No, Don't Sing. Just Destroy the Sweater: On WaPo's Arts Post blog, Maura Judkis looks at that recent ironic holiday trend, the Ugly Sweater Party. Whose to blame for this fauxhemian meme? We could go as far back as the mid-1980s and pin it on The Cosby Show, as, Judkis writes, "The actual mass-market ugly sweater reached its peak popularity sometime in the 1980s, according to the Wall Street Journal. That’s when people wore the sweaters in earnest, supposedly." Then there was a 2001 book on the subject by three Vancouverites who probably cooked it up after getting trashed and listening to City of Daughters on repeat. And then there was the Stuff White People Like blog in 2008. Today, even high-end designers like Dolce & Gabbana are getting in on reindeer-festooned sweaters.

Enunciate!: Seeing a show at Strathmore in late January? Make sure you pronounce precisely the name of the act you want to see, Click Track notes. Remember: Bryan Adams, Canadian 80s-rock star turned photographer as nostalgia act for Baby Boomers; Ryan Adams, tempestuous singer-songwriter for Gen-Xers who want to momentarily forget that they drive a Volvo around the suburbs. (But totally ask him to play "Summer of '69"!) Also, nitpicking because it seems necessary in this context: Strathmore, concert hall in North Bethesda, Md.; Strathmoore, former when said with a thick Scottish brogue.

Yesterday on Arts Desk: Austerity in D.C. arts grants; greater austerity at Artisphere; boutique-music stimulus as All Things Go starts a label.

Roxy Music frontman and solo artist Bryan Ferry has long been regarded as one of the best-dressed musicians around. With his debonair attitude and that silken voice, Ferry has epitomized a certain crooner cool since the early '70s, when Roxy Music first came on the art-rock scene. Supporting his newest release, Olympia, Ferry stopped by the Strathmore Music Center last night on his first U.S. tour since 2002. Ferry may now be 66, but it's clear that his voice and his style will forever be considered classic.

See more photos from Ferry's set here.

If you peeled off $90 plus fees for tonight's Mary J. Blige show at Fillmore Silver Spring, it'll probably be your first glance at the new Live Nation venue on Colesville Road. The nightclub—which is also the subject of Tom Anderson's City Paper story this week—officially opens tonight.

Meanwhile, Strathmore also opens its concert season with two very different shows: Keb' Mo' in the Music Center, and a Sonic Circuits Festival lineup in the Mansion.

BOOKS

Arlington's One More Page Books hosts a reading and signing by Sara Fitzgerald, author of Elly Peterson: "Mother" of the Moderates. The book takes a look at the moderate Republican politician from Michigan who was the first woman to chair the Michigan Republican Party, and who later decided to drop the Republican thing and go independent. Before Peterson died, she supported Hillary Clinton's 2008 run for president. 7 p.m. Free.

NON-LIVE MUSIC

Chris Price spins synthpop, nu-disco, house classics, and indie dance music at Unknown Pleasures tonight. 10 p.m. at Little Miss Whiskey's. Free.

UNSATISFIED?

If I've failed you, go to our Fall Arts Guide listings section, a magical fairyland of fun arts events!

Jeremy Denk performs at Sixth and I Synagogue May 19

The Washington Performing Arts Society has officially released its 2011-2012 season, and few would say the suspense has been killing them. Classical fans will be not terribly surprised to see that it looks a lot like the 2010-2011 season—with, in fact, some of the exact same lineups: Joshua Bell with Sam Haywood on Jan. 23, and Itzhak Perlman with Rohan De Silva on May 14.  Neither pair exuded much chemistry together last year, but Bell and Perlman’s star wattage alone is sufficient to pack the Kennedy Center’s concert hall regardless of whom they play with.

WPAS is also wisely bringing back the Philadelphia Orchestra, which put on one of D.C.’s standout symphonic concerts by an out-of-towner last season.  This year they will be joined by violin great James Ehnes for a program of Debussy, Shostakovich, and Mendelssohn at Strathmore on May 11.

Other concerts to watch out for include a 130th birthday tribute to Béla Bartók performed, appropriately, by the Budapest Festival Orchestra on Oct. 26 at the Kennedy Center. The Emerson String Quartet, one of the best chamber groups currently playing, comes to Strathmore on Feb. 15, accompanied by pianist Wu Han. Former New York Philharmonic director Lorin Maazel will emerge from his horse farm in Virginia to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic on Feb. 29 for a program featuring Mozart, Sibelius, and the wicked Richard Strauss. And the multi-talented violinist-violist Pinchas Zukerman will join the European Union Youth Orchestra for Bruch’s breathtakingly beautiful violin concerto in G, on April 15. Both concerts are at the Kennedy Center.

WPAS also organizes a “Jazz Legends” series at the Kennedy Center.  This season has luminaries such as Sonny Rollins (Oct. 10), Wynton Marsalis (Feb. 26), and Herbie Hancock (March 11), as well as others whom I’m sure someone who knows more about jazz than me could recommend.  Someone page Michael West.

The official release, from Aug. 19, largely reflects the preview WPAS unveiled in June. Performances are generally set years in advance, however, especially for high-roller institutions like WPAS, which bankrolls D.C.'s biggest classical concerts with its wealthy donor base (and pricey tickets). You can see the full season lineup at the WPAS website.

But two years ago at his Inauguration, the freshly-sworn-in president tapped Itzhak Perlman to play a somewhat statelier theme song composed by John Williams, accompanied by Yo-Yo Ma, Anthony McGill, and Gabriela Montero.  Playing the inaugural “was one of the greatest events of my life” Perlman said in an interview in Applause, by which he meant pretending to play the inaugural: The entire performance, it turns out, was mimed. The bitter January temperatures made their instruments impossible to keep in tune, so the quartet did a Milli Vanilli routine on stage while pre-recorded music was piped in over loudspeakers.

But Perlman is a performer, and he could fake it pretty convincingly.  As one of the few household names in classical music, his presence alone was what counted. Perlman’s longtime designation as “the world’s greatest violinist” is largely honorary by now—at 65, he is still very very good, but there are others—Joshua Bell, Sarah Chang, James Ehnes, Hilary Hahn—who are younger and more vigorous. But with the exception of Bell, none have the star wattage accumulated over a lifetime of Sesame Street and Tonight Show appearances as does Itzhak Perlman.

Both his age and showmanship were apparent at yesterday’s concert at Strathmore, with Sri Lankan pianist Rohan De Silva. The Israeli-born violinist was stricken with polio as a child and can’t perform standing up. On stage, he makes up for this with gratuitous mugging. Whether or not he is the best, he is certainly the smiliest violinist in the world. Most musicians would furrow their brows after a flub; when Perlman scratched a note in the opening piece, he grinned and winked at the crowd.

The first half of the program was uncharacteristically wan. Perlman and De Silva opened with Mozart’s sonata in B-flat major, one of the first sonatas Mozart wrote that emphasized the violin over the piano. It’s a playful piece with a few too many melodies that are simultaneously shared by both instruments, like that irritating Violent Femmes song. Yet for such a complementary duet, there was little to no interaction between Perlman and De Silva, who did not so much as glance at each other the entire show until the ovation. At times, Perlman’s touch was so light it appeared his instrument would fall from his hands. For Beethoven’s sonata for violin and piano in C minor, he tightened his grip and brought more pressure to bear, but the resonation sounded flat and suppressed.

Perlman and De Silva finally got into the zone after intermission (and maybe a halftime pep talk). The final program piece, Saint-Saëns’ violin sonata in D minor, was rich and full of verve. It had more G and D string notes that Perlman could really dig into, not to mention tricky changes in time signature (from 6/8 to 9/8) and key (from major to minor). Though the chemistry between the two was still lacking, Perlman at least was back to his old self, shrugging and mugging and appearing to genuinely enjoy himself. The two encored with a pair of transcriptions by violinist Fritz Kreisler (a previous generation’s “best in the world”) and closed with Perlman’s signature parlor trick encore: Antonio Bazzini’s Dance of the Goblins, a jaw-droppingly fast piece played entirely in spiccato, punctuated by plucking and harmonics.

Perlman is reaching the age at which most violinists drop the bow and pick up the baton. Indeed, he’s been conducting more, as guest conductor at several orchestras and director of the Westchester Philharmonic in New York; he’s also building his legacy as a mentor with the Perlman Music Program. But he will always be the violinist who presidents call for fancy functions, and so he’s still got some years of fiddling ahead of him.

[Sweater set member Maureen] Andary wrote the first verse about a man. But “Downstream” is not a break-up song, she says; it’s about making peace with one’s limited ability to course-correct. “Wearing armor so tight/scrape against what you think is right,” she quotes from elsewhere in the song. “That’s about having expectations, assumptions about who you should be, how others should be...Wearing a shell, being guarded, bumping up against your own reservations, withholdings, being at odds with yourself—that’s all kinda in there,” she says.

The show takes place tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Strathmore Mansion, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Md. $12.

LISTEN: The Sweater Set – "Downstream"

Bonus! Andary recently played some music on City Paper's roof:

In 1976, then-Havana-based Juan de Marcos González founded Sierra Maestra, a large band that specialized in danceable Cuban son music, one of the root sounds of salsa. Maestra became popular in Cuba, toured Europe, and recorded a number of albums between still beloved by hardcore fans of Cuban music. In the late '90s, González began reaching a larger audience with two bands he helped assemble, the Afro-Cuban All Stars and the Buena Vista Social Club. A conductor, arranger, and percussionist who plays the tres (a small guitar-like instrument), González, now 57, brings a new version of the Afro-Cuban All Stars on tour every few years. Tonight, they bring their Latin jazz and Cuban big-band sound to Strathmore. González responded to Arts Desk's questions via e-mail.

Washington City Paper: Where do you live ? In Havana part of the year and in Mexico City; or just Mexico City?

Juan de Marcos González: I’ve been in Mexico City during the last four years taking care of my daughters, who are studying there at the university. I visit Havana every half a year, more or less. In fact, Mexico is my second motherland and I’ve been going for more than 10 years very frequently. For college, we were thinking to move to Russia (Saint Petersburg or Moscow), which I consider the top country in terms of symphonic music, perhaps because I studied there, but we found a Russian high-level conservatory in Mexico City and we decided to be in a warmer and nearer place.

WCP: Do you have bandmembers do more individual solos, because you often play for seated theater crowds and not standing and dancing ones? I ask this because it seemed like there were more instrumental solos in the 2009 Strathmore show I saw than in a show I saw years earlier before a smaller standing and dancing crowd at the Barns at Wolf Trap.

JDMG:  Of course our repertoire and the way we play depends on where we are. I like to play clubs and danceable music, but also like that the audience understands that the Cuban music is not only “Pachanga & Fiesta,” that it also can be listened and appreciated as symphonic music or jazz. If in a concert hall we play basically danceable music it could be boring for the people in their seats. Meanwhile in a party a lot of solos is not desirable. That’s why the difference. In fact, what we try is to approach different Cuban genres and leave the danceable part of the show to the end, when, normally, the people are ready to “pachanguear.” In concert halls, I also like to give space to the band members to show their skills and musicianship to the audience.

WCP: Live and on the Step Forward album, the group seems to be nicely highlighting the best of the past. Are there any plans on this tour and on new and future albums to add more rap and other current Latin styles—reggaeton, etc.?

JDMG: Well, we are basically an Afro-Cuban band, so we have our style. In the future and depending on the album, you can find a more jazzy style. I also like hip-hop and spoken word, so it’s very probable that we mix a couple of arrangements with a hip-hop section. In terms of the reggaeton, sometimes I’ve used the groove live in “over-mambos.” In general we do not follow the fashion, but the roots.

WCP: New album coming out?

JDMG: For the end of the year, probably two productions out: one live album performed in Edmonton with a DVD from our last concert at the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts and a studio album that will bring a DVD with the footage of the concert at the Strathmore you were at in 2009. I’m already mixing the music and editing videos.

Juan D’Marcos and the Afro-Cuban Allstars perform at 8 p.m. tonight at the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. $25-$52. (301) 581-5100.

Tonight offers fans of old-school blues, soul, and rockabilly some interesting choices. Strathmore is presenting “Blues at the Crossroads: Robert Johnson Centennial Concert.” The show features Colorado jam band Big Head Todd & the Monsters performing with special blues guests David “Honeyboy” Edwards, Hubert Sumlin, and Cedric Burnside and Lightnin’ Malcolm. These folks all worked on the recently released album 100 Years of Robert Johnson, which was recorded at the historic Ardent studios in Memphis and pays homage to the legendary Mississippi-born bluesman. Johnson, as the myth has it, sold his soul to the devil in order to play well, and died at age 28 after being poisoned by the jealous husband of a woman he had a fling with. Except for the nice gospel-like sounds of keyboardist Jeremy Lawton, the contributions of Big Head Todd & the Monsters' bandmembers are the least interesting part of this tribute to a Delta great; guitarist and vocalist Todd Park Mohr’s formulaic noodling and average vocals pale next to the efforts of his guests. The 95-year-old Edwards knew Robert Johnson and Edward’s rough vocals and ragged guitar chords are still something to behold. Seventy-eight-year old Sumlin is best known as Howlin’ Wolf’s guitarist. Sumlin’s sharp-edged tones have livened up blues gigs and recordings for decades. Look for drummer Burnside, the grandson of the late RL Burnside, to offer some distinctively syncopated rhythms.

Like Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, Milwaukee’s Kings Go Forth, who are at the Rock & Roll Hotel tonight, are obsessed with old-school soul. Uninterested in adding any modern touches, bass player, DJ, and former record store owner Andy Noble and singer and tailor Black Wolf (born Jesse Davis) lead their 10-piece outfit known for its Baptist church-derived powerhouse vocals, funky percussion, ‘70s keyboard coloring, and a booming horn section.

"Capital Roots Riot #2" at the Surf Club features Northern Virginia rockabilly combo Hangover Royale. This trio employs that timeless ‘50s guitar twang, slap bass, and snare drum pounding on songs like Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock” and Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues.”  While the vocals aren't especially charismatic, the no-nonsense rhythms are effective enough.

“Blues at the Crossroads: Robert Johnson Centennial Concert” at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore. 5301 Tuckerman Lane North Bethesda, MD. $25-$45. 301-581-5100.

Kings Go Forth with the Mighty Heard and Dj Nitekrawler at 9 p.m. at the Rock ‘n Roll Hotel, 1353 H Street, NE, Washington, DC. $15-$17.  202-388-ROCK.

Capital Roots Riot #2 with Hangover Royale at 8 p.m. at the Surf Club, 4711 Kenilworth Avenue, Hyattsville, MD. $10. 301-927-6310.

What separates the superstars from the merely great classical musicians? Swaying. Itzhak Perlman sways. Yo-Yo Ma sways—even more impressive, considering his instrument, the cello, requires him to be seated.  And Joshua Bell, currently the most renowned violinist in the world, sways a lot.

Bell is undoubtedly an excellent musician, but that isn’t the point. Once you reach a certain level—record deals, solo tours—you’re good enough. You can play any piece. You don’t make mistakes.  The average person, even a serious classical fan, can’t tell the difference between you and the next Julliard-trained prodigy with their eyes closed.

What separates Bell from the rest of the pack is that in addition to being good at his instrument, he’s a master showman. To see him perform is to watch a spectacle, a man who appears to meld with the music as he plays it. His whole body moves with the bow: crouching before a crescendo, then pouncing on it, swooping to his tiptoes on the upstrokes. It’s all very impressive. It’s also unnecessary. Or about as necessary as when heavy metal guitarists do that giant circle thing with their arm on big riffs.

Bell has been something of a local celebrity too, since helping Gene Weingarten at The Washington Post pull off a clever prank in which Bell performed anonymously as a busker at L’Enfant Plaza metro and cameras watched how many people stopped to listen (answer: 7). The stunt was, as others later complained, prepped from the start to prove Weingarten’s point that Washingtonians are philistines. (It was done during morning rush hour, when people are more rushed, rather than the evening.) And it displayed a dubious and elitist assumption about what people should objectively recognize as fine art: Would most people stop for a Matthew Barney three-hour performance art piece in the metro? But at the very least it cemented Bell’s reputation as a good sport. Which he proved again last week when his originally scheduled concert at Strathmore was canceled due to a power outage, and he mollified frustrated ticketholders with an impromptu interpretation of “Yankee Doodle Dandy” in the lobby.

Bell returned to Strathmore on Wednesday for the rain date, paired with pianist Sam Haywood for a surprisingly not sold out show put on by the Washington Performing Arts Society. Bell strode onstage in characteristically casual dress: an untucked black shirt and no jacket, closed his eyes, and jumped right into the first piece, Brahms’ Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano. Brahms is usually soft; this sonata was more lively, and had an extended pizzicato sequence—plucking is what unified the three regular program pieces. However it was Schubert’s Fantasy in C major that showed off Bell’s skills. It’s a pretty and extremely difficult work to play, full of broken chords and other hurdles on top of Schubert’s unorthodox song structure. The last regular program piece, a Norwegian folk-inspired sonata by Grieg, was an interesting programming choice. The composer is far better known for his piano concerto in A, so much so that Strathmore is for some reason putting on two separate performances of it in March.  The Grieg sonata fell a bit flat, even with a few scratched notes. But Bell gave an extended encore of Sibelius’ “Romance,” Wieniawski’s “Polonaise Brillante,” and Chopin’s Nocturne in C sharp minor, all from memory, and brought the crowd to its feet.

As for Haywood, he was…OK, I guess. Honestly, Bell could have been accompanied by an iPod and most people wouldn’t have noticed. This is more of a testament to Bell’s star power than Haywood’s talent, which I’m sure would be apparent to all if anyone were not paying attention to Bell the whole time. But few would turn down the opportunity to be outshined by one of the few classical artists to have certified name, if not metro, recognition.

• King’s legacy of nonviolence and tolerance has made him a classroom favorite for decades, so its only natural for students to pay homage. In collaboration with the DC Jazz Festival, students from John Phillips Sousa Middle School and the Teen Arts Performers of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington will perform in concert, "In Celebration of MLK: Lift Every Voice and Sing." The performance includes choral and dance performances and recitations of excerpts of King’s speeches. The event takes place Monday at 1 p.m. at the John Phillip Sousa Middle School, 3650 Ely Pl. SE.
• Singing legend Patti LaBelle and the Let Freedom Ring Choir will perform a musical celebration of King, followed by the awarding of the ninth annual John Thompson Legacy of a Dream Award to Civil Rights leader Joseph Lowery. Festivities take place Monday at 6 p.m. at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. Tickets are free, but those interested need to line up early: They'll be passed out, two per person, at the Kennedy Center's Hall of Nations starting at 4 p.m. Monday.
• Head out to Montgomery County for another MLK musical tribute–this one features Men of Valor, 2010 winners of the How Sweet the Sound competition; gospel jazz saxophonist Brian Lenair; and jazz keyboardist Marcus Johnson. The concert's Monday at 4 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Ln., North Bethesda. Advance tickets for this show are already sold out, but those willing to try their luck at getting in can hop in the stand-by line starting at 3 p.m. Monday outside the Music Center.Advanced tickets become null and void at 3:45, at which time folks in the stand-by line will be allowed to grab an available seat.
• Frederick Douglass’ last home couldn't be a more fitting place for the National Park Service’s MLK Film Festival. The festival features screenings of A&E’s Martin Luther King, Jr.: The Man, The Dream and episodes of the series America’s Civil Rights Years, Eyes on the Prize. The three-day festival takes place 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. tomorrow through Monday at the visitor's center at the Douglass site, 1411 W St. SE.
• One of our City Lights picks this week is for Monday's screening of King: A Filmed Record… Montgomery to Memphis. Directors Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz completed the three-hour documentary–which features narration and commentary from Hollywood luminaries like Sidney Poitier, James Earl Jones, Paul Newman, and Charlton Heston–just two years after King’s assassination; the film was screened in 600 theaters across the U.S. for one night in 1970. Catch it Monday for free at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring.
• The National Cathedral's annual MLK event, "King Across the Ages," features a variety of performers including the African Heritage Dancers & Drummers, the Children’s Chorus of Washington, the Urban Nation H.I.P. H.O.P. Choir, and more. The event is set for Monday at 2 p.m. at the cathedral, 3101 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Visitors are also welcome to participate in a number of community service projects that will take place at the cathedral in the morning, before the festivities.
• In addition to the bevy of concerts and film screenings, MLK Day has inspired a sale at Smash Records, the independent record store in Adams Morgan. Get 10 percent off your purchases on Monday. Let freedom ring.