Thursday, May 17
JAZZ: The American Art Museum’s
Take Five! Thursdays is one of the city’s best free jazz concerts. Grab a board game and a drink, and listen to
L’Tanya Mari’ restyle the works of Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, and more. 5 PM in the Kogod Courtyard.
CLOTHES: Like vintage clothing? Like other people? Head to Mount Pleasant for
Nana’s Quarter Life Shop and Social to browse through new pieces, grab a bite to eat, and sip some drinks–just keep them away from the clothes. Free. 5 PM.
MAGICAL REALISM: Spaniard
Juan Carlos Fresnadillo directed
28 Weeks Later, the surprisingly not-bad, super-scary, zombieish movie. Long before that, he made
Intacto, about a supernaturally lucky concentration
camp survivor who opens a casino. After a fight with an employee, the
casino
owner gets challenged to a game of Russian Roulette with the
luckiest man on earth–yikes. The movie falls firmly in Latin
America’s magical realism genre, so expect some wacky
unexplained stuff. The movie is screening at the Spanish Embassy
tonight.
Free. 6:30 PM. UPDATE: This event is sold out.
Friday, May 18
ART BASH: It’s been three years(!) but
Artomatic, DC’s coolest month-long art
festival, is finally back and opens tonight. Yes, you’ll find art
installations, paintings,
and other visual art–but Artomatic gets cool when you consider
all the arts workshops, live performances, dance nights, film
screenings, and more. Things kick off tonight with a couple of
deejays and dance music performances scheduled to run into
the wee hours. Artomatic Building, Crystal City. 6 PM.
BIKING: It’s Bike to Work Day! Hop on your
bike, grab a bikeshare, or otherwise pedal yourself to work today. If
you’ve never tried
to maneuver Washington traffic on two wheels before (and who
would blame you?) special rides have been scheduled today with
veteran bikers. Free. Wherever/whenever you go to work.
PHOTOGRAPHY: The Look3 Festival is a huge, three-day
photography festival in Charlottesville–but you don’t have to head down
to Cavalier Town to get a taste
of the festival. Friday, some of the featured artists and works
will be at FotoWeek DC, along with complimentary beer and
wine. Tickets ($145 for a three-day pass) are available online.
Visit the website for the full schedule.
495 vs. 695: The Orioles are in town this weekend. Usually, the
Battle of the Beltways is an embarrassing
series between two cellar dwellers, but both upstart teams are in first
place this year. I know there
are a lot of you (me included) who couldn’t give up the Os when
the Nats came to DC, so the games can get kinda-sorta heated.
Also, you should see this Harper kid if you haven’t yet.
Tickets ($20 to $350) are available online. 7:05 PM.
Saturday, May 19
STREET FESTIVAL: Akon, of “Smack That” fame, is somehow hugely popular in Bollywood. To celebrate that, the Asia Heritage Foundation is trying
to get a thousand people to “dance street-style spontaneously” this weekend to the song as part of the
Fiesta Asia Street Fair. We’re not sure if
advertising a spontaneous dance should be a thing, but the free, all-day
festival on Pennsylvania Avenue
features live music, tons of food, arts, crafts, and cooking
demos. Visit the website for location and more details. 10 AM
to 7 PM.
POOL PARTY: Mother’s Day is over–time to go
back to being a badass Mother Trucker. The rooftop pool party at Capitol
Skyline features
ten food trucks (that’s the “trucker” part), slip and slides,
life-size Jenga, moon bounces, deejays, drinks, oh, and a pool.
$15. 11 AM to 7 PM.
EUROCRISIS: Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral is throwing its annual
spring Greek festival starting Friday and running all weekend. Expect live music, drinks, food, games, and hopefully little talk about how the
country is destroying the European Union. Oh, and unspeakable amounts of
tzatziki. Noon to 10 PM.
YOGA: Remember how
Yoga Week DC was kind of disappointing, with a
lot of the studios offering one $5 class per day at convenient times
such as right in the
middle of the afternoon when most of you are working? Sorry
about that. But it’s the weekend now, so you can head out to the
Mall for a free Yoga on the Mall shindig with you, your inner
peace, and hundreds of other people. 1:30 to 4:30 PM.
ZOMBIES: Survive DC is a gigantic, citywide game of manhunt/tag in which you try to not turn into a zombie. Hundreds of people come
out and chase one another and play in traffic. Go to it. 7 PM. Location TBD.
Sunday, May 20
ART INVASION: More than two dozen professional artists living in Dupont and Logan circles are opening up their private studios to the public
as part of
Mid City Artists’ open studio promotion. Get all up inside the mind of an artist as you see how they work, and pick through some of their latest work. Noon to 5
PM. Visit the website for locations.
FOOD: More than 35 Arlington restaurants, including Jaleo, RiRa, Cava Mezze, and Bayou will be at Sunday’s 25th annual
Taste of Arlington. For $25, you get eight
tasting tickets, which should fill you right up. It’s no Best of
Washington
(what is?), but live entertainment and good food usually make
for a good Sunday. Tickets are $25 online or $30 the day of.
Noon to 5 PM.
FOOD WITH MUSIC: Sorry, Arlington, but not many people can out-cool the 9:30 Club, and you’re no exception. Sunday is the club’s third annual
Sound Bites food and music festival.
Eric Hilton, of Thievery Corporation and
owning-every-cool-restaurant-in-town-that-converts-to-a-club fame, will
spin a deejay set; bartenders
from Oyamel, the Gibson, the Passenger, and Fujimar will try to
outdo one another’s cocktails; and Bonmi, Cork, Harry’s Smokehouse,
Indique, Jackie’s, and more will serve up food. Oh, and all
proceeds go to DC Central Kitchen. Buy tickets ($40) online. 5
PM.
