By Fritz Hahn, Rhome Anderson and David Malitz
washingtonpost.com Staff Writers
Thursday, May 3, 2007 12:00 AM

Thursday | Friday | Saturday | Monday

Thursday, May 3
Black Cat Hosts Indie Rock and Comedy Show: People Drink PBRs, Look Disinterested
OK, maybe there's a reason we work for City Guide and not the Onion. But we must say that our Thursdays are more fun now that America's Finest News Source is freely available throughout town. Where else can we get hard-hitting stories such as "Area Man Has Sex With Man to Get Out of Office Blood Drive"? As if making us laugh -- or at least smirk -- isn't enough, the folks at the Onion are getting on our good side even more by hosting a fine night of entertainment at the Black Cat for the Onion Kick-Off Party. On the music side of things we have two of our very favorite locals, breezy popsters Georgie James and psych rockers (The Sounds of) Kaleidoscope. On the comedy side, first is up-and-comer Aziz Ansari, whom you might recognize from the sketch comedy show "Human Giant," sometimes known as "that one good thing on MTV." Closing the evening will be America's Funnyman, Neil Hamburger, the best anti-comic around, who has been telling the same Princess Di jokes for nearly a decade, but they still make us laugh. Or, more accurately, groan. The whole thing costs a mere $6, so more cash for those PBRs.

Meshell Ndegeocello's career has taken her on a long journey from the Washington go-go scene, where the teenage musician first started laying down bass lines. From her hyped debut as a signee on Madonna's Maverick Records to dabblings in jazz fusion, hip-hop and electronica, one thing has remained constant: a commitment to exploring new creative territory on each recording and tour. In concert, Meshell is like Prince these days: less apt to run through her hits than to take off on improvised side trips with the heavyweight band she leads. She's been recording with W. Ellington Felton recently, so they might unveil some of their collaborations after he opens up the show at the 9:30 Club tonight.

We love our female readers, and this event is just for them: Femme Fete at the Numark Gallery is a Candyland-themed party that features items from local and national clothing and jewelry designers (Pearly Girl, Gigi Favela shoes), spa treatments, DJs and free drinks and snacks. Tickets are $28 from www.femmefete.net.

Friday, May 4
Earlier this year, we were musing that the calendar favors nightlife in 2007: St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo both fall on Saturday nights, which means you can party harder without using any precious sick days to recover from "that cold that's been going around." Today may only be Cuatro de Mayo, but some promoters aren't letting the date prevent them from getting an early jump on the Mexican-themed festivities. Work downtown? Duck out of the office early for Cinco de Midtown, which offers $2 beers, $3 margaritas and discounted food at five central bars, including Porter's and Madhatter, from 5 to 10. Once you've bought a $5 wristband, you can move between the participating watering holes at will.

Speaking of happy hours, we're guessing that there will be more networking than usual at Ultrabar when a long list of Hispanic professional organizations comes together for the annual Cinco de Mayo event. Hosts include the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, the Hispanic Bar Association, the Congressional Hispanic Staffers Association and the Hispanic Lobbyists Association. It's not all business, though -- entertainment comes from mariachis and local dance companies, and drink specials include $3 Coronas, Cuervo shots and Cuervo margaritas. RSVP to LatinVIP.com by the end of Thursday to pay $5 at the door, or you'll pay $10 there before 7:30 and $15 after.

In Arlington, Cinco de Mania usually brings long lines and ready-to-party crowds to Clarendon Ballroom. Kicking off at 5 p.m., it features live music from Dewey Beach favorites Burnt Sienna, plus plenty of hip-hop and top 40 dance music from DJs Pat Premier and Rene. The weather forecast is promising, so arrive early if you want to relax on the rooftop deck. Admission is free for the first hour, then $10 until 10 p.m. or so and $15 afterward.

Let's just put this one out there: A group of young women calling themselves Babes for a Cure are participating in the annual Race for the Cure, and to raise money for their cause, they're hosting a party called Booze for Boobs tonight at Bridges in Fairfax. No, they're not replicating some crazy Mardi Gras shindig, but they are raffling off dates with five team members as a fundraiser. (You can read more about the participants on their MySpace page.) Tickets are $1, and you can buy as many as you want. All raffle money raised -- along with the $5 cover charge -- goes to fight breast cancer. A DJ spins top 40 and hip-hop before and after the raffle. Doors open at 9.

Saturday, May 5
Today is a really, really eventful day on the Nightlife Agenda calendar. You have the Kentucky Derby, Gold Cup and the biggest boxing match in years (De La Hoya and Mayweather), and on top of all that, it's Cinco de Mayo. We'll try to lay out your best options for each, but for more events, click on the links in this paragraph.

Let's start with the Kentucky Derby. The Willard Hotel's annual Bonnets and Bowties soiree is the fanciest affair around, with guests dressing up in spring suits and dresses and sporting elaborate hats as they might at Churchill Downs. It doesn't hurt that the Round Robin Bar pours the best mint juleps in town, made with Henry Clay's original recipe. The $49 admission includes a buffet of country ham and Derby Pie (basically pecans, chocolate chips and bourbon in a pie crust). Doors open at 4, and post time is 6:15.

The two Bourbon lounges have the most Kentucky whiskeys to be found in Washington, and they take Derby Day very, very seriously. In Adams Morgan, the afternoon starts with a Texas Hold 'Em tournament to benefit the local charity Hoops Salgado. There's a $55 buy-in, half of which goes straight into that organization's coffers. (About 20 of the 56 spaces are still remaining, so call ASAP if you want to participate.) Food is included in the buy-in price. Poker runs from 1 until 4 or 4:30. Both Adams Morgan and Glover Park will have their eyes on Churchill Downs from brunch onward -- expect full-volume television coverage on all the flatscreens, with racing forms, jockey biographies and other information scattered on the bars and tables for would-be handicappers to use. The real parties begin in both locations around 4 p.m., when the staff will start passing out hors d'oeuvres (mini-hot browns, crab-stuffed cherry tomatoes, etc.) and serving up special mint juleps made with mint-steeped bourbon. The first 40 customers at each location get a gift bag with shirts and other swag from Maker's Mark and Wild Turkey.

If your budget runs more toward the infield than Millionaire's Row, check out Arlington Cinema 'N' Drafthouse, where the most exciting two minutes in sports will be on a movie theater screen with no cover charge, and you can order drinks from your table. Doors open at 4:30.

Moving on to the Fight of the (21st) Century, Floyd Mayweather has the line from Vegas, but there's no telling what's going to happen when he steps into the ring to challenge Oscar De La Hoya, the current holder of the WBC super welterweight title. A number of prominent sports bars are passing on screening the fight, due to high fees, but it's still possible to watch without shelling out for pay-per-view. (Check our list of viewing locations.) The craziest party is going to be at Love: 32 screens, free Hennessy, a complimentary dinner buffet from 8 to 10 and an after-party hosted by Jamie Foxx, who's coming over once his show at Constitution Hall wraps up. It's unlikely you'll get to meet the Oscar winner, but boxing fans will know this is a deal. Other spots offering a party with drink specials and DJs include Juste Lounge and Liv, the upstairs club at Bohemian Caverns.

Now, on to Cinco de Mayo. There's a lot going on tonight, but we like the sound of salsa lessons, a dance contest and the JCJ Band at Cecilia's with Pros in the City; a night of Rock en Espanol with Machatres, Nayas and Stone Gato at the State Theatre, where the bands will prove that great punk and heavy indie know no language barrier; and the Boomerang Party Bus, which is offering rides from Capitol Hill to the Southwest and Georgetown waterfronts and back again.

For a long time, Brightest Young Things was sort of like D.C.'s version of the semi-notorious Last Night's Party, except less trashy. (As if anything could be more trashy.) Basically, it was a Web site that consisted of pictures of intoxicated people. The same intoxicated people, over and over. But then a weird thing happened and pretty good content started appearing on the Web site. Head over there right now and you'll find exclusive downloads from the Crowd Control crew, an interview with Fujiya and Miyagi, show reviews with high quality photos and, OK, a bunch of pictures of friends of the people who run the site. Hey, it's still a blog. To celebrate the site's relaunch, the BYT crew will take over the Rock and Roll Hotel tonight for an "Awesome Cover Songs Only" show. What does that mean, exactly? Expect it to be somewhat similar to the Black Cat's annual Run For Cover event, as a bunch of local bands -- Middle Distance Runner, Telograph, Georgie James, Death By Sexy, the Dance Party and many more -- will run through three or four songs each. You can expect to hear everything from Billy Joel to Billy Idol, Kenny Loggins to the Cure, Pat Benatar to Britney Spears. And in the interest of full disclosure, our very own Mr. Hahn will be hosting a special edition of the monthly iPod Jukebox upstairs, so bring your iPod, take a turn DJing and queue up a few tunes so you don't have to put up with Fritz playing that damn Maximo Park song.

Eric Roberson sings really well, he's written a bunch of hit songs, his show combines comedy with crowd-slaying tactics cribbed from the playbooks of The Great Ones who can go by first names only: Marvin, James, Sly and Al. Nothing we haven't run down in this space leading up to his previous Washington shows. The difference is that before Robinson's set at the 9:30 Club tonight, another member of the celebrity DJ collective will be revealed. Idris Elba (nom de platine: DJ Driis), will probably have a whole section of the club gawking instead of dancing while they replay his engrossing performance as Stringer Bell on the hit HBO series "The Wire" in their minds. His mixing skills will be secondary.

Monday, May 7
On the surface, the duo that forms the core of the Cincinnati band Iswhat?! might seem to be oddly matched, but the hip-hop/jazz hybrid sound is a successful intergenerational dialogue. Saxophonist Jack Walker was an active avant-garde jazz musician when hip-hop's architects were in diapers, and he brings swing and a non-standard melodic approach to rapper and beatboxer Napoleon Maddox's compositions. The way they attempt to bridge the musical gap is similar to the relationship that jazzman Weldon Irvine had with rappers Talib Kweli, Mos Def and Q-Tip. Iswhat?! hits DC9 as part of its national tour tonight.