ON FRIDAY, Buddha will know everybody's name. Mie N Yu is hosting an event dedicated to the craft and the community of beer making and beer drinking. Samuel Adams founder and brewer Jim Koch is in town to host a three-course beer dinner in celebration of American Craft Beer Week.

This master class on microbrewing will take place at 6 p.m. Tickets are $55, which is a small price to pay for a tutorial on the remarkably varied and high-quality craft brews available today, especially from a pioneer in the field. For happy hour, think Mie N Yu and everyone you know.

» Mie N Yu, 3125 M Street NW; 202-333-6122. (Foggy Bottom)

Written by Express contributor Christopher Correa

YOU MIGHT NOT REMEMBER your first grade teacher's name, where you sat at lunch or how you did in that first kickball game, but chances are you know exactly how each situation made you feel.

"Junie B. Jones" a musical based on the popular children's books by Barbara Park, seeks to funnel those first-grade emotions into a brisk musical aimed at children, but sophisticated enough for adults.

The play, which runs a scant 60 minutes, is based on four books in the series: "Junie B., First Grader (at Last!)," "Junie B., Boss of Lunch," "Junie B., One-Man Band" and "Top-Secret, Personal Beeswax Journal."

The traveling musical, produced by Theatreworks USA, stops at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium on May 12 at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.

The show's director, Nandita Shenoy, is involved in her 10th tour of the show. She originally started out as the show's choreographer, but when she stepped in as director Shenoy didn't try to change much about the already well-established production.

"The show that was created is really just a fantastic show, so I feel that my job is to re-create the original as opposed to something new," she said. "My challenge is to get honest and truthful performances out of new actors each time."

Continue Reading "Musical Stages: 'Junie B. Jones'" »

YES, THAT'S Lynda Carter. And no, there isn't a Wonder Woman convention in town this weekend. Although Carter assures us it's not impossible that a fan of her television persona will show up sporting bulletproof bracelets to her Kennedy Center performance on Saturday — and if someone did, she "probably wouldn't be alone."

But that's not what this "Intimate Evening With Lynda Carter" is about.

Before she was Miss World USA or wearing satin tights fighting for our rights as television's Wonder Woman, Carter was well-known on the club circuit as a singer.

She also spent much of her youth touring with various bands until she traded life on the road for the role of a leading lady. So Carter's latest journey back to the stage isn't uncharted territory by any means.

Continue Reading "A Wonder of a Voice: Lynda Carter Does Cabaret" »

NORWEGIAN CRIME NOVELIST JO NESBO just returned from Argentina and Peru.

But it wasn't a vacation that brought him to South America: He was just published in Spanish.

Meanwhile, here in the U.S., HarperCollins recently put out "The Redbreast," which was voted the best Norwegian crime novel ever by Norwegian book clubs. Though Americans (both North and South) might think he'd have little competition in that category, Nesbo's work could be considered in competition with that of a Nordic literary giant.

"Henrik Ibsen ... he's a crime writer," said Nesbo, who will read and sign at Bridge Street Books tonight. "Most people don't realize the techniques he uses as a playwright are the same as that of a crime writer — that gradually the truth is revealed, and stories and events in the past will always haunt you."

The past haunts many characters in "The Redbreast," which mixes history, politics and modern-day noir to create a thrilling literary potboiler that jumps from the World War II trenches of Leningrad — where Nesbo's father fought and shared stories with his son — to Oslo at the millennium. (The book came out in Norway in 2000, and it's the third in a series featuring detective Harry Hole.)

Continue Reading "Nordic Noir: Jo Nesbo" »

GET EXCITED, Y'ALL! It's National Poetry Month! And the National Endowment for the Arts decided the best way to get kids to like poetry was to make them learn it in school. 'Cause kids always love things that are forced on them.

Anyway, through the Poetry Out Loud program, high school students memorize and recite poems by the likes of Langston Hughes, E.E. Cummings and Maya Angelou. Throughout the day on Monday you can see the finalists from every state perform, and at Tuesday's finals the winner gets crowned Top Poetry Reciter. Or something. Plus, the top three get money for college — including $20,000 for the first-place finisher.

It's actually very cool — and let's just say you won't truly appreciate T.S. Eliot's "Preludes" until you've heard it recited by a stentorian, Stanford-bound 17-year-old.

» Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St. NW; Mon., all day, free; Tue., 7 p.m., free; 202-994-6800. (Foggy Bottom)

YOU WOKE UP on Sunday and saw the rain pouring down and thought "Well, I can't go to Earth Day now."

Sure, you were all set for the free concerts, like the one on the Mall — and maybe you were even going to wear this old tie-dye shirt you got that one time from your friend who went to Burning Man, and it was gonna be sweet, man. But the rain. The rain! Mother Earth herself was thwarting you. She couldn't have expected your attendance, not with all that rain.

Well guess what? You are not off the hook. Earth Day is officially today, suckers, and the sun is shining. No excuses. Just think to yourself: What would George Clooney do?

(Answer: he'd buy another hybrid car and sit in it and pretend it's a spaceship and that he is Clark Gable, Space Cowboy. Like he always does. But I digress.)

Anyway, it's Tuesday, and the Earth still needs your love and attention. Wondering what you can do? Here are some ideas.

Continue Reading "They Say It's Your Earth Day: Events Tonight" »

APRIL IS JAZZ APPRECIATION MONTH, and Blues Alley is doing its part by filling its schedule with school groups and big bands.

But on Wednesday, the Georgetown club will host its most interesting booking in ages.

Ballrogg is a lovely, spacey Norwegian chamber-jazz duo featuring Klaus Ellerhusen Holm (saxophones, clarinets) and Roger Arntzen (double bass). Both musicians are virtually unknown in the U.S., but a little anonymity — or bad weather — wouldn't scare Ballrogg into staying home.

"It's raining like hell," Arntzen said from the passenger seat of a car helmed by Holm. "And it's windy, too."

The two were trekking from Chicago to Columbia, S.C. — that's 800 miles — as part of a six-show tour Ballrogg self-booked in the U.S. They'll then make a 500 mile drive from South Carolina to play Blues Alley.

"I think it's gonna be cool — unless they throw us off stage," Arntzen said with a laugh when asked about playing one of the East Coast's nicest jazz clubs. "I've been here with In the Country, and it's been really great." (In the Country played on the roof of House of Sweden as part of D.C.'s Nordic Jazz festival last June.)

Continue Reading "From the Depths: Ballrogg" »

THE BEST OF the ten August Wilson plays now in repertory at the Kennedy Center is "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," an indictment of the exploitation of black musicians that was rampant in the 1920s.

The last performance is tonight. Drink coffee beforehand; it's two-and-a-half hours long and starts off slowly, but it's worth the wait.

Anthony Mackie ("We Are Marshall") turns in an astounding performance as angry but talented trumpet-player Levee.

» Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW; Tues., 7:30 p.m., $65; (202) 467-4600.