Let us take a moment to discuss a frequently maligned band. After their amelodic left turn of a sophomore album, Vivian Girls returned this year with Share the Joy, which is varied and energetic and most importantly full of earworms. It's also a pretty nice marriage of its member's side-projects, The Babies and La Series (who in fact have released better albums than their main gig's in 2011). They're also cool: They were the weirdest thing in a bar full of douchebags when the Bruise Cruise stopped by Nassau shithole Senor Frogs back in February, and still delivered a killer set. Way after they were well-known, they played a relatively obscure D.C. DIY space. Stuff like that. With Widowspeak at 8:30 p.m. at Rock & Roll Hotel.

MORE MUSIC

Classical folks: The BSO is previewing its season tonight at Strathmore. Copland! Debussy! Strauss! But most importantly: Marin Alsop, the orchestra's charismatic leader. I went to one of these preview shows a few years back, and the tone was cool and conversational. Excerpts of pieces for the attention-deficit; smart explanations from Alsop. I'll be back there tonight. 8 p.m. at Strathmore.

FILM

The short film may seem like an archaic form, an early-20th-century relic typified on one hand by arty experiments like Manhatta and Berlin: Symphony of a Metropolis and on the other by slapsticky series like The Three Stooges and Our Gang. But the Internet has made shorts relevant again, and growing attention to the form gives the DC Shorts Film Festival a little extra rub in its eighth year. The festival groups films into 90-minute screenings during its opening weekend, tallies votes for the best of the shorts, and then shows the winners on Sept. 17 and 18 at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. Between those bookends, all of the movies are rescreened, which means you have plenty of opportunities to take in the 145 films submitted from 23 countries. Not surprisingly, comedies dominate the docket—though eye-gouges, bowl haircuts, and lovable l’il scamps will probably be in short supply. (Chris Porter) MORE ON WCP''S COVERAGE HERE.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

So far, Fare Assessment has chronicled two excursions to New York by Washington Post classical critic Anne Midgette—for a Baltimore Symphony Orchestra program at Carnegie Hall, and for the Metropolitan Opera's Don Carlo. FA ruled that the first trip merited reimbursement to cover the Jersey Turnpike's tolls, and the second earned a trip on the Chinatown bus. However! Midgette reassures FA via e-mail that he needn't have worried:

I just happened to see your amusing item from a couple of weeks ago about my review of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, and felt I should note that I was in New York for personal reasons that weekend, on my own dime, and decided to check out the BSO while I was there. But I did make sure that Robert Battey's review of Anne-Sophie Mutter's Brahms recital had pride of place in the Washington Post's print coverage, since it was clearly the more important event for our readers.

The same goes for my review of the Met Opera's "Don Carlo" this week. No Post travel budgets were harmed in the making of these reviews.

There are plenty of reasons for an arts critic to leave town—say, vacation. OK, OK, all critics should see what's animating the national conversation from time to time—it can broaden and inform their perspective. But sometimes it feels like The Washington Post's reviewers are spending a bit too much time consuming art in other cities, especially New York—this despite the Post's 2009 reorientation as a paper focused on politics and local news. With editorial budgets tight and plenty of in-town art that escapes the Post's eye, we offer this regular series, in which we determine how much of the Post's travel budget ought to have gone to an individual review. At one end of the budget spectrum: Acela. At the other: Hitchhiking.

Reviewer on the Road: WaPo classical music critic Anne Midgette, reviewing on page C3 the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's Carnegie Hall performance of works by Prokofiev, Mahler, and Barber.

Invoice Argument: The BSO's music director, Marin Alsop, is a popular conductor with a taste for new works, who's generated a lot of interest in the orchestra despite its financial woes. The concert featured the Carnegie debut of an up-and-coming Macedonian pianist, 31-year-old Simon Trpceski. Plus, it's always interesting to see a local powerhouse perform on the much-more-discerning national stage.

Budget Hawk: Then again, this is Baltimore's orchestra, not Washington's. Nor was it a marquee program. Midgette writes: "Having done Leonard Bernstein's 'Mass' for her last BSO Carnegie appearance, in 2009, Alsop, or the powers-that-be, opted this time for convention — that is, music written mainly by dead white European men, presented without comment from the podium." Oh, and by the way: BSO performed the same program in its own concert hall earlier in the week.

The Verdict: WaPo probably could have sprung for tolls on the Jersey Turnpike, but even that feels a tad generous. Baltimore's Meyerhoff Symphony Hall is three hours closer than Carnegie, and the route is toll-free.

Friday

• Needtobreathe, Will Hoge, Matt Hires. 9:30 Club. $16.

• Gato & the Palenke Music Co. Strathmore. $10 in advance, $12 at door.

• Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Wolf Trap. $35.

• East Coast Caravan. The Red & The Black. $8. 21+.

• Shwa, The Royal We. IOTA Club & Cafe. $10.

• Bonjour, Ganesh!, The Jones, Big Chimney, Blankus Larry. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• Andy Poxon. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• The Caribbean, Ryan Holladay, Twins of a Gazelle. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Tamagawa University Taiko Drumming and Dance Troupe. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Free.

• Maybe Baby, Exactly, John Powers. Comet Ping Pong. Free.

• The Wedding Present, The Jet Age. Black Cat mainstage. $15.

Saturday

• Done & Done Festival. All Souls Unitarian Church. $12-$20.

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Strathmore. $30-$90.

• Julie Murphy Wells. Wolf Trap. $25.

• The Honeyguns, The Grit Pushers. The Red & The Black. $8. 21+.

• Honor By August, The Ruse, Luna Halo. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• Wicked Liquid featuring Fuzzy G, Pants Velour, The Canon Logic. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• The Icemen. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Alex Gruenberg, Astronomers, Natives. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• bob (CD release show), Almost Kings, Feed God Cabbage. Jammin Java. $12 in advance, $15 day of.

• Harmonia Opera Company. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Free.

• Richard Bacchus and The Luckiest, Yell County, DJ Kid Congo Powers. Comet Ping Pong. $8.

• Noon:30, The Aquarium. Black Cat backstage. $8.

Sunday

• Blue October, Stars of Track and Field, Hurricane Bells. 9:30 Club. $25.

• Red Sparowes, Doomriders, Fang Island. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10 in advance, $12 at door.

• Caustic Casanova, Dark Sea Dream, Akris, Disco Machine Gun. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• I Saw A Ghost, The Kindness of Strangers, A Sense of Urgency, Light Up the Sky, Failing the Fallen, Thatswhatshesaid. Jammin Java. $10 in advance, $13 day of.

• George Benson. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. $20-$45.

• High on Fire, Priestess, Black Cobra, Bison B.C. Black Cat mainstage. $15.

• Rocky Votolato, Brooke Waggoner. DC9. $13 in advance, $15 day of. 18+.

Will Hoge photo by Drew Gurian, via MySpace.

Friday

• State Radio, Big D and the Kids Table. 9:30 Club. $20.

• Justin Trawick. Strathmore. $10 in advance, $12 at door.

• Christian Tetzlaff Trio. Wolf Trap. $35.

• Powder Kegs, The Torches. The Red & The Black. $8.

• Juniper Lane, Melodime. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• US Royalty, Phil Ade, Poor But Sexy. Rock and Roll Hotel. $12.

• Curbfeelers. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Screen Vinyl Image, Last Tide, Dead Leaf Echo, Ceremony. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Mid-Atlantic Band Battle: Commodore Koko, B-Film Extras, Dub City Renegades, Elements of Addiction, HeLo, Redshift. Jammin Java. $10.

• Laura Tsaggaris, Paul Michel, Bellman Barker. Black Cat mainstage. $10.

• KC Jazz Club: Jonathan Batiste Quintet. Kennedy Center Terrace Gallery. $15.

• Boys Will Be Boys, Escape the Armada, We Have the Summer, Tomorrow's Ours, Rosy Likes Red, What A Night. Jaxx. $6 in advance, $10 day of (or $8 with flyer.)

Saturday

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven & Mozart with a Twist. Strathmore. $25-$80.

• Eric Brace & Last Train Home, Peter Cooper. Wolf Trap. $18.

• Honor By August, The Influence, Jones Street Station. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• V.P.R., Wake Up Cold, Stout, Common Enemy, Tsuchigumo. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• Rival Tribe. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• T-Model Ford, The Shirks. Velvet Lounge. $12. 18+.

• Wild Beasts, Still Life Still. Black Cat mainstage. $13.

• KC Jazz Club: Carl Allen-Rodney Whitaker Project. Kennedy Center Terrace Gallery. $25.

• Nouveau Riche. DC9. Free before 10 p.m., $8 after. 21+.

• Seasons After, Bitter, Seelow Hights, Ethereal Genocide. Jaxx. $10.

Sunday

• Gretel. IOTA Club & Cafe. $10.

• School of Rock: Best of Season Show. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• Wolfs Blues Jam: Hot Rods and Old Gas, Hot Roddess Lisa Lim. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• lowercaseletters, mgl. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Beth Rinaldo, Scott Holland & Friends, The Honey Dewdrops. Jammin Java. $8.

• Off With Their Heads, The Scare, Tiny Bombs. Black Cat backstage. $10.

• Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. $45.

• Electronic Saviors Benefit Concert – Industrial Music to Cure Cancer: Jim Semonik, DJ Kangal, DJ Blue Vampire, DJ Noir, Cyber Strukture, Xuberx, Sonik Foundry, Boole, Interface, Deviant UK, I:Scintilla, Ego Likeness, Terrorfakt. Jaxx. $15 in advance, $20 day of.

Justin Trawick photo by Thomas Van Veen Photography, via MySpace.

Friday

• Incwell. Strathmore. $10 in advance, $12 at door.

• Hotspur, No Second Troy, Margot MacDonald Band, Boys Will Be Boys. 9:30 Club. $15.

• Bo Bice. Wolf Trap. $25.

• Yell County, The Courtesans, The Secret Pop Band. The Red & The Black. $8. 21+.

• New Rock Church of Fire, Greenland, Drunk Tigers. IOTA Club & Cafe. $10.

• Sweet Interference, Tripp, Hot Coffee Mississippi. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• Two Car Living Room. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Reboot – The DC Hip Hop Takeover: Reemstarr, DTMD, Beatmakers Surock, Dunc, Maverick, Eurok. Velvet Lounge. $5. 21+.

• The Bigger Lights, Sing Me Insomnia, Action Item. Jammin Java. $13.

• Los Amigos Invisibles, Thunderball, DJ Afro. Black Cat mainstage. $23 in advance, $25 day of.

• National Symphony Orchestra. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. $20-$85.

• V.V.Brown. DC9. $8. 18+.

Saturday

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Itzhak Perlman. Strathmore. $30-$125.

• Nouvelle Vague, Clare and the Reasons. 9:30 Club. $25.

• 4th Haiti Relief Benefit Concert for Red Cross Relief Effort. IOTA Club & Cafe. Donations based.

• John Eaton. Wolf Trap. $25.

• Ravenous, Daddy Lion, Arden. The Red & The Black. $8. 21+.

• CP Blues. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• La Snacks, Typefighter, The Ionosphere Club, Transmography. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

• Middle East MicFest Tour 2010: Mack Jones, Scottie Flippen, Jah I Witness, Kaze aka 4letters, K Beta, F.A.T., Faraz. Jammin Java. $10 in advance, $12 day of.

• Mission of Burma, Office of Future Plans. Black Cat mainstage. $15.

• The Devil Music Ensemble. Kennedy Center Millenium Stage. Free.

• Walter Beasley. Birchmere. $37.50.

• Franz Nicolay, Romania. DC9. $8. 18+.

Sunday

• Editors, The Antlers, The Dig. 9:30 Club. $20.

• Skeletonwitch, Iron Age, Howl. The Red & The Black. $12. 21+.

• Adrian Hardkor Krygowski, Molly Hagen, Twins of Gazelle. IOTA Club & Cafe. $10.

• Elementary, Deville, Where Winston Stood, Power Pirate. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• Animal Genital. Velvet Lounge. Free. 21+.

• Alternative Takes: An Acoustic Evening with The Verve Pipe. Jammin Java. $17 in advance, $20 day of.

• Lookbook, Frau Eva. Black Cat backstage. $8.

• Creole. Kennedy Center Millenium Stage. Free.

• The Manhattans, Gerald Alston, Blue Lovett. Birchmere. $45.

• Battle of the Bands: Azazel the Fallen, All of This, Sextacy, Electronic Hope, Evereaux, Hover Craft, Suffer No Guilt, March Til Morning, New Retro, Love at Hindsight. Jaxx. $8 in advance, $10 day of.

• Leslie & the Ly's, Christopher the Conquered, Shock Diamond. DC9. $10. 18+.

Hotspur photo by Jane Mallen, via MySpace.

• Haiti Benefit Concert for the Red Cross Relief Effort: Brother Shamus, The Walkways, No Second Troy, Boxcar Collision, Bobby Thompson and more. IOTA Club & Cafe. Donations based.

• Sockets Records Showcase (with The Cornel West Theory, Hume, Imperial China, Buildings and Big Gold Belt). Black Cat. $12.

• Mike Terpak Blues Explosion. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Escape the Armada, Apartment 15, The Bourbon Devils, Cerca Trova, The Rythers, Better Red Than Dead, Irresponsible, LA.TD and Allday Mori. Jaxx. $8 in advance, $10 at door.

• King Giant, Tone, Gifts from Enola and Dark Sea Dream. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10.

• National Symphony Orchestra: Mahler's "Das Lied von der Erde" (Fri.-Sat.). Kennedy Center Concert Hall. $20-$85.

• Ra Ra Rasputin, Bellflur and Savoir Adore. Velvet Lounge. $8. 21+.

Saturday

• Gloria Kim and Michael Butler. Jammin Java. $8.

• Down N Dirty Fest: The Audition, Sparks the Rescue, The Getaways, We Have the Summer and more. Jaxx. $13 in advance, $15 day of.

• Two Tears, Eyes of the Killer Robot and The Electricutions. Black Cat. $10.

• Scott Ramminger and The Crawstickers. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• Laura Tsaggaris with Dawn Landes and the Hounds. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12.

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto. Music Center at Strathmore. $25-$80.

Sunday

• A Night With Thievery Corporation. 9:30 club. $40.

• XMC and The Formers. Black Cat. $8.

• Robert Klein. Birchmere. $35.

• Blues Jam with Hot Rods and Old Gas and Hot Roddess Lisa Lim. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.

• People Under the Stairs, Grieves with Budo and Kenan Bell. Rock and Roll Hotel. $15.

• The Dance Party, Ra Ra Rasputin, Tigercity, Casper Bangs. 9:30 club. $15. All ages.
• Deja Blue, Clarence “Bluesman” Turner. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.
• Handsome Furs, Dri, The Cinnamon Band. Black Cat. $12. All ages.
• Lynne Fiddmont. Blues Alley. $25.
• Atheist, The Faceless, Psyopus, The Agonist, Gnostic, Condemn the Infected, A Bloodbath in Boston. Jaxx. $20/$23.
• Alex Brown Quartet (Fri. & Sat. show). Twins Jazz. $15.
• Sunsets with a Soundtrack: The U.S. Army Concert Band. West Steps U.S. Capitol. Free.
• Video Games Live! Filene Center at Wolf Trap. $20–$48.
• Samantha Crain & the Midnight Shivers. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Free.
• Chopteeth, DJ Thick. Rock and Roll Hotel. $15. All ages.
• Chance Gardner, Molehill, Gist. The Red & The Black. $8. +21.

Saturday

• Mike Terpak Blues Explosion, Groove Quest. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.
• Trophy Wife, The Caution Curves. Black Cat Backstage. $8. All ages.
• Old Time Banjo Festival w/ Mike Seeger, Bruce Molsky, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, Clarke Buehling, The Old 78’s, and Adam Hurt. Birchmere. $29.50.
• Jimmy Bruno. Blues Alley. $25.
• Bugs Bunny on Broadway w/ the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Merriweather Post Pavilion. $12.50–$45.
• Hamlisch Conducts Hamlisch. Filene Center at Wolf Trap. $20–$48.
• Honor By August, Trustfall, Red Wanting Blue, Colourside. 9:30 club. $15. All ages.
• Washington National Opera Institute for Young Singers. Kennedy Center Millennium Stage. Free.
• Chali 2na (of Jurassic 5), Whosane feat. Pangea, Educated Consumers. Rock and Roll Hotel. $15. All ages.
• Feedback Dance Party w/ DJ Stereofaith, The Hardy Boys, DJs Dave Nada, Johnny Blaze, Trevor Martin, Andrew Jaye. DC9. $8. +21.
• Inkwell Strings, Dennis Manuel (Army of Me) performs Elvis Costello's The Juliet Letters. IOTA Club & Cafe. $12. +21.
• The Circus w/ Tyrone Norris, Bomani Armah. Expo. $8. +21.

Sunday

• Barbershop Jam, Blues Jam with the Idle Americans. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.
• National Trustees’ NSO Summer Music Institute Orchestra Concerts (July 12–26). Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Free.
• Rock the Bells w/ Nas, Damian Marley, The Roots, Common, Busta Rhymes, Big Boi, Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek), Tech N9ne, RZA, Raekwon, K-Naan, Sage Francis. Merriweather Post Pavilion. $51-$101.
• Reggae 2009! w/ Beres Hammond, Culture featuring Kenyatta Hill & Lenya Wilks, w/ Harmony House Singers & Musicians. Filene Center at Wolf Trap. $25–$40.
• 5th Annual D.C. Latin Rock Fest w/ Locos Por Juana, Nayas, Oda's, March Of Us, Pistolera, Reynolds, Ocho de Bastos, Los NeuroNautas, Machetres. 9:30 club. $20. All ages.
• The Nine @ DC9 w/ Justin Trawick, Molly Hagen, Jason Ager, Ted Garber, Laura Tsaggaris, Jason Masi, Ken Wenzel, Victoria Vox, Matthew Bryce. DC9. $8. +21.
• Kung Fury, Super Potent Death Baby, King Giant. The Red & The Black. $6. +21.
• Questlove, DJ Dummy. Liv. $15.

Handsome Furs photo via MySpace.

I surveyed the gift shop. A large woman with a hairnet and a dancing-bear muumuu was browsing. This was the world premiere performance of Lee Johnson's Dead Symphony No. 6, "An Orchestral Tribute to the Music of the Grateful Dead"—not to mention Jerry Garcia's 66th birthday—and the store's silly musical trinkets and pretentious classical recordings seemed ill-suited to the evening’s proceedings. That is, except for one small novelty book, an edition of the "Wisdom from our Elders" series entitled Age Doesn't Matter Unless You're a Cheese.

Steve Harq–a short, smiling, gray-bearded man in purple tie-dye who was a beacon of ebullience as he bounced around the lobby–proudly embodied that philosophy. "Jerry's what brought me here," he said. "That was the best chapter of my life, 25 years on Dead tour. I think it's great that someone took that spirit–the spirit of Jerry and Robert Hunter—and is using it, which is what Jerry would've liked. He was so diverse in his music. He—I'm sure he's smiling and saying, 'That's fucking cool!'"

More on the concert, plus audio tracks, after the jump.

Steve paused, and his friend tried to show him a copy of the program. Steve refused to look. Under no circumstances did he want to know the set list before the show.

"You ever see them in concert?" he asked me.

"No, unfortunately," I said. "Too young."

"Well then, you have an especially good time tonight, my friend," he said. "Because, you know, it doesn't live too many places like this anymore."

I did have an especially good time, although I have to say that the performance was surprising. I expected a certain amount of stilted interpretation, and I was prepared to feel estranged from some otherwise familiar musical moments. But many of the movements had a remarkably darksome tenor to them, taking on some serious emotional heft in an orchestral context. Part of this is attributable to a largely misguided visual presentation behind the orchestra, which alternated between screen-saver visuals straight out of Windows Media Player and old photos of the Dead. These tribute elements imbued the music with an overwhelming nostalgia, and at points distracted the symphony from standing as its own creation. As one audience member noted after the show, "It was like a eulogy rather than a birthday."

Some pieces, however, really had the house spellbound–in particular "If I Had the World To Give," which was masterfully done in string quartet, and a heartbreaking rendition of "China Doll," the song that first inspired Johnson to compose the symphony. In the best moments, the levels of elegy were tempered by the music's unbending relevance–not to mention the fact that it's just so darn pretty. During "Blues for Allah," when a single hand, in the formation of a single peace sign, emerged slowly from the sea of silent heads in the front half of the hall, its silhouette falling against the conductor's white tuxedo jacket, I found myself awestruck by the peculiarity of the cultural moment: here I was listening to these songs now, this way, so many years later, after all these things had happened

Steve was right—it doesn't live too many places like that anymore. I don't go to the symphony often, but I can't say I've ever seen a packed house, never mind one hooting and hollering the way this did. Nor had I heard someone shout drunkenly in the middle of an orchestral piece, until a woman yelled "Sugar Magnolia!" in the middle of Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story Symphonic Dances, which comprised the first half of the program. (She did it during "Maria," and I have to admit, she was on to something. After all, wasn't Maria Tony's sugar magnolia?)

Other than a few unseemly outbursts, most people were enthusiastic but well-behaved. Behind me, a woman apologized to a man who had to stand up so she could get to her seat. "Don't be sorry," he said. "Be joyful! You're here!" The man, I discovered later, had gotten tickets to the show from his children for father's day. He was wearing a Dead T-shirt they bought him for Christmas. By the end of the evening it had hit me: like its creators, like its listeners, like its country, for better or for worse—music too grows up

LISTEN: "If I Had the World to Give"

LISTEN: "Blues for Allah"

LISTEN: "St. Stephen"

Photo by Valerie Steinberg