Thursday February 19 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $20-30 * TICKETS

Washington DC-based ¡FIASCO! was first assembled in 2016 building a unique repertoire of sounds and materials rooted in droning folk songs, jittery hip-hop grooves, grunge, and punk rock. ¡FIASCO! was signed to Unit Records in 2023 and released their Unit debut Anger Artist in January 2024. Throughout years of club gigs, experimentation with original and re-imagined repertoire, and growing sophistication with electronics and effects, combining a jazz form with rock aesthetics and attitude, ¡FIASCO! built a following and a sound uniquely their own. Andrew Frankhouse (sax), Nelson Dougherty (guitar), Steve Arnold (bass), Keith Butler, Jr. (drums).

Hunter, Koray, and Zulfugar are a trio of improvisers with one foot in fusion, jazz, and funk, and the other in outer space. This high-energy group straddles this line, playing mind-bending impromptu compositions that expand horizons.

Friday February 20 * $10-20 * 7pm * TICKETS

Indigo Ranch: Reminiscent of C86-era pop music enveloped in a wall of hiss, Indigo Ranch is Emily Eichelberger (guitar, vocals) and John Pyle (bass, drum machine) of Philadelphia, PA, past and current members of Oaken Tower, Pleasure Island, and Louie Louie. Described as, “A contrite and rainy release, remnant of the saddest and most obscure UK 80s indie pop. The snare is only static as you pass through stations on the radio at 2am. The kick is your pulse. Every song is an unclear disclosure, late night confession, or phone booth lullaby. Neil Taylor would be proud." Or more concisely: Mazzy Star with muscle, Ladytron on cough syrup or if Joy Division was born in Sonora.

Weapons Envelope: harsh noise and power electronics by Emily Haugh (DC). War poetry for remembering.

Levogyre: Found and transmitted sound from DC.

Saturday February 21 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Rod Smith is the author of Touché (Wave, 2015), Deed (U. Iowa, 2007), Music or Honesty (Roof, 2003), and The Good House (Spectacular Books, 2001). He edits the journal Aerial, publishes Edge Books, and manages Bridge Street Books in Washington, DC. He has taught at The Iowa Writers' Workshop, The Maryland Institute College of Art, and The Corcoran College of Art + Design. Smith edited The Selected Letters of Robert Creeley (U. Cal Press, 2014) with Kaplan Harris and Peter Baker.

K. Lorraine Graham is a poet, mixed media artist and diviner inspired by everyday life, family history, and the oracular. She creates a mix of abstract and representational pieces that evoke introspection and self-analysis. Growing up all over the world in Papua New Guinea, Chile, Mexico, China and Maine, she’s been drawn to art and language since childhood. After studying east Asian studies and Chinese at George Washington University and getting an M.F.A. at the University of California, San Diego, her work evolved into a blend of poetry and mixed media works on paper. She’s the author of The Rest Is Censored (Bloof Books) and Terminal Humming (Edge Books), and an artist book of drawings called Semiotic Squares (Primary Writing). Her work has been shown at the Umbrella Art Fair, Kreeger Museum, Stable Arts, and But, Also.

Sunday February 22 * 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 February 22 * 5pm * $15-30 * TICKETS

Presented by Outside Time in partnership with the Polish Cultural Institute New York. Runs 5-8pm. Homemade soup will be available to attendees. This will be an intimate, early evening performance. 

Raphael Roginski is a guitarist, composer, improviser, cultural animator and researcher of musical folklore. Educated in jazz and classical music, his interests include musicology and ethnomusicology, which combine in his work in terms of both composition and performance, referencing Jewish culture, blues and more. For this performance he will be performing original arrangements of Crimean Tatar music. His LPs have been released by Unsound to acclaim. Read an interview about his interpretations of John Coltrane's music here.

Dr. Kimia Hesabi is a violist, educator, and administrator currently residing in the D.C area. Kimia is an active performer and has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra musician in various prestigious concert halls across the country as well as her home country Iran. A recent appearance includes performing at NPR’s Tiny Desk along with Sleater-Kinney. Hesabi released her debut album entitled Nemāno Gaona featuring works for viola by composers of the Iranian Diaspora under New Focus Recordings in 2022.

Monday February 23 * doors at 6:30, music at 7pm sharp * $15-25 * TICKETS

Wrekmeister Harmonies: Pastoral doom, droning metal, sonic maximalism from Kingston, NY. On Thrill Jockey Records
https://wrekmeisterharmonies.bandcamp.com/

Sadness: Shoegazey, emotional black metal 
https://sadnessmusic.bandcamp.com/

Oldest Sea: Ethereal heaviness from New Jersey 
https://oldestsea1.bandcamp.com

Witch's Mirror: Magic hour doom from Washington, DC
https://witchsmirror.bandcamp.com/

Wednesday February 25 * 7pm * Free / donations * RSVP

Readings from two poets with recent Anthony Hecht Prize–winning collections from Waywiser Books will be followed by an installment of SEND WORD, a correspondence station. All supplies provided, and postcard-writing prompts will be available. Send someone you love (or your senator, or yourself) a letter today!

Anna Lena Phillips Bellis the author of Might Could, winner of the Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize, Ornament, winner of the Vassar Miller Prize, and the chapbook Smaller Songs, from St Brigid Press. Her artist’s books have been selected for exhibitions at Abecedarian Gallery and Asheville Bookworks, and new writing appears in the Georgia Review, Electric Literature, Ploughshares, and Orion.

Hannah Louise Poston is a poet, essayist, and online content creator whose writing has appeared in several places, including Poetry Daily, Longreads, and The New York Times. She has an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan and a BFA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which she attended as the Thomas Wolfe Scholar in Creative Writing.

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 February 26 * 7pm * $15-25 * TICKETS

The Wayne Horvitz and Sara Schoenbeck Duo navigate through original tunes and improvisatory soundscapes. With feet firmly planted in a genre-less zone, electronics and an ever-expanding textural palate serve to deepen the feel of a shared melodic language. Their first CD, entitled “Cell Walk”, was released on the Songlines label in May 2020.

Washington, D.C.-based guitarist Anthony Pirog is a musician who knows no stylistic limits. Educated in jazz but enthusiastically embracing diverse forms from indie/punk-informed rock to ambient experimentation, Pirog has emerged as one of the most noteworthy artists on the 21st century D.C. area music scene, defying predictability with live appearances in myriad configurations.

Friday February 27 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $10 * TICKETS

Seikilos
https://seikilos.bandcamp.com/album/youll-never-know

Lagoon
https://lagoon00.bandcamp.com/

Sesiba
https://www.instagram.com/sesiba.official/

Chunder
https://song.link/CHUNDER

Saturday February 28 * doors at 3pm, event at 3:30 * $10-20 * TICKETS

"INDELIBLE" is a hybrid documentary series highlighting performing artists in the DMV and Baltimore. Since 2018, series creator Antonio Hernandez (aka "Electric Llama") has published 15 episodes, and has screened unique edits of the film at venues such as Busboys and Poets, Suns Cinema, Eaton Hotel and The Village Cafe. This will be the first time the project is screening at Rhizome.

Singer, songwriter and producer Jenna Camille, star of Episode 8, will perform live.

Saturday February 28 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $15-20 * TICKETS

The Andrews are an ambient experimental country music group featuring Andrew Waegel (pedal steel) and Richard Andrews (guitar). Their music brings deep elements of and reverence for the traditions of American country music, starting with but usually departing from the restrictions of the genre's songcraft; melody gives way to soundscapes which lead to experimentations that avoid honky-tonk cliche and feel-good ambient platitudes in favor of a more realistic reconciliation with our current cultural moment.

Jonathan Morris (Matis) has been composing and performing many types of music for some period of years that we don't need to count. His interest in combining improvisation and composition led him to conservatory training at the Hartt School of Music. Recovery from that training has included performances all over the country, from highbrow venues like The Kennedy Center (not recently) to others like CBGB’s. Jonathan led the DC Improvisers Collective and the Low End String Quartet, and is a member of the instrumental rock guitar choir, Boat Burning. His latest commercial release is Resonance: Time + Wood + Steel, a collection of ambient guitar music on Ramble Records.

AM Howard was born in DC and came of age in the New Mexico plains and West Texas Bars. His solo guitar work falls somewhere between modern American primitive fingerpicking, looping/loping ambient country, and Motorik-inspired drives into the middle distance. Call it Kosmiche Americana.

Sunday March 1 * 11am * $15 suggested * REGISTER

Want to crochet, but don't know where to start? Crochet 101 Back to Basics is the perfect class for you! We will learn how to hold a crochet hook and yarn, how to read a basic pattern, and how to start project in single crochet. 

No experience necessary!

Pay what you like, recommended $15. Crochet 101 is led by Annie with Swamp Rose Studios. Class every first Sunday of the month, topics rotate monthly. Inquiries: annie.rose.oconnell@gmail.com

Sunday March 1 * 4:30 * Free / donations * RSVP

With recent changes at the Department of Education and the removal of subject matter, the increase in technological availability, and an evolving cultural landscape, a question emerges: how do educators, families, students, and communities work together to ensure the next generation has access to accurate information and experiences that encourage emotional intelligence as well, help them find their place in the world, allow them to interact with a myriad of subject matter, and equip them to be global participants?

Issues to consider: Outdoor learning / Nontraditional education centers / Private education / Supplementary education activities / Intersectionality / Trades and vocational work

We invite educators, students, parents, philosophers, historians, technologists, and any person who is passionate, concerned, and future-oriented when it comes to education and education policy. There will be panels, discussions, group activities, and a keynote speaker. There will be visual artwork presented by Chris Carr, as well as live musical and poetic performances.

Tuesday March 3 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $20-30 * TICKETS

Bobby Zankel is a cornerstone of the Philadelphia creative jazz scene, someone who’s been doing this work for decades with deep intention and care. He studied with Ornette Coleman, and leads The Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, a long-running ensemble built around collective energy, trust, and fearless improvisation. His music moves between composition and open space—bold, searching, and always alive. Over the years, his work has included commissioned pieces featuring artists like Muhal Richard Abrams, Steve Coleman, and Rudresh Mahanthappa, but at its core, this is about the band in the room, listening hard and moving together.

THE WARRIORS: Bobby Zankel – Sax / Shakoor Hakeem – Percussion / Sumi Tonooka – Piano / Fabian Engar – Trumpet / Douglas Mapp – Bass / Miguel Russell – Drums

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

We are pleased to present an evening of films by Sara Kazemimanesh & Shahriar Shafiani, both of whom will be present for a discussion with the audience following the screening.

Sara Kazemimanesh (b. 1988, Rasht, Iran) is a writer, filmmaker, and educator. Her work moves between interpretative and critical writing and expanded art practice. In her films, and often through restrained, formally attentive storytelling, she explores displacement, agency of women, and the nuanced ways private lives collide with larger socio-political forces. Sara’s films have been showcased and recognized internationally. She holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Ohio University.

Shahriar Shafiani is a film director, scholar, and educator. Born and raised in Iran, Shafiani began his career as an independent filmmaker before relocating to the United States for graduate study. Shafiani holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Arts and an MFA in Film from Ohio University. He is an Assistant Professor of Film at Howard University, where he also coordinates the Graduate Film Program. Alongside his academic work, Shafiani continues to direct, edit, and coach performers for film and television.

Friday March 6 * 7pm * $15-20 * TICKETS

Ceremony East Coast is the bass and drums duo of John Fedowitz and Sandra Fedowitz playing raw love songs with distortion at glistering volumes. You get fuzz bass lines, ear piercing guitars, savage drums and intense vocals. Nothing polished, highs and lows. Each live show and record is raw, real and Ceremony style: #lovesongswithdistortion.

Osmia started as a recording project in Oregon, currently based in Maine. Sometimes fuzz pedals set to ten and sometimes spacey reverberations. Post rock / post punk genre derivations. Loud, quiet rock and roll for a folk soaked sea coast. This is their second time in DC..

JACKY COUGAR & THE VAMPIRES FROM AFRICA is the electro punk project from Jack Abok (Foul Swoops, Des Demonas, Sex Faces) melding his love of the delta blues, hip hop, post punk and Krautrock with Hana Racecar, his bandmate from Sex Faces ripping raw primitive beats.

Caustic Hologram is our hadean algorithmic cyberverse designed to fragment our souls into terminal consumption. They are also a band and a group of friends navigating this dystopian timeline together who believe in the unifying magic of repetitive rhythms and raucous dissonance.

Saturday March 7 * 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.

On Saturday, March 7 from 1-3 pm we're playing LOOP GAIN by Lin Codega, a larp that attempts to imitate AI 'psychosis.' Take on the role of chatbots and users as the feedback loop between our human problems and LLM's limited responses creates iterative failures in a variety of strange and bizarre ways. This game is neither a comedy nor a tragedy, but something liminal, in-between, and outside. No actual 'AI' will be used in the playing of this game.

Saturday March 7 * 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 March 8 * 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.

Instructor: Sophie Kanter: www.thebluesti.com/

Sunday March 8 * 7pm * $15-25 * TICKETS

Peter Evans (trumpet) and Sam Pluta (electronics) have been collaborating since 2008 in a wide variety of contexts. Their music bridges Evans' efforts to explore new sonic worlds for a traditional acoustic instrument with Pluta's customized and highly flexible software. Their instruments are at some points fused into a unified sonic entity indistinguishable as two voices, while at others engaged in violent counterpoint. 

Heather Stebbins is a DC-based composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work explores the 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.

Pianist Ning Yu emerges as one of the most compelling voices in contemporary music. Ning brings virtuosity and adventurous spirit to a wide range of music, both in solo performances and in collaborations with some of today’s most distinguished creative artists.

Erin Demastes is an experimental composer, performer, and sound artist. She uses everyday objects and hacked electronics for her installations and performances and subverts their use and perception with play and experimentation.

Monday March 9 * 7pm * $15-25 * TICKETS

Paper Lady is the immortal crone, casting spells and wreaking havoc in Boston, MA. This indie dream-rock outfit, consisting of Alli Raina, Rowan Martin, Alex Castile, and Taylor Morris was formed in the depths of the Northeast DIY scene in 2019. They have been conjuring up noisy freak folk and driving dream rock alike in basements and on stages around the US and Canada.

babybaby_explores is the citation of the run on sentence providence art-rock project, “Baby; Baby: Explores the Reasons Why that Gum is Still on the Sidewalk”, created by three scrappy bffs Lids B-Day (effected Vox & sampler), Sam M-H (e. gtr.) & Ramona Cano-Daly (keys & rhythm), three working-class art freaks raised in the haunted clam chowder suburbia Warwick, RI. Utilizing guitar effects pedals to manipulate sounds they create dissonant and lighthearted simple structured danceable songs that pay homage to musique concrète, European underground synth punk of the late 70’s through the 80's, anthem music, dada, and the Providence DIY & noise scene.

Flo Petitemakes music for degenerates, dog lovers and anyone prone to an existential crisis. Based out of Washington DC, they’ve spent the last few years creating hodge-podge indie-pop sounds between toting around to house shows and touring out of their moms car. Next up : releasing a song more than every three years. Stay tuned!

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

Lia Kohl is a composer and sound artist based in Chicago. Trained as a cellist, she also incorporates synthesizers, field recordings, toy instruments  and radios into her work, searching for a balance between virtuosity and curiosity. She gravitates towards sound practices which reveal and speak to their time and place: field recording, improvisation, radio broadcast and transmission. She often focuses on mundane or pedestrian sounds – sounds which often go unnoticed or under-documented, searching for the profound, unknown, and beautiful in everyday life.

Zachary Good is a Chicago-based clarinetist, chamber musician, composer, and music educator. Good’s music meticulously explores the contrapuntal and harmonic possibilities of quiet two-note multiphonics on the clarinet, creating the illusion of multiple clarinetists playing simultaneously. His music is quietly virtuosic, inspired by the intricacies of the clarinet and a love for Baroque nuance and form.

Claire Alrich and Layne Garrett will present a first-time collaboration. 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. Layne Garrett is an improvising musician and instrument builder based in Washington DC. He works with prepared guitars, found objects, and self-built instruments.

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 March 12 * doors at 7, music at 8 * $10-20 * TICKETS

Hippie Love Party (VA Beach): Math, emo, psych 

Bodied (NoVA): hardcore, screamo, skramz --  https://bodiednova.bandcamp.com/

Fleabath (DC):  wild, sloppy, and primitive garage punk -- https://www.fleabathdc.com/

Friday March 13 * 6pm * $15 * TICKETS

The festival’s six elements include LIVE SAMPLING, LIVE MUSIC, LIVE ART, a VENDOR MARKETPLACE, an ARTIST PANEL, and FOOD, with each event feature having a fiercely nonconformist lineup.

Local producers of multi-genred backgrounds will premiere new tracks composed live at the event using remixed samples recorded during the eclectic live music sets. 

OUR PRODUCERS: Alienood / Elric / Imka / The Expanding Man

WITH LIVE MUSIC BY: Anxiety Monster / Fantazma / James Wolf / Iliana Garabyare

VISUAL MAKERS & VENDORS, thanks to Clearbrook Artist Collective: Bbugnug / Beane Beane / Calum Hjelm / Club Temper / Recklessmarks

Facilitated by Alicia Astronomo, our PANEL of local artists discuss organizing and building creative community: Alana McCarthy Light / Camilo Montoya / Collapsing / Soul on the Scene

A taste of the islands meet the Maryland (old) bay with our CHEF: @crabandcalypso

Event organized by Nico Rodriguez and Alana McCarthy Light

Flier background art by Satya Emeric

Saturday March 14 * noon-5pm * $10 / pie * TICKETS

THE PIE ZONE featuring Adele Marie, Julia Aurore, Mikau and Rosslyn Station. Come celebrate Pi Day with live music, flash tattoos, and a lovely little pie potluck! $10 (or bring a pie), 12PM-5PM

Sunday March 15 * 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 March 15 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Amoeba Ray (Washington, DC)
https://www.instagram.com/amoebaraydc
Instrumentally fronted rock with backing vox. We like to dance and stave off angst. Influenced by Yorke, Homme, and Brubeck, but making our own vibe.

Greg Rekus (Winnipeg, CA)
https://gregrekus.com/
"Sinners go to Church, Saints go to Jail" out now. Road-tested folk punk.

Cat Anatomy (College Park, MD)
https://catanatomy.bandcamp.com/
Maryland-based rock n roll

Monday March 16 * doors at 7, show at 8 * $10 * TICKETS

Bong Bag (GA)
https://hardtackk.bandcamp.com/album/glimmer

The M.F.C (MD)
https://themfc.bandcamp.com/album/roadside-cross-piss-on-a-tesla

Powerband (DC)
https://powerband.bandcamp.com/track/death-machine

Wednesday March 18 * doors at 6:30, music at 7:30 * $20-35 * TICKETS

Presented by Transparent Productions in collaboration with the 2026 Washington Women in Jazz Festival. 

Alex Hamburger Quartet: Alex Hamburger (flute/voice), José Luiz Martins (piano), Tyrone Allen II (bass), Eliza Salem (drums)

Samantha Kochis Quintet: Samantha Kochis (flute), Judette Elliston (voice), Matei Predescu (piano), Finn Carroll (bass), Josh Mathews (drums) 

For the last decade, flutist, vocalist and composer Alex Hamburger has been creating her own musical direction. Her debut And She Spoke gave voice to female poets and composers while her acclaimed sophomore album, What If?, blended acoustic and electric textures to explore transformation and perception.

Samantha Kochis is a Brooklyn-based flutist, improviser, and composer who explores various creative environments as an artist of experimental music. In her creative works, Samantha draws from the tradition of avant-garde jazz and free improvisation to engage in sonic conversations with listeners and collaborators alike. Her playing is described as “deeply intentioned” and “sensitive yet powerful”.

Thursday March 19 * doors at 7, show at 8 * $15 * TICKETS

Geologist: Brian Weitz, also known by his stage name Geologist, is a musician best known as a member of the experimental pop group Animal Collective. He provides electronic sound manipulations and samples for the band. Solo he does that and plays a lot of hurdy gurdy too.

The Caribbean: The Caribbean is an American experimental project from Washington, D.C., composed of Michael Kentoff, Matthew Byars, and Dave Jones. Described as “minimalist/drone/Philip Jeck-by-way-of-Carole King” and by the description in a review by PopMatters that “They're taking Brill Building songs and writing them in invisible ink, turning jazz standards into Twilight Zone episodes, turning folk songs into clouds of fog,” the band has been critically acclaimed for its deconstructionist approach to pop music, and its wry, literary lyrics. Their 2011 album Discontinued Perfume was hailed by the Washington Post as "a subtle masterpiece," and DCist proclaimed the following about their record Plastic Explosives: "Let us be clear about this: Plastic Explosives is one of the finest recent records we’ve found, from any act, local or otherwise."

Friday March 20 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $10-20 * TICKETS

Quiet Room is a grunge fusion rock band consisting of four musicians from across the greater DMV area. Quiet Room features guitarist Ja’Wuan Martin-Cooper, mountain dulcimer player Thiel Secrist, bassist Yvonna Liszewski, and drummer Arturo Carchedi exploring many different sounds at once to invite listeners in while simultaneously pushing boundaries.

Holy Terror is a progressive Cold Wave band from Silver Spring, Maryland. They compose music for the Dance Dance Revolution cabinets in Hell with lyrics circling mortality, the sacred, and human sacrifice. Holy Terror is a power trio featuring Robin Zeng on Drums and providing the live visual elements, Sly Samudre on Keys and Vocals, & Christopher Luis-Jorge on Bass and Lead Vocals. 

Kinoko is self-conscious, self-irreverent, diy emo.

Saturday March 21 * 7pm * $13 advance / $15 at the door * TICKETS

Red Brick Presents...

TOSSER (DC)
https://tossertheband.bandcamp.com/

BLOODSPORTS (NYC)
https://bloodsportsbk.bandcamp.com/

GUTTERED (DC)
https://gutteredcore.bandcamp.com/album/tracing-a-silhouette

Sunday March 22 * 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 March 22 * doors at 6, music at 7 * $15 * TICKETS

$500 is a three-piece rock band from Kingston, NY. Consisting of longtime musical collaborators and couple Kaitlyn Flanagan and Ian Donohue with Lilly Griffin on drums. They self-released their debut album Twelve Eyes in September of 2025. https://500dollars.bandcamp.com/album/twelve-eyes 

File Select are a three-piece band from Baltimore, Maryland. Their latest release is the 2019 EP , John Connor's Last Words.
https://fileselect.bandcamp.com/album/john-connors-last-words

The Armors (DC) combine hard-hitting classic rock swagger and punk rock urgency while nodding to the emo born out of DC’s Revolution Summer. https://thearmors.bandcamp.com/album/ep

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 March 27 * doors at 6:30, music at 7:30 * $15 suggested * TICKETS

Brittany + Mad Sculptor Productions presents a fundraiser for a local domestic violence shelter

Inevitable (PA)
https://inevitable.bandcamp.com/album/cowards-die-here

Courage Mother (DC)
https://couragemother.bandcamp.com/

xmiseryisabutterflyx (DC)
https://xmiseryisabutterflyx.bandcamp.com/album/demo

xmemoriestoburnx (MD)

Saturday, March 28 * doors at 7 * $10-20 * TICKETS

Light Beams - Dance-punk from DC

Gladys - Subversive songs about seltzer and pensioners, with a dash of psychedelia. Exceptional trousers. NYC

Club USA

Saturday April 4 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $15-20 * TICKETS

Ryan Lee Crosby is currently based in Rhode Island, but his musical heart is in Mississippi. He has released numerous albums, toured internationally and is a leading practitioner of the Bentonia School of rural Delta blues, as well as a world music explorer. Smithsonian Magazine praised his ability to "bring influences from Africa and India to the Bentonia sound."

Dr. Jake Hertzog is a multi-genre award-winning guitarist and composer, whose career to-date has spanned jazz, rock and classical new music styles. He has toured throughout the U.S., Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and India and performed and recorded with a diverse cadre of artists including Randy Brecker, Ivan Neville, Mike Clarke, Blondie Chaplin, Anton Fig, Corey Glover, Barry Altschul, Dave Leibman, Ingrid Jensen and many others.

Growing up in the Annapolis area and attending University of Maryland with friend and labelmate Robbie Basho, Max Ochs contributed two tracks for the 1967 "Contemporary Guitar" on John Fahey’s Takoma label. Inspired by his friend Fahey, Ochs developed his own interest in fingerstyle guitar, learning from one of the masters, Mississippi John Hurt, during a one-month residency in Ochs’ New York apartment when Hurt reappeared on the folk scene in 1964.  Ochs has continued recording and performing in his spare time, releasing music on the Fonotone and Tompkins Square labels, and with collaborators like Neil Harpe and Rugburn.

Wednesday April 8 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Secret Planet presents… Maurice Louca's Fera in quartet live formation brings the album’s intricate, hypnotic energy to the stage with Maurice Louca on guitar and electronics, Ayman Asfour on violin, Dylan Greene on drums and percussion, and Luke Stewart on double bass, delivering the full rhythmic and dynamic range of Fera in a powerful live setting.

Maurice Louca is one of the most gifted, prolific, and adventurous figures in Egypt’s thriving experimental arts scene. His genre-defying music bridges psychedelic Egyptian shaabi, cosmic jazz, and improvisation. In his latest project Fera, hypnotic polyrhythms take the forefront for a trance-inducing experience that invites both movement and careful listening.

Saturday April 11 * noon-4pm * Free / donations

Bring your pre-loved working physical media to swap with your community! Take what you want and leave what you don't!! This is a free event - No money will be exchanged for goods at this event but donations at the door to Rhizome are always accepted and appreciated!

Sunday April 12 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $20-30 * TICKETS

Transparent Productions presents Tom Teasley (percussion, voice, electronics) and Dave Ballou (trumpet)

As a global percussionist, composer, and sonic explorer, Tom Teasley creates music that dissolves boundaries—cultural, musical, and spiritual. Grounded in the belief that rhythm is a universal language capable of fostering dialogue across traditions and identities, his work draws inspiration from Middle Eastern frame drumming, West African grooves, Indian tala cycles, jazz improvisation, and contemporary electronic textures. The result is a synthesis that is immersive, expressive, and deeply human.

Trumpeter/Composer Dave Ballou can be heard in a variety of settings; from solo trumpet improvisations to large ensembles performing notated compositions. His recordings as a leader can be found on the Steeplechase, CleanFeed and pfMentum record labels. Ballou has performed or recorded with ensembles led by Rabih Abou-Kahlil, Steely Dan, Michael Formanek, Woody Herman, Andrew Hill, John Hollenbeck’s Large Ensemble, Sheila Jordan, Oliver Lake, Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, Dewey Redman and Maria Schneider. 

Friday April 17 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $20-30 * TICKETS

The Brooklyn, NY based collaborative trio Ember sits at the crossroads of musical and personal exploration. Each of the members— Caleb Wheeler Curtis (stritch, sopranino, trumpet), Noah Garabedian (bass), and Vinnie Sperrazza (drums)— are integral parts of the NY jazz and creative music communities as leaders, collaborators and instigators. Founded in 2018, inspired by Arthur Blythe, Henry Threadgill/AIR, Steven Bernstein/ Sex Mob, and Jason Moran/Bandwagon, Ember’s music is open and expressive but down-to-earth, direct, and emotive. Their latest release, "August in March" is available everywhere via Imani Records.

Monday April 27 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Jason Anderson is an award-winning indie/folk artist based in New Brunswick, Canada. He has collaborated with Mount Eerie, toured with Kimya Dawson, and worked with a number of seminal independent labels including K Records and Salinas. His songs celebrate the poetry of the present tense, and his legendary live show is a connective, communal experience. Personal and passionate, Anderson's music crackles with life. 

Majda Gama was born in Beirut to a Saudi father and American mother. Her hometown is Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and her roots Hijazi, but she also has a long, complicated relationship with Northern Virginia where her father was stationed in the 1970’s. Majda is the author of the debut poetry collection In the House of Modern Upbringing for Girls, winner of the Wandering Aengus Press prize for poetry, and the chapbook The Call of Paradise selected by Diane Seuss for the Two Sylvia’s press chapbook prize.

Ronya-Lee and the Light Factory is a musical project created by Ronya-Lee Anderson. The Light Factory names that she creates with many lights: collaborators, ancestors & witnesses. A Jamaican singer-songwriter from Washington, DC, her musical stylings fuse folk, soul & rock with underlying strokes of psychedelia. Her enchanting soprano & well-crafted lyricism reveal a unique blend of pop.

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.

Tuesday May 5 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $25-30 * TICKETS

Transparent Productions presents:

Saxophonist Tim Berne, drummer Ches Smith and guitarist David Torn push 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.

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

Transparent Productions presents:

Caroline Davis (alto saxophone, voice, electronics), Dustin Carlson (guitar, electronics)

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.

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….”

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.