Filmfest DC’s “Arabian Sights” festival, which kicks off tonight with 33 Days, continues through the weekend at Goethe-Institut Washington and the E Street Cinema. Closing out the Sunday schedule is Slingshot Hip-Hop, a documentary about Palestinian rappers. Jackie Shalloum spends time with a host of MCs but mainly centers on DAM, a trio living and performing in the Israeli city of Lod. Their perspective on the genre is woefully out of date by American standards, which is partly a function of how hard it is to get access to the music. (One rapper describes being thrilled at finally getting hold of an Eminem cassette from Canada.) But it’s hard not to be drawn in by DAM’s connection of Tupac’s “Holla if Ya Hear Me” and the second Intafada, and the excitement of Shalloum’s film is in watching a scene build itself from the ground up. There are more than a few headaches involved on that front—power outages, absurdly long waits at checkpoints, sexism, and racism, for starters. The fellow-feeling between DAM and an upstart trio from Gaza, PR, is so strong and inspiring that you can easily ignore the pride with which one member sports his Troy Aikman jersey.

Shalloum, DAM, and female Palestinian MC Abeer will attend the screening on Sunday, Oct. 26, at 5 p.m. at E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW, followed by a performance by DAM at the Hard Rock Cafe, 999 E St. NW. Tickets are $15 for the film and concert, $10 for the concert only.

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The Red & the Black’s Web site doesn’t make it very clear what’s going on with tonight’s “Music Is Bulletproof” show; neither does the MySpace page it points to. Details on the show below:

EVENT DETAILS: Music is Bulletproof benefit for the Victims of Violent Crime Compensation Fund

Music is Bulletproof was founded by DJ Key-K after he was shot in 2006. As a result DJ Key-K has been unemployed since his shooting, but it hasn’t changed his will to make a difference in his community. This event uses music to bring peace, support and awareness to individuals, families and communities who are impacted by violence.

This year, Music is Bulletproof is focusing on the awareness of the U-VISA. The U-VISA provides support to non-citizens who experience substantial abuse resulting from a wide range of criminal activity and helps with the prosecution of the crime. The U-VISA also provides eligible immigrants with authorized stay in the United States and employment authorization. Unfortunately, the U-VISA is not a readily available or known about. For more information on Key-K and Music is Bulletproof visit, www.myspace.com/music_is_bulletproof

Only by coming together can we create violence-free communities.

Event will feature:
Trinidad resident- Dj Mellie Mel (80’s Alternative)
Dj Seth B (Master of Old School Hip Hop, Reggae & Funk)
Dj Key-K (World Music)

Cover: $5 suggested donation (upstairs)
Proceeds will goto Victims of Violent Crime Compensation Fund Office.

Oct. 2nd
The Red and Black
1212 H St. NE
Washington, D.C.
21+ to enter

Kay Bozich Owens and Lynn Owens‘ new book, Lost in the Supermarket: An Indie Rock Cookbook, includes recipes from the likes of Black Dice, Belle and Sebastian, Country Teasers (still keepin’ it classy with a drink called “Red Headed Sluts”), the Mountain Goats, Xiu Xiu, Sonic Boom, and more. I know practically nothing about cooking, and I’d be pretty careful about ingesting anything prepared by a former member of Spacemen 3. But Guy Picciotto’s recipe for rhubarb crumble does sound appealing. Reprinted with permission of Soft Skull Press.

Guy’s Rhubarb Crumble

Serves 6 to 8

Filling Ingredients:

4 cups diced rhubarb, cut into smallish chunks

3 Granny Smith apples

3/4 cup of honey

1-1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon of cardamom

Crumble Topping Ingredients:

1/2 cup unbleached flour

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tiny cubes (put butter in freezer briefly till cold and hard)

2 tablespoons of sliced almonds, crushed walnuts, or crushed pecans or all of the above

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Dice the rhubarb into small chunks and peel, core, and cut the apples into thin slices.

3. Combine all the fruit in a big bowl then mix in the honey, cornstarch, and cardamom.

4. Dump the fruit concoction into an 8 x 8 inch baking pan and then smooth out the top with a rubber spatula so it’s nice and even.

5. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon.

6. Take the cold butter and dice it up into little mini butter squares.

7. Toss the butter square tidbits into the dry topping ingredients. Rub the butter bits into the mix with your fingers just till it forms crumblets. Don’t over rub—you want nice crumbs. Add the nuts and then spread the crumble topping over the fruit filling in the pan.

8. Bake for 55 minutes till the top is nicely browned and the fruit filling is bubbling up like a tar pit.

9. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or as is. Refrigerates nicely.

We’ll try to keep this under 140 words characters: Black Plastic Bag and City Paper music updates are now available on Twitter. (We have feeds for City Desk and the Sexist too.)

Punk legend, Blowoff DJ, and onetime City Paper columnist Bob Mould is going to publish his autobiography with Little, Brown. Michael Azerrad will assist; pub date’s 2010. Mould has more info on the deal on his blog.

Tomorrow night Gordon Withers will play songs from his CD Jawbox on Cello. The show, like the CD, is a benefit for Cal Robbins; more info on the show is at Murky Coffee’s MySpace page.

In this week’s City Paper, intrepid reporter Arthur Delaney takes a break from his, well, intrepid reporting to voice his disappointment with DragonForce’s new album, Ultra Beatdown. This, of course, has made the DragonForce fan club unhappy. Here’s Robius the Horrible:

This reviewer doesn’t know jack. DF is a powerhouse of power.

But it’s not all tautological outrage below the kicker. Commenter Dazey, who believes that Delaney “know JackSxxx,” questions Delaney’s invocation of the term “butt rock.” “What they [sic] heck is that? Must be something they do in Maryland.”

Ha-ha, Dazey! I figured Delaney made the definitions of “butt rock” clear in the review—it’s the posture-heavy glam-metal of two decades past—but he’s gone ahead and clarified for the angry masses: “DF isn’t guilty of spandex (yet), but the fundamental quality that it shares with other Butt Rock practitioners is artistic insincerity. And that is a sin!”

Matter settled, yes? Now we can all get back to playing Guitar Hero—or, for we impoverished folks, the cheap Web-based analogues.

Peter Margasak at our sister paper the Chicago Reader brings word that WFMU’s Web site will stream the Ex and Getatchew Mekuria’s recent New York gig, a bill that also included semi-locals Extra Golden and the Either/Orchestra with Ethiopian singers Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete. The show starts streaming at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

If you were planning on checking out Nico Muhly’s show on Thursday, you’ll need to head a little farther north than planned. The show has been moved from its original spot at the Birchmere to the Silver Spring’s Episcopal Church of the Ascension, 634 Silver Spring Ave. For more on Muhly, check out our review of his new album, Mothertongue, which Brent Burton said features “the kind of composition that goes a long way toward explaining that thick stack of press clippings.”