Wednesday April 29 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Secret Planet presents... Peni Candra Rini, PhD (b. 1983) is a renowned Javanese singer, educator, and composer fusing Javanese sufi poetry with contemporary composition for Indonesian and Western instruments. The Kronos Quartet has described her as “one of the world’s greatest singers.” She is a master of several traditional forms (primarily gamelan) and is regarded as one of Indonesia’s most daring young composers, one of only a handful of female composers in the majority Muslim nation. She has performed extensively internationally, including several world tours as the featured singer for Robert Wilson’s I La Galigo. She has published albums and Eps on the New Amsterdam and Out of Your Head labels, in collaboration with Shahzad Ismaily, Andy McGraw, and members of Deerhoof, featuring her improvisations, and experimental compositions for Javanese and Western ensembles.

Weed Tree - Amanda Huron and Layne Garrett have been improvising together for 15+ years on drums, prepared guitar, and etc.

Naoco Wowsugi is an interdisciplinary, community-engaged artist. Wowsugi’s extensive fieldwork includes community gong baths that activate the gong as an instrument for deep, broad, and collective listening experiences, often offered on a moon-cycle basis.

Thursday April 30 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

The Hobknobs, the new Netherlands band featuring Arie Van Vliet of Lewsberg and Yaël Dekker of The Klittens on guitars and vocals, have just announced a 16-show tour of select US cities that begins this Wednesday, 4/22 in Chicago. They'll be touring as a trio joined by The Klittens’ Katja Kahana on bass. This tour and the accompanying tape, or should we say this tape and the accompanying tour, means a turning point. Not for the world, not for music, but for The Hobknobs. The first months of the year were all about working on new music. And that work was done mostly behind the scenes. But today 2026 has properly started for Yaël Dekker and Arie van Vliet. With a sixteen-date tour in the U.S., an album on the way (more about that later), and the first proper release on 12XU (a tape called ‘Turning 26’). Or is it a proper release? This tape is a collage of live performances, rehearsals, alternative takes and field recordings. And as Dekker and Van Vliet state: “We invite everybody to listen to this tape, but this tape is not for everybody.” Which is the reason why this tape is only available during the upcoming tour, and will not be available for streaming or purchasing online.

Linda Smith is a pioneer of home recording who self released her music originally on cassette starting in 1987. In the early 90’s, indie labels Slumberland and Harriet Records expanded her reach with the release of two seven inch eps. Recently, Brooklyn NY label Captured Tracks has reissued two complete albums on vinyl and she has begun to tour in the US and internationally for the first time. Paste magazine called her “a hidden treasure of America's pop underground”, while Jangle Pop Hub has written that “Essentially this is the best bedroom pop you are ever likely to hear, directly from an age that did not really know what to do with it”.

Friday May 1 * 7pm * $15-20 * TICKETS

QUEERING SOUND26
IDENTITY
IS THE CRISIS, CAN'T YOU SEE?

GLORIAN (BALTIMORE)

BUSHMEAT SOUND SYSTEM

NOVPAROLO

JA$$IE

CHARLEE SCYTHE (BALTIMORE)

QUEERINGSOUND.COM

First Saturday of the month * 10am-noon * to REGISTER, please email rhizomepuppetlab@gmail.com

Rhizome Puppet Lab is committed to the performance side of puppetry. It supports the development of works in progress. You can present work for feedback or direct others in the lab to improvise or puzzle out specific scenes. You may use the group to figure out how your show might work. Anyone may lead a lab about any aspect of performance.

Puppet Lab’s purpose is to be a hub for all those interested in puppet theater who would benefit from: boosting creative power; honing puppet-manipulation skills; cross-pollinating ideas; receiving feedback about works in progress; building puppet community. Types of labs have included shadows, Laban, suspense, metaphor, music, voice, Clown, character development, props, table top, humanette, hand puppets, and much more. Open to all levels of experience.

Saturday May 2 * 1pm * $5 suggested * REGISTER

Live Action Role Play is a combination of improv, theater, physical movement, crafts, and just about any genre of story you can think of! All are welcome to these 2-hour LARPs hosted at Rhizome DC, whether you're completely new to the artform or a seasoned veteran.

This month we're playing SOLD OUT by Meagan Lilly. The year is 1993 and it's the last night of tour for an underground punk band on the verge of a big break. A journalist is coming to your green room to interview everyone for a cover story on the next big thing. Can your band survive the pressure cooker? Will secrets be revealed? Will you...*gulp* sell out? Come play to find out!

Saturday May 2 * Doors at 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Sensor Ghost is an art-punk trio from Washington, DC. The band's first LP, "Irritation on Demand," is out now from Dischord Records. 

Vulture Feather is a post/pre/future punk band from the mountains of northern California. Featuring members of the Baltimore band Wilderness. 

Quattracenta is a three-piece art rock band from Baltimore, MD, who draw on post punk and no wave influences to create cathartic and meditative songs about mortality and longing. 

Sunday May 3 * 11am * pay what you like, $15+ recommended * TICKETS

Join Annie from Swamp Rose Studio to learn how to make a crochet garland! We will learn how to use single crochet increases to create triangles, which we can then link together into a colorful garland!

Pay what you like, recommended $15. No prior experience necessary, all supplies will be provided.

Sunday May 3 * 1pm * in the backyard * $15-25 * REGISTER

Itching to get creative? Come dye with me! This class will cover making and dyeing with indigo, including the basics of shibori (Japanese tie-dye). You'll learn how to:-make an indigo vat-dye with indigo for long-lasting color-tie up the cloth for a variety of beautiful patterns-care for your indigo-dyed itemsEach participant will receive 1 bandana to dye with. All other materials provided. You may bring a few additional items to dye from home. Small to medium sized items with 50% or more natural fiber content work best.. In addition, wear clothing that you don't mind getting stained. Bring an apron if you wish, and rubber gloves if you have them.

Sunday May 3 * 4pm * $15-30 * REGISTER

noise is a riot: community organizing in the avant-garde - a workshop with alana amore colvin on the history of grassroots organization in avant-garde music and tactics for organizing within the scene today!

Sunday May 3 * doors at 7pm * $15-25 * TICKETS

Sunday Night Rest - an evening of community, trip-hop, hip-hop, and the avant-garde.

alana amore colvin (she/they) is a brooklyn based avant-garde guitarist and composer. Their sound sits somewhere in the balance between soft intimate tones and raw distorted noise all in celebration of guitar and afro-folkloric traditions. She is compared to Hiroshi Yoshimura as often as she is compared to Jimi Hendrix.

Martronimous is a Philadelphia-based trumpet player, producer, and audio engineer. As a solo artist they bring together elements of jazz, ambient and electronic music, and field recordings to create evolving soundscapes. Their work exists as a space for self-definition and exploration of gender identity, emotional landscape, and the possibilities of imagination and hope.

Atograph is a Baltimore‑based musician and producer shaping instrumental hip‑hop and downtempo grooves through modular synths, samplers, and live improvisation. His love for sound began early, sparked by an old radio system with a record player and 8‑track deck.

Monday May 4 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $12 / pay what you can * TICKETS

Bodied - NoVA HC/Skramz

Dog Food Chain - Springfield Metalcore

Gifts Ungiven - DMV Post-Hardcore

Lye Bath - MD Post-Punk

Green Forest - Fredericksburg Hardcore

Tuesday May 5 * doors at 7, music at 7 :30* $25-30 * TICKETS

Transparent Productions presents:

Saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Ches Smith and guitarist David Tornpush far beyond jazz’s known boundaries in Sun of Goldfinger. The mercurial trio explores the edges of the genre, infusing it with perspectives ranging from the minimalist to the cinematic to the metallic. The improvisation-based group effortlessly, seamlessly shifts from atmospheres into shattering mayhem to thrilling effect.

All three musicians are renowned bandleaders in their own right, with current solo recordings on the prestigious ECM label. Berne has forged a singular path across dozens of expansive, diverse albums featuring intricately-detailed, harmony-driven works. Torn’s influence as a guitarist, composer and music technologist is epic. With sounds ranging from the searing and soaring to liquid loops to full-on shredding, he’s reinvented conventional definitions of guitar. Smith has established himself as one of the world’s premier percussionists, combining acoustic invention with electronics to both propel and extend his myriad musical surroundings. Together, these leaders and friends combine as a democratic unit, determined to take audiences on a singular journey through provocative sonic territory known and unknown. This is the future of jazz. This is Sun of Goldfinger.

Wednesday May 6 * doors at 7pm, event starts at 7:30 * Free / donations * RSVP

At an intersection of Black philosophy, anthropology, and aesthetics, Vortex, Baba sounds through the people, the histories, and the profound diasporic-cultural vibrations gathered at Baltimore's iconic Druid Hill Park. Vortex, Baba traces the personal and collective lives of Baba L'Salaam, Adon Aesh, Jamal Moore and other Park Vibe players rooted in a drum circle community sustained from 1960s Black Arts radicalism onward through today's rising generations. Joining immersive literary journalism and philosophical explorations, Gerald Majer interrogates immediacies of race, feeling, and sociality.

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

Polari & Carry On: A Queer Film Gathering curated by Brandy Creek

In the spirit of Polari—the playful, coded lingo of queens, creatives, and kindred souls which reached its height in 1960’s London —this screening celebrates a living tradition of queer storytelling. Polari wasn’t just slang, it was how we found each other and a survival necessity. It was camp, it was clever, it was connection.

These films carry that legacy forward. Different words with the same heartbeat. Themes that echo the familiar rhythms of chosen family, resilience, desire, joy, and the quiet magic of being understood.

The language may evolve, darling—but the message? We’re here, we’re together, and we’ve always had each other. Join us as we gather, not just to watch, but to recognize ourselves in one another —to keep the conversation alive, vibrant, and unapologetically ours.

Alright, my dears—let’s have a little BONA CELEBRATION!

Friday May 8 * doors at 7, show at 8 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Wolf Eyes is a band from Michigan. Formed in the fall of 1996 by N. Young. They are known for their bizarre and otherworldly approach to music. Creating a sound that is both disturbing and hypnotic. The band has released numerous albums and EPs on various labels. With their intense and bizarre live performances, Wolf Eyes has garnered a reputation as one of the most frightening and weird bands in the world. Wolf Eyes is currently John Olson and Nate Young. They have performed together for over 20 years.

Beauty is a genre destroying juggernaut that uses the tools of harsh noise and power electronics to make visceral, freaks-only doom. Douglas Vento (drums, vocals and electronics) and Dan Timlin (vocals and electronics) craft their churning drones not from guitars, but distorted synths and feedback loops, then glue them together with concussive drums and claustrophobic vocals swirling in delay. The result is a massive, suffocating sound best heard on the biggest possible speakers at the highest possible volume. Straddling the worlds of outsider metal, the extreme ends of punk, and experimental noise, this band belongs both everywhere and nowhere.

Agonesiac - power violence

Saturday May 9 * 11am * $15 * TICKETS

Come create, reflect, and connect with KAMA DC and Neha Misra! In this hands-on workshop, Community Mandalas: Making & Becoming Circles of Our Belonging, Neha Misra (she/her/hers) will guide participants through a brief exploration of the sacred geometry of mandalas, followed by interactive community story circles and colorful mandala-making. Together, we will gather to celebrate the act of making, and becoming, circles of belonging, grounding ourselves in creativity, connection, and collective persistence.

2nd Saturday of the month * online at 1130am Eastern * to REGISTER, please email rhizomepuppetlab@gmail.com

Rhizome Puppet Lab is committed to the performance side of puppetry. It supports the development of works in progress. You can present work for feedback or direct others in the lab to improvise or puzzle out specific scenes. You may use the group to figure out how your show might work. Anyone may lead a lab about any aspect of performance.

Puppet Lab’s purpose is to be a hub for all those interested in puppet theater who would benefit from: boosting creative power; honing puppet-manipulation skills; cross-pollinating ideas; receiving feedback about works in progress; building puppet community. Types of labs have included shadows, Laban, suspense, metaphor, music, voice, Clown, character development, props, table top, humanette, hand puppets, and much more. Open to all levels of experience.

Saturday May 9 * doors at 2, music at 2:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

REONA is an artist who uses tap dance techniques to express her music. She is also a tap dancer, improviser, designer, choreographer, teacher, and composer. Based in Tokyo, Japan. To materialize the sounds in her head, she uses tap shoes and a wooden board, as well as metal sheets, chains, steel bowls, plastic bags, and loudspeakers.

CHUCK BETTIS was raised in the fertile harDCore soil, nourished within Baltimore's enigmatic avant garde gatherings, and currently blossoming in New York's experimental realms. His unique blend of electronics and throat has led him into various collaborations with great musicians from around the globe.

Guitarist and composerMICK BARR has released countless recordings under the names Ocrilim, Orthrelm, and Octis, and has worked with Krallice, The Flying Luttenbachers, Zach Hill, Weasel Walter, and Sam Hillmer of Zs. His lightning fast guitar style and singular approach to the instrument goes unrivaled among his contemporaries, leading Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Fugazi) to claim that “He is our Coltrane.”

SARAH HUGHES (sax - possibly other breath instruments) - JERRY BUSHER (drums) - Insect Factory aka JEFF BARSKY (prepared guitar)

Saturday May 9 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $20-30 * TICKETS

Transparent Productions presents…

Caroline Davis and Dustin Carlson’s new album, Sprites, is a meeting between two improvisers in New York, who straddle the boundaries of several expressions of music. The sounds on this album are all improvised, with no written music or thoughts about the music exchanged before performing live in front of a sweet audience. Sprite holds several meanings, a fairy creature from old times, a ghost, a wild electrocurrent coming out of the tops of clouds when lightning strikes, and a repeating bitmapped image over a static background. The tracks of this album embody each one of these definitions, and with each repeated listen, you, too, will begin to see them. Caroline Davis (alto saxophone, voice, electronics), Dustin Carlson (guitar, electronics).

simone baron is an accordionist, pianist, composer, improviser, and instigator whose playing is known for its “gestural joie de vivre," marked by “living, breathing vitality and exquisite nuance” (Washington Post). Engaging a broad spectrum of idioms, their music “ego-less, genre agnostic and without expectations” (JazzTimes) explores dreams, somatic empathy, memory and transformation. simone has received grants, fellowships, and residencies from organizations including South Arts, Chamber Music America, Conserere Milan, Sacatar Foundation (Brazil), the Banff Centre, Strathmore, Hambidge, ArtOMI, Avaloch Farm, Marble House, Bloedel Reserve, and Spectrum Toronto. 2026 engagements include tours with their chamber jazz ensemble Arco Belo, DeCollage trio, the transatlantic baron-calcagno duo, and a new solo project. simone is a Victoria Artist, plays a Poeta XB Accordion, and is a founding member of the Boulanger Initiative.

Sunday May 10 * 7pm * $10 * TICKETS

DECIDE TODAY - Primary project of Robert Inhuman following the end of the original Realicide band at the turn of 2011. Spanning genres such as industrial, breakcore, darkwave and ambient. Subject matter maintains focus akin to anarcho-punk and radical hip-hop. The mission is contribution to various liberation movements, whether decades ongoing or emerging from the current political climate. Based in Cincinnati.

DICQBEATS - is a goddamn noisy menace. Always pushing boundaries of sound and changing lives with aggressive catchy tunes and addictingly wild and high energy live shows, ranging from punk shows, to underground raves to huge festivals.

MIC LITTER -  Mike Rosse, AKA Mic Litter has been working with found sounds from field recordings since the early 90s. It began with cassette and reel to reel loop recordings and evolved into densely layered combinations of digital samples and analog processing. Tape still remains a key element in the studio and everything is created with hardware devices.

Cryogenic Effigy - NOISE DEBUT

Monday May 11 * 7pm * $5 * Includes popcorn and drink * TICKETS

Join us for the Takoma Park-Silver Spring Co-op's Fourth Annual Co-op Film Fest in partnership with Rhizome!

Cooperatives are a proven alternative to extractive capitalism. In a time when corporate consolidation dominates our food system, cooperatives offer a practical, viable alternative that prioritizes equity, sustainability, and local self-determination. Join TPSS and Rhizome to watch and discuss two documentaries that examine the history of co-ops in the United States and explore how they build healthier, more connected communities.

Food For Change is an 82-minute documentary film focusing on food co-ops as a force for dynamic social and economic change in American culture. It examines the important historical role played by food co-ops, their pioneering quest for organic foods, and their current efforts to create regional food systems. It shows how cooperatives today strengthen local economies and build food security. You'll come away with a greater understanding of the principles of cooperation with a focus on healthy food and a healthy economy.

Tuesday May 12 * doors at 6:30, show at 7 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Tried To Do’s is the second full length album from Trippers & Askers - the songwriting and recording project of Jay Hammond. Drafts of this record started as early as 2019. The initial idea was a Parable of the Talents concept album to follow 2021's Parable of the Sower concept album Acorn and/or an album about Hammond's hometown of Jackson, TN.

Adelyn Strei is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist based in Brooklyn via Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Alone on stage with clarinet, voice and guitar, her live compositions demonstrate a fluid, melodically intuitive and improvisational arc. Adelyn credits her current approach—blending songs into a carefully woven bed of texture—to over a decade performing and arranging for friends’ projects before her solo debut in 2023.

Small Sur - Drawing as much from his rural South Dakota upbringing as he does from his domestic existence as a Baltimore english teacher, Bob Keal creates “bedroom country” filled with intimacy and shadows. Surrounded by sympathetic players, his delicate vocals and classical guitar playing reveal a sensitive musician growing in confidence and expertly applying his craft.

Helmed by Washington, D.C.-based musician and multidisciplinary artist Raul Zahir De Leon, Canandaigua is rooted in traditions of folk storytelling and songwriting. De Leon explores various aspects of American mythmaking and identity, deconstructing classic elements, and weaves a sonic tapestry uniquely his own.

2nd & 4th Wednesdays * online at 8pm Eastern * Free / donations appreciated * RSVP

A weekly guided dream-sharing hangout…. Welcome to the theater of your dreams—an inexhaustible source of images and stories that can provide entertainment and insight, and that requires no cable service and no subscription—just attentiveness and an open mind. Participants will share dreams, using a gentle, non-intrusive method for unlocking the metaphors that structure dreams (derived from the long-tested method of Dr. Montague Ullman). We’ll also talk about techniques for recalling and recording dreams, as needed.

Please click through for more details.

Thursday May 14 * doors at 6:30, music at 7:00 * $20-$30 * TICKETS

Transparent Productions presents...

Fountaine is the latest project from bassist and vocalist Zoë Jorgenson and her trio with Marty Riesemburg (drums), and Parker Speirs (guitar/sounds). Rooted in a fascination with the connection between sound, memory, and place, the group explores how the textures of everyday life can inspire music through the use of interspersed field recordings. Themes of grief and transition run throughout their work as they combine acoustic and electronic elements. A desert native, Zoë’s compositions reflect the richness of natural landscapes, weaving melodic bass lines and vocals into immersive soundscapes.

Luke Stewart is a musician, performer, improviser-composer, organizer, and writer-researcher whose work represents a deep reverence for the history and tradition of Creative Music: a tradition which encompasses the diverse styles of expression within the body of Black Music in the United States, Africa, and throughout the world. JoVia Armstrong is a Detroit-born percussionist, composer, sound artist, and educator whose multidisciplinary career spans continents, genres, and communities. Known for her visionary blend of experimental composition, Black musical traditions, and immersive technologies, Armstrong’s artistry is rooted in rhythm and storytelling.

Friday May 15 * 7pm * $15 * TICKETS

Spark Isle is an experimental rock trio based in the DMV. The group's instrumental compositions touch on jazz, funk, punk and styles in between. Visually, Spark Isle presents projections to accompany each song that often feature footage of collaborations with artists from other mediums (painters, dancers, etc.). 

Spare Hearts is Ira Golthi (vocals) and Alex Weitzel (synth). Based out of Washington DC, their electro-pop debut EP "Off the Line" was released in May 2025. Now playing as a heavily synth-driven duo, Ira and Alex are performing dark and danceable synthpop/EBM tracks for the masses. Their newest single, "High Priestess," is out November 2025.

The Morelias released their debut EP on December of 2025. This first batch of songs are mostly love songs about overcoming depression and finding or losing romantic partners. It’s light hearted and stylistically reminiscent of early 2000’s indie rock and old school punk from the west coast. You can hear these songs live at music clubs in Washington D.C.

Employee 1 is the solo project of Russell from Incubator. Using a looper, keyboard and vocoder, Employee 1 is a dramatic pop experience performed from behind a desk

Sunday May 17 * 1-3pm * 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)

Monday May 18 * 7pm * $5 * Includes popcorn and drink * TICKETS

Join us for the Takoma Park-Silver Spring Co-op's Fourth Annual Co-op Film Fest in partnership with Rhizome!

Cooperatives are a proven alternative to extractive capitalism. In a time when corporate consolidation dominates our food system, cooperatives offer a practical, viable alternative that prioritizes equity, sustainability, and local self-determination. Join TPSS and Rhizome to watch and discuss two documentaries that examine the history of co-ops in the United States and explore how they build healthier, more connected communities.

Successfully thriving in the global economy of the 21st century and beyond will require new business models and strategies to enable the American Dream of opportunity and economic prosperity. We the Owners captures stories from the founders and employees of three employee-owned businesses, New Belgium Brewing, Namaste Solar, and DPR Construction, sharing the worker's perspectives on shared ownership structures, empowering corporate cultures, linked reward and risk incentives, and human-capital innovation models. The film follows as decisions are made from founding and expansion, succession and recruitment, to layoffs. As the companies in the film show, employee ownership comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. What they have in common as “Best Places to Work” is that shared ownership and employee voice are integral to their responsible business practices, strategy, and success.

Tuesday May 19 * doors at 7pm, music at 7:45pm * $15 * TICKETS

Knave is a rock band from washington dc.

Rain Shears is indie folk rock from dc.

Dead Daffodils are drawing inspiration from romantic missteps, troublesome relationships, and the constant cycle of joy and suffering. Ira Golthi has been writing songs that are ready to see the light of day. With bassist and producer Alex Weitzel and cellist and banjoist Andrew Watts, Ira joins simple vocabulary and chord structures into indie bluegrass music that is catchy yet meaningful.

Thursday May 21 * 7pm doors, 7:30pm show * $15-30 sliding scale * TICKETS

Presented by Outside Time.... Madison Greenstone is a clarinetist, writer, and composer based in Brooklyn. Their solo practice, exstatic resonances, explores phenomenological, material, and spatial expressivities of sound through richly noisy timbral actions. As the clarinetist of TAK Ensemble, “one of the most prominent ensembles in the United States practicing truly experimental music” (I Care If You Listen) they have premiered music by Tyshawn Sorey, Eric Wubbels, Weston Olencki, Michelle Lou, Jessie Cox, Brandon López and champions some of the most radical music currently devised.

Their debut solo album, Resonance Studies in Ecstatic Consciousness (Relative Pitch Records), was included in Bandcamp’s Best Experimental Music of 2023 compilation, and has been described as “one hell of a calling card” (The Wire) and “mind-blowing” (Nowhere Street).

Two Weeks is Ben Starkey and Obie Feldi. Together they make music with computers.

Friday May 22 * doors at 7, show at 7:30 * $15 * TICKETS

Red Brick presents:

ROBBER ROBBER (Burlington, Vermont) - "Pinpointing the specific catalyst for an avalanche can be slippery — any combination of classic elements, human interference, or freak accident can trigger disaster — and documenting these precise moments often rests on serendipitous reflexes. On Two Wheels Move the Soul, Robber Robber offer themselves as ignition and capture every sound in the wake. Involuntarily thrust into the throws of rootless nomadism, Robber Robber ringleader Nina Cates collects a series of pressurized vignettes to assemble the Burlington quartet’s thrillingly explosive sophomore album….”

EMPATH (PHILADELPHIA, PA)

Saturday May 23 * 2pm * MASKS REQUIRED * $35-45 * REGISTER

Dye sessions act as an interactive introduction to natural dye. Every dye session is uniquely tailored to each group and may change seasonally due to the availability of natural dye materials. Each participant will work with cotton bandanas to learn and practice a variety of dye techniques.

Fatima Janneh is a Gambian American fiber and textiles artist. Based in DC, she works primarily with natural dye and is an avid knitter. Currently teaching dye workshops and selling at markets around the city.

Scholarships are available - please reach out via email to info@rhizomedc.org

Saturday May 23 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Minibeast is a three-piece band comprised of Peter Prescott (formerly of Mission of Burma, Volcano Suns, Kustomized) playing guitar, keys, noises (mouth & other) & the mind bending rhythm section of Keith Seidel on drums n' percussion and Niels LaWhite on bass. It's liquid music...always moving. They gratefully accept influences from Fela Kuti, Can, and the Stooges.

Washington DC's Nice Breeze have been kicking around since before the start of the decade. The trio of John Howard, Martha Hamilton & Andy Fox churn out solid, hook-laden, bullseye-pop gems by the bushel. DC area bands have always seemed to possess that extra digit when it comes to honing a particular strain of post punk expression & Nice Breeze are no exception.

FREQ FLAG are a 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.

Sunday May 24 * 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.

Monday May 25 * doors at 7, music at 7:45 * $15 * TICKETS

Fixations (NC Garage Punk)
https://getfixxedidiot.bandcamp.com/album/try-less

Everything (MD Fastcore)

Glycine (DC Hardcore)
https://glycine.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2025

Rocky IV (DC Punk)
First Show, Only show!

Tuesday May 26 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Sarah Hughes is a performing and visual artist. She has 26 years of experience playing the alto saxophone and also doubles on the soprano saxophone, flute, and clarinet. Her music is intuitive and genre-liberated while displaying an unquestionable command of her instrument and musical vocabulary.

Gerswyn Foster Is a DMV - Electronic composer and sound designer.

Michael R. Bernstein lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, where he is developing a band of robot musicians to alleviate humans from the burdensome task of creating music for themselves. In former lives he ran the Heavy Tapes cassette label, performed over 100 live shows with improvised quartet Double Leopards, and started a rock band called Religious Knives with his best friend and wife, Maya E. Miller

Wednesday May 27 * Doors at 6:30, show at 7 * $20-25 * TICKETS

Glenn Jones is a master of American Primitive Guitar, a style invented in the late 1950s by John Fahey, whose traditional fingerpicking techniques and wide-ranging influences were used to create modern original compositions. Jones, who led the post-rock ensemble Cul de Sac, brings his own made-up tunings, the use of custom-crafted partial capos, and a highly skilled picking style on both banjo and guitar, to create personal compositions that are lyrical, emotive and elegant.

Liam Grant is a New England guitarist and improviser cut from the American Primitive cloth. The restless guitar explorations, modal epics, and driving uptempo rags recall the likes of Grant's pedagogue, Takoma Records, and the path that was paved by his forebears John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Peter Walker, Max Ochs, and later, Glenn Jones, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Jack Rose, and others.

Ari Rosenfield is a folk singer and songwriter from the southwestern US who has had severe writer's block for about six years. She will play you some sad songs she wrote for the banjo a long time ago, and hopefully that will help her overcome her writer's block. She wishes her songs sounded like if Joanna Newsom helped Leonard Cohen write his songs and then Karen Dalton played covers of them, but in reality, they're probably much worse.

2nd & 4th Wednesdays * online at 8pm Eastern * Free / donations appreciated * RSVP

A weekly guided dream-sharing hangout…. Welcome to the theater of your dreams—an inexhaustible source of images and stories that can provide entertainment and insight, and that requires no cable service and no subscription—just attentiveness and an open mind. Participants will share dreams, using a gentle, non-intrusive method for unlocking the metaphors that structure dreams (derived from the long-tested method of Dr. Montague Ullman). We’ll also talk about techniques for recalling and recording dreams, as needed.

Please click through for more details.

Saturday May 30 * 1pm * $5-30 sliding scale * REGISTER

Participants will learn about 16mm film projection, create their own hand drawn physical film loops, and see their own film loops projected. Materials will be provided.

Link to Sample loop: https://vimeo.com/766522792

Instructors: Emily Francisco and Joanna Stillwell

Saturday May 30 * doors at 7:00, music at 7:30 * $12-15 * TICKETS

Bohemian Waxwing is a coming together of four musicians with roots in alt-country, punk, ambient, and indie rock. With songs that ponder our connections with art, science and the natural world, their lyrics sit at the intersection of our internal and external lives. Their songs might be compared to Yo La Tengo, with the harmonic leanings of XTC, and the lyrical bent of Bill Calahan.

Kevin Knight a.k.a. Nevin Kight is a Multi-Instrumentalist, song-crafter, absurdist, & experimental recording artist based in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. “Songs of love, pain and spirit from a nature nerd in the age of the Anthropocene”

Nayan Bhula is a DC rock lifer who turned 50 and decided to get louder. A veteran of post-punk outfit GIST and orchestrated indie ensemble The NRIs, Bhula has spent decades carving space for South Asian artists in rock ’n’ roll—DIY, defiant, and relentless. His current band, NAYAN, blends DC post-punk urgency with classic rock swagger and ’80s new-wave hooks.

Monday June 1 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $15-20 * TICKETS

The Early is Alex Lewis (guitars, synthesizers) and Jake Nussbaum (drums, electronics). The two have spent the past seven years reinventing their shared musical language, infusing the textural grandeur of post-rock with the communicational intimacy of jazz improvisation, the patient grooves of minimalism, electronica, and drone. Their 2026 release, I Want To Be Ready (Island House Recordings) was described by Record Crates United as “drifty, minimalist jazz fusion soundscapes that hum, drone and rumble like the atmosphere of a clockwork city.”

Bent Light is the duo of Michael Slyne and Russel Linder. 2 punk rockers and less volume. Two guitars. Millions of pedals. Busted tape machines sing too. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes harsh. They say it feels like a dream. 

Raven Bauer Durham is an experimental guitar-based performer from Virginia, incorporating electric and acoustic ambient textures, voice, and song layers. Previously a member of the improvisational group Phoenix Auto Group. 

Tuesday June 9 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $20-30 * TICKETS

Transparent Productions presents...

Michael Foster (sax), Zach Rowden (bass & tapes), and Joey Sullivan (drums)

Michael Foster is a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist working in the fields of free improvisation, noise, free jazz, graphic & video notation, performance art, and other forms of weird music. Foster utilizes extensive instrumental preparations, augmenting his saxophone with amplification, objects, balloons, drum heads, vibrators, tapes, and samples as a method of subverting and queering the instrument’s history and traditional roles.

In addition to his work as a performer he is also active as a curator throughout New York City, co-founding "Queer Trash," a curatorial collective focusing on providing visibility to LGBTQIA+ performers engaged in experimental performance practices. In 2018, "Queer Trash" was the Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow for Issue Project Room, producing a year's worth of performances that ranged from harsh noise to fashion.

2nd & 4th Wednesdays * online at 8pm Eastern * Free / donations appreciated * RSVP

A weekly guided dream-sharing hangout…. Welcome to the theater of your dreams—an inexhaustible source of images and stories that can provide entertainment and insight, and that requires no cable service and no subscription—just attentiveness and an open mind. Participants will share dreams, using a gentle, non-intrusive method for unlocking the metaphors that structure dreams (derived from the long-tested method of Dr. Montague Ullman). We’ll also talk about techniques for recalling and recording dreams, as needed.

Please click through for more details.

Sunday June 14 * doors at 6:30, show at 7 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Kalia Vandever (they/them) is a trombonist and composer living in New York. Praised by AllMusic as “a master musician and composer” and “a singular talent,” Vandever’s approach to the trombone is distinctive, defined by their sonorous tone and lyrical voicing. They lean into the challenges of the instrument and allow patience and melody to guide their process. Vandever’s music has quickly and widely gained traction in the last few years despite the fact that their style has been consistently difficult to pin down, boasting a compositional scope ranging from the palatial modern jazz of their quartet work (notably featuring guitarist Mary Halvorson) to the synthetic, gauze-like droning ambience of their solo material, their compositional practice draws from their love of both songs and improvisation, creating a landscape of sounds that resonate in the body and hold the listener. This dexterity has not gone unnoticed, with The Wire asserting, “Vandever has never sounded more assured and in control of their many strengths.”

Emily Francisco is an artist and educator based in Washington DC. Their work has been reviewed and discussed by Hackaday, The Washington Post, Hyperallergic, the Media Archeology Lab, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and at The National Gallery of Art. A five-time Janet and Walter Sondheim Award semi-finalist, her work is currently on view at The Delaware Contemporary through August 2026. Alex Tyson is an artist and musician based in Washington, DC. As a musician, they’ve been a featured artist at SXSW and have played a Tiny Desk… But always with others. Their visual work lives somewhere between the screen and studio floor: generative visuals, robots, metal, plaster, and lately lasers. They are a recipient of a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

Saturday June 20 * 3pm * $25 / scholarships available * REGISTER

This is an in-person workshop on the basics of vocal feminization: raising your pitch, shifting your resonance, and sustaining your trained voice. It'll be interactive, so come prepared to try the exercises in a judgment-free setting. Instructor: Jessica Austin

Scholarships available - please email info@rhizomedc.org

To find out more about me or schedule private lessons, visit my website: https://thetransjessicaaustin.com/

Sunday June 21 * 11am * Free / Donations * RSVP

Chinese culture understands time as cyclical and relational. The traditional Chinese calendar divides the year into 24 Solar Terms, presenting the subtle shifts in nature and having different celebrations each term. 

One of these terms is Duanwu Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month: a time when summer begins to intensify, marked by remembrance and cultural rituals such as dragon boat racing and eating zongzi. In this event, we will:

- Introduce Duanwu and its meaning, connecting personal stories of hometown, cultural roots, and remembrance;

- Participants DIY two gifts inspired by their hometown and cultural memory: one kept for themselves, and one exchanged with another participant (A to B, B to C, C to A);

- Share reflections on how ritual, making, and exchange create a moment of pause.

The event is free, and donations to Rhizome DC are suggested. We will provide basic art supplies (paper, pencils, colored pencils, acrylic paint & brushes), but please bring any other materials for DIY.

Sunday June 21 * 6pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Amptext, the solo project of Washington DC native Gary Rouzer, explores the area between free improvisation and composition. His current focus harkens back to his teenage years on the four string electric bass. https://amptext.bandcamp.com

Perfectly Reasonable People - Baltimore duo making perfectly reasonable music.

Jeff Surak - Maximum musique concrète.
https://zeromoon.bandcamp.com/album/an-ideal-death

Tag Cloud - Solo drone/noise/ambient atmospherics. Mostly modular but sometimes other sources. Latest release out now!
https://tagcloud2.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-shoe-drops

James Wolf is a DC-area violinist and multi-instrumentalist.
https://jwolf333.bandcamp.com/music

Tuesday June 23 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $10-20 / NOTAFLOF * TICKETS

Grace A. Keller - DC-based singer/songwriter, 1/4 of hotel sewing kit

Jem Wilde - DC/Baltimore

Devin Shaffer's new album, Patience, mirrors life's highs and lows on the search for spiritual meaning, purpose, and connection. Patience updates the hushed intimacy of songwriters like Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier, and Linda Perhacs for the twenty-first century. Shaffer challenges both herself and the listener to find peace in the unknowing and comfort in the surrender.

Solo performance by Ella G of Lud Roes

2nd & 4th Wednesdays * online at 8pm Eastern * Free / donations appreciated * RSVP

A weekly guided dream-sharing hangout…. Welcome to the theater of your dreams—an inexhaustible source of images and stories that can provide entertainment and insight, and that requires no cable service and no subscription—just attentiveness and an open mind. Participants will share dreams, using a gentle, non-intrusive method for unlocking the metaphors that structure dreams (derived from the long-tested method of Dr. Montague Ullman). We’ll also talk about techniques for recalling and recording dreams, as needed.

Please click through for more details.

Friday June 26 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $20-35 * TICKETS

Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser FRED FRITH has been making noise of one kind or another for more than 50 years, starting with the rock collective Henry Cow, which he co-founded with Tim Hodgkinson in 1968. Fred is best known as a pioneering electric guitarist and improviser, song-writer, and composer for film, dance and theater. Through bands like Art Bears, Massacre, Skeleton Crew, the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, Cosa Brava, and the FF Trio he has stayed close to his roots in rock and folk music while branching out in many other directions. 

CHAO TIAN is a boundary-breaking Chinese dulcimer virtuoso, improviser, and sonic thinker whose music unfolds across tradition, experimentation, and diasporic imagination. Trained in the classical lineage of the Chinese dulcimer since the age of five, she now bends that legacy into new shapes—treating the instrument not as a symbol, but as a living, questioning voice. 

Saturday June 27 * 1pm * $35 * REGISTER

This 2 hour workshop will begin with a flowing yoga practice to bring us into a present state of awareness. Then we’ll sit and explore the foundational basics of tarot cards. With prompts and exercises, we’ll pull tarot cards and explore our observations, feelings, and reactions to them. After the workshop, participants will have a better understanding of how yoga and tarot can foster a deep inner connection and build mindfulness and intuition.

Workshop materials -

Yoga mat (required)

Deck of tarot cards (optional)

Journal and writing utensil (optional)

Any other desired yoga props such as a blanket or blocks (optional)

Saturday June 27 * 7pm * $15 * TICKETS

Spark Isle is an experimental rock trio based in the DMV. The group's instrumental compositions touch on jazz, funk, punk and styles in between. Visually, Spark Isle presents projections to accompany each song that often feature footage of collaborations with artists from other mediums (painters, dancers, etc.).

Sur Cósmico is a Spanish psychedelic rock project by Bolivian artist Jardiel Ruiz, delivering immersive and atmospheric live performances.

My Mandy - All is breathing the astral dust. Stripping it down to the moment, My Mandy is the music project by Malynne Petoia, seeking to capture our shared inner & outer worlds, echoed into lyrical melodies.

L☆LY is a human In this invented world Where concrete is the soil And money is the soul. L☆LY is a star as Citlally translates Of nahualt origin And death as the fate.

Sir Cie - If you like indie and alternative music with folk, pop rock, and classic rock influences, congratulations, j’suis ta copine.

Tuesday June 30 * doors at 7pm, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Secret Planet presents... Chicago pianist Josh Harlow and Detroit percussionist Jonathan Barahal founded Teiku around the concept of using their respective families’ unique Passover melodies as conduits for new forms of spontaneous musical expression. Their self-titled 2024 debut was a meditation on their shared history and a tribute to the ancestral melodies that they grew up singing. Sophomore album Klang expands on this reinterpretation of traditional sounds by drawing source material from the wider community, rare manuscripts, voice recordings, and memories of late-night ritualistic chants. Five of Klang’s six tracks represent the same Passover song/liturgical text, with each becoming a completely distinctive and unique melody when filtered through regional and family variations. 

simone baron is an accordionist, pianist, composer, improviser, and instigator whose playing is known for its “gestural joie de vivre," marked by “living, breathing vitality and exquisite nuance” (Washington Post). Engaging a broad spectrum of idioms, their music “ego-less, genre agnostic and without expectations” (JazzTimes) explores dreams, somatic empathy, memory and transformation. simone has received grants, fellowships, and residencies from organizations including South Arts, Chamber Music America, Conserere Milan, Sacatar Foundation (Brazil), the Banff Centre, Strathmore, Hambidge, ArtOMI, Avaloch Farm, Marble House, Bloedel Reserve, and Spectrum Toronto. 2026 engagements include tours with their chamber jazz ensemble Arco Belo, DeCollage trio, the transatlantic baron-calcagno duo, and a new solo project. simone is a Victoria Artist, plays a Poeta XB Accordion, and is a founding member of the Boulanger Initiative.

Friday July 3 * doors at 6:30, show at 7 * $15 * TICKETS

Penanggalan
Baltimore Black Metal

Crows Foot
Baltimore Black Metal

Tartarean
MD Blackened Grind

Sunday July 5 * doors at 7, show at 7:30 * $10 * TICKETS

Trepenate (DC Power Violence)

Hostile Mind (DC Hardcore)

Lagoon (DMV Hardcore)

Drugs of Faith (DC Grind-n-Roll)

Saturday July 11 * doors at 6:30, show at 7pm * $20 * TICKETS

Magic Tuber Stringband, hailing from North Carolina, probes the undercurrents of the landscapes around them. Highly skilled players and writers, the trio are leaders within the burgeoning avant composition world utilizing folk instrumentation. Their music appears to weave in and out of the fabric of their surroundings, reflecting their time spent living across the Southeast and studying its regional folk traditions and natural histories.

Tacoma Park is a North Carolina-based duo. Brian Howe of IndyWeek described them as playing "abstract impulses in a style you might call homespun monumental, with heavily processed guitars and richly textured synths combining into a Southeastern American take on a certain German tradition of droning, pulsating, landscape-traveling electronic music.

Jon Camp Band: Jon Camp is a fingerstyle guitarist and composer based out of the DC region. Jon blends melody, twang, and drone into a cohesive whole that is exploratory without forsaking the hook. 

Rhizome will host a puppet slam on July 18, 2026. If you are interested in participating, please submit example(s) of your show (or at least your artistry) to Rachel Gates at rhizomepuppetlab@gmail.com. All selected artists will receive a small stipend.