Things to Do

Things to Do in DC This Weekend (August 22-25): The 17th Street Festival, Cocktail History, and MC Hammer

The 17th Street Festival takes place on Saturday. Photograph courtesy 17th Street Festival.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22

MUSIC DC-based group PostClassical Ensemble will perform two programs of music and readings at the Phillips Collection in conjunction with the exhibit “The Warmth of Other Suns: Stories of Global Displacement.” The concert’s theme, “Music and Migration: The Spiritual in White America,” will delve into the transformation of black spirituals into music for white audiences using early 1900s arrangements by Harry Burleigh and Nathaniel Dett, plus readings from W. E. B. DuBois, Alain Locke, Langston Hughes, and Zora Neale Hurston. $45, 6:30 PM.

COCKTAILS Learn about the history and geography of cocktails at Kramerbooks from Anne Peck-Davis and Diane Lapis, authors of Cocktails Across America: A Postcard View of Cocktail Culture in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s. Learn the history of this drinking culture and taste a few recipes from the book. Must be 21+. Limited tickets available at the door: $15 (admission and tasting) or $25 (admission, tasting, and book), 6:30 PM.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23

MUSIC Stop! Hammer time: On his first major tour since the early 1990s, MC Hammer will bring his Hammer House Party to the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Congress Heights. The tour features hip-hop/R&B acts from the ’80s and ’90s such as Sir Mix-A-Lot, Kid ’N Play, and Tone Loc, in addition to Hammer performing some of his greatest hits—“U Can’t Touch This,” “Pray,” and “Pumps and a Bump.” $20-$75, 8 PM.

THEATER Fractal Theatre Collective presents a partially-staged workshop production of Pillowtalk & Other Parts of Speech, a new play by Natalie Ann Valentine, at the Adams Morgan Community Center. The play portrays the human desire for companionship beyond romantic love. Free (donations welcome), 8 PM on 8/23, 2 PM & 8 PM on 8/24.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 24

FESTIVAL Enjoy the shops and restaurants of 17th Street NW with the 10th annual 17th Street Festival (which runs on the 1500 and 1600 blocks of 17th St. NW). Shop from more than 100 vendors and local businesses as well as 60 artists and makers. In addition to a Kids Zone with an inflatable slide, the festival will also feature performances like Chinese dance, dixie, and mariachi music. Free, noon.

COMICS Fairfax Comic Con returns to the Dulles Expo Center with a schedule that includes a cosplay contest, dozens of artists and exhibitors on the convention center floor, and Q&A discussions with the convention’s guests. This year’s guests include comic artists (Jae Lee, Jamal Igle), actors (Randy Havens from Stranger Things), and voice actors (Jason Marsden, Monica Rial, Samantha Newark). Through August 25. Daily passes $15-$20 or weekend pass $30.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25

MUSIC It’s Black Sabbath, but with a side of fries: tribute band Mac Sabbath parodies the English doom forefathers’ songs with fast food imagery and lyrics (“Iron Man” becomes “Frying Pan,” for example). The four musicians all dress up as fast food icons as well, from Ronald Osbourne down to the Catburglar. If that’s not enough silliness for one show, then you’re in luck: opening this concert at the Black Cat is Ned Flanders-inspired metal band Okilly Dokilly, who call their Simpsons-themed metal niche “Nedal.” $18 (in advance) or $20 (at the door), 7:30 PM.

FILM The Shakespeare Theatre Company is offering a free screening of The Princess and the Frog on Sunday morning. In this 2009 Disney animated film, a New Orleans waitress tries to free a prince trapped in a frog’s body but becomes a frog herself due to a voodoo curse. They must work together to try to regain their human forms. Free (reservations suggested), 11 AM.

LAST CALL: Here’s what’s closing this weekend

“Queer as German Folk: Celebrating Fifty Years of Transatlantic Rainbow Friendship” closes 8/23 at the DC Center for the LGBT Community and the Goethe-Institut Washington