Eddie Palmieri and Four Must-See Art Exhibits: City Lights for Oct. 17–23
Friday: Eddie Palmieri at the Library of Congress South Bronx-raised pianist Eddie Palmieri established his musical reputation decades ago by innovatively combining the Afro Caribbean dance music he heard growing up in the 1950s with African American jazz. Now 87, Palmieri continues to love performing live where he often enthusiastically shakes his head and smiles…
A Weekend of Art, Chess, and Film: City Lights for Oct. 10–16
Opens Thursday: Winter Work by Anice Hoachlander at ArtHub609 Rhythm, light, and shadow: These are the three main motifs featured in fine art photographer Anice Hoachlander’s work. Hoachlander centers a wide variety of natural life and human creation in her art—from the geometry of modern architecture to the way Spanish Moss dances in the warm…
Meshell Ndegeocello, Explicating Documentary Photography, and More: City Lights for Oct. 3–9
Saturday: Rebellion and Aesthetic Expressions With Phuc Tran and Elizabeth Ai at MLK Library On Oct. 5, two authors from different corners of the literary world, Phuc Tran, author of Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In, and Elizabeth Ai, author of New Wave: Rebellion and…
Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, DC Tap Fest, and More: City Lights for Aug. 29-Sept. 6
Thursday: Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore at the Birchmere In 2017, Texas folkie Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s agent suggested he do some duo gigs with California rockabilly and roots musician Dave Alvin, best known from the band the Blasters. The two soon went from acquaintances to pals when they realized they shared interests in blues,…
War and Treaty and All Time Low Come Home: City Lights for Aug. 22–28
Thursday: War and Treaty at the Hamilton As part of The View’s Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit cast reunion episode that aired in June, War and Treaty singer Tanya Trotter stepped center stage to sing the solo introduction to “Joyful Joyful.” Sixty seconds in, a male voice can be heard enthusiastically shouting from…
Illicit Affairs, The Little Mermaid, and More: City Lights for Aug. 15–21
Thursday: Mickalene Thomas at the Phillips Collection Best known for her complex and beautiful portraiture of Black women completed on a massive scale, New York-based artist Mickalene Thomas’ mixed-media paintings can be found across D.C. at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, the Rubell, and now in the Phillips Collection’s newest special exhibition, Multiplicity: Blackness in…
Missy Elliott Comes Home With Her First Headlining Tour: City Lights for Aug. 8–14
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…
Latinx Movement Festival, the Ladies of Jazz, and More: City Lights for Aug. 1–7
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…
Joan Baez, Reyna Tropical, and Maurice James Jr., Oh My!: City Lights for July 25–31
Opens Friday: Maurice James Jr.’s New Negro at Art of Noize Graphic artist Maurice James Jr. is reimagining Black history through art. Although his career only started in 2021, he’s become quite prolific during those three years. By March of 2023, he was displaying his work at three overlapping exhibits, and this year he was…
A Night With Prince, Girls Rock!, and More: City Lights for July 18–24
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…
Book Fair, Brutalism, and Progression: City Lights for July 11–17
Daily: Progression at Multiple Exposures Gallery It’s a project with a design so convoluted that few would dare attempt it twice within nine months. But the photographers of Multiple Exposures Gallery are game for another Progressions exhibit, in which 15 members contribute 45 images in sequence, thematically playing off the previous image with either a…
Forget the Fourth: DC Does Dischord, Sixth Sense in a Cemetery, and More City Lights for July 3–10
Friday: Yesterday & Today: DC Does Dischord Release Party at the Black Cat D.C.-based label For the Love of Records is putting on a show to celebrate the release of their new compilation album. Entitled Yesterday & Today: DC Does Dischord, the LP is a tribute to the area’s hardcore punk heritage by some of…
Lavender Evolutions Creates Third Spaces for QTBIPOC Washingtonians
Some of the best ideas are born in the living rooms of D.C. group homes. Lavender Evolutions, the ever-growing D.C. collective, began as one of those ideas. While living together in the Petworth home, lovingly referred to as the Giant Peach for its vibrant peach-painted facade, Madi Dalton and Leslie Tellería continued the group house’s…
FIGHTMASTER, Orville Peck Close Out Pride: City Lights for June 27–July 3
Thursday: Mdou Moctar at the 9:30 Club The Nigerien guitarist has come a long way from his first U.S. tour in 2017, when his whirlwind immersion in Washington culture included a gig at the Library of Congress and a three-day residency at Episcopal High School before culminating in a headlining performance at the Black Cat.…
Crosswords and Ethio-Jazz: City Lights for June 20 Through 27
Thursday through Sunday: Letters to Kamala and Dandelion Peace at Universal National Memorial Church Voices Festival Productions presents the world premiere production of two plays by Wisconsin-based playwright Rachel Lynett, Letters to Kamala and Dandelion Peace. Directed by A. Lorraine Robinson, the show is staged in the basement theater of the Universal National Memorial Church…
Tekno, Trees, and 10,000 Dreams: City Lights for June 13 Through 19
Friday: Munit Mesfin at Lubber Run Based in the D.C. area, Ethiopian-born vocalist Munit Mesfin is skilled in multiple genres. She plays some gigs strictly focused on Ethiopian music, as well as Roberta Flack tribute shows and family performances with Munit and Z Lovebugs, but she’s a member of global music ensemble Project Locrea. In…
Pride Weekend May Be Over, But the Events Continue
Take a nap, drink some water, and wipe the glitter from your eyes—or don’t. D.C.’s official Pride Weekend may have concluded with Sunday, June 9, but as we always say, June is a marathon, not a sprint. With 20 more days left of Pride Month, we’ve rounded up some especially great events aimed at offering…
Alice Randall, Blvck Hippie, Pride: City Lights for June 6 Through 12
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…
Brazilian Guitar Masters, Bill Evans, and More: City Lights for May 30 Through June 5
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…
Dragula and Lots To Look At: City Lights for May 23 Through 29
Saturday: Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Season 5 Tour at Fillmore Silver Spring Unless you’re a Ministry devotee, you may not realize every day is Halloween. Unless you’re a drag aficionado over the age of 30, you may not realize there’s an entire drag ecosystem outside of RuPaul’s World of Wonder. If the Venn diagram of your…
Beyond the Parade: A 2024 Pride Guide to D.C.
The sun is shining, Partiful invites are popping, outfits are coming together, and across the city rainbow flags are flying. It can only mean one thing: Pride is upon us! Here in the nation’s capital, Pride festivities begin Memorial Day Weekend with DC Black Pride—one of the largest and greatest Black Prides in the country.…
Nicole Chung, Zodiac Suite, and More: City Lights for May 16 Through 22
Thursday: Nicole Chung at People’s Book Author Nicole Chung continues to take the DMV by storm with an event celebrating the paperback release of her bestselling 2023 memoir, A Living Remedy. Chung will be joined by Clint Smith, the D.C.-based author of How the Word Is Passed and an Atlantic columnist. Chung has done many events…
Seeing Green Through Dance, Dog Film Fest, and More: City Lights for May 9–15
Friday: Zine Workshop at People’s Book Even as the world becomes increasingly digital, zines (small-circulation magazines) persist as a common method of information dissemination and storytelling. In recent years, political movements have used zines to counter online disinformation and surveillance tactics and people across the globe have turned to zine creation to document their experiences…
La Perla, Jazz Greats, and More: City Lights for May 2–8
Thursday: Belle and Sebastian at the Anthem Don’t forget this show highlighted in last week’s City Lights: After Belle and Sebastian’s Sarah Martin graduated from university, she took a job in a local bookshop. “My mum was like, ‘Yeah, but what are you really going to do?’” Martin tells City Paper. “I was like, ‘No,…
Anna Deavere Smith and a Chocolate Festival: City Lights for April 25 to May 1
Thursday: Oneohtrix Point Never at Howard Theatre Don’t forget this show highlighted in last week’s City Lights: “Daniel Lopatin, who performs and creates under the moniker Oneohtrix Point Never, constructs sample-heavy, synthesizer-forward compositions that conjure a sense of tuneful existential dread.” Friday: Mariah Stovall at Lost City Books As a literary agent, Mariah Stovall is…
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