Your weekly breakdown of the live entertainment spots in DC this week.
Another great week in the District. Thanks to everyone who made the Upper Room at the Red Lounge a success last week. This week the big show is yours truly with 
Immaletchufinish at Sankofa Video and Books. Also, this is the week of the Smithsonian Folk Life Festival. I got family performing all over the place on this one. From Christylez Bacon, Melani Douglass, Mary Bowman, Dwayne B, Head-Roc, this list goes on and on. Click the logo for more info! So, I know this isn’t in DC, but she’ll be here soon enough, so I gotta shout out fellow Busboys and Poets host and Upper Room feature later this month Rebecca Dupas and congratulate her for the release of her new project this Monday at Verbatim Monday, 731 W. Pratt St. 21201. Go to http://www.rebeccadupas.com for more info
This Louisiana native found her voice in her teenage years when journal writing evolved into poetry. You might say that it came naturally. Both her sister and mother shared original work with the young poet, poems that she remembers vividly. Her mother often chanted “Life is like a mountain/an obstacle to conquer/a challenge to climb….” These opening lines, along with those of her sister, “One in struggle/one in heartache/one in pain/one Black bead to a link that forms a chain/as I look in the mirror/I smile at all that I see/Black beauty/Black pearl/Black woman/Black me” are words that resonated in her mind, words that inspired her to tell her own story. In her middle school years, she allowed her peers to skim the pages of her poetry book too afraid to breathe life into the truth she’d written. It wasn’t until her senior year in high school that she performed her work before an audience. She attended her first open-mic night as a freshmen in college with no idea that she would go on to co-host, Warm Wednesdays, the longest running weekly open-mic venue in Baltimore for three years. She now hosts two open-mic venues: VERBATIMondays in Baltimore, Maryland and Busboys & Poets in Shirlington, Virginia. She has released three poetry CDS, appeared on Centric’s Lyric Café, served as the host of Onemic.tv Online, founded A Dose of Dupas production company, and began the journey to release her first poetry book Beauty for Ashes: The Exchange later this yea
Busboys and Poets Open Mics
Busboys and Poets is proud to be a venue that provides space and support for poets and spoken word performers to showcase their work through its Busboys and Poetry 
programming. From the cozy atmosphere of the “Sunday Kind of Love” poetry series to the high intensity of Tuesday Night Open Mic Poetry at 14th & V, we are sure you will find a Busboys and Poetry event that will leave you inspired and wanting to come back for more! Shelly Bell hosts at Shirtlington, Twain Dooley hosts at 14th & V, Sarah Lawson hosts at the 5th & K location, Kom hosts at the Hyattsville location. Check the site for more info!
The Garden Open @ Bloombars ft KCDC From Page to Stage | Guest Host Joseph LMS Green
Join us for DC’s only weekly variety open mic (poetry, music, comedy, storytelling, etc-ing) where the show is appropriate for all ages (please and thank you to performers). Each week includes a featured artist and guest co-host, as well as resident co-host Gowri K.
Sign-up list opens at 8:30 pm and the first performer goes on at 9:00 pm!
$7 donation
Joseph LMS Green is a performance poet and educator with more than eight years of professional experience. As a solo artist and member of the Intangible Collective, Joseph has performed at venues and schools throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic United States. For five years, he has coached the Hayfield Secondary School Forensic Speech Team. A four-time qualifier and participant in the National Poetry Slam, he has twice represented the Oneonta Slam team as their Grand Slam Champion, as well as Slam Richmond and DC’s Beltway Poetry Slam Team, which ranked 5th in the nation in 2011. After representing the Beltway Poetry Slam at the 2011 Individual World Poetry Slam, Joseph is the 16th ranked poet in the world. Joseph is currently producing his first book of poetry, recording his second full-length spoken word album, and working to create the first city-wide youth slam in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia under the Louder Than a Bomb banner.
Featuring: KCDC FROM PAGE TO STAGE
Page to Stage is a class held by Knowledge Commons DC, a free school where classes are taught by the community. The class aimed to help new poets or poets new to the stage to develop a poem from the page to performance. Students have been working through June on these poems and this feature will be their inauguration into performance art!
Will Work for Food at Sweet & Natural
This Wednesday at Sweet and Natural…a fireworks of artists featured: Goldie Dean, Hermione, E-Baby and Ras Iniejah! Come out and check the line-up at the favorite vegan spot in the DC Metro area! 4009 34th St Mount Rainier, Md. Show at 8:30p. Hosted by Ra Brown. Join me…see you there!
Up and Up Open Mic
The show is hosted by Brother Victorious & Black Boo of Mambo Sauce and features a live painting by Demont Peekaso which will be raffled off at shows closing. Showtime is 9 p.m. and is preceded by an happy hour featuring a Dj T-Why? with food and premium drink specials. Admission is free before 8p.m. and $10.00 after. This week House Band is Sound Of The City.
The UAU Open Mic| LIV Nightclub | 2001 11th Street NW| Happy Hour 7p-9p | Free before 8p| $10 After|Hosted by Brother Victorious & Black Boo| www.theuauopenmic.com
1st Thursday at Solly’s U St. Tavern
We’re back!!!! Join us this 7/5 for “1st Thursday’s” at Solly’s U St Tavern corner of 11th U St NW DC 8pm!! Hosted by Comedian Eddie Bryant featuring Terrence Cunningham w/ Dennis Turner and also featuring Jay Mills & non other than Levi Stephens.
Thursday #SpitDatDC at the ECAC Building
SPIT DAT is a weekly open mic held every Thursday @ 9pm at the ECAC (733 Euclid Street, NW, 2nd Floor Washington, DC 20001). Consistently named one of the best poetry spots on the east coast because of it’s serene scene based on a sincere love of the art of poetry. Drew “Droopy the BrokeBaller” Anderson and Dwayne B host. flowing $1 (ONLY $1!?)
Bomani & Immaletchufinish at Sankofa Video & Books
Washington Sound Museum at Bloombars Saturday
Washington Sound Museum is a cross-cultural collaborative music experience, a monthly intimate celebration of music and beverage, in partnership with Christylez Bacon & BloomBars. The purpose of the event is to introduce audiences to a variety of musical genres while bringing them together each month through collaboration. At 7pm, prior to the performance, patrons can enjoy a tea reception on the upper level of the Bloombar’s building. Each month, a different tea will be featured along with a presentation that gives a brief history of the tea and some little known facts and trivia.Lineup:
FEATURING
Christylez Bacon • Progressive Hip-Hop Artist
www.christylez.com
SPECIAL GUEST (Brazilian Music)
Cissa Paz (Vocalist)
ITINERARY
7:00PM Teatime
8:00PM Performances
$15 Suggested Donation
Bomani Armah is The Watermelon Man 