Plenty of sold out events in Washington this weekend, including Trevor Noah, who’s slated to takeover Jon Stewart’s chair at the Daily Show, at the Arlington Drafthouse, Griz at 9:30 Club, Michael Blackson at the DC Improv, and the Cherry Blossom Beer and Wine Festival at the Yards.
THURSDAY, APRIL 9
FILM: Check out the opening for this year’s Festival of New Spanish Cinema at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, featuring The Kid (El Niño), a tale about drug trafficking, which earned the highest grossing opening weekend for a Spanish film last year. 7:15 PM, $12. Also on deck is the premiere of Nerd Prom, a tell-all about the White House Correspondents Association dinner by Politico reporter, Patrick Gavin, at E Street Cinema. 7:30 PM, $12.
MUSIC: Fort Washington, Maryland-native LyQuin combines hip-hop with R&B in his debut release, 2Sides2aStory. He’ll be performing at Howard Theatre alongside emcee, Awthentik. 7:30 PM, $12 to $20.
FRIDAY, APRIL 10
DANCE: Watch American University students perform modern and jazz dance at the Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre for their annual spring concert, followed by a discussion with the student choreographer. April 10 to 11, 8 PM, $15.
MUSIC: Jazz pianists Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock have won 34 Grammy Awards between them, and you can watch both perform together at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. 8 PM, $75 to $125.
SATURDAY, APRIL 11
ART: The National Museum of African Art debuted a new exhibition this week, called “The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists,” featuring 40 works from contemporary artists from the African continent. The show, which occupies all four floors of the museum, is organized in three spaces: heaven, purgatory, and hell.
MUSIC: You might remember the Ting Ting’s super hit, “That’s Not My Name,” from 2009. The British duo will perform songs from their latest album, Super Critical, at the at 9:30 Club. 6 PM, $25.
SUNDAY, APRIL 12
BOOKS: Tracy K. Smith won a Pulitzer for her poetry collection, Life on Mars. Now the Princeton University creative writing professor has released a memoir called Ordinary Light. Head on over to Busboys and Poets in Brookland for a chance to meet Smith. 6:30 PM.
CELEBRATE: Close out this year’s cherry blossom festival at the Anacostia River Festival at Anacostia Park. There will be live music, art projects, fishing workshops, bike parades, and more fun events for families. 12 to 4 PM, free.
MUSIC: Rhiannon Giddens is perhaps best known as the lead singer of the old-timey, Grammy Award-winning Carolina Chocolate Drops, but the banjo playing musician has now launched a solo career. Her debut album, Tomorrow is My Turn, was released in February. Watch her perform at the Lincoln Theatre at 8 PM. $35.
