Weekends like this make me want to say things like, “Hey, there sure are a lot of concerts going on this weekend.” Which of course is kind of an asinine statement—this is D.C., it’s a city, there are always a lot of concerts going on. What I really mean is, “There are a lot of concerts I want to see this weekend,” but that doesn’t sound nearly as interesting.

Nevertheless, here are my picks for this weekend:

Friday:

• Woven Hand at Iota. When I first heard the delightful genre nomenclature “death country,” it was in reference to the band 16 Horsepower, whose principal composer moved on to form Woven Hand, a dirgey indie-rock group whose Christian-themed lyrics focus on humanity’s failings in the face of an angry God. Not preachy; indeed, almost doomy in a way. Perfect Friday night material!
• Little Women at Velvet Lounge. I profiled these guys a while back—if you like the aggressive punk-jazz in the vein of John Zorn’s more out-there band stuff, you should be at this show.
• Bob Drake at Orion Sound Studios. Orion’s a recording studio south of Baltimore that hosts a series of progressive rock concerts every spring and fall. Bob Drake is an indescribable musician, a former member of American avant-rockers Thinking Plague and possessor of a bizarre, humorous, and utterly unique solo discography. He recently finished mastering a 10-disc box set chronicling the live exploits of British improvisational rock pioneers Henry Cow, and is on a short tour with a four-piece band.

Saturday:

• Todesbonden at Jammin’ Java. Yes, the D.C. area has its own female-fronted gothic metal band, and a pretty good one at that. Todesbonden recently released their first full-length record, Sleep Now, Quiet Forest, and to celebrate are playing this, their first live show in two years. Early show; Todesbonden’s set starts at 6pm, followed by a set from another D.C. area gothic metal band, Brave.
• Salome (pictured above) at the Red and the Black. Listening to gothic metal often makes me want to listen to the heavier stuff, so I’ll be going here after the early show at Jammin’ Java. I wrote about being pleasantly surprised by this Annandale-based doom metal band a few months ago, and I’m going back for more. Also taking the stage at this show are raucous Seattle punk-rockers Akimbo.
• Kayo Dot at Orion Sound Studios. They’re opening for Pelican at the Black Cat next month, but if you can’t catch that show and you have a taste for nearly incomprehensibly complex avant-metal, here’s your chance.

Sunday:

• Lykke Li at the Black Cat. Yeah, so Swedish pop doesn’t really fit in with everything else I’ve pimped above, but hey, at the end of this weekend of dark, depressing music I could use something to pick me up.

Saturday afternoon belongs to the festival’s Jazz ‘n Families Fun Day at the National Mall’s Sylvan Amphitheatre (behind the Washington Monument on the south side). From noon till 6 p.m., the Mall offers jazz events you can take the kids to: music for both adults and the little ones, plus food, drink, crafts, storytelling, and facepainting.

Esteemed drummer Winard Harper, who also plays the balafon (an African marimba-like instrument), is holding down the stage at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. He’ll be performing with a sextet that includes DC favorite Ameen Saleem on bass. That’s at 7:30 tonight, 1333 H Street NE. Tickets are $25 apiece.

Tonight’s main event is the NEA Jazz Masters Concert at the Lincoln Theatre at 8:00. The double bill features the current incarnation of the Duke Ellington Orchestra, with Paquito d’Rivera sitting in, and the DC Bass Choir featuring the legendary Christian McBride as special guest. The Lincoln Theatre is at the corner of 13th and U, next door to Ben’s Chili Bowl; tickets are $25.

Joel Pomerantz, from the Friends of Old Takoma, the organization that runs non-commercial music space the Electric Maid , says the 8-year-old, 80 person capacity place, located at 268 Carroll Street NW, just across the line from Takoma Park, Maryland, is having trouble meeting its rent. So Saturday night, year-old D.C. pop-punk combo Club Scout is headlining an 8 p.m. benefit at the Maid along with A Born Idler and Oak Oak Okay. Scout is a speedy four-piece featuring three University of Maryland grads. Pomerantz is hoping for more than just a good turnout. He’s seeking volunteers to help run the self-styled “community living room” that hosts movies and meetings in addition to music.

Stupid Hurricane/Tropical Storm.

Arlington Arts, the good people behind the annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival, have just announced that the “predicted severity of Tropical Storm Hanna” has resulted in the festival’s cancellation. No rain date or anything…just flat canceled.

If you were planning to head out to Gateway Park on North Lynn Street to see and hear pianist Lafayette Gilchrist, harmonicist Frederic Yonnet, singer Holly Cole, or the Spanish Harlem Orchestra–for that matter, if you were planning to stay in and listen to it on WPFW’s simulcast–well, make new plans.

This weekend, DJs from across the nation will be gathering in D.C. for the Million DJ March. The event will feature a panel discussion, a celebrity basketball game, and performances on and speakers on the National Mall. The organizers hope the event will help unify DJs to assert their rights in the entertainment industry. What they organizers lack in substance they make up for in lofty goals. I don’t even think there are a million DJs in America, but we will see how many turn out this weekend. Featured speakers/performers - KRS One, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Joell Ortiz, DJ Geometrix, Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz, DJ Kool and many many more.

Schedule and info is at the Million DJ March Blog

I recently had the opportunity to catch a sneak-preview rehearsal of Godisheus, a new band on the D.C. scene. Formed by veteran D.C. hip-hop artist Head-Roc and the MVP Band, an all-star lineup of some of the heaviest hitters on the go-go scene— Dwane ‘Kiggo’ Wellman on drums (Chuck Brown, 3LG), Dwayne ‘Super Bad III’ Lee on guitar (Suttle Thoughts, Familiar Faces, 3LG), and Keith “Blizzard the Bass Lizard” Snowden (Backyard Band)—Godisheus is working hard to define a new live sound rooted in the funk.

Head-Roc, who has taken on the stage name O.M.V. for this project, is no stranger to working with a live band. During the mid ’90s, he, Kiggo, and Superbadd III were part of Three Levels of Genius (3LG), a live hip-hop band that proved influential in the region. O.M.V. is is quick to point out that Godisheus is not a hip-hop band but rather “the return of funk music for the people.”

As we all know, funk beget go-go and hip-hop in ways dear to the District. Don’t get it twisted: Godisheus is no cover band doing their best Parliament rendition, they are that raw D.C. funk sound with a message of empowerment for the people delivered by one of D.C.’s mic champions.

Over tight arrangements that are equal parts funk, rock and soul, O.M.V. brings the lyrical heat, speaking truth to power with every line, something that has earned him the respect of hip-hop kids, punk rockers, indie rockers, the anti-war movement, and progressive audiences all over. Powered by Kiggo’s impeccable drumming (he is the third generation of his family to have worked for Chuck Brown) Super Bad III’s six-string magic and the low end work of Blizzard the Bass Lizard, the Godisheus International Funk Train (The GIFT) will be stopping in Silver Spring this Saturday for the Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair. Their performance starts at 2 p.m.

Before the picks, a video courtesy of the wayback machine and, uh, John Mayer’s blog, featuring Ray Charles and a particularly swangin’ Billy Preston.

Ongoing:

• Summer Concerts at Farragut Square—with its weekly cross-section of local rock—continues tonight and the following Thursday.
• Friday Night Live! Summer Concert Series in Herndon, VA.
• Check out the Silver Spring Summer Concert Series.

Tonight: The Console War at the Red and the Black; Dean Fields at Iota; Luke Brindley Band at Jammin’ Java; Salif Keita at the GWU Lisner Auditorium;

Saturday: Columbia Pike Blues Festival in Arlington; Frog Holler & Sarah Borges at Iota; War at Carter Barron Amphitheatre; New Day Rising at Kilroy’s; The Method, The Bourbon Dynasty, Airport Boulevard, Buck Forty Nine at the Red and the Black.

Sunday: Emmylou Harris at Wolf Trap; Cloak/Dagger, Transistor Transistor, New Idea Society at the Black Cat.

And for the final video this week: Emmylou’s performance in The Last Waltz.

P.S. Curm: I left you a couple strategic openings. Have at it!

Before the picks, a moment of silence for Bo Diddley…and a very special video:

Tonight: The Nitty-Gritty Dirt Band with Poco at Wolf Trap; James McMurtry (son of Larry) at Birchmere Music Hall; Manhattan Transfer at the Kennedy Center; T.I. at Love; Yell County with Julie Ocean and the City Veins at Iota.

Saturday: moe and Rusted Root at Wolf Trap; Chuck Brown with Midnight Starat the Carter Barron Amphitheatre; Jakob Dylan with Luke Brindley at the 9:30 Club.

Sunday: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers at Nissan Pavilion; The Wailers at the Belmont Country Club; The Cool Kids at the Black Cat.

And this week’s video: the Cool Kids on “Black Mags.”

Sam The Man Burns is a D.C. music legend. As one of D.C.’s premier disc jockeys, he has helped shape the local house music scene since its inception back in the day at the Clubhouse—all while inspiring generations of house heads and fellow DJs. A walking encyclopedia of records, D.C. club history and ’70s blaxploitation films, Sam is your favorite DJ’s favorite DJ. Not to mention he has been a driving force in keeping DJ Hut (formerly 12 Inch Dance Records) open and committed to supplying the local vinyl junkies with their fix.

This Friday DJ Divine and friends will be throwing a party to celebrate Sam’s birthday. The action goes down tonight at Mirrors, 33 New York Ave NE. You can bet the dance floor will be bumping, the walls will sweat and the beat won’t stop until early Saturday morning. As Sam loves to say “bring money and wash your a#$!”

Tonight: The Nighthawks at Jammin’ Java; Army of Me at the Rock and Roll Hotel; the National Symphony Orchestra’s Sibelius extravaganza at the Kennedy Center’s Concert Hall; J. Roddy Walston and the Business with Thing-One at Iota.

Saturday: Yellowjackets at Blues Alley; Four Bettys at the Kennedy Center’s Millenium Stage; Exit Clov, Brian Scary and the Shredding Tears, and Zulu Pearls at Black Cat.

Sunday: Holly Cole at Birchmere Music Hall; Dan Bern at Jammin’ Java; the Gibson Brothers at Iota.

And this weekend’s video: Holly Cole covering Tom Waits.

Which shows did we miss? Tell us about it in the comments.