Exhibit runs April 5 - 29
Opening reception: Saturday April 5 from 2-4pm
Open during all events, or email us to schedule a different time to view

Please join us for an exhibition of student work from students in the Visual and Performing Arts Department at Montgomery College.

Friday April 25 * doors at 7, noise at 7:15 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Walde Mar is the noise alias of Luk Henderiks from Philadelphia PA. Harsh tape collage and live junk metal exploration.

Kevin Winter is an electronic musician from New Jersey. In addition to his solo practice Winter plays in the improvising ensembles ASPS and Haleta Wellins Winter Mountain as well as the Harsh Noise duo Hooper, CO. He has previously worked as 2673.

Max Eastman - PHL-psych noise tape-manipulations.

Weapons Envelope - Solo noise/power electronics workings by Emily Haugh.

Guillermo Pizarro uses field recordings, tapes, harsh noise, synths and ambient textures to achieve his cinematic storytelling through sound. He also runs Flag Day Recordings, a US label focused on promoting experimental music, harsh noise, ambient and soundtracks. Starting in 2024, Flag Day has added a production branch via Vitória Régia Studios focused on mastering, mixing and film scoring.

Numbing Agent is an analog + digital noise performer/recorder that focuses on manipulating and sequencing recordings and live sound.

Saturday April 26 * 10am - noon * Free / donations * RSVP

Feel overwhelmed/angry/scared by the state of the country? Want to take action and don't know where to start? Come to a moderated discussion at Rhizome to connect with concerned neighbors. Open to all!

Saturday April 26 * 2pm * MASKS REQUIRED * $10-15 * REGISTER

DC Dyke March invites you to celebrate Earth Day and help us raise funds for the march! A suggested donation of $10-$15 gets you the supplies you need to do some sustainable crafting. Decorate a tin can planter, fix up a clothing item at our mending station, or make a zine or collage. Feel free to bring additional supplies or your own craft and just hang out with us!

Masks will be required to attend this event and please take a rapid test before coming!

Saturday April 26 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Holly Melgard is the author Fetal Position (Roof 2021), named one of “Artforum’s Best of 2021,” and Read Me: Selected Works (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2023), which surveys her poems, short stories, and critical essays. Prior to this, she co-edited and designed Troll Thread Press for over a decade, a dual release print-on-demand + free .pdf platform, where she self-published ten other books, including several co-authored with Joey Yearous-Algozin. Her work has appeared in Best American Anthology of Experimental Writing, BOMB Magazine, and the German journal Merkur among other places. She lives in Brooklyn where she designs books and teaches writing.

Joanna Fuhrman is the author of seven poetry books, including To a New Era (Hanging Loose Press 2021)  and the newly released Data Mind (Curbstone/Northwestern University Press 2024.). Her poems have appeared on the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-A-Day, The Slowdown podcast and in the Pushcart Prize and Best American Poetry anthologies. An Assistant Teaching Professor in creative writing at Rutgers University, she first published in Hanging Loose Magazine as a teenager and became a co-editor in 2022.

Joshua Smith is the author of By (Non Plus Ultra, 2021). His work appears in publications like Yalobusha Review, Word For/Word, and TIMBER and has been exhibited at the Grolier Poetry Book Shop and Harvard University. For more, visit jsmith.bio.

every other Sunday * 10am-noon * Free / donations * REGISTER

Rhizome is pleased to announce our Youth Electronic Music Lab, for young people ages 11-18. We meet regularly to share space together while working and to give and receive feedback in a positive and encouraging environment. Our group at this point consists of some beginners and others who have experience making electronic music and are able to work independently on it. We plan to invite guest musicians periodically to share tips, talk music theory / composition, offer feedback, etc. Please bring a laptop and headphones if possible. Bring some of your own music you’re working on or would like to share.

Sunday April 27 * noon-4pm * $5-10 suggested * RSVP

The DC Modular Society is a group focused on learning, teaching, and performing electronic music with modular synths. DCMS meetups are open to all with an interest in electronic music, modular and other hardware synths, and hybrid systems for creating and performing music. We encourage and support building a diverse and inclusive community—if you’re wondering if you belong—the answer is yes! No equipment is necessary to attend meetups, but feel free to bring gear if you like. Mixer and PA system provided. We frequently do informal demos of synths and electronic music techniques.

Sunday April 27 * 2pm * in the backyard * $5 suggested * RSVP

Who says creativity has to be a solo activity? Parallel play is a behavior regularly observed in children — that is, children sit next to or near each other, while engaged and focused on their own play. For adults, this is a form of quality time and can cultivate a motivating environment for creative play.

In the spirit of Parallel Play, pack and play your craft of choice during these open hours at Rhizome. Bring whatever supplies you need for your creative activity and tinker away alongside others doing the same. Folks are welcome to chit chat while they get their art on or have the freedom to focus in and get down to (creative) business.

This is a co-created space for art exploration. Parallel players will be asked to assist with setting up tables and chairs as needed. If your art form involves music, please bring supplies that you can work on with a headset or at lower volumes, as to provide space for others needing a more quiet environment. Bring snacks, water, noise cancelling headphones -- whatever you feel you need to get into your creative zone.

Parallel play will be offered on Sunday/Monday evenings 1-2 times a month, as space and organizers are available. During the winter months, we will be indoors; mask use is welcomed.

Sunday April 27th * 7:30pm * $5-10 * TICKETS

Jam nights are an opportunity for people to show up and create art together. Bring a guitar, sticks, sketch pad, didgeridoo, or your dancing shoes and come vibe. Amps, speakers, drum set, and microphones are provided. Featured artist: John Fair

Monday April 28 * doors at 730, music at 8 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Motherfuckers JMB & Co. came together barely one year ago with a desire to create long improvisational soundscapes akin to music by German rockers Neu and Xhol Caravan (from which they adapted their name). With Geologist from Animal Collective (Brian Weitz) on hurdy gurdy, Marc Minsker on bass, guitar, harmonium, and Jim Thomson (The Alter Natives & GWAR) on percussion, this instrumental trio is preparing for their upcoming release of a debut album.

On Bull Market on Corn, New Orthodox (Nicholas Merz) makes music that responds to the American expanse with plain-spoken thought. The pedal steel player’s songs paint pictures of the fractured ideologies that shape life in this country through the melodic haze of his instrument, the comedy of his lyrics, and the surreal choreography that accompanies his performances. The music is both intimate and grand, charged and claustrophobic, taking the tools of country and spinning them out of context. Bull Market on Corn marks Merz’ debut under the moniker New Orthodox. Each of these songs takes on a different fragment of the American experience, traversing both the personal and political.

Tuesday April 29 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Grammar of Motives is an exciting, forward-thinking, participatory conduction system using unique game pieces in a graphic score wielded by audience members for interpretation by Creative Improvising percussionists and other musicians.

34Z is a new Improvising trio of old accomplices. This formation is one to honor the life, legacy and research methods of Ethnomusicologist Zora Neale Hurston with dynamic, critical and semi-amplified Creative Music. Music Research Strategies / T. Stanley / P. Cain

A self-styled strategist, Music Research Strategies offers your community an interculturally-situated, anti-ethnographic research methods and methodologies using technologies of Performing Political Education, Conviviality and Improvisation.

Dr. Thomas "Bushmeat" Stanley’s electroBush, improvised electronic sound art and words designed to emancipate the listener from archaic and destructive tendencies and beliefs.

Pat Cain’s electronics are one-half of the DC experimental hip hop duo, model home. With Nappy Nappa (voice), they take a freewheeling and improvisational approach that forms a sonic journal, unfiltered and immediate. Cain’s solo excursions are also available on their Bandcamp page.

Wednesday April 30 * 7pm * $15-30 * TICKETS

Presented by Outside Time, celebrating new releases by Zosha Warpeha & Heather Stebbins

Zosha Warpeha is a composer-performer working in a meditative space at the intersection of contemporary improvisation and folk traditions. Using bowed stringed instruments alongside her own voice, her long-form compositions explore transformations of time and tonality. She performs primarily on Hardanger d’amore, a sympathetic-stringed instrument closely related to the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle.

Heather Stebbins is a DC-based composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work explores porous boundary between memory and emotion. She foregrounds cello, synthesizer, and an array of other electronics, creating music that is imbued with patience, unfolding slowly over the course of multi-movement suites.

Naoco Wowsugi is a community-engaged artist who blurs the lines between being an artist and an engaged citizen. Wowsugi's cross-disciplinary projects—including portrait photography, participatory performance, sound healing, and horticulture—explore the nature of belonging and inclusive community building.

Claire Alrich is a multidisciplinary artist living in Washington DC. A trained dancer, Claire’s art practice centers the body and the somatic experience even as it moves across mediums to include: installation, dance production, 2-D art, and sculpture. She will be preparing the performance space at Rhizome this evening with an array of colorful, translucent textiles.

Thursday May 1 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Screening music videos directed for Joey Bada$$, Mick Jenkins, DRAM & Lil Yachty, Foster the People, Honestav, and more. Also screening a collection of personal work and unreleased film excerpts, and his recent short film The Burger which premiered at Beyond Fest 2024. Stay for a discussion with the filmmaker following the screening.

Nathan R. Smith is a director, writer, and editor from Washington, DC. His career as a filmmaker began when he directed the viral music video for DRAM & Lil Yachty’s song “Broccoli,” which received two MTV Video Music Award nominations. Since that time, he has directed videos for artists such as Joey Bada$$, Mick Jenkins, Ali Gatie, Juice WRLD, Foster the People, and many others. His video "Temptation" for Joey Bada$$ premiered at the Sundance Next Fest, and his first short film "The Burger" recently had its world premiere at Beyond Fest 2024.

Friday May 2 * 7pm * $15-20 * TICKETS

QUEERING SOUND FUNDRAISER
PERFORMANCES // SILENT AUCTION OF ARTWORKS + QUEER PUBLICATIONS

02 MAY 2025 // 7-10PM

TICKETS: $15-$20

RHIZOME DC
6950 Maple Street NW
Washington DC 20012-2014

Help us fund our expanded vision of a two-week QUEERING SOUND festival staged across the DMV during WorldPride, 23 May - 08 June.

Ari Voxx
charlee scythe
Novparolo
Boy Meets Pearl
The Constructivist Brotherhood

Silent auction for a signed copy of Tara Rodgers Pink Noises: Women on Electronic Music and Sound(Duke University Press, 2010) + ephemera; Fanny Chiarello BASTA NOW: Women, Trans & Non-binary in Experimental Music (Permanent Draft, 2024); “first fire” physical poetry artwork by Greg Thomas / oo (first edition/sold out); signed copy of JS Adams The New Vocabulary/Photographs 2017-2024 (Fading Glamour, London, 2025); and March for Our Lives “Life or Death” poster.

Saturday May 3* 1pm * $15-35 * REGISTER

Join us for an afternoon of kinky model drawing, guided by painter and art teacher: Dom. We’ll have models & expert artistic guidance. Meet your fellow Washington DC creatives. After a set amount of time we’ll open up the floor for people to make use of the space and create whatever images they wish. This workshop aims to celebrate body positivity and diversity while fostering a supportive, judgment-free environment for creative exploration.

Community expectations:
-absolutely no photography, phones should be tucked away during drawing

-the live model(s) have consented to being drawn, however, they must not be touched, photographed or talked about inappropriately in any way that could be interpreted as disrespectful

-keep conversations to a minimum, no judgment or shaming, this is a safe space for self expression

-avoid physical contact with other attendees

-if you witness someone breaking the rules all we ask is that you feel comfortable enough to go to the facilitator and explain the situation

-we reserve the right to remove anyone from the space

-no refunds

Saturday May 3 * doors at 5 show at 6 * $15 * TICKETS

Nuvolascura - Featuring members of SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Letters To Catalonia, Ghost Spirit, Curtains and Heritage Unit, this California band unleash an absolute whirlwind of screamo fury. Mixing driving/playful bass rhythms with wild guitar-playing, mind-boggling drumming, and intensely raw screaming. One of screamo’s best.

Ostraca is a three-piece hardcore / screamo band from Richmond, Virginia, formed in 2009. They are the next phase of a band that was once known as Kilgore Trout. Honing in the sounds of the historic screamo bands before them, such as Usurp Synapse, Circle Takes the Square, and City of Caterpillar; they play an intensely dark, chaotic and dissonant style of screamo/emoviolence that harkens back to their Virginia forefathers.

Sutras - Sutras understand suffering—and how to transform it into music. The D.C.-area punk band thrives on creating driven, melodic songs that forge connections between disparate spirits.. Tristan Welch (guitar/vocals) and Frederick Ashworth (rhythm section) along with recruited live performers fuse pummeling rhythms with lush, grinding guitars, crafting a sound that is both ferocious and dreamlike.

Nesting -  A band from Baltimore. https://linktr.ee/nestingband

Birth (Defects) - A guitar based music-band.

Sunday May 4 * 11am * $35 / sliding scale * REGISTER

Do you love  D.I.Y. projects? Join Fairy Ring Fibers to learn how to spruce up an old top with scalloped trim or convert a tired tank top into a cozy shirt! We will learn how to crochet into fabric, how to double crochet, and how to make a scalloped border. Yarn, hooks, needles, and scrap fabric will be provided, but bring your own shirt and/or supplies if you'd like!

Skill level: beginner - intermediate

Sunday May 4 * 12-3pm * In the backyard * Free / donations * RSVP

Free! All Ages Welcome! Join us for a joyful, creative afternoon of art, community, and expression! We're hosting a Protest & Pride Art Build for kids and families to come together, learn about the power of protest art, and make something meaningful for the neighborhood. We’ll have art supplies, pizza, and drinks, plus space to create posters, flyers, and visual messages of love, justice, and pride. Bring any extra art supplies you'd like to use and share!

A local designer and neighborhood advocates will lead a light skill-building session to help kids craft strong, creative messages and designs. We’ll also offer tips on places and ways to share your protest and pride art—from local bulletin boards to community events to protests and beyond. Come celebrate creativity, community, and the power of youth voices.

Exhibit runs May 4 to May 29 * Open during all events, or email us to schedule a different time to view

Opening reception: Sunday May 4 from 4-6pm
IRAA Celebration & Open Mic: Tuesday May 6 from 6-8pm
Artist Talk & Market: Wednesday May 14 from 7-9pm
Closing Reception: Sunday May 25 from 5-7pm

Beauty Behind Bars: The Transformative Power of Art in Confinement presents a collection of evocative, poignant and beautiful pieces created by incarcerated artists, each a powerful meditation on resilience, hope, and the human capacity for change. This groundbreaking exhibit allows audiences to see beyond prison walls into artists’ lives, shaped by reflection and the quest for connection through their enduring creativity. Curated by a formerly incarcerated artist and a public defender, this exhibit strives to affirm the humanity of incarcerated artists and demonstrate art’s profound and curative roles in the lives of people who have lost their freedom. Each piece challenges stereotypes and the all too unforgiving narratives about incarcerated persons. They bear witness to the transformative and redemptive power of art, even in the most inhumane of conditions.

Monday May 5 * doors at 715, film at 730 * Free * RSVP

Valentina Booking Presents: A film:

I'm No Longer Here

I’m No Longer Here (2020) or Ya no estoy aquí (2020) looks at the life of Ulises a 17 year old boy who is part of a gang named “Los Terkos” (“The Stubborn”) as he is exiled from his community in Mexico after a misunderstanding. Ulises then goes to New York City as he lives in Queens and begins to navigate his new life as a foreigner in a new world. This journey is met with discrimination, self doubt, and an identity crisis. A beautiful masterpiece. Directed by Fernando Frías de la Parra, and starring Juan Daniel García Treviño and Angelina Chen.

Tuesday May 6 * 7pm * $15-25 * LOCATION: TONAL PARK (7014-C Westmoreland Ave) * TICKETS

Jordan Sand is a bassist, vocalist, improviser and composer weaving voice into the organ-like resonances of bowed double bass. Her solo music, described as  "Joni Mitchell meets Ligeti" (Omaha Under the Radar), blends song, free improv and noise to haunting effects. A seasoned solo performer, she has lived in four countries and ten cities, driven twice cross-continent in July, and plays on a Hungarian double bass of otherwise unknown origin.

Now based in Trondheim, Norway, Sand returns to Washington D.C. in May 2025 for a recording project at Tonal Park. The resulting album will unfold as a collection of improvised songs, grains, textures, and tantrums for double bass and voice, performed unscripted and in-the-moment. The live solo set on May 6th will also be recorded and may find its way onto the album, hopefully infused with new collective energies, aberrations, and oddities that could never occur alone in the studio.

Tromba Marina Quartet

Born in 2025, this quartet is composed of four amplified trombas marinas -triangular string instruments mostly used between the Middle Ages and the Baroque era- played by Rachel Beetz, Alma Laprida, Nate Scheible and Brian Weitz aka Geologost. This will be the Quartet’s first concert and it'll be presenting improvised and composed pieces.

Wednesday May 7 * doors at 715, show at 730 * $12-25 * TICKETS

valentina booking presents: 

Lifted (DC & Baltimore)

Androgynous Bulge (Baltimore) 

Overlight Penchant (DC)

Lifted - The core duo of Max D and Matt Papich debut on Peak Oil following full-lengths for Future Times and PAN with a fresh suite of tactile, diffuse fusion. Half the collection emerged from a 2021 session at Tempo House rounded out by Dustin Wong, Mezey, and Jeremy Hyman, while the rest took shape in moments both collaborative and isolated, collaged together with CDJs into something more liquid and liminal than the sum of its parts. Across fractured jazz, pitch-shifted downtempo, revelatory guitar, and interstitial interplay, Lifted’s sound is one of flux, fragments, and filigree. Oblique harmonic synergies dusted in chance encounters and rogue acoustics. Diverse moods mapped with split strings and the space between notes. Music untethered by form or expectation, snaking like an ungrounded cable through a geodesic dome of deep-listening.  

Androgynous Bulge Is an electronic duo out of Baltimore made up of Hayden and J. 

Overlight Penchant - Alias of Jean Paul Pantaleon. Overlight Penchant is gleefully untethered from musical tradition, often even from basic tenants like rhythm or key.  Motifs recognizable and comforting in a different context float in and out of frame — always juxtaposed against a contrasting element, inducing an uncomfortable, but oddly familiar tension in the listener.

Thursday May 8 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $10-20 * TICKETS

Bashi Rose is a theater artist, musician, and filmmaker. He was raised in West Baltimore and was nurtured, inspired, and trained in his craft by the Baltimore Arts Community. As a musician, Bashi uses the drum-kit as a creative tool for mental/spiritual healing and as a bridge between the spirit and physical worlds. He is the co-founder of Konjur Collective, a multidisciplinary group using music, video, and spoken word to create radical, experimental, and spiritual Black art. Bashi also wields his artistry as a force of community good. In 2007, he helped establish D.R.A.M.A, a program designed to bring theater to prisons and to help engender communication and empathy. This project began at the Maryland Correctional Training Center in Hagerstown, Maryland. In 2012, Bashi was awarded an Open Society Institute fellowship to expand the program. In addition to this work, Bashi is the co-founder New Generation Scholars, a youth program that allows Baltimore youth to study the African Diaspora and travel nationally and internationally. With Lemuel Marc, trumpet.

The Emperor King Bishop TrioDuo - The Emperor King Bishop | Solomon Selassie, is a multi-instrumentalist, producer, and all around multi disciplinary artist. Selassie does not consider himself as a musician fitting into any particular genre, but knows himself as a sound scientist, a sonic alchemist. Through divine connection with The Most High and our Divine Ancestors, Selassie uses various sound/art forms to heal, ground, ascend, transmute, teach, and connect with the hearts and souls of the listeners/observers, Ancestors, and The Most High. Selassie has headlined and performed at the Monterey Jazz festival, Keystone Korner, Brooklyn Academy of Music, High Zero Festival, and much more.

Saturday May 10 * 9am-6pm * $75-100 * REGISTER

Calling all writers who need time and space and no distractions! Whether you are just starting a project, thick in the middle of it, or needing to finish it, come spend one full day with other writers at RhizomeDC. You will have your own table and space to throw papers and books on the floor, and lots of quiet. Space will be shared but not tight (if you’ve been to Rhizome, imagine two people in each room, each with their own table). Coffee, tea, snacks, lunch, provided. Wine or beer at the end of the day. Phones will be squirreled away by Rhizome’s own squirrels. For an extra fee, we won’t give you the wifi password. (Just kidding; we won’t give it to you for free.) Featuring:
-an inspiring space (old house, big windows, beautiful art)
-delicious vittles you don’t have to plan yourself
-enforced quiet with designated talking times
-one whole day of focused work!

The Rhizome Writers Collective knows how hard it is to enter that writerly trance/get sh*t done. We’re here to facilitate the magic!

Saturday May 10 * doors at 7 * $10-15 * TICKETS

Sensor Ghost is a no-wave art-punk trio from Washington, DC, featuring Mike Andre (bass/vocals), Amanda Huron (guitar), and Sam Lavine (drums). The band’s spiky songs have been known to leave listeners in a discombobulated trance. Former/current projects include Puff Pieces, Antelope, Weed Tree, Light Beams, Vertebrates, and Stigmatics. Like the aforementioned groups, Sensor Ghost owes a debt to the freaked-out sonics and iconoclastic creativity of the storied DC punk scene. 

Anarkuss is s folk/punk band formed in 2018 in Berlin by Al Burian (ex-Milemarker, Burn Collector zine) and Annee R. Kuss. The loud and soft duo has been described as "combat folk" and "experimental acoustic punk". Anarkuss has played shows in Europe and the US, released two tapes on their own label, with a CS/CD on Exotic Fever Records forthcoming. A playfully political post-apocalyptic song and story act, providing thought-provoking minimalist entertainment and a glimpse into what bands will sound like when the power grid fails and we all revert to eating nuts and berries. 

FREQ FLAG are a new DC/Baltimore trio from Dave Bryson, Joe Halladay and Burleigh Seaver (ex-members of Son Volt, Des Demonas, Shortstack), dealing in rhythm-centric cosmic Americana. 

every other Sunday * 10am-noon * Free / donations * REGISTER

Rhizome is pleased to announce our Youth Electronic Music Lab, for young people ages 11-18. We meet regularly to share space together while working and to give and receive feedback in a positive and encouraging environment. Our group at this point consists of some beginners and others who have experience making electronic music and are able to work independently on it. We plan to invite guest musicians periodically to share tips, talk music theory / composition, offer feedback, etc. Please bring a laptop and headphones if possible. Bring some of your own music you’re working on or would like to share.

Sunday May 11 * 7pm * $15-25 * TICKETS

Xin Ni is a multidisciplinary artist whose art practice explores sex, gender and politics through humor. She transforms the ready-made objects, and plays with her body to make objects, performance and social intervention pieces. "My work is my reaction to my surroundings. I encounter myself in the World."

Hideo Sekino was born in Tokyo, Japan. After learning different styles of shakuhachi playing, in 1986 he joined the Komuso Kenkyu-kai (monks of emptiness), a research organization on Komuso monks and their shakuhachi music. He has been performing honkyoku pieces since then in both Japan and the United States. Besides his involvement in the tradition of Komuso music, he has been active in collaboration with performing arts such as Modern Dance, Butoh, Flamenco, Performance Artists and Noh dances.

Charlotte Richardson-Deppe is a queer feminist artist working between performance and soft sculpture. Her work considers how people relate to one another, abstracting and exaggerating these connections through performance and wearables. She has completed residencies at VisArts, Montgomery College, Stamp Gallery, and the Torpedo Factory Arts Center and shown work at MOCA Taipei, Auckland Pride Festival, NextNow Fest, Culture Lab LIC, StableArts, Rhizome DC, Source Theatre, VisArts, Phaze 2 Gallery, NE Sculpture, Maryland Art Place, and more. She received her MFA in Studio Art from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she teaches drawing, sculpture, and photography as a Lecturer in the Department of Art.

Emi Kawashima (she/they) is a mover, grower, and maker based in DC. They explore movement and other mediums with a constantly changing body and mind. Inspired by nature, relationships, mental health, and everyday situations, she has been experimenting with plant dyed shibori fiber in their work. Emi gets their hands dirty as a garden manager at the Washington Youth Garden while finding ways to share space and collaborate with other creative folks.

Monday May 12 * doors at 7 music at 730 * $10-20 * TICKETS

Bone Bag
https://hardtackk.bandcamp.com/album/distorted-number-3-bag

Femurs
https://on.soundcloud.com/aCC2twSMjzuTQoib8

Opposite Tiger

Tuesday May 13 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Elka Bong is:
Al Margolis - clarinet, violin, contact mics, objects
Walter Wright - Board Weevil, drums, percussion

with
Irman - electric cello, bass

"Al Margolis ... is some sort of evil genius working with sources radically altered up to an utterly unrecognizable state, anarchic manifestations moving in compact determination.” ~ Massimo Ricci

Walter Wright is an interdisciplinary artist, his practice includes computer programming, music, and video performance. His focus is on “improvisation as a way of being present in the world.”

Irman is a cello, bass and electronic music improvisor, composer and producer, active and involved in live performance since 1975.

Pat Cain’s electronics are one-half of the DC experimental hip hop duo, model home. With Nappy Nappa (voice), they take a freewheeling and improvisational approach that forms a sonic journal, unfiltered and immediate.

Thursday May 15 doors at 6:30, music at 7 $15 *TICKETS

Blockade - Blockade is a straight edge hardcore band from Tampa, Florida brimming with energy. Lyrics ranging from disdain towards big shots in glass towers to the total rejection of poisonous vices. Inspired by floorpunch, no tolerance, and stop & think, hit the dance floor and show your style

Inversion - DC Hardcore

Reason Why - DC Hardcore

Cross Examine - DC Straight Edge

BITE - Baltimore Hardcore

Saturday May 17 * 2pm sharp * $10-20 * TICKETS

An experimental guitarist, artist and architect based in Brooklyn NY, Sandy Ewen's guitar playing playing is centered around found objects and extended techniques. She performs solo and in many diverse musical and multi-media collaborations. Ongoing projects include duo with a Damon Smith, an all-female large ensemble, the trio Etched in the Eye, and a duo with Tom Carter called Spiderwebs.

Aaron Russell is a guitarist from Tallahassee, Florida.

Layne Garrett is an improvising musician and instrument builder based in Washington DC. He works with prepared guitars, found objects, and self-built instruments. He plays in the improvising duo Weed Tree with drummer Amanda Huron and the rock group Drawn with Nate Scheible and Nenet.

Sunday May 18 * 3-5pm * RSVP

Death Cafes are opportunities for people to enjoy refreshments together and discuss the topic of death. The objective is to “increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” There are Death Cafes all over the country. What's on your mind about death and dying? Contact Death Cafe Facilitators Margaret Branch at margaret603@gmail.com or Monica Lynch at mlynch19@comcast.net.. Death Cafes are NOT therapy, grief support, or counseling sessions. Cost: Free (small donation for the space encouraged)

Sunday May 18 * 7pm * $15 * TICKETS

Come see and hear DC music icon

Don Zientara (Guitar & voice)

with special guest

Fred Hof (Guitar & voice)

aaaand

The Don Z Scheme (Full band)

Monday May 19 * 7pm * $20-25 * TICKETS

Join Transparent Productions for an evening of music with solo sets from Caroline Davis (saxophone, voice, electronics) and Janel Leppin (cello, electronics).

Caroline Davis’s dream for playing music comes from a wish to connect, yearning for curious listeners to expand their ears, hearts, and minds. Her musical journey began in humid Singapore, hearing sounds underwater that she would recreate by singing to her German shepherd dogs. Their Swedish-British family moved to the US -- Atlanta, Georgia -- around age 6, where she enjoyed R&B and gospel music, full of horns that lured her to choose the saxophone 6 years later. Drawing from these early influences, Caroline’s musical expression covers a wide range of styles. She has released eight of her own albums, to much acclaim, and is a collaborator on countless recordings. Her teaching practice centers around gender studies in jazz at The New School and she has a private saxophone studio at Manhattan School of Music. Caroline is an active advocate for gender equity (This Is A Movement) and current/formerly incarcerated people (Justice for Keith LaMar, Keys Beats Bars, Creatives Beyond Incarceration).

Janel Leppinis a musical force in multiple genres on her primary instrument the cello. Leppin's music can be found on Cuneiform Records and on bandcamp. From the Monterey Jazz Festival to the New York Winter Jazzfest Leppin performs widely as a cellist with a unique voice and artistic vision. She tours internationally as a soloist and in her duo with husband, Anthony Pirog. Her artwork which she weaves out her worn out vintage performance clothing appears on several of her record covers, are in private collections and are hung at D.C. music venues the Black Cat and at Comet Ping Pong.

Friday May 23 * 7pm * $10 * TICKETS

Mannequin Fight

Berra

Lean Tee

Trinomial

every other Sunday * 10am-noon * Free / donations * REGISTER

Rhizome is pleased to announce our Youth Electronic Music Lab, for young people ages 11-18. We meet regularly to share space together while working and to give and receive feedback in a positive and encouraging environment. Our group at this point consists of some beginners and others who have experience making electronic music and are able to work independently on it. We plan to invite guest musicians periodically to share tips, talk music theory / composition, offer feedback, etc. Please bring a laptop and headphones if possible. Bring some of your own music you’re working on or would like to share.

Sunday May 25 * noon-4pm * $5-10 suggested * RSVP

The DC Modular Society is a group focused on learning, teaching, and performing electronic music with modular synths. DCMS meetups are open to all with an interest in electronic music, modular and other hardware synths, and hybrid systems for creating and performing music. We encourage and support building a diverse and inclusive community—if you’re wondering if you belong—the answer is yes! No equipment is necessary to attend meetups, but feel free to bring gear if you like. Mixer and PA system provided. We frequently do informal demos of synths and electronic music techniques.

Thursday May 29 * doors: 6:30, music: 7:00 * $15-20 sliding scale * TICKETS

In the tender, surrealist world that Dan Knishkowy has developed under the name Adeline Hotel, stories have been told through sprawling psych-rock epics (2020’s Solid Love), stark solo guitar performances (2021’s Good Timing), piano-led orchestral song cycles (2021’s The Cherries Are Speaking), and lush, jazzy compositions that felt like a genre unto themselves (2023’s Hot Fruit). Inspired by indie lifers and fellow world-builders like Jim O’Rourke and Phil Elverum, the Ruination Records co-founder has rewritten the rule book with each new project, inviting listeners to join as he discovers new channels for his singular voice. By now the sound of Adeline Hotel is equally identifiable through Knishkowy’s dextrous fingerpicking—the aural equivalent of tracing your fingers through cool sand at sunrise—as his low, whispered vocals and autumnal melodies.

Cameron Knowler hadn’t stepped foot on Yuma, AZ dirt since the incarceration of his father when he was eleven years old. CRK, a self-titled affair, finds the artist confronting darkness with an open mind, sculpting the diorama of his youth into a record brimming with medicinal soundscapes. In line with the regional ethos of composer Frantz Casseus, the minimalism of Bruce Langhorne and the genre-blurring lens of David Rawlings, this instrumental record draws on the history and geography of Knowler’s perplexing birthplace—a border town known for its eternal sunshine, lettuce production, affordable dental work and defunct territorial prison that once served as a high school. Knowler carries forward the grand pictorial canon made famous by Dorothea Lange and western films such as “3:10 to Yuma” while soberly reporting on day-to-day life in the Sonoran with “Christmas in Yuma,” a zany poem recited by Jack Kilmer.

Since 2005, Baltimore-based songwriter Bob Keal has released and performed music as Small Sur alongside a rotating cast of musicians. Keal has always been elusive–touring only occasionally, self-releasing the majority of his full-length records, and rarely throwing elbows in the attention economy. Despite this relative obscurity, his unique and understated songwriting has been hailed as “expansive” (Aquarium Drunkard), “stoic, dark, and exuberant” (Tiny Mix Tapes), and “serene minimalism [which] conjures large expanses of natural landscapes at their most beautiful” (NPR). His songwriting tends to speak the language of the natural world, and it is this relationship to nature which informed his work on 2022’s Attic Room, released via UK imprint Worried Songs.

Tuesday June 3 * doors at 7, show at 7:30 * $20 / sliding scale * TICKETS

Griefcat and Sex Monster combine forces for an evening that can only be described as...Grief Sex. Faeries Fucking meets Fairy Boyfriend in the cross-over episode you didn't know you needed. Will there be a mash-up? You'll just have to come and find out for yourself.

Griefcat (aka, Louisa Hall & Annie Nardolilli) is a musical comedy duo known for their harmonies, hilarity, viral videos, and engaging live performances. They’ve garnered over 50M views on their social media content over the last year, and have been featured by NBC (America’s Got Talent), ABC (Good Morning Washington), NPR, the Washington Post, and more. Hailed as “local favorites” by Washington City Paper in their hometown of DC, they are often referred to as “Tenacious Double D’s” due to their musicality and hilarious lyrics, their sequin studded shows has even Questlove admitting he "feels seen."

Sex Monster is what happens when a theater artist (Jenna Murphy) and a jazz musician (Amy K Bormet) bond over the romantasy novels in their Kindle history while waiting for the Metro. Musical genres are blended and mythical characters are reinvented in the titillating cabaret audiences refer to as "rabidly feminine" and "Lilith Fair for perverts." If you've ever seduced a ghost, or would like to give it a try, this show is for you. This act contains mature content, and is not appropriate for children or pearl-clutchers.

Thursday June 5 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Liz Downing: Shadow Mother is psychotherapy by way of Toy Theater with voice, banjo, and puppetry. The setting is the dark, infinite land of the Id. One puppet is "Self" who speaks and the other is “Shadow Mother,” who sings.  

Emma Elizabeth Downing is an image maker, using singing/songwriting, banjoing and painting to create musical performances, plays and Toy Theater. She seeks to make good use of all of her skills, mine the universal psyche, and create art in rich collaborations. Elizabeth grew up in a small town, Alabama working in the the family Motel, singing in a Methodist Youth Choir, touring nursing homes, prisons, and childrens' hospitals. This was a formative idea of how to leave home, how to move people to tears, how to tell a story. She thought of becoming an evangelist, but instead became a painter graduating from Auburn University in Alabama. She then came to Baltimore to study under Grace Hartigan at the Maryland Institute College of Art. Here, Elizabeth joined with other artists and their collaborative efforts led to peformance art, hillbillie operas, story cycle concerts, parades and a lifetime of future collaborations.

Alicia Puglionesi and Carrie Fucile: Circles In Absolute Night is the story of descending into a cave with spoken word, live sound, and projected video. Why do we put faith in false promises and what is it like to be a rock? We will shed light on these questions.

Alicia Puglionesi is a writer, historian, and Baltimore resident. She studies the history of knowledge-making and mystery in the human sciences. Her writing, scholarly and journalistic, deals with mediumship, haunting, and memory in the American landscape. Puglionesi works as a lecturer in an undergraduate medical humanities program, as a researcher and curator, and in the production of poems.

Carrie Fucile is a sound artist who creates installation, sculpture, performance, and experimental music. Her research investigates how memories embodied in objects, architecture, and landscapes have sustained cultural resonance. The creative efforts that result interpret the effects of political power, technological shifts, and global economics on the human condition. Ultimately her work seeks to expose how traces of the past continue to live with us in the present. She lives and works in Baltimore, MD.

Erik Ruin: All That Is Solid is an audio-visual environment that layers/juxtaposes quietly transcendentalist video observations of everyday life alongside hand-drawn animations and cut paper projections. A series of reckonings with the state of the state, the self, society, the environment, the interpenetration and complicity of them/us all.

Erik Ruin is a Michigan-raised, Philadelphia-based printmaker, shadow puppeteer, paper-cut artist, etc., who has been lauded by the New York Times for his "spell-binding cut-paper animations." His work oscillates between the poles of apocalyptic anxieties and utopian yearnings, with an emphasis on empathy, transcendence and obsessive detail. He frequently works collaboratively with musicians, theater performers, other artists and activist campaigns.

Saturday June 7 * 12-2pm * Free / donations * RSVP

DC Youthquake!
Distributing issue #1...

Looking for likeminded women, artists, activists.
Open meeting/call to action
Come meet friends…

Talk Music!
Talk Art!
Talk Change!

Calling all femme + queer people in DC And surrounding areas

Help us make our scene ours

BRING A FRIEND!
BRING A FRIEND'S FRIEND!!

Want to get involved?

Tuesday June 10 * doors at 6:30, show at 7 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Deady - Deady is a 5 piece punk band from Louisville, KY. Album out this June.

Material Objects - With a foundation of textured and rounded rhythm, dense and propulsive bass and atmospheric guitars, Material Objects exist in that sweet spot of indie rock, psychedelic and post-punk with a rich melodic edge.

Ducts

Spring Silver - Spring Silver is a loud music project based out of Maryland.

Flyer by Terence Hannum

Friday June 13 * 7pm * $15-25 * TICKETS

Jair-Rohm Parker Wells, bass & Ben Dumbauld, percussion
Jair-Rohm Parker Wells is an American electric bassist, sound sculptor, and experimental music artist. He is a pioneering figure in the world of free jazz and improvised music, with a career spanning over four decades. Drawing inspiration from artists such as Lockwood, Feldman, Braxton, Wilson, and Cage, Jair-Rohm is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of musical expression. Ben Dumbauld is a percussionist and composer based out of Pittsburgh who runs the experimental music label Ephem-Aural.

In this musical context, Fanoplane is an improvisational project focused on projecting the infinite gifts of the Muse. Fanoplane’s performances are unscored, unrehearsed and improvised extemporaneously on the spot.

‘an observance of absence’ by Jason Pappariella is a documentary that blends interior and exterior spaces left vacant and dilapidated by the abandonment of Central & Eastern Pennsylvania's anthracite coal region, with similarly neglected interior and exterior sites in postindustrial Central & Eastern Europe. The score, composed by Adam Parks (Lightning White Bison), is comprised of manipulated field recordings from both regions of the world, layered with ambient organ & synth instrumentals.

Saturday June 14 * 1-9pm * outdoors, weather permitting * $50 / sliding scale * TICKETS

Tyondai Braxton & Ben Vida: Tyondai Braxton is an American composer and electronic musician who incorporates electronic and modern orchestral elements into his music, which ranges in scale from solo pieces to large-scale symphonic works. Ben Vida is an artist and composer. Recent solo exhibitions include \[Smile on.\]… \[Pause.\]… \[Smile off.\] at Lisa Cooley Gallery, New York, and Slipping Control (West) at 356 S. Mission Road, Los Angeles.

Wendy Eisenberg is an improviser and songwriter who uses guitar, pedals, the tenor banjo, the computer, the synthesizer and the voice. Their work spans genres, from jazz to noise to avant-rock to delicate songs.

Josh Dibb aka Deakin is an artist, producer & composer most notably a member of the band Animal Collective. He has released multiple studio & live albums, and as a film composer he has composed music for the films Crestone, The Inspection, Jetty & Obex.

Lucy Liyou synthesizes field recordings, text-to-speech readings, poetry, and elements from Korean folk opera into sonic narratives that explore the implications of Orientalism and Westernization.

The Caribbean (festival founders and co-hosts) is an American experimental project from Washington, D.C., composed of Michael Kentoff, Matthew Byars, and Dave Jones. Described as “minimalist/drone/Phillip Jeck-by-way-of-Carole King,” the band has been critically acclaimed for its deconstructionist approach to pop music, and its wry, literary lyrics.

Emily Robb is a Philadelphia based musician who has been part of the rock underground and experimental scenes for over a decade. She recently released her debut solo album, How To Moonwalk, created almost exclusively on guitar.

Jon Camp is a well-known-and-loved fingerstyle guitarist and composer from the Washington, DC region. He blends twang, drone, and melody into a cohesive whole that is exploratory without forsaking the hook.

Tuesday June 17 * 7pm * $30-35 TICKETS

Transparent Productions presents The El’Zabar : Murray : Duo with Kahil El’Zabar (percussion) and David Murray (tenor sax and bass clarinet).

This startling, legendary duo returns yet again to Rhizome for an evening of great music.

Sir Kahil El’Zabar was Knighted by the Council General of France for his Global contributions to the Arts. Dr. El’Zabar, holds a PHD from Lake Forest College in Interdisciplinary Arts. He taught music and interdisciplinary arts at the U. Nebraska/Lincoln, and U. IL/Chicago. He was Appointed by Pres. Bill Clinton to the National Task Force for Arts representing Education. He won the International Ambassador Award from Pres. Barack Obama’s Administration. El’Zabar has recorded over 100 acclaimed projects, and founded and leads the legendary Ethnic Heritage Ensemble and Ritual Trio.

David Murray is considered to be the most influential tenor saxophonist of his generation. He has recorded more than 300 acclaimed projects. Dr. Murray was awarded a PhD in the Arts from Claremont College, and is also a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fulbright Scholar. Mr. Murray has won 2 Grammys and is the recipient of the prestigious Jazz Par Award from the country of Denmark.

Sunday June 22 * 7pm * $15-25 * TICKETS

In their debut album, Lily Finnegan (drums) and gabby fluke-mogul (violin and vocals) give their respects to the queer punk rock & avant jazz musicians of the expansive continuum past, present, future. A prayer, a scream, a steadfast commitment - Finnegan and fluke-mogul weave improvised song, solo, and laughter in this music, recorded in the depths of July 2023 in Chicago.

Lily Glick Finnegan is a Chicago born and based drummer, composer, improviser and organizer. She currently plays in her own self led quartet along with Ken Vandermark’s Edition Redux and punk band Cucuy. This is her second year curating the Experimental Sound Studio Option Series and Catalytic Sound Festival.

gabby fluke-mogul is a New York-based violinist, improviser, composer, educator, organizer and doula. Weaving within the threads of avant and free jazz, with deep roots in improvised and experimental music, their music has been described as “embodied, visceral and virtuosic” and “the most striking sound in improvised music in years”. 

Ollie Becker is a guitarist/vocalist/composer/improvisor based out of Boston. Current projects include: solo guitar, noise rock band Rong, experimental grind band Obsolescence Technician, ensemble Premium Velvet Headache Pillow, and composition for chamber groups. Their solo guitar combines their self-taught background with more recent studies in composition, with influences ranging from “American primitive” guitar to experimental metal, free improvisation, impressionism, and brutalism. Approaching solo guitar like a piano reduction of a larger score, each piece regularly shifts in meter, tempo, harmony, and texture – a review of their acoustic trio album minis said that it “hits like freak-lounge jazz, acoustic metal and hardcore riffing off art pop ... each influence in style and tone holds its place within each song” (Post-Trash, 2021).

4CASSETTES:1DRUM is a surround sound performance piece written and performed by experimental musician Will Hicks. This piece is written for 4 tape players and one floor tom. It takes you on a confusing journey from experimental electronics to a wall of noise to a heartfelt string arrangement that appears to circle the audience while Hicks plays a repetitive pattern on the drum positioned in the center of the room. A classically trained musician and accomplished experimental percussionist, Will Hicks continues to push boundaries through experimental and noise-driven performance. 

Monday June 23 * 7pm * $10-30 * TICKETS

The music of Høly River carries the message of humanity’s need for reconnection with the earth. Mystically political and wholeheartedly grassroots this DIY band finds themselves playing on large festival stages as well as backyard fire pits of intentional communities around the world.

Høly River is a musical duo known for their ethereal pop soundscapes, transcendent melodies, and environmental activism. Rooted in themes of nature, spirituality, and human connection, their music weaves together elements of indie folk, world, and ambient genres. The duo's performances create an immersive experience that transcends the boundaries of a traditional concert, offering audiences moments of reflection, introspection and inspiration.

In addition to their music, Laney and Jameson are passionate advocates for environmental stewardship and community building. They are the founders of Fonticello Food Forest, a thriving urban food forest in Richmond, VA dedicated to nature connection, education and community access to fresh and rescued food.

Valeska Populoh is an artist and performer, educator and cultural organizer living in Baltimore, on the un-ceded land of the Piscataway Conoy and other Chesapeake First Families. Embracing a wide array of tactics, from puppetry to participatory performance, Valeska's work is motivated by an interest in healing and repair, in our relationships to each other and to the natural world. Using the magic lantern of decommissioned overhead projectors, Valeska and fellow puppeteer Peter Redgrave conjure a landscape of transforming shadows in "Groundswell Spell/Who Are We but If Not of Each Other," an incantation to our hoofed and antlered selves.

Talk to Your Neighbor is a band from the DMV playing experimental, genre-bending music that combines rock, pop, folk, electronics, futuristic production, and an array of complex textures. Reviewers have described the band's single 'Knock' as “haunting folk minimalism” with “jazz-touched rhythmic intensity” and the track "Pyro" as having “rich moody textures and sublime keys underpinned by alluring melodic runs.” The song "Half Moon" explores textures as diverse as spaghetti western and hyperpop, which listeners say  “manage[s] to fuse elements of trip-hop, classical, folk and about a million other styles into a haunting curveball.” The band consists of Ana Ruess (lead vocals) and Lukas Keel (guitar, bass guitar, production) both of the duo Help Yourself to the Citrus; Jeremy Padow (guitar) and Andrew Carlson (percussion), both formerly of the band Dope Francis; and Kevin Huang (keys) who collaborates with Be Steadwell and other DC-based artists.

Thursday June 26 * 7pm * $20-25 * TICKETS

Transparent Presents Gian Pérez (solo guitar) plus Fateful Encounter (Antonyraj/Saifi/Saifi)

Gían Pérez is a multi-disciplinary artist, improviser, and composer from Puerto Rico, based in Brooklyn, NY, whose work focuses on the elucidation, fermentation, and subversion of form. Recently, Pérez has worked with artists like Brandon Lopez, gabby fluke-mogul, Elliott Sharp, Brandon Seabrook, Marc Edwards, among others. He’s performed at venues like The Stone, Downtown Music Gallery, and Joe’s Pub. By extending the guitar to its extremes as a physical material, Pérez denatures the electric guitar beyond its ascribed historical identity, envisioning a language that was never conquered and had been left to govern itself. His debut solo guitar record, bambú, was released on zOaR Records. Ñ, his most recent solo record, is available everywhere now.

Fateful Encounter is a DC based free improvisation trio that centers collective liberation. The trio features saxophonist Lavender Antonyraj, bassist Teymour Saifi, and guitarist Kiyan Saifi. Kiyan Saifi is an experimental guitarist who currently performs with DC-based bands: Red Sunflower, Opposite Tiger, Fateful Encounter, and Sense Memory. Teymour Saifi is a DC based bassist who currently performs with Red Sunflower, Opposite Tiger, Fateful Encounter, and Sense Memory. Lavender Antonyraj is an experimental musician operating in DC. Her practice is grounded in green spaces with natural sounds to uncover methods outside of traditional practice. She brings these methods into improvised performance to genuinely connect and express to fellow musicians and audiences. Her practice has been aligned with grassroots spaces featuring trans and Queer musicians throughout the city.

Monday June 30 * 7pm * Free * RSVP

WWPH Literary Salon: PRIDE edition hosted by Washington Writers' Publishing House co-editors Jona Colson and Caroline Bock and featuring award-winning poet and scholar Dr. Tonee Mae Moll (You Cannot Save Here, WWPH) and more!

Free creative writing mini-workshops, reading, open mic discussion, snacks & treats reception & more! Free. All invited. Space limited.