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:

• Thursday, November 13 – Come celebrate Hirshhorn’s 40th anniversary and check out a viewing of Katharina Otto-Bernstein’s Absolutely Wilson. After that you can see Robert Wilson’s digital tableau vivant included in Days of Endless Time, a new exhibition that opened Oct. 16.
• Friday, November 14– The Smithsonian will be screening Diao Yinan’s Black Coal, Thin Ice. A Fargo-like, suspenseful tale of a botched arrest after a murder, set in the gloomy coal-belt of northern China.

• Saturday, November 15- International Festival Films on Art at the National Gallery of Art.  Films being shown are Vivian Maier: Who took Nanny’s Pictures?, Arena: aka Norman Parkinson, Lucien Hervé, Photographe malgré lii, and Beat Generation — Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs.  Doors open at 1:30pm.

• Monday, November 10th– District Trivia at Bier Baron Tavern at 7:30pm.  Come early and get food and drink specials until 7pm!
• Monday, November 10th– DC Puppet Slam at Busboys and Poets (5th and K street NW).  Doors open at 7pm!
• Monday, November 10th–  Come to La Bomba! A Stand up Comedy Show at Little Whiskey’s Golden Dollar and see some of the best comedians in the DC area.
• Monday, November 10th– Tropicalia hosts The Good Night because Tuesday is a national holiday and Monday is a good night for some dancing.
• Tuesday, November 11th– Come check out The Dispensary at the Velvet Lounge and see some of the hottest hip hop artists on the East Coast.  Doors open at 7:30pm and costs $8.
• Tuesday, November 11th–  BYT Presents: Young @ Heart Photo Show at the Former Ambassador’s Residence Building.

• Tuesday, November 11th – Nick’s Riverside Grill’s stand-up variety show is from 6-11 pm.
• Tuesday, November 11th- Zeba Bar hosts Karaoke.  The list opens at 9pm.
• Wednesday, November 12th– An Evening with Separate Beds at the DC Arts Center.  Doors open at 7:30pm and costs $10.
• Wednesday, November 12th- Choreolab 2014: Ph(R)ases.  $5 admission and takes place at the Harold and Sylvia Greenberg Theatre.  Doors open at 7:30pm.
• Wednesday, November 12th– Club 90 at Little Miss Whiskey’s Golden Dollar. Come dance to the best club hits of the 1990s.  Doors open at 9pm.
• Wednesday, November 12th– Animal Collective Fall Residency (DJ Set) with Avey Tare, Geologist, Deakin at U Street Music Hall.  Costs $10 and doors open at 10pm.
• Thursday, November 13th–  OptoroFest 2014.  Visit Optoro’s Chinatown office for some German beer and bavarian pretzels.  The first 150 guest will get and OptoroFest stein.  Party starts at 6pm.
• Thursday, November 13th–  SUGAR at Tattoo Bar at 10pm. $5 cover.
• Friday, November 14th– U Street Jazz Jams at Bohemian Caverns. Show starts at 11:30pm.
• Friday, November 14th– Loft Late Night Music with 19th Street Band at The Hamilton.  Doors open at 9pm.
• Saturday, November 15th– Salva with Willy Joy, Sons of Satin at U Street Music Hall.  $10 for entry.
• Saturday, November 15th– The Huxley 2 year Anniversary Party.  Doors open at 10pm.  RSVP required using the following link: http://www.huxleydc.com/anniversary.
• Sunday, November 16th– Sunday Night Funnies at Grand Central.  Doors open at 8pm 

• Monday, November 10– Puppet slam is for adults, and Busboy and Poets is here to offer the edgiest of the whimsical art form of puppetry for free starting at 7 pm.  
• Thursday, November 13– From 6-8 pm New Belgium and BYT present “beat the brewer” happy hour. It’ll be the cultural event of the week.

• Friday-Sunday, November 14-16– “Outside the Margins” is the theme of this go-around of Pyramid Atlantic’s book arts fair, it is also the theme of many of my earliest coloring book drawings. Totally worth checking out if you’re near Silver Spring.

• Feel free to leave us your suggestions in the comments. Sharing is the new caring.