Don’t read too many reviews, positive or otherwise, of The Roots’ drug-dealer study undun. With its backward-is-beautiful narrative structure and its overall flintiness, it’s not built for the current hype cycle, and it’s more likely to inspire a Bill T. Jones dance treatment than a million street imitators. Sit with it. It’s more than just a [...]

Just in case D.C. didn’t have enough film festivals, along comes Reelfest DC, the latest long weekend of hopeful amateurs and would-be local cinematic darlings. Launched as an outgrowth of a similarly named festival in Boston, Reelfest offers a mishmash of features and shorts obscure enough to at least merit a passing glance. Its organizers [...]

The one and only Afrika Bambaataa will be arriving in Chocolate City to “Planet Rock” funk it up for the “Funk 4 Peace” concert being held at U Street Music Hall this Sunday. The undisputed grandmaster and godfather of hip-hop culture will perform live and direct with D.C.’s international culture break-beat funk stars, Fort [...]

Sampling the thought streams of D.C. musicians past and present.
Rob Myers (Fort Knox Five, Thievery Corporation):
-Selecting tracks w/ Raskin for the FK5 set in Bmore @ Solstice. 60 min of hits! On the mic: Asheru, Mustafa, Rootz & Z, it's hard to choose!
-2:40am Frank Mitchell behind the wheel of 1 of 60 extant [...]

Friday

Eric Felten Jazz Orchestra. Blues Alley. $25.
L.A. Guns w/ Mis-Fit, Tilt, Sinner’s Trail, Bitter Pill. Jaxx. $18/$20. +21.
Sheryl Crow, Ari Hest. Filene Center at Wolf Trap. $30-$48.
TheoryCast, ReVeL, Fight The Bear, Conshafter. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10. All ages.
DC Summer Extravaganza w/ Tittsworth, Nadastrom, Will Eastman, Bobby Jae & Ken Lazee, Dmerit. 9:30 club. [...]