Contents
Music
Goblin With Dario Argento’s Demons
October 2
Howard Theatre
Claudio Simonetti’s prog-rock band, Goblin, provided an appropriately creepy and bombastic soundtrack to some of the best-loved and most gruesome films from Italian horror director Dario Argento. Come hear the band play live accompaniment to the 1985 film Demons, produced by Argento and directed by Lamberto Bava.
Music
Back to TopAnoushka Shankar
October 6
Strathmore
Daughter of Ravi Shankar and half-sister of Norah Jones, this British American sitar player blends the traditional virtuosity of Indian classical music with mesmerizing modern flourishes. Shankar is touring with her new quintet in support of the mini album Chapter I: Forever, For Now.
Books
Back to TopExtremely Online by Taylor Lorenz
October 7
East City Bookshop
Has the internet drawn the world together or torn it hopelessly apart? If doomscrolling on the social-media platform recently known as Twitter is one of your favorite/most self-destructive pastimes, then this book from Washington Post reporter Lorenz–one of the world’s most plugged-in people–is for you.
Museums
Back to Top“Park Chan-kyong: Gathering”
October 7, 2023–October 13, 2024
National Museum of Asian Art
As part of its centennial celebrations, the NMAA is dedicating new exhibit space to modern and contemporary work. Seoul artist Park Chan-kyong inaugurates it with pieces such as a multi-channel video (above) that employs state-of-the-art technology in the form of a massive scroll painting.
Museums
Back to Top“African Modernism in America, 1947–67”
October 7–January 7
Phillips Collection
This exhibit looks at modern African and African American artists who defied midcentury preconceptions of what African art should look like. Along with Phillips Collection mainstay Jacob Lawrence, the show features work by 50 artists, including David Driskell and Malangatana Ngwenya (above).
Music
Back to TopJessie Ware
October 16
9:30 Club
Ware’s dance-floor reinvention continues with her latest album, That! Feels Good!, whose nonstop hooks and velvety singing conjure a convincing disco diva for the 21st century. Old-school Washingtonians might well listen to Ware and think she would have sounded just fine on OK 100.
Books
Back to TopRenegade by Adam Kinzinger
October 20
Politics and Prose (Connecticut Avenue)
Kinzinger was one of only two GOP Congress members to join the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot. Now a CNN commentator, he’s sharing the full story of why he decided to push back against Donald Trump.
Museums
Back to TopNational Museum of Women in the Arts Reopening
October 21
Closed for more than two years to undergo a major renovation, the museum is finally back, now with significantly more exhibition space and a new approach to how it displays its collection. In addition to the revamp, an inaugural exhibit, “The Sky’s the Limit,” offers work from 13 contemporary artists, including Alison Saar, Beatriz Milhazes, and Mariah Robertson, whose distinctive 2011 piece “9” is pictured above.
Theater
Back to TopFat Ham
October 25–December 4
Studio Theatre
What if Shakespeare were versed in North Carolina BBQ? That’s the premise behind the Pulitzer-winning play by James Ijames (above) about a queer Black kid whose father’s ghost shows up looking for vengeance.
Opera
Back to TopGrounded
October 28–November 13
Kennedy Center
Jeanine Tesori recently won a Tony for best original score for the musical Kimberly Akimbo, but her latest work is something different: a provocative piece about a pregnant fighter pilot who picks off distant targets from her Las Vegas trailer and grapples with the ethics of virtual warfare. Mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo will star at this world premiere.
This article appears in the October 2023 issue of Washingtonian.
This post has been updated to reflect the new location of Taylor Lorenz’s book talk.
