Thursday, September 25
OKTOBERFEST: Adams Morgan’s Roofers Union celebrates Oktoberfest with liter steins of traditional Marzen beers and a special menu featuring twists on classic German fare. Free. 5 PM.
MUSIC (AND BOOKS): The MLK Library hosts Flashband as part of Banned Books Week. Three bands are asked to write totally original songs based on or inspired by banned books (there’s a list on the website), and will perform them tonight, for free, at the library. You can also see them in a more traditional bar setting on Saturday at Heaven & Hell. Free. 7 PM.
Friday, September 26
ART: ACTIVATED is the kickoff show for Art4All, which for the next three weeks hosts arts workshops, shows, community performances, and that sort of thing. It all starts at H Street’s CityCenterDC, where artist David Niles shows off a huge, 25-by-50-foot digital art show. Entry gets you two free drinks and appetizers from the swanky new Double Eagle Steakhouse. Tickets ($15) are available online. 6 PM.
COMEDY: The Pinch hosts Barenaked Comedy, which involves three burlesque dancers and three standup comedians alternating onstage. This week, KT Tatara, who has performed on Comedy Central, will headline the comedy side. The burlesque dancers have dreamed up names I don’t feel comfortable writing here, so you can check them out at the website. $5. 8:30 PM.
KISSING: Sex columnist Twanna Hines will be at Alliance Française’s Art of French Kissing night, in which she, some French people, and perhaps you will be discussing exactly that. MIT and Harvard researcher Pere Estupinya will discuss why kissing feels so good, and, knowing Hines’s usual subject matter, things will probably move past first base, if you catch my drift. Tickets ($15) are available online. 7 PM.
COMEDY: Wonderland Ballroom’s awesome Don’t Block the Box comedy night features Natalie Shure this week—she’s worked with The Onion and Upright Citizens Brigade, and is coming down from New York along with Lauren Vino to perform at what has now become something of an institution. $3. 7:30 PM.
Saturday, September 27
FOOD TRUCKS: Washingtonian hosts Truck It!, our first-ever food truck festival, in the St. Luke’s parking lot. We’ve selected a handful of the city’s best food trucks, including Brandon’s Little Truck, Mighty Dog and Acai, Mesob on Wheels, and DC Ballers, to come hang out for lunch. For $20 you’ll get five tickets for five small bites. There’ll also be music, face painting, and pumpkin picking for the kids. Tickets ($20) are available online. Noon to 2 PM.
DRINK: Chief Ike’s Mambo Room is turning 25 this weekend, and is going nuts to celebrate it. The deal: $25 bucks to get in, penny drinks (PENNY DRINKS) from 10 PM until someone or something forces you to go home (most likely DC’s 3 AM liquor license law). 10 PM.
FILM: The National Film Society screens Awesome Asian Bad Guys, a comedy that grew out of a funded Kickstarter campaign in which two filmmakers go around picking up stereotypical “Asian bad guy” character actors and ask them to take down a mobster in LA. Director/actor Stephen Dypango will be around to talk about how the project came together and what it’s like to make a crowdfunded movie. Tickets ($15) are available online. 7:30 PM.
CRAFTS: At Rebel Craft Rumble, master craftsmen are given a bunch of junk and asked to make something useful with it, in real time. It’s like Top Chef, except with scrap material. You can watch the show, grab some beers, see a women’s arm-wrestling competition, and bid on some of the things that are made at a silent auction. Maybe, you can even get inspired to do some of this stuff yourself. Tickets ($15) are available online. 7 PM.
Sunday
CULTURE: The 12th annual Turkish Festival takes over Pennsylvania Avenue around 12th Street, Northwest. Tens of thousands of people will show up to try Turkish coffee, eat Turkish street food, watch performers and live musicians, and shop at as authentic of a Turkish bazaar as you’re going to get in the middle of DC. Free. 11 AM to 7 PM.
DOGS: Take your dog to Takoma Park’s Republic for “yappy hour,” cohosted by neighborhood businesses Big Bad Wood and Pup Strut. You can choose from the regular happy hour menu, plus $5 Salty Dog cocktails, and there’ll be some free treats for the four-legged attendees. Free. 3 to 5 PM.
Know of something cool going on around town? E-mail Jason Koebler at jasontpkoebler@gmail.com, or find him on Twitter at @jason_koebler.
