Free & Almost Free Things To Do This Week In DC

Here we focus exclusively on the cheapest YET most satisfying entertainment to be found around DC. Every Monday we highlight free and almost free activities, a choice happy hour or two, food specials and hot tips for budget survival. PLEASE POST YOUR FREE EVENTS (FOR FREE!) ON OUR AGENDA PAGE or send us FREE TIPS to [email protected] for inclusion in the future FREE THINGS guide. So, time to plan the week!

Now onto this week:

• Monday, January 5th – spend $2 and see Fury at 7:45 during  Oscar Watch night @ Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse.Read our review here.
• Tuesday, January 6th – catch Boyhood at 7:30 for $2 for Oscar Watch night @ Arlington Cinema and Drafthouse. Read our review here.

• Friday, January 9th – Catch Iranian Film Manuscripts Don’t Burns for free @ Freer Sackler, 9:05 pm. From their site: “Made in defiance of a 20-year ban on filmmaking, this incendiary thriller by Mohammad Rasoulof was inspired by the Iranian government’s attempt to murder several prominent writers and intellectuals in 1995”
• Saturday, January 10th – catch The Prince of Homburg for free, 2:30pm @ National Portrait Gallery. “In director Marco Bellocchio’s adaptation of Heinrich von Kleist’s 1809 The Prince of Homburg, a Prussian officer is tricked during the course of a complex dream on the night before a key battle, resulting in his misjudging the timing of the attack the next day. Even so, all is not lost. “
• Saturday, January 10th – catch The Butterfly’s Dream for free, 4:30pm @ National Portrait Gallery. “Massimo, a young classical actor, will speak only when performing on the stage. His family speculates that his motive for this vow of silence must be Massimo’s rebellion against his mother, a writer. One day a director spots Massimo in The Prince of Homburg and decides to offer him a part, but the only way he can do that is to convince the mother to write a play about Massimo’s life”

photo courtesy of Luce Cinecitta

• Saturday, January 10th – catch a selection of New Artists’ Film And Video @ National Gallery of Art, 3pm. “As part of the “Oberhausen on Tour” platform, this program presents recent shorts by artists from Austria (River Plate, Josef Dabernig); Germany (xx-xx-xx-gewobenes papier, Michel Klöfkorn; L’Amour sauvage, Lior Shamriz); Paraguay (La Estancia, Federico Adorno); and Portugal (False Twins, Sandro Aguilar). With thanks to the Archive of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen”
• Sunday, January 11th – another chance to catch a screening of Manuscripts Don’t Burn @ Freer Sackler at 4:05pm

photo courtesy of Freer Sackler

•  TRIVIA PRO TIP: for every night of the week – check out our updated version of the DC TRIVIA GUIDE
• Monday, January 5 – catch The Funk Art @ Kennedy Center Millenium Stage, 6pm, FREE.
• Tuesday, January 6 – Touring NYC prog punk band Sister Helen teams up with area locals Lions in the Grass and Neurotic at Takoma’s The Electric Maid. Free. All Ages.
  
• Tuesday, January 6 – Ultrafaux are @ Kennedy Center Millenium Stage, 6pm, FREE.
• Wednesday, January 7 – NSO In Your Neighborhood Kicks Off their 2015 series with a show @ Union Market’s Dock 5. 6pm. Free.
• Wednesday, January 7 – Last Resort Comedy @ Town Tavern, 7:45, FREE.
• Thursday, January 8 – Underground Comedy @ Bier Baron Tavern. 7:30. FREE.

• Thuesday, January 8 – BYT + Kennedy Center MyTix Present: A GiGi Happy Hour: 6-8pm, Chez Billy. $5 French/Gigi themed drink specials! Style Photobooth with fascinator/cute hat pop up courtesy of Ciao Nina! French braid bar (5 different kinds no less!) by Shannon Cusello! French eyeliner + lipstick touch up station! Plus a MyTix raffle! Two lucky winners will receive a pair of tickets to Gigi + complimentary glasses of champagne! Free RSVP!

• Thursday, January 8 – Throwback Thursday @ Nellie’s, 9pm. FREE.
• Thursday, January 8 – Karaoke @ Sticky Rice. 10PM. FREE. Always fun.
• Friday, January 9 – Lez Sing: HRC Annual Karaoke Contest @ Phase 1. 7:30PM. $5. HRC, BYGays, Tagg Magazine and Phase 1 are teaming up to bring you the 2nd Annual “Lez Sing”, a karaoke contest of epic proportions! It’s your chance to party with a purpose as all proceeds go to benefit our upcoming annual Washington, DC Her HRC Event in February.

• Friday, January 9 – Turtle Recall play a free show @ The Loft at the Hamilton. 9:30PM. FREE.
• Saturday, January 10 – WHIFE perform live @ Republic. The band formerly known as White Life (Which is GREAT). 10PM. FREE.
• Sunday, January 11 – Luce Unplugged @ Smithsonian American Art Museum. 1:30PM. FREE.  1st Luce Unplugged of 2014 invites D.C.-based singer, songwriter and drummer Seán Barna, to perform after staff-led art. Barna makes reflective yet raw folk music that is known to stir emotions. The 9:30 Club has praised the folk soloist, noting his “beautifully-constructed melodies,” and others have compared him to the likes of Jackson Browne and James Taylor.

• Every Day: Roofers Union has a new ongoing happy hour . Every day 5-7pm. On top of drink specials: $3-5 food specials too.
• Monday, January 5 – Industry Night @ Graffiato. 10pm. $10 donation. The first Monday of each month, Graffiato turns over the stoves to chef friends and mixologists to help co-host industry night. From 10pm to 1am, guest chefs serve complimentary late night snacks at the first floor pizza bar, and the bar offers drink specials, including some libations from guest mixologists.
  
• Monday, January 5 – Free Hot Chocolate. Mondays, Dec-Feb, @ZipcarDC members get a FREE hot chocolate at any DC-area @PitangoGelato location: zipcar.com/playindc

• Tuesday, January 6 – TACOS ALL AROUND:
  

  • Taco Tuesdays @ Smoke & Barrell – $5 for 3 Tacos + a side until 11PM. Every Tuesday.
  • Taco Tuesdays @ El Centro DF – $2 Tacos – rotating selection of 3 of chef’s specials.
  • Taco Tuesdays @ Johnny Pistolas. $2 Tacos. 8 different selections. ALL DAY LONG. (not just happy hour)
  • Taco Tuesdays @ Impala Cantina. $2 pork tacos.
  • Slightly sketchy bonus: Get a FREE Doritos Locos Taco with any purchase through the @tacobell app

  

•  BONUS: check out our staff’s Happy Hours HERE and peruse our handy LATE NIGHT HAPPY HOUR SPECIALS guide here.

• Every Day: Discount Theatre Tickets: click here for all sorts of deals
• Tuesday, January 6 – Book reading: Metter Ivie Harrison of The Bishop’s Wife @ Kramerbooks. 6:30pm. “In the predominantly Mormon city of Draper, Utah, some seemingly perfect families have deadly secrets. Inspired by a chilling true crime and written by a practicing Mormon, The Bishop’s Wife is both a fascinating look at the lives of modern Mormons as well as a grim and cunningly twisted mystery.”
• Saturday, January 10 – Winter Blast @ Museum of the American Indian. 12-4pm. FREE. Join in a celebration of winter games. Learn various games from across the hemisphere which include: Eskimo YoYo; Northwest Coast beaver tooth game; String games, Hawaiian stone game; Woodlands bone toss; Métis rattle game; various hand games; and other activities.

Image Courtesy of Smithonian

• Saturday, January 10 – Book reading: Marcus Baram on “Gil Scot-Heron:Pieces of Man” @ Politics & Prose. 3:30pm.
• Saturday, January 10 – Resolution 2015 Exhibit Opening @ Civilian Art Projects. 6-8pm. A group exhibition of new and ongoing projects by artists affiliated with the gallery including: Ken D. Ashton, Frank DiPerna, Jason Falchook, Ryan Hill, Bridget Sue Lambert ,Brandon Morse, Dan Tague
  
• Saturday, January 10 – Meg Hitchcock: New Works / Tim Horjust @ Randall Scott Projects. 6-8pm.

That’s all, remember – PLEASE POST YOUR FREE EVENTS (FOR FREE!) ON OUR AGENDA PAGE or send us FREE TIPS to [email protected] for inclusion in the future FREE THINGS guide. Feel free to leave us your suggestions in the comments. Sharing is the new caring.