What's happening, updated every Wednesday.
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See this in a more scannable Google doc.
On sale now! Events in the ~ future ~ that you may want to buy tickets for before they sell out:
Dana and Alden (10/29), Slow Pulp (11/9), Pottery House temporarily reopening for holiday market (11/12-12/23), Ilana Glazer (11/20), tunes: Victoria Monét (11/27)
Wednesday October 28
Come for the free pumpkin, stay for the minions
Pumpkinpalooza is back at Alethia Tanner Park in NoMA. Pick a free pumpkin, participate in the pet costume contest, or grab a drink at the pop-up beer garden from Red Bear. (4pm)
Don’t go into the data center alone
There’s nothing scarier than a rising electric bill. If you’re unsure what data centers are or what they have to do with it, bring your questions to MLK Library where DC’s utility watchdogs and experts will, hopefully, have answers. (6pm)
Also || Silas House at East City, tunes at rhizome, women in power & poetry, mahjong at the stacks, korean food tour, film screening at NGA: Danton, fall festival, gardener's focus tour, screening: The Pajama Game (1957), deep history tour of adams morgan, make a halloween candle!, juice bar grand opening
Thursday October 29
The exorcist, but for ghosts of hinge past
Ghosted? Been ghosted? Forgive and be forgiven at this spooky ritual in Malcolm X park. (6pm)
I was born in the wrong generation :(
The music from the Early Permian Period of the Paleozoic Era was just so much better. So glad beetles evolved, though. And that we can appreciate them through modern art. (6pm)
Also || Afro-Cuban all-stars at Strathmore, The Renaissance of U, book launch: Stubborn Roots, library writing group, secrets of the seance society, halloween at rhizome with local rap: Wint, Black Love in All Its Forms, haunted hall, camila kerwin at solid state, gardener's focus tour, play: SPOTLIGHT, Chesapeake Bay Outward Bound School, movement in the living room, standup comedy, sober halloween comedy show, the great unghosting, mahjong at night
Friday October 30
Real ones (Rehearsal fans), know Halloween was born in Ireland
Despite that, there has never been a horror movie entirely in Irish… until now. Watch a screening of The Ghost (An Taibhse), which follows an Irish haunting post-famine. (7pm)
The apocalypse starts at 6
If zombie movies have taught us anything, it’s don’t split up. Put that advice to use on a bar crawl down 14th Street with the proceeds going to Ward 1 Mutual Aid. In this scenario you’ll only have to outdrink your friends. (6pm)
Also || anti-capitalist coworking club, night of the living SHRED, Batik Showcase at GWU, crafting at Because Science, cleveland park halloween bar crawl, tunes at rhizome, spooky night at comet, Girls Rock! Halloween, ASA book talk: You’re No Better!, diamonds and desire variety show, halloween stand up & stand up in Arlington, natural wine and spooky vibes at Sonny’s pizza, haunted lantern tours, masquerade experience
Saturday October 31
A haunted house you don’t want to visit
Local tenant advocacy groups are launching a Halloween-themed protest against a DC landlord we’ve covered in previous newsletters. You can read up on the legal situation here. Trick or treat? (3:45pm)
Throwing a party but forgot to get a DJ?
You can be the hero if you stop by this free vinyl workshop first. La Bodoquita is teaching beginners the basics, with cumbia, soul, and bolero on the turntables. (2pm)
Halloween day: tour of rock creek cemetery, hirshhorn halloween sculpture garden, dupont circle fall festival, DOL Fall Fest, national arboretum fall festival, día de los muertos fiesta
Halloween evening: family friendly halloween, District Horror Creatives Short Film Showcase, screening with orchestra: coco,
Halloween night: miss adams morgan pageant, Rocky Horror screening and shadow show, halloween double feature: rocky horror + drag show, halloween showcase: fight night live, halloween vinyls and costume party, light show at the exorcist steps, sapphic halloween party
Other spooooky events: yoga & wine & candy, screening: Titicut Follies and A Couple, improv for poets, masquerade experience
Sunday November 1
Free Grammy-nominated performance?
Head to the National Gallery of Art to see the Dover Quartet, performing Woodland Songs, their album that illuminated Indigenous traditions and American musical life. (3pm)
Winter’s coming early
Pretend it’s snowing outside and start gathering gifts for the crafter in your life. Halloween just happened, but I think I can hear Mariah Carey… (10am)
Also || Mary in Ecstasy at NGA, maryna krut at strathmore, screening with orchestra: coco, dmv-based noise, local tunes: restives, film screening: Powwow People, GOTV at Rhizome, clay bead workshop, 17th century women painters, celeste rogers exhibit at rhizome, facing fascism, community tree walk, palestinian olive harvest fundraiser, crossing a deep river, rock-paper-scissors tournament, día de los muertos celebration at the wharf
Monday November 2
What do you love about our city?
If you draw it, it could end up on a DC Public Library card! Design submissions are open for all ages. Create all month until you’re ready to submit. (Open until 11/30)
Rated T for Trust
Plot twist: You don’t know the plot. Angelika’s Top Secret Cinema doesn’t reveal the movie until showtime, so you’re buying a ticket to a surprise. (7:15pm)
Also || tunes: Frank Maza, Cooperative Movement Teach-in, dia de muertos candlelight ceremony, craft the vote, book talk: How America Brought War to Ukraine, Shepherd Park coat drive, pokemon go IRL, breaking up with big tech support group
Tuesday November 3
Celebrate or cry… but hopefully celebrate
At the election night watch party at midlands. Get a drink, make sure you’ve dropped off your ballot, and watch Steve Kornacki run around manically pointing at maps. (starts at 3pm, goes all night)
1920s OOTD
In the era of silent films, the costumes did a lot of the talking. A fashion curator is leading a virtual lecture on rare pieces from early cinema, including a dress from Hillwood’s own collection. (6:30pm)
Also || benefit show: The Dream Eaters, tunes at rhizome, upcycling night, adult lego club, book talk: Jacaranda, trivia at sonny’s, coffee and cinema club
NOVEMBER
11/4: sound at rhizome, alex edelman at strathmore, gardener's focus, presidents before washington, tech, surveillance, and you, natural wine tasting at doubles, BYO vinyl at no kisses
11/5: Tapestry Vocal Ensemble at Strathmore, alex edelman at strathmore, the witness tree, the crooked witness, tunes at pocket: dusty rug, Arts & Humanities Advocacy for FY28, gardener's focus tour, deep sea disco, mother of all comedy shows, localguessr, Who Do We Become When We Talk to Machines?, artist talk: Dany Green
11/6: OFFSITE duo at rhizome, finding awe at NGA, the freelance table, book talk: Clear Water, bed maker at rhizome, noirvember, tarot comedy: the fool, lesbian boyband comedy
11/7: nervous verbs, local tunes: Boilersuit, film screening of Mary Oliver, art: i come from the fields, icelandic christmas market, 50th anniversary science cafe @ natl. arboretum, riot grrrl doc, lacemaking demo, author talk: Pat Tanumihardja, the humpty experience, community grief gathering, seed saving 101, larping at rhizome, comedy: thank me later, 8th annual concert to rock cancer, a 3D painting you can walk into, power snack at admo porchfest, return of the horror queers, what we carried into freedom
11/8: finding awe at NGA, making art through grief, las micas at strathmore, tour of rock creek park, korean food tour, dune and messiahs, collage night at living room, flea market at lyman’s
11/9: Rick Steves at Sixth & I, book talk: spy school, food book talk: The Lotus Blooms Twice, tunes at haydee's, cursed image at rhizome
11/10: Julia Jacklin (sold out), american ballet theatre, earth's greatest enemy, new orthodox at rhizome, skip the small talk, author talk: Crash Into You, international arts & craft market, profs and pints: spirits around the place
11/11: poetry & music at rhizome
11/12: film: district of pupusas, makers holiday market, turn hard into humor workshop, burlesque piano bar, Community Journalism Program applications close, book talk: The Squatters, local tunes: Simp and Sons, screening: District of Pupusas, Jazz for Justice,
11/13: finding awe at NGA, comedy: love isn't blind, makers market, indie showcase: 4la7la, screening: Ghost in the Machine, garden tots, Farmers Supporting Farmers Market, Veterans History Project at LOC, friendsgiving clothing swap, art talk: "out of bounds", open studios at 52 O St NW
11/14: Red Brick Weekend, comedy for a cause, finding awe at NGA, Ellington Carthan at Strathmore, minsoo sohn at WPA, boots on the boardwalk, Hanukkah Spectacular, film screening: The Last Foray
11/15: monet: life in letters, finding awe at NGA, old saw at rhizome, death cafe, DMV tunes: Absent Habits, aquaponics 101, screening at NGA: The Promised Land, local tunes: Shallow Alcove, dc concert orchestra
11/16: women writers anthology reading, talk and cookie tasting at 6th&I, tunes at rhizome, brainfacts live
11/17: tunes: big head todd and the monsters, salsa at the portrait gallery, contemporary folk at rhizome, aga khan master musicians, cry baby creatives (baby-friendly creative space), craft in the living room
11/18: tunes: frances of delirium, local architecture, assemblage poetrics, writing circle
11/19: virtual creative writing workshop, Amarilis Dueñas Castán at Kreeger, tunes: Sirintip, teen publishing project, doc premiere: Creating While Black
11/20: tunes at rhizome, winter wonderland at nats park, The Long Goodbye (1973)
11/21: try writing a song, metal showcase at the pocket, tunes at strathmore, tour of march on washington, punk rock flea market, tunes: Petrichor, BRNDA at Comet, birthday jazz, Not So Grand Prix, film screening at NGA: The Wedding, patching 101, jazz at kreeger, yoga in the sculpture garden, 11th annual orphansgiving, tunes at rhizome, punk show for palestine
11/22: Germán López at Strathmore, film screening at NGA: The Shadow Line
11/23: latin dance competition, peter kerlin at rhizome
11/24: traditions of textiles
11/27: washington wilderness hike
11/28: echoes of doubt at rhizome, tunes: Emmett & the Dead Ends, smut slam
11/29: parks flea market, film screening: Powwow People, embodied thanksgiving decompression
DECEMBER
12/1: celtic christmas carols, collage at the portrait gallery, dorinda medley at 6th & I
12/2: skip the small talk
12/3: voctave a cappella christmas carols, wreath making workshop, improvaganza
12/4: HUMP! Film Festival, finding awe at NGA
12/5: HUMP! Film Festival, pas musique at rhizome, leslie odom jr at strathmore, local tunes: Bitter Stems, holiday walking tour
12/6: cookbook talk at 6th&I: Rebekah Lowin, book talk at NGA, crossing a deep river
12/8: hbd emily dickinson, gardener's focus tour
12/9: sneak peak at folger's english christmas, jazz: Dave Koz
12/10: Andrew Yee and the Rothko String Quartet
12/11: English Christmas for the Ages, tunes at rhizome
12/12: finding awe at NGA, christmas carols, local tunes at strathmore, christmas with the camerata, forget why poetry
12/13: Christmas with the Camerata (2/2), holiday walking tour
12/17: virtual creative writing workshop, Haley Heyndrickx at 6th&I
12/18: christmas jazz orchestra, local tunes: ammonite
12/19: tunes: ADRENALINE!, trauma and the government
JANUARY 2027
1/10: book talk on roy lichtenstein
1/24: dakhabrakha quartet from kyiv
1/15: Banff film festival
1/26: music and poetry: a hard rain
1/28: tunes at rhizome
FEBRUARY 2027
2/5: art talk at NGA
2/19: tunes at rhizome
2/23: praise song for the body
MARCH 2027
3/2: hamlet at folger
3/4: access as revision
MAY 2027
5/15: mental health gala
