Music Center at Strathmore

The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has some light and enjoyable programs coming up. It plays Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” and Astor Piazzolla’s tango version, “Four Seasons of Buenos Aires,” on July 10. A program called “The Tchaikovsky Spectacular,” which includes the “Romeo and Juliet” violin concerto and selections from Swan Lake, is July 17. Maestro/pianist Leon Fleisher’s 80th birthday will be celebrated with an all-Mozart program July 24. “A Tribute to Gershwin & Bernstein”—including “Rhapsody in Blue” and “An American in Paris” by Gershwin and selections from West Side Story by Bernstein—takes place July 31. For tickets ($25 to $60), call 877-276-1444 or visit bsomusic.org. 5301 Tuckerman La., North Bethesda; 301-581-5100; strathmore.org.

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Pop/rock singer/songwriter John Mayer appears with guitarist/singer Brett Dennen July 13; tickets are $36 to $59.50. The Steve Miller Band and Joe Cocker come through town July 17; tickets are $35 to $75. The rock band O.A.R., whose founding members are from Rockville, is joined by the Beautiful Girls, a trio of Australian blokes playing roots rock, July 26; tickets are $30 to $38. 10475 Little Patuxent Pkwy., Columbia; 410-715-5550; merriweathermusic.com.

National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden

On a hot day, the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden is one of the city’s nicer spots. On Fridays at 5 (except July 4), Jazz in the Garden takes place on the west side of the fountain. The Joshua Bayer Quartet plays classic jazz July 11; Nasar Abadey and Supernova do modern jazz July 18; Deanna Bogart and her boogie-woogie rhythm-and-blues jazz band stir it up July 25. Admission is free, with no tickets required. Drinks and snacks are sold at the sculpture garden’s cafe. The main entrance is at Seventh St. and Constitution Ave., NW; 202-737-4215; nga.gov/programs/jazz.

Brightly plumed dancers, flag-draped spectators, and body-painted paraders converged on Georgia Avenue last Saturday, lighting up the street with color and rhythm. Check out our photo slide show of DC’s Caribbean Carnival parade.

Monday, June 23: First Night of Fort Reno
There’s no better way to kick off the first official week of summer than by heading to the kickoff of Fort Reno, the free outdoor indie-rock concert series (directions here). Tonight’s show will be headlined by Olivia Mancini & the Housemates, who play upbeat pop tunes filled with trumpets, hand claps, and harmonies. Shows start around 7:15. If you want more free summer music, check out our guide to free concerts around town, and the full schedule of Fort Reno.

Tuesday, June 24: Half-Price Belgian Beer
This warm weather got you itching for an outdoor happy hour? Let me recommend an oldie-but-goodie happy hour that’s a favorite for my friends and me: half-price Belgian beers at Bohemian Caverns on U Street. From 6 to 11 PM Tuesdays, the beers include everything from Delirium Tremens to Lucifer to a variety of Chimays. There are bottles and drafts; expect most drinks to run you between $3 and $5 after the discount.

Groovers, spinners, and shakers queued up this morning, huddling in comforters and down jackets outside the Atlas Performing Arts Center in Northeast DC for a chance to get on the Fox TV show So You Think You Can Dance.

“I’ve just been kind of running in place,” said Jen (who preferred her last name not be used) of the 30-degree weather.

Jen, 25—who flew in from the West Coast to audition and stay with her cousin in DC—is a cheerleader and a dance-team coach. She’ll improvise a jazz/contemporary routine for 15 seconds—the time allotted to each dancer in the initial round—in front of judges Mary Murphy and Nigel Lythgoe. It’s her first time trying out for the show.

Jen befriended Katie Milano, a 25-year-old New Jersey native, while standing in line. Milano said she woke up at 2:30 AM to drive from New Jersey and began standing in line at 6:30 AM. Three hours later, Milano was still behind dozens of people.

When Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to perform at the Kennedy Center on the eve of its 50th anniversary, one of the 30 dancers in the company will know a large chunk of the audience.

Columbia native Alicia Graf says she can’t count the number of family and friends who will come to watch her dance with the company February 19 through 24. She also can’t guess at the number of times she’s visited the Kennedy Center in her lifetime, although she says she’s performed there six or seven times. This is Graf’s third time performing back home with Alvin Ailey.

“Performing in DC is always really special because it is my hometown,” says Graf. “I think it has one of the most beautiful opera houses in the world. When I was younger, I saw Alvin Ailey perform at the Kennedy Center.”

Town (2009 Eighth St., NW; 202-234-TOWN), a new gay dance club in DC’s Shaw neighborhood, commemorated the recent national holiday with the Martin Luther King Jr. Special—more precisely, an act of the same name during its weekly drag show. With a pink fedora angled provocatively over her right eye, a drag queen dressed the part of Alicia Keys perfectly as she lip-synched to the hip-hop star’s “No One.”

Drag is just one form of entertainment at Town. A two-level warehouse-size space near the U Street corridor, the high-energy club combines weekend cabaret performances and pounding music with plush lounges and video installations to make for a “danceboutique,” as Town describes itself. The place is chic and cool, and the $12 cover—in a city that rarely charges at the door—only makes you more curious about what’s inside the double black doors.