A Mall Party for Israel's 60th

Sometimes, Regina Spektor's body rejects the way she makes her living.

The Russian American musician is prone to pre-concert stomachaches that can strike when she's about to play for 50 people or 5,000. Fortunately, the intensity of the jitters does not correspond to the size of the venue, or she'd be in trouble on Sunday when she performs on the Mall at " Israel @ 60: A Capital Celebration. "

"My body is acting as if I'm about to go to the chair," she says. "I have to convince myself, 'No, I've done this a billion times.' "

The 28-year-old singer-songwriter will headline Sunday's event, which also includes Israeli rock band Mashina, Sesame Street characters and the Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor Mandy Patinkin (he played Inigo Montoya in "The Princess Bride"). Patinkin, who sings in English and Yiddish, will emcee and perform at the event. Event-goers can also expect folk-dance workshops, cooking demonstrations, crafts for children and kosher food for sale.

Spektor, who had her first hit in 2006 with the single "Fidelity," is famous for her playful vocal delivery. She can yelp, whisper, warble and chirp -- sometimes within the same song.

Event chair Dede Feinberg, of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, says the organization chose Spektor to headline the event because "her history is the history of all of us." Spektor's family left Moscow because of anti-Semitism in 1989, when she was 9, and she finished her schooling in the Bronx, New York.

Though ongoing violence and a political scandal involving Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert cast a pall over the country's celebrations May 8, Feinberg emphasized that the event on the Mall is "apolitical. Period."

After tomorrow's concert and a few performances with the "True Colors" tour, Spektor plans to skip the festival circuit and make a new record in New York this summer. Easier on the nerves.

"Israel @ 60" is free. Noon-5 p.m. (rain or shine). Spektor performs at 3:30 p.m. Mall from Fourth to Seventh streets NW. For details, visit http://www.shalomdc.org.

Today

CLOSING: "A Thousand Kisses: Love Letters From the Archives of American Art" This small show features 40 alternately loving, lovelorn and amusing letters and tokens, as well as photos from artists including Frida Kahlo and Rockwell Kent. (Kahlo, you'll want to know, signed hers -- not to Diego! -- with a smudgy fuchsia kiss. Others adorned theirs with cutesy doodles.) The show, which opened around Valentine's Day, closes on Monday, so this is your last chance to see it. Free. 11:30-7 p.m. daily. Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery, Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture, Eighth and F streets NW. 202-633-1000.

Tomorrow

FILM: "The Fall" and a Talk With Tarsem This epic film literally was an epic journey for the filmmaker, Indian-born Tarsem (who was heralded for his direction of R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" video). He spent four years making "The Fall" in the most remote and scenic places in more than 20 countries. The movie (which is rated R -- just an FYI, parents) finally comes out today (see Ann Hornaday's review, C1). Tomorrow, Tarsem will even be in town attending screenings and taking part in a Q&A with the audiences at two theaters. He's at Landmark's Bethesda Row, 7235 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda, at 7 p.m. (Tickets are $7-$9.75) 301-652-7273. And he'll be at Landmark's E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW, at 10 p.m. (Also $7-$9.75.) 202-452-7672.