***CANCELLED***Friday May 29 * doors at 7pm, music at 7:30 * $15-20 / NOTAFLOF * TICKETS

Alex Koi x Kirin McElwain is a duo of original music for voice, cello, and modular synthesizer.

Kirin McElwain is a cellist and composer working in the realms of experimental, contemporary classical, and improvised music. Weaving together classical and Baroque influences with an affinity for sub-bass and harsh electronic textures, her music explores themes of desire, shame, perfection, and belonging.

Alex Koi is a composer, vocalist and improvising musician. Combining her diverse influences in Jazz and improvised music, the avant-garde and electronic, her work has been called “primal and futuristic at the same time” [Current Magazine] and “impossibly beautiful” [Stereo Stickman].

Walsh Kunkel is a guitarist, composer, label curator and electronic musician hailing from Baltimore, Maryland. With a focus on combining electronic and acoustic music styles, Kunkel is forging his own sound and searching for ways to express his views of the world through his work.

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

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”

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.

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.

Sunday May 31 * Doors at 1, music at 1:20 * $10-25 * TICKETS

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

Francisco Quintero, Stephen Arnold, and Kelton Norris bring a contemporary and honest approach to the guitar trio setting that capitalizes upon each member’s unique voice and years of playing in a variety of styles and genres.

FFMMAP! are Flandrew Fleisenberg, Mason McAvoy and Aaron Pond. Sonic scenery for an absurdist theatre at the end of time. Transmissions become beacons; lighthouses burn bright, guideposts for a journey without end.

Nate Scheible (percussion/found sounds), Victor Provost (steel pan), Connor Eeckles (electric guitar), and Christina Gesualdi (dance) come together to discover the nuanced edges of cultural meaning.

Sunday May 31 * 7:30pm * $5-10 * TICKETS

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

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 2 * 6pm * in the backyard * $0-35 * REGISTER

DC Dyke March organizers invite fellow Dykes to join us for a fire eating training led by DC’s beloved drag king and fire eater, Dr. Torcher. Get ready for a hands-on, flame-filled evening where you'll learn how to eat fire (yes, for real). After this training you’ll be ready to join Dr. T and the crew in eating fire to conclude the Dyke March on June 5th! 

ASL interpretation provided. $0-$35 sliding scale. No one turned away due to lack of funds. Please wear a mask when not eating fire! 

Brief history of Dykes eating fire: This tradition began in response to a hate crime in 1992 in which the home of two queer people was firebombed, burning them to death. A direct-action group called the Lesbian Avengers used fire as a powerful visual that queers would not be intimidated or destroyed by homophobic violence, hence the chant that goes along with this tradition: “The fire will not consume us! We take it and make it our own!”

Tuesday June 2 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

"Philadelphia's Street Rat is a pulsing, writhing pile of static and uncoiled energy. Featuring modded electronics and full-body engagement, their wild noise emanations are simultaneously electric and unquestionably organic. " - subscape2025

POST COMMUNITY is a collective, a collaboration, an open group founded by members of a slew of East Coast punk bands, and presently operating out of Baltimore - message the band if you're keen to participate in basement activities.

Odette is an conceptual noise project from Baltimore. Harsh atonality and sludgy industrial laments ‘Quo Vadis?’ “Sounds like a John Grisham novel.” - Jason Laird Wise, Cussfucker

Suburbanabuse - “Felt like a sonic interpretation of Guantanamo Bay levels of darkness..” — Review of Suburbanabuse from an American University undergrad scholar.

Wednesday June 3 * 6:30pm * $10-50 * TICKETS

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) has been fighting to protect the graves of African-Americans buried at the Moses Cemetery along River Road, just over the DC border, since 2016, taking the case all the way to the Maryland Supreme Court to stop developers from desecrating these graves.   Three musical acts will perform on June 3rd to raise money for the non-profit BACC and to honor the ancestors whose resting place has been disturbed and whose history has been erased.  Please join us for music, resistance and community!

Jamal Gray & The Avant Vanguard explores sonic cultural memory through experimental minimal jazz, electronics, and sound collage.

Freedome is a writer, artist, educator, and vocalist who performs with In Process, the acappella women's singing act that is the sister group of Bernice Johnson Reagon's Sweet Honey in the Rock.

Mia & The Argonauts is a jangly rock group led by singer-songwriter Mia Chu, who is backed by a group of teachers from Jackson-Reed High School (James Kelly on guitar, Marc Minsker on bass, and Tom Murphy on drums).

Tickets are $10 for students and sliding scale $20- $40 for everyone else, with all proceeds going to support BACC.  VIP Tickets are $50 which includes an opening reception with wine, lite fare, and reserved parking.

Thursday June 4 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

We are pleased to present an evening of films by Margaret Rorison (Baltimore), who will be present for a discussion with the audience following the screening. Margaret Rorison is a filmmaker, artist and educator from Baltimore, MD. Her work incorporates 16mm film, alternative photographic processes, poetry, and sound to explore her interests in portraiture, memory, and landscape. Her films have been exhibited at Miami PULSE Art Fair, Microscope Gallery, The Museum of The Moving Image, The National Gallery of Art, and The Walker Art Center. Her short films have shown at film festivals including Edinburgh International Film Festival, Images Festival, Open City Documentary Film Festival, & FICUNAM in Mexico City. From 2012-2022, she directed Sight Unseen Screening Series, an experimental film series that brought contemporary filmmakers and curators to Baltimore to present their work.

Friday June 5 * 7pm * $15-20 * TICKETS

Ari Voxx is DC’s Dreamy Pop Princess. Well-versed in many different music worlds, she focuses on writing music that is eclectic and authentically her, transcending genres, with a sound heavily inspired by the moods and vibes of 80s/90s new-wave and pop artists.

Ashanti (spoken word)

Marcus Webb (video) is an ambient composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work has carved a unique space within the realms of experimental and drone music. Known for his distinctive fusion of ambient soundscapes and metaphysical exploration, Webb creates music that resonates deeply with listeners seeking immersive, meditative experiences.

This Could Go Boom! Showcase: Erin Frisby - Cacie - Professor Goldstein

Saturday June 6 * 10am at the Takoma Park Gazebo * Free

QUEERING SOUND at the Gazebo on Carroll Ave

Maddie Cardoza- melancholic indie pop

Té - ”I work and play in sound and the cosmos”

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 June 6 * 7pm * $10-15 * LOCATION: TAKOMA SPARK (a.k.a. School of Musical Traditions) 7112 Willow Ave * TICKETS

Safety Bear is an independent Hi-NRG electronic artist who weaves together pulsing dance beats and immersive atmospheres with subject matter typically alien to the dance floor.  Safety Bear’s energetic live performances and studio recordings deliver original Hi-NRG bangers (and the occasional re-imagined dance classic) via the intriguing guise of a neurotic (and slightly injured) teddy bear.

Sad Veiled Bride leads the audience on a lo-fi journey through personal grievances and ennui. Employing the ukulele as a centerpiece, Stanton crafts melancholic ditties that serve as cathartic laments for the artist and listener. 80’s influenced electronic beats and flourishes propel the mercifully short songs to satisfying yet ambiguous ends.

Ella Gallogly spent decades honing her guitar, drum, and vocal skills, eagerly dives into life's darker moments, turning them into searing light through soul-searching tunes.

Saturday June 6 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * OFFSITE at Tonal Park * $15-30 * TICKETS

Outside Time presents an evening with Lifted to celebrate the release of Movie.

Lifted is the duo of Andrew Field Pickering (Max D, Dolo Percussion, Beautiful Swimmers) and Matt Papich (Co La, Ecstatic Sunshine). Movie, their first release for rising DC-based label Outside Time, is like a film shot with microphones rather than cameras, using the pacing, spatialization, and semiotics of cinematic sound design to lead us through a surreal soundworld that draws as much from Foley artistry as dub, jazz, and electronic music.

more eaze is the project of Brooklyn-based sound artist and multi-instrumentalist Mari Maurice. Ranging from ambient pop to folk and musique concrete, her numerous solo and collaborative releases weave mundane, everyday sounds, acoustic orchestration and instrumentation, and electronics into adventurous textural compositions that move seamlessly between the banal and the ethereal.

Earthen Sea is the experimental ambient/beat solo project of Jacob Long. He crafts a compelling synthesis of shadowy rhythms and opaque atmospherics, drawing on the most potent qualities of melancholic ambient and dub techno. Recently his live sets have involved a return to drone oriented live performance that features his saxophone playing.

Sunday June 7 * 11am * pay what you like, $15 recommended * 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. Questions and comments: swamp.rose.studio@proton.me

Sunday June 7 * 2pm * $10-15 * TICKETS

Depression Factory (Jeff Barsky & Markus Meier) - Meditations. Dedicated to resistance.

Bodied - NoVA hc/screamo/skramz

Eyerolls - No sound left unprocessed.

THAT CLOUD with Jan Swinburne (video) - sound by JS ADAMS (BLK w/BEAR), CHRISTOPHER MATHEWS-LARSEN (Youth in Government, Outboard, Grave Nature),and CHRIS VIDELL; Jan Swinburne is a Canadian visual artist whose interdisciplinary practice makes use of traditional and digital media. Swinburne approaches all media from a painter’s sensibility and this drives her aesthetic.

Sunday June 7 * 7pm * $10-25 * TICKETS

Youth in Government are a space rock group hailing from the DC Metro that meld the psychedelic sounds of 70s space rock with shoegaze and post-rock. Chris Mathews-Larsen on guitar/vocals and Trae Tomko on drums/vocals/sampler.

Adrian Gaston Garcia (aka AGG) is a queer Latine storyteller whose mission is to create and share narratives that build community. His work is largely based on his experiences and the intersectionality of his identities. It is a shout out to all the queer brown boys who choose joy as their form of resistance.

Mysteryband - Lisa Moscatiello, Anita Burkam, and Bev Stanton are award-winning singer-songwriters and musicians from the Washington, DC area. They have been collaborating for years, and their new band is a culmination of their shared love of music.

Kerri Sheehan is a multimedia storyteller. She's motivated to make the world a better place through her work, particularly in public health. She’s an animator creating magical chaos with pen and pixels, or she's making a racket with her collection of oddball stringed instruments.

Queer-fronted and oddly orchestrated, Boy Meets Pearl are musical time travelers bringing sea shanties, circus waltzes and Victorian Music Hall singalongs into the present day with new original work! Love live the carousel punk cabaret!

Glorian is the experimental pop project of Joseph Mulhollen. From operatic dance tracks to experimental acoustic sets, Glorian combines Mulhollen’s love of neo-folk and electronic dance pop.

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.

Wednesday June 10 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Caroline Jesalva - My work concentrates on sound, composition, installation art, experimental and poetic forms. I love bringing music to unconventional spaces and collaborating across disciplines and artistic mediums. I have been very fortunate to have an amazing community of collaborators that includes composers, dancers, film-makers, visual artists, activists, poets, rappers, and puppeteers.

Bearduo is a saxophone duo consisting of Aaron Kaufman-Levine on Alto Saxophone and Garrett Frees on Tenor Saxophone. Bearduo brings a unique and spontaneous creation to each performance that reflects their shared musical language and deep connection. Their first self-titled record Bearduo released in July 2025 with a focus on long form improvisation, scale and interaction between the two performers.

Love and Liberation - all-star quartet of improvisers from Baltimore - Che Davis, Jamal Moore, Peter Redgrave, & Bashi Rose.

Thursday June 11 * 7pm * $10/15 advance, $20 at the door * TICKETS

BIG CITY PRESENTS
CITY SPOTLIGHT: ECHOES OF DOUBT

OPEN MIC
CYPHER
ARTIST SHOWCASE
CITY CYPHER
LIVE PERFORMANCES
VENDORS

ARTIST SHOWCASE (LIMITED SLOTS) 1ST COME 1ST SERVED

WEIGHT OF WITNESS

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.

Sunday June 14 * 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 June 14 * 1pm * Free / donations * REGISTER

Queering Sound presents...

An art workshop with Mei Mei Chang

Add your personal embellishment to one of Mei Mei Chang's tissue garments from the Queering Sound visual art exhibit.

Markers, colored pencils, pastels, rubber stamps, embroidery materials, cardboard, fabric swatches, and fabrication tools will be provided. Feel free to bring your own personal collage ephemera and tools.

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.

niki afsar: 'i am a nonbinary/femme, iranian-american writer and interdisclipinary artist. my work explores not only longing but also the lack that persists in my relationships to language and mythologies of identity. these liminal spaces of void are where desire lives. they are essential for change and reinvention. i employ a number of mediums including devised movement and performance; poetry and text; live singing and recording using a vocal loop machine; sound collaging; and more recently, mirror work.'

Monday June 15 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15 * TICKETS

Neptune's origins trace to 1994 as a sculpture project by Boston artist/musician Jason Sidney Sanford, who forged the band's haphazard guitars and reluctant drums from scrap steel and found objects.

Shadow Riot - Kamyar Arsani - Jeff Barsky - Dug Birdzell - Jerry Busher. Join us. 

Icky Bits - Philly-based trio of Mark Feehan, Scott Verrastro, and Cameron Healy.

Tuesday June 16 * 5:30-8:30pm * $0-15 sliding scale * TICKETS

MotorMouth Presents

FOMO - an artist salon / creative communion

Wednesday June 17 * doors at 7, music at 7:45 * $10-12 * TICKETS

Null/Void presents...

Asko
Chicago dbeat / USHC
https://asko.bandcamp.com/

Death by Despair
Baltimore dbeat / crasher crust
https://deathbydispair.bandcamp.com/

Limit Break
Baltimore City Hardcore
https://limitbreakbchc.bandcamp.com/

Peace be With You
DC Hardcore
https://www.instagram.com/pbwuband/

Thursday June 18 * doors at 7:30, show at 8 * $12-20 * TICKETS

LIVE CINEMA IS NOW!

99 Hooker (NYC) - Dancing with Moloch,30 minute live performance mixing B movies, ads, docs, live camera, ecstatic dancers, animations, live and recorded poetry, personal elegies, remembrances including an auto-eulogy, zombies, Allen Ginsberg, John Denver, Black Sabbath, Charles Manson, Wheel of Fortune, Jelly Roll Morton, Max Fleischer, Donald O’Finn, Feedbuck, Akio Mokuno, Donald Miller, Emmalee Sutton, to name but a few. 99’s multimedia Danse Macabre is joyous, funny, terrifying, thoughtful and playful.

C. Tara and David Gladden (Chance, MD) present “Interference Land” - a performative live cinema experiment consisting of ethereal vocal choruses, glossolalia, glitched, live feed video, modal shifting, color bleeds, rhythmic skips, unpredictable signal flows, phase shifts, and chain effects. Life partners and longtime collaborators, the duo works across video, sound, performance, installation, sculpture, and the unclassifiable. They are founders of John Cage Memorial Park, a rogue artist residency and land art project hidden in the pine woods of Chance, Maryland.

Ex Lamp (Washington, D.C.) has been performing video either solo or as a band member since 2002 when he played with AE (with ½ of plunderphonic pioneers Stock, Hausen and Walkman). Ex Lamp’s work consists of real-time video sampling and layering of video material. Differing from “VJ”ing, these live remixes (vampling) employ the original sound and the image simultaneously - a concert/cinema hybrid. For this event, Ex Lamp (formerly Matterlink) will perform “Flash Boom” (aka Pika Don), an exploration of the violence of artificial light.

Friday June 19 * 12pm * $35 * REGISTER

Foraging in America has strong connections to Black and Indigenous history. This talk will discuss how our ancestors made food, medicine, dyes and materials using many of the wild plants that we walk past every day. We will learn to identify, work with and honor these magical plants as well as explore the laws and systems that disconnected us in the first place.

Some of the plants we may discuss include Sassafras, Black Cherry, Pokeweed, Pawpaws, Cranesbill, Mulberries, Dandelion, Wild Garlic, Wild Lettuce, Black Walnut, Senna and more. Many of these plants have rich histories as staples in indigenous diets; some were used to supplement rations during slavery, to provide food and medicine during escape and later became staples in the black American diet.

Samples of herbal preparations will be available for participants to try, and participants will receive recipes.

Friday June 19 * 6pm * Free * RSVP

Structures of Music Exploitation (S.O.M.E.)

Speaker: Norman Kelley, editor, R&B (Rhythm and Business): The Political Economy of Black Music (Akashic Books 2002); The Head Negro in Charge Syndrome (Nation Books, 2004). 

Overview

Structure of Music Exploitation (aka the “structure of stealing") examines the various methods used to extract wealth from black talent and music. Drawing from Norman Kelley’s unpublished work, An Industry Beneath Their Feet: The Mismanagement and Exploitation of Black Music, he will argue how the structure of exploitation within the music recording industry made it possible for black music and black talent to be exploited with impunity. However, the presentation will also argue that African Americans, in some cases, failed to – in the best sense of the word–exploit their own folk culture as a resource as well as showing examples of blacks who took advantage of black talent’s naivete. This presentation critically assesses how the absence of an integrated economic strategy—one linking politics, culture, and commerce—led to the persistent pattern of artistic brilliance and economic marginalization. The talk invites audiences to reconsider how economic empowerment could emerge from cultural innovation.

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/

Saturday June 20 * 7:30pm * $12-24 * TICKETS

Valentina Booking Presents: 

Haves & Thirds is a one person band out of Tampa, Florida. The music is dreamy with bits of delightful quirks mixed with sounds of voices and things. Todd Lynne is the co-founder of label Cephia's Treat. His album has been described as: “Gorgeous dream pop guitar + beats + movie samples honoring fallen actors in moving fashion. Highly recommended!!”

Travis B is a multitalented musician and artist out of Baltimore, MD- a beloved member of the community. Online you’ll see his work as a photographer but at rhizome you’ll see how his beauty he captures during  his  first live ambient set. Not to miss! 

Tiff and T are a power duo that can do many things know as dj dubu, Tiff created and runs ecobeat and is also a classically trained musician. T is know for his jungle collection and plant based meal prep - both will be playing their first show together featuring in  Swana style . 

Sema is a magical human that you can find gloriously dancing at most functions - fittingly their love for music has transferred to them making it, catch Sema’s second show as they play a nu live set created especially for this show.

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 * 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)

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

Francesca H & Alex McGrath - Soprano sax and transducers + homemade electronics duo; our music sits on the borders of free improvisation, noise, and minimal.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOtxw_qXy1k

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

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.

Sunday June 28 & bi-weekly * 11am * $5-10 suggested * REGISTER

How do different traditions across history and geography think about how we should live our lives? Join this community for a casual, biweekly discussion group dedicated to exploring the practical philosophies and lived wisdom of the world’s major spiritual traditions. Over the first 12 weeks, we’ll look at foundational ideas from Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Taoism, Stoicism, Shinto, Yoruba, Animism, Christianity, Islam, and some modern faiths.

This is less of a learning seminar and more of a conversational space. There are no right or wrong answers, and you don’t need any background in religious studies to participate. Come as you are, ready to chat about the ideas that jump out at you, what resonates with your own perspective, and how these philosophies might map onto our lives.

Check out the working syllabus and readings: tinyurl.com/explorefaiths

Sunday June 28 * 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 June 29 * doors at 6, show at 7 * $10 * TICKETS

Presenting the debut of two local bands— Pain Response (hardcore) and Peel Off Your Skin (punk), hosted by ShivLaughLove. There will also be some clowning and juggling performed! Come support local DC night life workers on their day off.

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

Saturday July 4 * 6pm * $20-30 * TICKETS

Noise at 6PM

J&R'S Music World
Collapsing
T3ratoma
Distorting a Woodpecker
Bleak Outlook
OVRSTMLTD (By Evilshadex.exe)
Whitey Alabastard
Deepgrave Min OG Dog
acheleg
Ashwolf

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 * 3pm * $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, July 11 from 1-3 pm we're playing Heroic Measures by Daniel Eison and Sam Zeitlin, a game about illness, death, and making end-of-life medical decisions for a member of your fantasy adventuring party. Expect a fairly serious and sober tone from this game, but just as in real life there is plenty of potential for joy and laughter in remembering the life of a loved one.

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. 

Wednesday July 15 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * All Ages * $18 * TICKETS

Mind Sculptor Productions presents

Kicked in the Head by a Horse (PA Chaotic Hardcore)
https://kickedintheheadbyahorse.bandcamp.com/

Underneath (PA Metallic Hardcore)
https://underneathpa.bandcamp.com/

Letterstoyou (MD Screamo)
https://letterstoyouscreamo.bandcamp.com/

Saltuponwounds (VA Emo)
https://saltuponwounds.bandcamp.com/

Expiration Date (MD Straight Edge Screamo)
https://strangeviewrecords.bandcamp.com/album/my-choice-best-wishes

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.

Sunday July 19 * 11am-2pm * $0-10 sliding scale * REGISTER

Study Hall is a series of salons for people to discuss anything they’d have talked about in the cafeteria (and if you’re someone who really did study, time to share what you learned). Topics can be anything you would’ve talked about during your free time in between classes, including things you would’ve said in the school cafeteria but not to the dean. Everyone is encouraged to present something at a Study Hall.

At the beginning of the event, you will sign up to present a topic. (You can also add yourself to the agenda before the event HERE.) Presentations do not have a specified time limit, and can go on until other attendees begin raising questions and transition into a Q&A format. You do not need to be an expert, and you do not need to have all the answers, proposing an interesting question and prompt for discussion is also encouraged!

Friday July 24 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $5-15 * TICKETS

Kiing

Spring Silver

Strawbalien

Young Swansii

Motel Portrait

plus art raffle

Tuesday July 28 * doors at 7pm, music at 7:30 * $10-15 * TICKETS

Mundy
https://www.instagram.com/mund4ye
https://soundartreality.com

Shiloh The Messenger
https://www.instagram.com/shiloh_themessenger
https://www.shilohthemessenger.com

D Skillz Harris
https://www.instagram.com/dskillzharris

Raf Almighty
https://www.instagram.com/thenewesi23/

Fly G
https://www.instagram.com/flygmusik/

Thursday August 20 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15 * TICKETS

Merc (NC Powerviolence)
https://merc-pv-hc.bandcamp.com/

Orca (FL Hardcore Punk)
https://orcafl.bandcamp.com/

Pilau (DC Doomsday Armageddon Crew)
https://pilau.bandcamp.com/

Form & Void (DC Synth Punk Death Industrial)

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.