MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
MUSIC Swedish folk duo (and sisters) First Aid Kit started performing together as teenagers and found some fame when their cover of Fleet Foxes’ “Tiger Mountain Peasant Song” got a shout-out from the band itself. Since then, they have released four albums, and the most recent, Ruins, came out earlier this year. Hear their twangy harmonies live at The Anthem. $40-$55, 8 PM.
BOOKS Journalist/cookbook author Marti Buckley is stopping by Mola in Mount Pleasant to talk about her cookbook Basque Country. In addition to the lecture and Q&A, enjoy samples of some of the dishes in her book, such as salt cod croquettas and fried anchovies. $55 (includes signed cookbook), 6:30 PM.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
KIDS/BOOKS Authors Kate Schatz and Miriam Klein Stahl have highlighted inspiring teenage girls in their new book, Rad Girls Can: Stories of Bold, Brave, and Brilliant Young Women, which feature stories about women who have excelled in typically male-dominated sports or have spoken out against injustices in the world, like Trisha Prabhu, 18, who created an anti-cyberbullying app. The book features paper-cut art with each profile. Schatz and Stahl will speak about these inspiring young women at Politics & Prose (in the children & teens department) in conversation with Mary Beth Tinker, whose 1965 protest against the Vietnam War (when she was 13) set a precedent for students’ free speech in school. Free, 7 PM.
FILM/BOOKS Spy nerds, look out: Spy Museum is screening the action/espionage film Mile 22, starring Mark Wahlberg and John Malkovich, featuring a post-film Q&A with the film’s screenwriter Lea Carpenter. The museum’s curator and historian Dr. Vince Houghton will lead a discussion about Carpenter’s newest spy novel, Red, White, Blue, a thriller that traces the links between a CIA officer and a young woman coming to terms with her dead father’s past. Her book will be available for sale and signing at the event. Free, 6:30 PM.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12
BASKETBALL For the first time in franchise history, the Mystics are in the WNBA Finals. After two games in Seattle, the team returns to DC with the series at 0-2. Due to ongoing renovations at Capital One Arena, the DC games (Wednesday and Friday, if necessary) will be held at EagleBank Arena on the George Mason University Campus. The Washington Mystics will also provide round-trip courtesy shuttle service between the Vienna metro station and EagleBank Arena. $20, 8 PM.
THEATRE Bethesda native Steven Levenson is best known for writing the Tony Award-winning book for Dear Evan Hanson. Studio Theatre presents the DC premiere of his new work, If I Forget, which brings Levenson’s storytelling close to home: a Tenleytown Jewish family has to decide how to handle its 14th street property and navigate familial responsibility and religious identity. Through October 14. $60-$97.
MUSIC From the foreboding sounds that signal Darth Vader’s appearance to the energy of the Cantina, the music from the 1977 Star Wars: A New Hope is iconic (and Oscar-winning). The National Symphony Orchestra will perform this music live to accompany screenings of the film this week at the Kennedy Center. Through September 15. $34-$159.
FILM The 2015 vinyl documentary Records Collecting Dust now has a sequel in Records Collecting Dust II, which delves into the East Coast music scene and features interviews with influential punk musicians Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Fugazi), Roger Miret (Agnostic Front), John Joseph (Cro-Mags), and Dave Smalley (DYS/Dag Nasty). After screening at the Black Cat, there will be a Q&A with Smalley, Gray Matter’s Mark Haggerty, and Dante Ferrando. The event will also feature a Som Records pop-up shop. $10, 7:30 PM.
MUSEUMS Dawoud Bey is known for his large-format photographs of American youth. With a new exhibit, the National Gallery of Art celebrates its acquisition of four of Bey’s large-scale photographs and one video from his series “The Birmingham Project,” which centers on the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. In each diptych, Bey pairs two life-size portraits representing the victims: one of a young person (the same age as the victim) and one of an adult 50 years older, reflecting the child’s age had she survived. Bey’s video 9.15.63 continues the same split-screen juxtaposition, showing mundane scenes of a typical Sunday morning next to scenes recreating the drive up to the 16th Street Baptist Church. Through March 24. Free.
