Hey everyone! This week’s selection of events on D.C. BEST WEEKEND BETS are, as always, hand picked from our awesome AGENDA HOMEPAGE and carefully calibrated for maximum fun, minimum stress with assorted WINTER OLYMPICS movies as our theme because WINTER OLYMPICS. We also have some picks from the folks behind Hometown Sounds, one of D.C.’s biggest supporters of local music.
•February 21st: Join us + Make Offices for a “How to Succeed In DC” day of cool and informative panels, free snacks, and co-working, featuring some of our favorite people in DC. FREE, BUT MAKE SURE YOU RSVP.
•Listen to BYT radio! Hosted by Brandon Wetherbee, it streams every Thursday at noon. Listen live. Subscribe in iTunes.
• MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS COMING SOON…Stay in the loop and follow us on Facebook & Twitter & Instagram. Use #BYThings too. Get excited!
All sorts of great stuff:
• Happy first weekend of February – we select the BEST OF EVERYTHING this month, in order to ensure you have your finest February yet.
• Super Bowl blah blah blah. DC Puppy Bowl photos!
• Brockhampton is America’s newest boyband. They’re the self-proclaimed “Internet’s first boy band.”
• Ignore better television. Best Background TV.
• We’ve updated our Coffee Guide. Stay awake.
SOCIAL MEDIA BONUS: tag all your Instagram stuff #BYThings (@brightestyoungthings) and get a chance to shine on OUR Instagram feed too.
THERE YOU GO!
• Listen to our radio show! BYT Radio hosted by Brandon Wetherbee streams at noon. Listen live. Subcribe in iTunes. Please give us a nice rating in iTunes. Those ratings matter? We won’t get a medal or anything it 5,000 people give us 5 star reviews but validation is validation.
• Have a cocktail in Iron Gate’s Tunnel of Love.
• We wholeheartedly recommend J. Roddy Walston and The Business at 9:30 Club.
• Make a Valentine’s Day card at Drink & Ink: Valentine’s Day Edition with Soul & Ink. It’s a screen printing event at Republic Restoratives. It’s not a tattoo event.
• Make a Valentine’s Day themed zine at Colony Club. This is not a tattoo event.
• Journalist Wajahat Ali leads the conversation, The M Word: Muslim Americans on the State of News Media, at Sixth & I.
• Older guitar man Thursday Moore is at Rock & Roll Hotel doing old guitar man things.
• Godfrey tells jokes at the DC Improv.
• HOMETOWN SOUNDS PICK: The Black Cat Backstage tops our list of spots to catch buzzy new indie rock bands doing album release shows. Blue Plains injects tasty twang and ample fiddle in their music, and with support from Kellyn Marie Goler and D.C. darling Olivia Mancini & her Mates, this show is all your Thursday night needs.
• FREE PICK: Figure skating, the prequel for the next great Oscar nominated film, kicks off NBC’s Olympic coverage.
• BALTIMORE PICK: Didn’t get enough of the Washington Car Show? The Motor Trend International Auto Show begins today at the Baltimore Convention Center.
+ ALL SORTS OF other stuff (SERIOUSLY, JUST SO MANY)
• We’re recommending Yung Lean & Sad Boys at Rock & Roll Hotel.
• It’s National Pizza Day. Eat a pizza.
• Some of us will be at WHY? and Open Mike Eagle at U Hall.
• ATTN fans of Goldlink: Brent Faiyaz is at Union Stage.
• Awkward Sex…and the City returns to Black Cat to make couples feel even more superior.
• First Aid Kit plays Lincoln Theater.
• HOMETOWN SOUNDS PICK: Have you made it to the new Pearl Street Warehouse yet? Friday night is a great opportunity to check out The Wharf’s cozy new venue with Aztec Sun throwing down the party funk and jazz-gogo mashup band The JoGo Project playing a don’t-miss-it opening set.
• FREE PICK: The Pig is giving away 100 hot dogs, specifically their new Boss Hogg Dogg, to the first 100 guests of the day from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Hot dogs may not be a good Olympic food but it’s definitely an American food (Google “hot dog origin” at your own risk).
• BALTIMORE PICK: Hey sad kids in Baltimore, and by kids we mean people most likely around the age of 30, it’s Emo Nite Baltimore at Ottobar.
Do some daytime stuff:
• If you’re willing to lower your body temperature for a good cause, consider participating in the DC Polar Plunge at Nats Park. It’s a cold weather fundraiser for the Special Olympics. If you refuse to get cold and wet, which is completely reasonable, you can just donate!
• We really enjoyed last year’s Mardi Gras Fest at Black Jack and Tilt so we’re recommending this year’s Mardi Gras Fest at Black Jack and Tilt. Festivities begin today at 3 p.m. with their kick off party. We’ll be recommending it again next Tuesday, Fat Tuesday.
• See a matinee of Hamlet at the Sidney Harmon Hall. We loved it.
• Make a fancy Valentine’s Day card with The Lemon Collective.
• Make a fancy Valentine’s Day candle at A Creative DC.
• Go home, recharge before this evening.
Then:
• The 10th anniversary of Story District’s Sucker for Love: A Valentine’s Day Special is at The Lincoln Theatre. 10 years! That’s a long time! Congrats, Story District!
• If you’re a fan of graphic novels, you’ll be interested in Adrian Tomine’s appearance at Politics and Prose at The Wharf.
• Alice Smith and Bilal share a bill at the Kennedy Center.
• Nerd Nite does what nerds do at night at DC9.
• Alpha Male Promotions presents Fifty Shades The Live Show Ladies Night Male Revue. You know it’ll be good because it’s a very long title for a strip show loosely based on a movie series loosely based on a movie series based on a book series.
• An Evening with Black Panther Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art is very sold out.
• Tedechi Trucks Band at Warner Theatre is also very sold out. Someone has to be going to both the Black Panther Costume Designer event and this concert and will have a great night.
• The Biff Bang Pow Vinyl Dance Party is at Slash Run. Biff Bang Pow is a fantastic name for a dance party.
• HOMETOWN SOUNDS PICK: Love & Solidarity Collective, the intentional social justice community formerly called the Lamont Street Collective, hosts a musical, visual and interactive arts experience called Heart Warming 2018 featuring Ocean Childe, Stephanie Mathias, Whitney Tallarico, Skaii, Skyline Hotel and house band allthebestkids. Plus handpoked tats by kate!
• FREE PICK OF THE DAY: The Anacostia Community Museum celebrates their 50th Anniversary Mardi Gras Family Day! Bring the family!
• BALTIMORE PICK: The 2018 World Vegan Mac ‘n Cheese Championship is a thing and that thing is today in Baltimore.
• Looking for some good new brunches to try? Check out our food section.
For your viewing pleasure:
• Spend your long weekend revisiting our always golden, freshly updated Murder Mystery Streaming Guide. Cold weather is perfect for murder.
• Not sure what to see in the theater? Check out our film section for reviews.
Leaving the house?
• múm play müsic at 9:30 Clûb.
• Tokyo based Kei Takei and D.C. based Maida Withers perform at Dance Palace.
• The Caps take on the Red Wings at the Capital One Arena. Happy Valentine’s Day Weekend! Hockey is romantic!
• Learn about a holiday you might think revolves around drinking while having a drink. Profs & Pints: Mardi Gras 101 is at Bier Baron.
• Shredders attempt to shred at Rock & Roll Hotel.
• If you’re rather see a play about sports than watch sports, we recommend The Wolves at Studio Theatre.
• HOMETOWN SOUNDS PICK: This pre-Valentine’s Day Sunday night is pretty quiet for live D.C. music, so we say head over to Politics & Prose to celebrate the release of the fifth annual volume of District Lines, their print-on-demand anthology of poetry, art, fiction and essays by D.C.-based contributors. Hear readings from some of the writers and get your copy signed.
• FREE PICK: Celebrate the one year anniversary of QT Fusion Dance with a super special (their words) Queer Artist Night at The Airedale. Free with RSVP.
• BALTIMORE PICK: Didn’t get tickets to last night event with the Black Panther Costume Designer? Head to Baltimore for Wakanda on Pratt Street.
And just like that, the weekend is over. How do you feel about that?
PHEW. THAT WAS A LOT. BUT: THERE ARE A BAJILLION OTHER THINGS TO DO LISTED IN THE BYT AGENDA PAGES, so use it (to both post your events and search for them) and if you think we may have missed something, comment away–you know you want to. NO EXCUSES.
Till next time, remember,YOU DID A GOOD JOB:
