We live in an age of certainty when we have every answer at our fingertips. I’m proposing that we carve out more ways that we can stumble into wonder and mystery.” One way to approach Mindplay is not as a one-man show, but as a two-hander with each audience member becoming an integral player. He admits that a mind reader without a participatory audience is just speaking questions and commands from a stage. (Even over the phone, he offers to perform a small feat of mind control by coaxing my fingertips to slowly converge as he repeatedly suggests invisible threads pulling them together.) Unlike a comedic hypnotist, he promises not to embarrass participants by snapping his fingers and turning anyone into a clucking chicken, but rather to meaningfully engage with audience members, developing an easy rapport and suspending disbelief, sharing some of his own stories of wonder and connection, reminding us of the forgotten senses of awe and curiosity, and together creating a bit of magic. Mindplay opens Jan. 19 and runs through March 3 at Arena Stage, 1101 6th St. SW. arenastage.org. $41–$95. —Colleen Kennedy

Saturday: Making Memories: A Journey Through Dementia at Dance Place

Music, dance, and memory are somehow tied together. Harvard recommends dancing for reducing dementia risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests that dancing improves brain health. And who could forget the viral video of an elderly woman with memory loss hearing the Swan Lake score and dancing the choreography once more from her chair? Choreographer Mark Tomasic, whose mother has Alzheimer’s disease, created “Proof” to stir his mother’s memory, the way Swan Lake stirred the former ballerina. The choreography in “Proof” tracks his parents’ courtship, focusing on a day Tomasic’s father, a pilot, took her up in a plane. “He reenacted some of those moments and a movement structure that he recalled alongside her,” says Mary Verdi–Fletcher, president and founding artistic director of the Dancing Wheels Company. “Proof” is part of the company’s upcoming program at Dance Place called Making Memories: A Journey Through Dementia, which also includes a second Tomasic piece, “Three 4 Ann.” To build the program, Verdi-Fletcher wanted to weave in the stories of people like Tomasic who care for loved ones with Alzheimer’s and dementia. So they pulled together a community group in Cleveland, Ohio—where Dancing Wheels is based—of families, health providers, and community volunteers. “We created video montages with interviews from these families and the caregivers and medical staff,” says Verdi-Fletcher. “We created classes to work with both the family members and patients together.” The dances and the stories will be presented alongside one another and the show will also include a live testimonial from choreographers, resources from local D.C. and national memory care organizations, and a postshow talk with memory care professionals. Making Memories: A Journey Through Dementia starts at 4 p.m. on Jan. 20 at Dance Place, 3225 8th St. NE. danceplace.com. $10–$30. —Mary Scott Manning

Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday: Cowboy Bebop at AFI

Pop culture works in mysterious ways. For instance, the Cowboy Bebop TV series was initially green-lit to make a quick buck off the space opera renaissance that was supposed to accompany the release of The Phantom Menace in the late ’90s. But instead of ending up in the bargain bin of history with all the other Star Wars knock offs, Bebop ended up doing more to influence the future of sci-fi and action than George Lucas’ whole prequel trilogy. (If you said “what about Clone Wars?” after reading the previous sentence, you need to rethink your media diet and life choices.) Created by anime legend Shinichiro Watanabe, Bebop is a galaxy-spanning adventure story featuring space battles, superweapons, and the one element that almost all sci-fi, even really good sci-fi, lacks: a sense of effortless cool, infused into the show via Watanabe’s love of noir, westerns, and, as the title promises, jazz. The plot of the Cowboy Bebop movie, which was released in 2001 and takes place between episodes 22 and 23 of the show, finds bounty hunters Spike and Jet looking for a job that will expand their diets beyond a daily wet-feeding of cup of ramen. In pursuit of their new bounty, they and their fellow passengers on the spacecraft Bebop (Faye Valentine, their sometimes-accomplice, and technology expert Edward) end up tangled in a bloody dispute between a pharmaceutical company and an ex-military bioterrorist. From there, the story plays out pretty much how you’d expect … But you don’t watch Cowboy Bebop for the story. You watch it for the action, for the vibes, for the gorgeous ship designs from Kimitoshi Yamane. You watch it for futuristic cities, where Blade Runner skylines loom over Taxi Driver alleys that give way to Raiders of the Lost Arc bazaars. Above all, you watch it for the interplay between the animation and the music, untouched to this day by imitators destined to clog the bargain bins of history while our titular space cowboy flies off into the sunset. Cowboy Bebop plays at 4:45 p.m. on Jan. 21, 7 p.m. on Jan. 22, and 9:15 p.m. on Jan. 23 at AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. silver.afi.com. $8–$13. —Will Lennon

Tuesday: Hotline TNT at the 9:30 Club

One of the biggest disappointments of last year’s Riot Fest was the last-minute cancellation of New York’s Hotline TNT due to a rain delay. The band’s 2023 album, Cartwheel, was one of the best indie rock records of the year and I was desperate to hear how its distorted melodies would soar above a festival crowd. And while there’s no shortage of bands currently mining ’90s alternative rock for inspiration, Hotline TNT’s take—a little My Bloody Valentine, a dash of Midwestern emo—coheres into an immediately infectious whole, giving Cartwheel the feel of an album that could get stuck in your car’s six-disc CD changer and you’d be glad it did. One of the songs I have my fingers crossed for the band to play when they open for Wednesday on Tuesday at the 9:30 Club is “Out of Town,” which takes the syrupy jangle of the Lemonheads and runs it through J Mascis’ Marshall stacks to create two minutes of pure, fuzzed-out bliss. Hotline TNT, opening for Wednesday, play at 8 p.m. on Jan. 23 at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. 930.com. Sold out. —Matt Siblo

Wednesday: Oliver Tree at The Anthem

Oliver Tree is living his best life. Leading into the North American leg of the musician’s Alone in a Crowd world tour, named for the album he dropped in September, he played a DJ set aboard a luxury vessel navigating Antarctica and scaled the Great Wall of China. In some ways, such feats are tame compared to his usual antics riding the world’s biggest scooter or wrestling Bobby Lee on the comedian’s podcast—whatever it takes to go viral. Tree seems to acknowledge the monster he’s created on the self-aware, acoustic-turned-synth-pop track “Strangers.” There he bemoans: “I turned into what I hated/ But I can’t escape my own fate/ In the mirror I’m betrayed, when I am staring at my own face/ It’s hard to believe, the more friends you have the better/ It’s never what it seems, I feel more alone than ever.” Tree’s artistic endeavors have given rise to a Cerberus comprised of three eccentric, often volatile personas, one for each of his albums: scooter boy Turbo, cowboy Shawney Bravo, and now fashion designer Cornelius Cummings. Each will be on display at Tree’s performance, which he’s described as a cross between a movie, TV show, concert and play complete with wrestling, standup, motivational speaking and, yes, scooter stunts. Rather than making a scene, Tree is aiming for a spectacle and showing another side to himself in the process. Alone in a Crowd includes a love song, “Essence”, a rarity for the artist with funk elements that hints at a new creative wellspring. Only time will tell what fresh persona emerges from the ether. Oliver Tree plays at 8 p.m. on Jan. 24 at The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. theanthemdc.com. $45–$85. —Dave Nyczepir

Opens today: Flying V’s Monstress at Silver Spring Black Box Theatre

The manananggal belongs to a particularly horrifying subset of creatures from Filipino mythology known as aswang—shape-shifters. It was once speculated that Andrew Cunanan, the notorious spree killer whose victims included designer Gianni Versace, may have been an especially treacherous aswang. A manananggal doesn’t disguise itself as a mild-mannered preppy; this vampire-like nightmare has the ability to separate its torso from the lower half of its body, flying out to attack with giant fangs and intimidate by the sheer terror of their broad, infernal wings. For its first mainstage performance since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic—and after a two-year development arc—Flying V rings in the spooky season with an immersive program, Monstress, that brings life to something unimaginable: a real female manananggal, exhibited in captivity. It’s perfectly safe! Bring the family! If you dare! See the visualization of Monstress: An Audio Visual Novel by writer navi here. Monstress opens Oct. 19 and runs through Oct. 28 at the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre, 8641 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. flyingvtheatre.com. $25. —Pat Padua

Saturday and Sunday: Rock the Park Wkndr

The third annual Rock the Park Wkndr offers a well-curated two-day roster of longtime DJs and musicians who can keep people dancing  and warm well into nightfall. Longtime Detroit house and funk DJ Moodymann, born Kenny Dixon Jr., headlines this free event on Saturday. Moodymann, who rarely gives interviews, has since the 1990s released his own records that garnished him acclaim in Europe, but less mainstream attention here in the U.S. His own efforts and remixes often have soulful passion for R&B fans, the pounding beats beloved by clubgoers and roller skaters, and spoken-word excerpts that appeal to music nerds. Los Angeles’ Dam–Funk, born Damon Riddick, is best known for his polished, rhythmic synthesizer playing that he has employed on his own albums including 2009’s Toeachizown, and 2021’s Above the Fray, and on collaborations with the likes of Snoop Dogg and rocker Todd Rundgren. Riddick’s also a music fanatic who hosted a DJ night in Los Angeles called “Funkmosphere.” On Saturday, he’ll perform a hybrid set, playing the synth while DJing. Trouble Funk will bring D.C.’s own polyrhythmic go-go funk to the party. Since the 1970s, the local band have utilized synths, percussion, stringed instruments, and call-and-response vocals to keep folks shaking on dance floors and at parks alike. Both nights will open with local DJs, Saturday with DJ Miss Her, and Sunday with Keenan Orr. For those into dance music tinged with old-school hip-hop, Sunday’s performers include turntablist J. Rocc, who’s skilled at beat juggling from vinyl records, and music scholar Rich Medina, who ran New York City’s Lil’ Ricky’s Rib Shack from 2001 to 2009. Rock the Park Wkndr runs from 3 to 10 p.m. on Oct. 21 and 22 at Franklin Park, 1332 I St. NW. downtowndc.org. Free. —Steve Kiviat

Sunday: Lift screening and discussion at National Gallery of Art

Steven Melendez has had a life trajectory just begging to be made into a movie, and now it has been. Lift, executive produced by superstar ballerina Misty Copeland, is a documentary centered around Melendez’s life and outreach work. When Melendez was 7 years old, his family was evicted from their home in the Bronx and went to live at a homeless shelter for three years. There, he encountered the LIFT program run by the New York Theatre Ballet, which served as a springboard for his rich dance career. He’s traveled the world, performing and choreographing for several ballet companies. Melendez is now the artistic director for the New York Theatre Ballet and has offered a dance workshop to children living at the very shelter he spent time in as a child. The documentary was filmed over the course of 10 years and follows Melendez as he confronts his traumatic feelings of being back in the shelter. He uses his own difficult history to connect with his young students and help both them and himself channel their pain into dance. As the kids grow up, they navigate the challenges of being homeless and being a kid generally, and come into their own as dancers. From the trailer alone, the young dancers are a charismatic and compelling bunch, particularly the witty and chatty Yolanssie Cardona. Melendez is not only a mentor to them, but someone who knows intimately what they’ve been through and who wants to make the arts accessible to all so that they might reap the same benefits he has. Melendez and director David Petersen will be on hand for a discussion following the film. Lift screens at 2 p.m. on Oct. 22 at the National Gallery of Art East Building, 4th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. nga.gov. Free, registration required. —Stephanie Rudig

Sunday: A Marvelous Black Boy Art Show at Longview Gallery

Traveling art exhibition A Marvelous Black Boy Art Show makes its fourth stop in D.C. this Sunday, where it will display the works of more than 50 Black men DMV artists. Since Joshua Love launched the concept in 2019, BBAS has centered its mission on “celebrating the unparalleled talents and voices of Black male artists,” the press release explains. In the past three years, the show has given more than 1,000 black men artists a platform in over 20 cities. The event elevates Black male artists and honors their invaluable, and often under-recognized, contributions to the art world. This year’s D.C. exhibitors span a range of mediums and styles for a lineup that highlights the region’s rich and diverse arts space. The exhibitors include Chadd Dorsey, a Baltimore-based sculptor who works with salvaged wood and Legos; Meka Iyke-Azubogu, whose catalog is largely ceramic vase work that varies so much in style and color you just might overlook his anime-inspired pieces; and Woodbridge’s Terry Owens, a neurographic painter merging art and psychology on the canvas. In addition to exhibited works of art, BBAS will feature live demonstrations and narrative unveilings. Attendees can hear the story behind the pieces displayed as artists speak on the identity, heritage, spirituality, and personal experiences that have come to shape their work. BJay Thee DJ opens the event, with additional performances throughout the evening, and there will be refreshments and giveaways throughout the event. Black Boy Art Show runs from 3 to 9 p.m. on Oct. 22 at Long View Gallery, 1234 9th St. NW. blackboyartshow.com. $30. —Camila Bailey

Wednesday: Gremlins 2: The New Batch at Suns Cinema

Growing up, I had a VHS of Gremlins 2: The New Batch that my parents taped off Pay-Per-View. Like a pint-size mansplaining Ken, I loved extolling its innumerable virtues to anyone who’d listen, bragging that I had watched it exactly 36 times by the time I hit middle school. If this admission doesn’t exactly set the world on fire now, I assure you it did even less to excite my fellow 8th graders in 1997. Who remembered, never mind revered, the sequel to Gremlins? Largely dismissed at the time of its release in 1990, Gremlins 2: The New Batch has gradually acquired a cult following of fans who have come to appreciate director Joe Dante’s handling of the material—he famously only agreed to make the film if he retained full creative control—treating it less like an esteemed major studio property and more like his own anarchic homage to the pop culture of yesteryear. And while my 11-year-old self didn’t yet understand the Ted Turner parallels and Brain Gremlin’s reference to Susan Sontag, it’s easy to see how the movie’s zaniness would resonate with middle schoolers. It’s loud, goofy, and doesn’t just resemble Looney Tunes, it prominently features them. Gremlins 2: The New Batch screens at 7 p.m. on Oct. 25 at Suns Cinema, 3107 Mount Pleasant St. NW. sunscinema.com. Sold out. —Matt Siblo

Wednesday: Genesis Owusu at Union Stage

Genesis Owusu’s sophomore album, Struggler, began as a short story about a roach running from God. Unlike the Australian singer’s award-winning debut album, Smiling With No Teeth (which he created with ease during the pandemic as a relative unknown writing about his experience with racism), this one required fresh inspiration while also touring. Owusu found himself reading works like Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot, and Kentaro Miura’s Berserk, about a man battling forces more powerful than himself but persevering win or lose. “Those books and plays and manga came at the right time and spoke to things that I was experiencing in life and feeling,” Owusu says. “So they ended up influencing me more than any of the music I was listening to.” The singer penned his short story with a roach—small but fast and resilient—representing humanity, and the God figure serving as a metaphor for the imposing, uncontrollable horrors it faces. The pandemic, Australian bushfires that almost burned down Owusu’s home, and the deluge of TikToks depicting war on a daily basis came to mind. “We’re living in such chaotic and absurd times,” Owusu says. “And I feel like we underappreciate our own strength and how we’re able to just get up every morning and make it to the next day despite everything around us.” The artist then imagined how his story would sound, a new way of creating for Owusu that gave birth to Struggler. References to the “roach” and “pest” abound, including on punk-funk banger “Stay Blessed,” which has recently found its way into the 9:30 Club’s between-set playlist rotation. Like Smiling With No Teeth, Struggler blends the punk and hip-hop genres while nestling in asides like the more soulful “See Ya There” and reggae-rap track “What Comes Will Come.” Asked if we might eventually see his short story in print, Owusu says, “It’s not far-fetched at all.” The singer returns to the U.S. fresh from a two-month break, after his first arena tour of the country with Paramore and Bloc Party, no less. Both bands were a big part of Owusu’s childhood, and he never dreamed of playing Madison Square Garden so soon in his already quite accomplished career. While the singer doesn’t like describing his music for those who’ve never heard it, preferring to let listeners draw their own conclusions, that’s not true of his shows. “The show is going to be theatrical, fire and brimstone, the end of the world, and the beginning of a new world,” Owusu says. “I hope you come.” Genesis Owusu plays at 8 p.m. on Oct. 25 at Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. unionstage.com. $22–$40.—Dave Nyczepir

HO HO WHO: West London’s Chubby and the Gang are one of the most critically acclaimed punk bands (pub bands?) of the past few years, popping up on any number of recent year end lists that don’t usually include bands indebted to the Stranglers or the 4-Skins. Chubby and the Gang have released two albums and an EP in three years including 2022’s excellent Labour of Love.

SLAY BELLS: Stateside fans were disappointed this past summer when the Gang canceled their U.S. tour just weeks before it was scheduled to begin, which included multiple showcases at the Pitchfork Music Festival. Although we missed the opportunity to see Chubby in the flesh, the band are releasing a two-song EP just in time for the holidays titled Chubby and the Gang Presents: A Christmas Extravaganza, out today, Dec. 14, on Partisan Records. 

OI! TO THE WORLD: There is something of a tradition of holiday-inspired punk songs, though the coupling holiday cheer and a historically angsty musical subculture can make uncomfortable bedfellows. A brief history: There’s the Vandals song that No Doubt made famous; a stone-cold Ramones classic; The Pogues, of course; and whatever Bad Religion were going for on its Christmas album a few years ago. Chubby’s “Violent Night (A Christmas Tale)” finds itself within the sonic tradition set by the Business’ saucy cover of “Step Into Christmas” (originally penned by Elton John and Bernie Taupin) and Peter and the Test Tube Babies’ “I’m Getting Pissed for Christmas.”

SEASON’S BEATINGS: The lads are feeling undeniably frisky on “Violent Night (A Christmas Tale).” After an umpteenth lager, our heroes are taking the piss down at the pub before their committed visit to Grandma’s in the morning. A driving glam rock beat propels this yuletide rager in what might be the only holiday tune in recent memory that could double as a football chant. Frontperson Charlie Manning-Walker’s sparse lyrics find a spiritual kinship with the aforementioned “A Fairytale of New York,” a sour reverie from two aged miscreants forced to face one another while languishing in a holding cell. “Violent Night (A Christmas Tale)” can be interpreted as the sound of those same lovelorn characters 20 years earlier—all furious, alcohol-fueled energy, but not yet imbued with world-weary wisdom.

CHEER FACTOR: 7/10 This song is going to construct a jarring transition from whatever downbeat crooner preceded it on your holiday mix. But Christmas isn’t all sugar plums and it’s nice to have a seasonal jam for those who aren’t yet ready to sit cozy by the fire or learn from their mistakes.

Few birthdays can rattle us like our 30th, the official death knell of youth. More responsibilities accumulate while hairlines recede and joints begin to ache. But the long-standing indie-rock stalwarts of Yo La Tengo began their third decade on the heels of releasing their best album in years, 2013’s Fade. Over the course of its existence, the band has enjoyed a regularity that’s rare among music acts, with a stable line-up, consistently great records, and a sense of creativity and adventure that helped it survive the indie-rock booms and busts that sideswiped many of its contemporaries. The group has earned a reputation, at times, for an ornery live show—those not interested in at least one distortion heavy freak-out need not attend. Still, tonight’s anniversary performance will likely eschew alienating noise jams, instead focusing on crowd-pleasers and more than a few obscurities to satiate the diehards who’ve been with the band since its birth. Yo La Tengo performs with Lambchop at 8 p.m. at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $30. (202) 265-0930. 930.com.

After an extended holiday weekend spent among loved ones and half-remembered childhood acquaintances, what better way to exercise your post-Thanksgiving aggression and subsequent emotional regression than with the most gleefully regressive genre of them all: pop punk. Portland’s Mean Jeans and Kepi Ghoulie of Sacramento’s Groovie Ghoulies have teamed up for the Maul of America tour, wherein the former band plays a set of its own songs and backs Kepi for Groovie Ghoulies’ “classics.” This joining of forces should come as little surprise for power-chord aficionados; the members of Mean Jeans are meticulous students of the Lookout Records playbook, with its cartoonish imagery, tongue-in-cheek humor, and hard partying ‘tude. In their mid-’90s heyday, the Groovie Ghoulies’ goofy Halloween-obsessed shtick helped shape the Lookout template—whereas the Misfits found macabre inspiration in 1950s creature features, the Ghoulies’ upbeat Ramones-esque pop more closely resembled the (haunted) house band from a Scooby-Doo mystery. Together, they represent a time-honored pairing nearly as satisfying as familial sniping and cranberry sauce. Mean Jeans performs with Kepi Ghoulie and Passing Phases at 9 p.m. at Comet Ping Pong, 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW. $12. (202) 364-0404. cometpingpong.com.

Those bemoaning this year’s lack of definitive summer songs must not have heard “I’m Not Part of Me,” the final track on Cloud Nothings’ exceptional Here and Nowhere Else. While this hyperactive pop-punk anthem might sound like a holdover from the summer of 1994, its defiant chorus scratches a similar itch to the fist-pumping anthems of the currently hibernating Japandroids. At 22, Cloud Nothings’ lead singer and wunderkind Dylan Baldi has been releasing records for the past five years and is now nicely settling into the second stage of his career. Following a few straightforward lo-fi pop-punk albums, Cloud Nothings broke through in 2012 with the Steve Albini–produced Attack on Memory, a leap forward resulting in a collection of taut, scuzzy barnburners. With Here and Nowhere Else, Baldi eschews easy categorizations, mining alternative rock’s warbly croon and throaty screeching, sometimes within the same song, as in “Psychic Trauma.” If this album is any indication, Baldi sounds like he’ll be penning the soundtrack for many summers to come. Cloud Nothings perform with Tyvek at 10 p.m. at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $18. (202) 265-0930. 930.com.

On Friday, Sept. 12, I am heading to Chicago to immerse myself in the aging punk nostalgia gathering that is Riot Fest. Over three days, I will be overloaded with sets from bands (Face to Face! Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies!) that most haven’t considered since discarding their Punk-O-Rama compilations at the turn of the century. I bring this up as a testament to the greatness of Joyce Manor’s Never Hungover Again: After 72 hours of pop punk in Chicago, I am dragging myself to the Rock & Roll Hotel the night I return to seek out more. The band’s newly released full-length—a loose term for a 10-song album with a running time under 20 minutes—finds the members gradually expanding their sound after signing to the major indie label (Epitaph Records) that undoubtedly inspired them to attend more than a few Warped Tours. Not since the late ‘90s has young suburban America sounded as sweetly sour as “Catalina Fight Song” or the Blink-182-esque “Heart Tattoo.” Joyce Manor performs with the Exquisites and Mike Bell and the Movies at 7:30 p.m. at Rock & Roll Hotel, 1353 H St. NE. $13. (202) 388-7635. rockandrollhoteldc.com.