Friday April 3 * Doors at 7, show at 8 * $12-15 * TICKETS

Machete
Noisy punk/hardcore from Harrisonburg
https://macheteexe.bandcamp.com/

Wastoid
Charlotte sludge punk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQwxh2pqvec

Megazillion
Baltimore noisy experimental punk
https://megazillion.bandcamp.com/

Lagoon
DMV hardcore
https://lagoon00.bandcamp.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 April 4 * 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/

Saturday April 4 * 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.

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.

Sunday April 5 * 11am * $15 suggested * REGISTER 

Join us to learn how to make a granny square, one of the most versatile base shapes that crochet has to offer. Granny squares can be made into blankets, hats, bags, and more! This class is best for beginners - by the end we will learn the double crochet stitch, and how to crochet in a circle (in-the-round). It's recommended that attendees are familiar with how to do a chain stitch, but not required! 

Sunday April 5th * 1pm * Ages 18&up * Free/Donations * REGISTER

Trans Writing Workshop - TOPIC: Writing the Trans Erotic - with Lucie Fielding *** 18 + ONLY ***

Steeped in the conviction (as expressed by Tourmaline), “that a world filled with softness and beauty and care is not only possible, but inevitable,” this class aims to explore how we might dream and write trans futures soaked in pleasure, connection, play, and the spark of the erotic. This class will include an elaboration of principles of trans eroticism/trans erotic embodiment, while using examples from poetry, essay, and fiction to provide a foundation for writing visceral, opulent, queer, and hot scenes of trans pleasure and lust.

Exhibit runs April 5 - 26
Opening reception: Sunday April 5 from 3-5pm featuring DJ Clay Alias
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.

Tape murals created on site by Intro to 3D Design students Violane, Leo, Aicha, Brandon, Alexis, Saniya, Gabriela, Stephanie, A'lanah, Sophie, Camil, and Brittany.

Student artwork curated by art history and museum studies students Molly Martin and Tamar Shem Tov.

Sunday April 5 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $10-20 * TICKETS

Theadoore’s first album Fool’s Errand is an indie rock romp with an experimental streak. Chock full of wayward melodies and ions, the album is steeped in honesty and awkwardness. The band evokes a vaguely 2000s eclecticism—think Cat Power or Joanna Newsom—which is bolstered by the jangly guitars of bygone twee bands. The album's dynamism is certainly a product of Grace Ward's symbiotic relationship with their guitar, a duet that ebbs and flows through unison and dissonance.

The experimental rock duo Or Best Offer - made up of primary songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Grace Schmidhauser and drummer and synthesist Brian Culligan - work with a sense of ceaseless wonder and invention, moving between instruments and technique with fluidity and intuition. But the humble consolation suggested by the band’s name belies what is actually a remarkably uncompromising sound, one given to sudden bursts of raw electric energy and total abstraction. The duo has found increasing notoriety for their arresting live performances, which project immersive electronics against muscular, cathartic performance.

Solvent makes heavy fuzzy pretty sounds for the end times. It's one part indie grunge and one part doomy sludge, with a sprinkle of noise and math rock mixed in. Think trees breaking through asphalt and vines taking over strip malls.

Other People' Feelings - new project from Ivan Liptak and Jon DeHart - Esoteric projections forming sidewinder extrapolations on mixed media polyhedral breakbeats and fissures. Looming large DC style, an arthritic lamentation forecasts digging it until it perturbates unknowingly. “At least unbeknownst to me,” cry seventy Marys elegantly. “Unbeknownst to me…”

Monday April 6 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Tatsuya Nakatani is an avant-garde percussionist, composer, and artist of sound. Active internationally since the 1990s, Nakatani has released over 80 recordings and tours extensively, performing over 150 concerts a year. Nakatani's distinctive music centered around his adapted bowed gong, supported by an array of drums, cymbals, and singing bowls. In consort with his personally hand-carved Kobo Bows, he has spent decades refining and developing his sound as an arrangement of formations of vibrations, incorporated in shimmering layers of silence and texture. Within this contemporary work, one can still recognize the dramatic pacing, formal elegance and space (ma) felt in traditional Japanese music.

Shelly Purdy is a contemporary percussionist and teaching artist committed to presenting new and experimental music. Her sonic explorations tend to favor the mingling of found objects with more traditional instruments and an affinity for chance and improvisation whenever possible. Purdy regularly performs with such ensembles as the percussion quartet; Umbilicus, the science/music ensemble; The Inverse Square Trio, and the avant/jazz trio; The Compositions. Purdy also has been studying Javanese & Balinese Gamelan under the tutelage of Prof Gina Beck and is a board member for The High Zero Foundation and 2640 Collective.

Tuesday April 7 * doors at 7, show at 8 * $10-12 * TICKETS

Black Beach
Boston’s Black Beach is a post-punk trio formed in 2012, mixing no wave, post-punk, doom, free jazz, and a little goth rock all clanging up against each other to make the perfect soundtrack to this crumbling empire.  Their third and just released LP Mail Thief continues to evolve their genre bending version of rock music.
https://blackbeachma.bandcamp.com/

Fantazma
FANTAZMA is a post-hardcore punk trio from Washington, DC. Their music features unconventional song structures, sharp sonic changes, and rhythms from rumba, salsa, cumbia, & other Latin-American genres. 
https://fantazma.bandcamp.com/

Capital Offender
Raucous rock and roll from DC 
https://badtacorecords.bandcamp.com/track/sink-it-in

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.

Natalie Chami (TALsounds) is a Canadian-born Lebanese American musician and educator. Known for her work in drone, ambient, and improvisational music, she has cultivated a distinguished solo career over the past 15 years, crafting a distinctive blend of personal and transporting music. Her compositions seamlessly integrate synth work, operatic vocals, and meticulous atmosphere crafting.

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 April 9 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $15 * TICKETS

Field of View (Tennessee Post Hardcore)
https://fieldofviewpunk.bandcamp.com/

Early Mourning (Indiana Post Hardcore)
https://earlymourningband.bandcamp.com/

Plant Fight (New Hampshire Post Punk)
https://plantfight.bandcamp.com/album/plant-fight

Post Dog (MD Shoegaze)
https://postdog.bandcamp.com/track/copy-cat

Lye Bath (DC Post Punk First show!!)

Friday April 10 * doors at 7, show at 7:30 * $15 * TICKETS

Seclusion- Washington D.C. Punk / Oi
https://alacarterecords.com/products/seclusion-sobrevivencia

Bad To Worse - PA hardcore punk
https://linktr.ee/badtoworsepa

Mr. Nice Guy - PA Melodic Punk

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 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!

Saturday April 11 * 7pm * $20 * TICKETS

Celebrate the Gullah Jack debut album release What About the Future? Gullah Jack (DMV) reunites 3 founding members of the 90s power project Noumenal Lingam. Christopher T. Downing is heard on synth, turntable, EFX, and sound design. Elnathan Starnes contributes funky grooves played on electric guitar, talking drums, friction drum, mouth bow, jaw harp, plastic straw, and sample treatments. Conceptualist Thomas "Bushmeat" Stanley offers his sampled voice, synth, and EFX, to a musical project offered in the spirit of the great 19th-century insurrectionist, Gullah Jack.

Man, Myth & Magick (DMV) is a collective of musicians, tone scientists and artists dedicated to expanding minds and lifting spirits through original creative musical expression. Their well-crafted blackadelic dub taps into the same creative well that birthed P-Funk, Gil Scott-Heron, and the Arkestra. The revolution may not be televised, but it's streaming in HD.

North Scenic Route Arkestra (ATL) is a collaborative, cosmic, cacophonous group of interdisciplinary artists led by Christopher Cook and focusing on the unknown and the abstract, layering sound – lofty, lackadaisical, and sometimes lewd – to create unstructured liturgical sounds. We are happy to be sharing the stage with our brothers from Georgia. Please come and make them feel welcome.

ALTER DESTINY in OUR LIFETIME

Sunday April 12th * Doors at 1, music at 1:20 * $10-25 * TICKETS

People's Music Supply and Rhizome are proud to present the second installment of our cutting-edge series showcasing improvisational interplay between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. — two vanguard's of today's experimental music scene.

From Washington, D.C. ... Other People's Music are Ivan Liptak and Jon DeHart. Esoteric projections forming sidewinder extrapolations on mixed media polyhedral breakbeats and fissures. Looming large DC style, an arthritic lamentation forecasts digging it until it perturbates unknowingly. “At least unbeknownst to me,” cry seventy Marys elegantly. “Unbeknownst to me…”

From Philadelphia, Pa. ... Sonali Singh (bassoon), Moe Marte (darbuka), and Leila Delicious (dance) invoke ancestral memory to explore sonic interplays between rhythm, melody, timbre and physical expression.

And in a unifying ad-hoc group ... John Jansen (daxophone/strings) and Mark Cisneros (stritch/reeds) hold it down for D.C., while Sylvia Winch (trombone), and max glazier (percussion) represent Philadelphia. The group comes together to discover the nuanced edges of cultural meaning.

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. 

Tuesday April 13 * 7pm * $15 * TICKETS

S-L-U-G WORLDWIDE ENTERPRISES // THE ROASTMASTER  PRESENT….

FROM PORTLAND
REEK MINDS
ripping unhinged hardcore, didn’t think id get to book this band on the east coast but they’re back andwith a new 7”… 

FROM CLEVELAND…
YAMBAG
Fast and loud… unrelenting… hardcore verging on power violence speeds .. fastcore? new record coming out later this year if you missed their last one mind fuck ultra check it now 

AND LOCALS 
CORVO
INVASIVE

AT RHIZOME

$15 // 7 PM

Tuesday April 14 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $15 * TICKETS

Jagtime Millionaire is a fingerpicking guitarist based in Pittsburgh, PA who presents a variety of 19th and early 20th century piano ragtime on the steel-string acoustic guitar.  While heavy on classic rags from Scott Joplin, he also plays novelty instrumentals and original songs.  JM's playing isn't a nostalgia trip in the least; he filters ragtime through a modern lens, adding rhythmic interest and humor to these timeless compositions.  

Pergola is the work of Baltimore-based fingerstyle guitarist Todd Shelar. His music is influenced by American Primitive Guitar players, impressionism, minimalism, Renaissance through modern classical guitar, and various folk music traditions. His most recent record of solo acoustic guitar instrumentals, Moon Glows The Same, came out in 2024.

Jon Camp  is a fingerstyle guitarist and composer based out of the DC region. Jon blends melody and twang into a cohesive whole that is exploratory without forsaking the hook. Of his most recent album, Proceed (Centripetal Force Records), Aquarium Drunkard said, "His playing can be tart, with clearly defined lines, rhythmic bends, and crisp phrasing, while summoning sweeping emotional atmospheres." At Rhizome, Jon will perform a solo electric guitar set.

Thursday April 16 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Al Margolis is a composer/performer, improvisor, and painter. Since 1984, often under his project name If, Bwana, he has worked in the field of non-commercial, non-popular music and sound.

Max Hamel is a craftsperson, musician, artist and instrument maker with diverse practices ranging from professional fine violin luthiery to handmade live electronics. Their performance work builds upon a foundation of circuit bending, feedback, magic, touch and chaos, delighting in subtlety, pliable gesture and flippant ambiguity.

Noah Ophoven-Baldwin is a composer, cornetist, and improviser currently living in so-called Minneapolis, Minnesota. His solo work collages field recordings, metronome and cornet. Noah also runs the CD+book label, All Sky.

Levogyre w/ CG - Found and transmitted sound from DC. Featuring Griffiths on Bugbrand electronics for this show.

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.

Saturday April 18 * noon-2pm * Free * RSVP

Bring a sketchbook, your favorite art tools, and a written or drawn reference sheet (an original character, prompt, or idea you’d like someone to draw). Participants leave their sketchbook at a table at the front of the room and pick up another artist’s book to draw in, returning it when finished and choosing a new one. There’s no right or wrong way to participate. Quick, experimental sketches are encouraged, and artists of all skill levels are welcome. By the end of the event, you’ll leave with your original sketchbook filled with drawings by other artists. Feel free to drop in or out at any time!

Saturday April 18 * doors at 7, show at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Western Massachusetts “abrasively clean” minimalist punk band Landowner return to Rhizome on April 18. With the stated goal of sounding “as if Antelope were reading the sheet music of Discharge”, the band “slap hard” without the use of distortion, employing restraint in service of focus and intensity. The band is touring on their fifth LP, “Assumption”, out now on Exploding in Sound.

BRNDA has been a band for over ten years, championing their own flavor of art punk in DC and on the road across 200+ shows. Their last LP Do You Like Salt? (2021) proved to be quite a step up for the band in many ways (shows, press, support). The band has kept stacking in 2025, releasing a live record and then their latest full-length Total Pain, which they supported on tour. In 2026 they will play New Colossus Festival in NYC and then head out to Europe in June.

Drawn - DC/Philly - memories from an unreliable narrator. Nenet on vocals, Nate Scheible on drums, Layne Garrett on guitar.

Sunday April 19 * 12pm * $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 April 19 * 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 April 19 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Growing up on the outskirts of New York City, Shawn Lovato was deeply influenced by its underground scenes, including hip hop, metal, and punk rock. Lovato’s albums display a breathtaking spectrum that push the frameworks of contemporary improvisation. Shawn’s records have been described as “absolutely stunning” (Jazz Trail) and “profound” (Jazz Word).

Ingrid Laubrock is an experimental saxophonist and composer, interested in exploring the borders between musical realms and creating multi-layered, dense and often evocative sound worlds. A prolific composer, Laubrock was named a “fully committed saxophonist and visionary” by The New Yorker.

Henry Mermer is a drummer, improviser, and composer of instrumental and electronic music currently based in Ridgewood, Queens. Henry holds a B.A. in Philosophy and a B.F.A. in Jazz and Contemporary Music from The New School, where he studied with Andrew Cyrille, Jane Ira Bloom, Reggie Workman, Matt Wilson, Mary Halvorson, and Eric Wubbels.

Nik Francis is an improvising musician with a primary focus on the drum kit, occasionally integrating electronics and small acoustic instruments to expand his sonic palette. Through topology.systems, Francis maintains a library of his solo work and collaborative projects, documenting his evolving approach to rhythm and sound.

Sarah Hughes’ music is intuitive and genre-liberated while displaying an unquestionable command of her instrument and musical vocabulary. Her improvisations and compositions are infused with knowledge of both traditional and contemporary approaches and combine a love for “The Greats” with a drive to innovate.

Nate Scheible has performed and recorded in a variety of bands and ensembles spanning multiple genres over the past 25 years. His background is largely based in improvisation on drums, electronics, and analog tape. His work is featured prominently on releases by the labels Warm Winters Ltd., Outside Time, Unifactor, Feeding Tube, and Never Anything.

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

L.B. incorporates movement, and contextual objects, composing with reality while developing a personal instrumentarium. His live appearances often include elements of performance art, object-based installations, or acousmatic experiences.

Henna Chou (she/they) is a sound explorer with experiences living in Tucson, AZ; Overland Park, KS; Berkeley, CA; Ames, IA; Beijing, China; and Montpelier, VT.  Chou is anchored in the Austin, Texas creative community participating as a cellist, guitarist, keyboardist, and sound artist.

Joshua Thomson (he/him) is one of the more unique, and versatile saxophonists working throughout Austin’s live music scene. Known for his work ethic, creative approach, and improvisational prowess on alto saxophone, Thomson has been working professionally since 2007 and as a full time musician since 2015.

Ivan Liptak is a guitarist, songwriter, improviser, composer, and experimental musician from Washington, DC.  He went to school in Western Mass where he played in noise projects including AaA and Un monton, torero.

Tuesday April 21 * doors at 7, music at 7:45 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Grace A. Keller (of Hotel Sewing Kit) dc-based singer/songwriter.

Tiberius or Tiberius Wright for those who know. Farm emo from boston.

Rain Shears is indie folk rock from dc.

Wednesday April 22 * Doors at 7, music at 7:45 * $10-15 * TICKETS

The P.A.s (MA Progressive Post Punk)
https://thepas.bandcamp.com/

The Hips (MD Psych Noise Rock)
https://thehipstheband.bandcamp.com/album/o

Powerband (DC RNR)
https://powerband.bandcamp.com/

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

Join Janel Leppin's Ensemble Volcanic Ash to celebrate the release of Pluto in Aquarius, out March 27 on Cuneiform Records. 

The five-piece group melds an illustrious array of D.C. talent into a glimmering expressive organism that surges, expands, ebbs and dances in multiple directions at once.

Janel Leppin – cello, CP-70
Larry Ferguson – drums
Anthony Pirog – guitar
Brian Settles – tenor saxophone
Luke Stewart – bass

Compositions by Janel Leppin

Saturday April 25 * 11am * $5 suggested * REGISTER

Learn how to attend live drawing sessions! This workshop is intended for beginners to help build confidence to jump into live drawing sessions and connect with local figure drawing communities (we'll provide a list of regular sessions in the DMV area). But people at all levels are welcome~

To keep this budget friendly, we'll be taking turns modeling for each other (with relatively short poses). We've got basic supplies covered, but feel free to bring your own!

Saturday April 25 * 2pm * $5-10 suggested * REGISTER

Ready to resist the digital dystopia but not sure where to start? Or maybe you're just wondering if your digital security is weak? (Hint: it probably is!) Local digital security pros by day / activists by night are partnering with Rhizome to offer three hours of experienced tutelage. Bring your device and learn: basic phone security; safe browsing; digital storage; how to set up tools like password managers, Signal, and Cryptpad; how to divorce google when it has all your passwords; how to survive in the police state and surveillance capitalism! Suggested donation $5-$10 to Rhizome for use of the space, NOTAFLOF. Snacks provided!

Sunday April 26 * 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 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.

Tuesday April 28 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Eyefish Ink is a Maryland-based psychedelic rock band formed in 2023 by Venezuelan songwriting duo Genesis Arocha and Simon Santodomingo. Alongside Ross MacDonald, Miles Johnson, and Rainor Dale, the band crafts a dreamy, guitar-driven sound that mixes shoegaze psychedelia, alt-pop groove, ’90s grunge, and indie rock.  

Skate Draco is an acoustic collaboration between DC artists Jeff Draco and Skate Stance. Together, they blend their jangly garage indie, dream-pop, and surf rock sensibilities to create a musical match made in heaven.

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.

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

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 * 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!

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.

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 * 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 (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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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), John Moran (bass), 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.

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. 

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

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.