The Carolina Chocolate Drops

No one wants to admit they like country music. Let alone five string banjo and fiddle music. But, country music is making a comeback and The Carolina Chocolate Drops are singing in the comeback choir. These three young African American musicians, Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson, and Dom Flemons joined forces to create a sound that is sugary and nostalgic as drinking sweet tea on your nana’s front porch.


See them perform at the Birchmere on November 4, 2007 at 8pm.

Alice Smith

Alice Smith is re-releasing her first album; For Lovers Dreamers and Me. You do not come across a voice like Alice Smith’s everyday. Her vocal range is amazing (four octaves to be exact). She has one of those voices that you have to see live to fully experience. As a youth, her musical influences were Bjork and The Commodores, with taste that diverse it’s no wonder her music is so emotionally charged and genre bending.


She is performing tomorrow night, October 30, 2007 at the Iota Club and Café
Show starts at 8:30pm

Juliette and The Licks

Actors/actresses turned musicians usually don’t work out. That is not true for Juliette Lewis who after acting in a long string of movies including; Natural Born Killers, Strange Days, and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, decided to form a band. Juliette & The Licks got their start touring on the Van’s Warped Tour in 2004, opening up for acts such as Courtney Love and Turbonegro. According to Juliette “ The prototype for a female is that they're desirable, pretty to look at, predictable and safe.” She wants her music to be the antithesis of that…and it is!

Juliette & The Licks perform with Scissors for Lefty and Suffrajet at the Rock & Roll Hotel on Nov. 8, 2007. Doors open at 8pm.

For more information visit The Rock and Roll Hotel online.

WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution

WACK! is one of those advant garde exhibits that you will either love or hate. However, no matter how you feel it about it, it will affect you. Vagina paintings and huge sculptures that resemble ovaries are just some of the highlights of this exhibit. It is no surprise that this showcase of over two-hundred and fifty paintings, and sculptures was organized by the liberal peoples of The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (LAMoCA).

This is the first East coast showing of WACK!

WACK! runs through December 16, 2007 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Zap Mama

Zap Mama's music defies description. It has influences from Africa, the Middle East and even hip hop. A Zap Mama concert is more than just a musical performance; it is a colorful journey across the globe. Marie Daulne and her band members dress in ornate garments and infuse dance and great imagination into their shows.

See Zap Mama & Fertile Ground at the 9:30 club Saturday, Nov. 3, 2007.

Show starts at 6:30pm

Ticket information

9:30 Club online

Matisse: Painter as Sculptor

Henri Emile Benoit Matisse (December 31, 1869- November 3, 1954) was one of the first painters to be labeled as a fauve (a wild beast), because of his wild style of painting. The nudes in his paintings, drawings, and sculptures bend and take on shapes that would make my teacher gawk in disbelief.

His nudes will be on view at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Yes, you have to face the Baltimore-Washington Parkway to get there, but believe me it is worth the drive.

Matisse: Painter as Sculptor will be on view through February 3, 2008

Ticket information

The Women of Brewster Place

“Ain't that the story. Colored folks try to do a little something, somebody come along and throw up a wall.”

Gloria Naylor’s, The Women of Brewster Place is one of those books that no matter how many times you read it, you always cry. It is a story about ten women that face unbelievable struggles and still have the courage to keep on keeping on. The Arena Stage along with the Alliance Theater has adapted the book into a funk, gospel and R&B filled musical.

This world premiere play runs through December 9, 2007.

For tickets visit the Arena Stage

Let Your Motto Be Resistance: African American Portraits

Work from photographers such as Gordon Parks, Carl Van Vechten, and James Vander Zee have been brought together for this exhibition of portraits of African Americans that broke the mold and fought back, in their own unique ways. Portraits of Frederick Douglass, Wynton Marsalis, Lorriane Hansberry, and many more freedom fighters, artist, and abolitionist will be featured.

The exhibit runs through March 2, 2008.

For more information visit the National Portrait Gallery online

Walk for J Dilla (Jay Dee)

James Dewitt Yancey better known as, JDilla embodied and pretty much created the sound that we call "neo-soul". Whether you like neo soul or not you can't deny J Dilla's impact on music. He made beats, produced songs and albums for some of the biggest names in hip-hop and soul such as; Erykah Badu, Kanye West, Pharrell and so many others. He died an untimely death at the age of 32 from complications of a rare blood disease. Prior to his death he was also diagnosed with Lupus.

Join the Walk for Dilla (J Dilla Project) to support doctors and researchers find a cure for Lupus.

November, 3 2007 WALK FOR DILLA (Lupus Charity)

National Mall, Washington DC

Check in begins at 9:00 a.m. Walk begins at 10:00 a.m. Rain or Shine.

Distance: 5k (3.1 miles).

For more information visit the JDilla Project

Niggy Tardust

Saul Williams has reinvented himself, as all amazing artist do. He is now Niggy Tardust, and along with this new alter ego comes a new album. Those of you familiar with his first music project, Amethyst Rockstar, know that this man is capable of creating beautiful music. He ain't too bad on the poetry tip either!

The album is available for download on November 1st, but you can pre-order it on his website here.