Exhibit runs May 2-27
Opening reception: Saturday May 2 from 4-6pm
Calls From Home screening and discussion: Sunday May 24, 4-5:30pm
Open during all events, or email us to schedule a different time to view

Amid the rapid expansion of the U.S. prison system over the last half-century, Central Appalachia became an area of particular growth for the construction of new carceral facilities. Due to the Federal Bureau of Prisons’ First Step Act, which established a radius of up to 500 miles between incarcerated individuals and their home residences, cities as far as Washington DC are enmeshed in relationships to the mountainous communities of Appalachia via the regular displacement of people through the prison-industrial-complex. In this exhibition, artists use a range of tactics to communicate the histories of harm, abolitionist activism, and community that emerge from this transregional entanglement. Through coal dust photography, quiltmaking, pen illustration, and other media, 500 Miles Out highlights a range of stories: episodes of organizing against pro-prison federal policies, the lived experiences of structural racism in Appalachian prisons bolstered by the stark demographic divides between incarcerated populations and local prison staffs, and the repurposing of toxic mining sites toward federal prison building. In several of the works on view, the proposed construction of federal prison FCI Letcher––which is slated to be built on a former mountaintop removal coal mine in Letcher County, Kentucky, and would be the most expensive prison in U.S. history if constructed––serves as a particularly pressing case through which artists and activists agitate against continued expansion of the carceral apparatus. Artists: Jonas N.T. Becker, Lacy Hale, Jared Hamilton, Jordan Martinez-Mazurek, Comrade Pitt Panther, Tiffany Pyette, Kat Smith, Sylvia Ryerson. Curated by Gabrielle Christiansen.

Friday May 8 * doors at 7, show at 8 * $15-25 * PRE-SALE TICKETS SOLD OUT / LIMITED TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR

Wolf Eyes is a band from Michigan. Formed in the fall of 1996 by N. Young. They are known for their bizarre and otherworldly approach to music. Creating a sound that is both disturbing and hypnotic. The band has released numerous albums and EPs on various labels. With their intense and bizarre live performances, Wolf Eyes has garnered a reputation as one of the most frightening and weird bands in the world. Wolf Eyes is currently John Olson and Nate Young. They have performed together for over 20 years.

Beauty is a genre destroying juggernaut that uses the tools of harsh noise and power electronics to make visceral, freaks-only doom. Douglas Vento (drums, vocals and electronics) and Dan Timlin (vocals and electronics) craft their churning drones not from guitars, but distorted synths and feedback loops, then glue them together with concussive drums and claustrophobic vocals swirling in delay. The result is a massive, suffocating sound best heard on the biggest possible speakers at the highest possible volume. Straddling the worlds of outsider metal, the extreme ends of punk, and experimental noise, this band belongs both everywhere and nowhere.

Agonesiac - power violence

Saturday May 9 * 11am * $15 * TICKETS

Come create, reflect, and connect with KAMA DC and Neha Misra! In this hands-on workshop, Community Mandalas: Making & Becoming Circles of Our Belonging, Neha Misra (she/her/hers) will guide participants through a brief exploration of the sacred geometry of mandalas, followed by interactive community story circles and colorful mandala-making. Together, we will gather to celebrate the act of making, and becoming, circles of belonging, grounding ourselves in creativity, connection, and collective persistence.

Saturday May 9 * doors at 2, music at 2:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

REONA is an artist who uses tap dance techniques to express her music. She is also a tap dancer, improviser, designer, choreographer, teacher, and composer. Based in Tokyo, Japan. To materialize the sounds in her head, she uses tap shoes and a wooden board, as well as metal sheets, chains, steel bowls, plastic bags, and loudspeakers.

CHUCK BETTIS was raised in the fertile harDCore soil, nourished within Baltimore's enigmatic avant garde gatherings, and currently blossoming in New York's experimental realms. His unique blend of electronics and throat has led him into various collaborations with great musicians from around the globe.

Guitarist and composerMICK BARR has released countless recordings under the names Ocrilim, Orthrelm, and Octis, and has worked with Krallice, The Flying Luttenbachers, Zach Hill, Weasel Walter, and Sam Hillmer of Zs. His lightning fast guitar style and singular approach to the instrument goes unrivaled among his contemporaries, leading Ian MacKaye (Minor Threat/Fugazi) to claim that “He is our Coltrane.”

SARAH HUGHES (sax - possibly other breath instruments) - JERRY BUSHER (drums) - Insect Factory aka JEFF BARSKY (prepared guitar)

Saturday May 9 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $20-30 * TICKETS

Transparent Productions presents…

Caroline Davis and Dustin Carlson’s new album, Sprites, is a meeting between two improvisers in New York, who straddle the boundaries of several expressions of music. The sounds on this album are all improvised, with no written music or thoughts about the music exchanged before performing live in front of a sweet audience. Sprite holds several meanings, a fairy creature from old times, a ghost, a wild electrocurrent coming out of the tops of clouds when lightning strikes, and a repeating bitmapped image over a static background. The tracks of this album embody each one of these definitions, and with each repeated listen, you, too, will begin to see them. Caroline Davis (alto saxophone, voice, electronics), Dustin Carlson (guitar, electronics).

simone baron is an accordionist, pianist, composer, improviser, and instigator whose playing is known for its “gestural joie de vivre," marked by “living, breathing vitality and exquisite nuance” (Washington Post). Engaging a broad spectrum of idioms, their music “ego-less, genre agnostic and without expectations” (JazzTimes) explores dreams, somatic empathy, memory and transformation. simone has received grants, fellowships, and residencies from organizations including South Arts, Chamber Music America, Conserere Milan, Sacatar Foundation (Brazil), the Banff Centre, Strathmore, Hambidge, ArtOMI, Avaloch Farm, Marble House, Bloedel Reserve, and Spectrum Toronto. 2026 engagements include tours with their chamber jazz ensemble Arco Belo, DeCollage trio, the transatlantic baron-calcagno duo, and a new solo project. simone is a Victoria Artist, plays a Poeta XB Accordion, and is a founding member of the Boulanger Initiative.

Sunday May 10 * 2pm * $15 * TICKETS

Alexander is a solo moniker of New Haven, CT native David Shapiro (Headroom, Kath Bloom, Center). He has shared bills with Mdou Moctar, Loren Connors, Susan Alcorn, Kate Village, and many more. He has released an LP, a split 7" with Rob Noyes, and a handful of cassettes on C/Site Recordings. He has also self-released an LP and many cassettes that range from guitar soli to improvised electric guitar noise. Most recently he released a 7" of banjo and mandolin tunes on Carbon Records, as well as a self-released CD of hymns arranged for electric guitar.

Growing up in the Annapolis area and attending University of Maryland with friend and labelmate Robbie Basho, Max Ochs contributed two tracks for the 1967 "Contemporary Guitar" on John Fahey’s Takoma label. Inspired by his friend Fahey, Ochs developed his own interest in fingerstyle guitar, learning from one of the masters, Mississippi John Hurt, during a one-month residency in Ochs’ New York apartment when Hurt reappeared on the folk scene in 1964. Ochs has continued recording and performing in his spare time, releasing music on the Fonotone and Tompkins Square labels, and with collaborators like Neil Harpe and Rugburn.

Max Hamel is a craftsperson, musician, artist and instrument maker with diverse practices ranging from professional fine violin luthiery to handmade live electronics. Their performance work builds upon a foundation of circuit bending, feedback, magic, touch and chaos, delighting in subtlety, pliable gesture and flippant ambiguity.

Sunday May 10 * 7pm * $10 * TICKETS

DECIDE TODAY - Primary project of Robert Inhuman following the end of the original Realicide band at the turn of 2011. Spanning genres such as industrial, breakcore, darkwave and ambient. Subject matter maintains focus akin to anarcho-punk and radical hip-hop. The mission is contribution to various liberation movements, whether decades ongoing or emerging from the current political climate. Based in Cincinnati.

DICQBEATS - is a goddamn noisy menace. Always pushing boundaries of sound and changing lives with aggressive catchy tunes and addictingly wild and high energy live shows, ranging from punk shows, to underground raves to huge festivals.

MIC LITTER -  Mike Rosse, AKA Mic Litter has been working with found sounds from field recordings since the early 90s. It began with cassette and reel to reel loop recordings and evolved into densely layered combinations of digital samples and analog processing. Tape still remains a key element in the studio and everything is created with hardware devices.

Cryogenic Effigy - NOISE DEBUT

Monday May 11 * 7pm * $5 * Includes popcorn and drink * TICKETS

Join us for the Takoma Park-Silver Spring Co-op's Fourth Annual Co-op Film Fest in partnership with Rhizome!

Cooperatives are a proven alternative to extractive capitalism. In a time when corporate consolidation dominates our food system, cooperatives offer a practical, viable alternative that prioritizes equity, sustainability, and local self-determination. Join TPSS and Rhizome to watch and discuss two documentaries that examine the history of co-ops in the United States and explore how they build healthier, more connected communities.

Food For Change is an 82-minute documentary film focusing on food co-ops as a force for dynamic social and economic change in American culture. It examines the important historical role played by food co-ops, their pioneering quest for organic foods, and their current efforts to create regional food systems. It shows how cooperatives today strengthen local economies and build food security. You'll come away with a greater understanding of the principles of cooperation with a focus on healthy food and a healthy economy.

Tuesday May 12 * doors at 6:30, show at 7 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Tried To Do’s is the second full length album from Trippers & Askers - the songwriting and recording project of Jay Hammond. Drafts of this record started as early as 2019. The initial idea was a Parable of the Talents concept album to follow 2021's Parable of the Sower concept album Acorn and/or an album about Hammond's hometown of Jackson, TN.

Adelyn Strei is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist based in Brooklyn via Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Alone on stage with clarinet, voice and guitar, her live compositions demonstrate a fluid, melodically intuitive and improvisational arc. Adelyn credits her current approach—blending songs into a carefully woven bed of texture—to over a decade performing and arranging for friends’ projects before her solo debut in 2023.

Small Sur - Drawing as much from his rural South Dakota upbringing as he does from his domestic existence as a Baltimore english teacher, Bob Keal creates “bedroom country” filled with intimacy and shadows. Surrounded by sympathetic players, his delicate vocals and classical guitar playing reveal a sensitive musician growing in confidence and expertly applying his craft.

Helmed by Washington, D.C.-based musician and multidisciplinary artist Raul Zahir De Leon, Canandaigua is rooted in traditions of folk storytelling and songwriting. De Leon explores various aspects of American mythmaking and identity, deconstructing classic elements, and weaves a sonic tapestry uniquely his own.

Wednesday May 13 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $10-20 * TICKETS

Born in China and based in Baltimore, Zoe Yizhen Lyu is a composer and sound artist whose work spans instrumental composition, electronic music, and sound art. Her practice explores the interplay between sound, space, movement, and spirituality.

Alexander Wu is a composer, improviser, pianist, electronic producer, and programmer based in Baltimore, MD. He is interested in far-fetched logic, misplaced memories, profaned tools, and sometimes disappointing sounds.

Hamish Robb is a Baltimore-based programmer, improviser, and composer of experimental and adventurous music. They make sounds of many natures that explore contradictions: synthetic/organic, rigid/liquid, sprawling/confined.

Darien Baiza is a drummer living in Baltimore. Coming from primarily an extreme metal background, he began working within the space of free-improvisation to "loosen the girders" in search of higher peaks and deeper valleys.

Max Gong is a composer, improviser, instrumentalist, pianist, and noise musician. He plays all kinds of stuff and performs locally in Baltimore. He goes about his life looking for himself, is afraid of repetitions, and prefers the simplest setups.

Thursday May 14 * doors at 6:30, music at 7:00 * $20-$30 * TICKETS

Transparent Productions presents...

Fountaine is the latest project from bassist and vocalist Zoë Jorgenson and her trio with Marty Riesemburg (drums), and Parker Speirs (guitar/sounds). Rooted in a fascination with the connection between sound, memory, and place, the group explores how the textures of everyday life can inspire music through the use of interspersed field recordings. Themes of grief and transition run throughout their work as they combine acoustic and electronic elements. A desert native, Zoë’s compositions reflect the richness of natural landscapes, weaving melodic bass lines and vocals into immersive soundscapes.

Luke Stewart is a musician, performer, improviser-composer, organizer, and writer-researcher whose work represents a deep reverence for the history and tradition of Creative Music: a tradition which encompasses the diverse styles of expression within the body of Black Music in the United States, Africa, and throughout the world. JoVia Armstrong is a Detroit-born percussionist, composer, sound artist, and educator whose multidisciplinary career spans continents, genres, and communities. Known for her visionary blend of experimental composition, Black musical traditions, and immersive technologies, Armstrong’s artistry is rooted in rhythm and storytelling.

Friday May 15 * 7pm * $15 * TICKETS

Spark Isle is an experimental rock trio based in the DMV. The group's instrumental compositions touch on jazz, funk, punk and styles in between. Visually, Spark Isle presents projections to accompany each song that often feature footage of collaborations with artists from other mediums (painters, dancers, etc.). 

Spare Hearts is Ira Golthi (vocals) and Alex Weitzel (synth). Based out of Washington DC, their electro-pop debut EP "Off the Line" was released in May 2025. Now playing as a heavily synth-driven duo, Ira and Alex are performing dark and danceable synthpop/EBM tracks for the masses. Their newest single, "High Priestess," is out November 2025.

The Morelias released their debut EP on December of 2025. This first batch of songs are mostly love songs about overcoming depression and finding or losing romantic partners. It’s light hearted and stylistically reminiscent of early 2000’s indie rock and old school punk from the west coast. You can hear these songs live at music clubs in Washington D.C.

Employee 1 is the solo project of Russell from Incubator. Using a looper, keyboard and vocoder, Employee 1 is a dramatic pop experience performed from behind a desk

Saturday May 16 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Hilary Plum is a writer, editor, and teacher in Cleveland, Ohio. Her recent books include the novel State Champ (Bloomsbury, 2025), the long poem Important Groups (Community Mausoleum, 2025), and the essay collection Hole Studies (Fonograf Editions, 2022). With Zach Savich she edits the Open Prose Series at Rescue Press. With Zach Peckham she hosts the podcast Index for Continuance.

Terence Winch has published ten books of poems, the most recent being It Is As If Desire (Hanging Loose, 2024) and That Ship Has Sailed (Pitt Poetry Series, 2023). Winner of an American Book Award and the Columbia Book Award, he has also published two story collections and a novel. He was the guest editor for Best American Poetry 2025 and the editor of the Best American Poetry blog’s “Pick of the Week” feature. Winch is the recipient of an NEA poetry fellowship and a Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative Writing. Also a musician and songwriter, he co-founded the original Celtic Thunder, the traditional Irish music group.

Sunday May 17 * 10am * $20 / scholarships available * REGISTER

Join illustrator LA Johnson for a high-energy, two-hour deep dive into the world of sequential art.  We’re breaking down everything kids need to build their own universe:

• Character Design: Give your protagonists personality.

• The Art of the Gab: Write dialogue that actually sounds human.

• Visual Storytelling: Master the flow from the first sketch to the final frame.

Whether you're a doodler or a dreamer, you’ll walk away with the tools to make your story shine. Let’s get making.

For Ages: 7+ /// email info@rhizomedc.org for info on scholarships

Sunday May 17 * 1-3pm * RSVP

Death Cafes are opportunities for people to enjoy refreshments together and discuss the topic of death. The objective is to “increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.” There are Death Cafes all over the country. What's on your mind about death and dying? Contact Death Cafe Facilitators Margaret Branch at margaret603@gmail.com or Monica Lynch at mlynch19@comcast.net.. Death Cafes are NOT therapy, grief support, or counseling sessions. Cost: Free (small donation for the space encouraged)

Monday May 18 * 7pm * $5 * Includes popcorn and drink * TICKETS

Join us for the Takoma Park-Silver Spring Co-op's Fourth Annual Co-op Film Fest in partnership with Rhizome!

Cooperatives are a proven alternative to extractive capitalism. In a time when corporate consolidation dominates our food system, cooperatives offer a practical, viable alternative that prioritizes equity, sustainability, and local self-determination. Join TPSS and Rhizome to watch and discuss two documentaries that examine the history of co-ops in the United States and explore how they build healthier, more connected communities.

Successfully thriving in the global economy of the 21st century and beyond will require new business models and strategies to enable the American Dream of opportunity and economic prosperity. We the Owners captures stories from the founders and employees of three employee-owned businesses, New Belgium Brewing, Namaste Solar, and DPR Construction, sharing the worker's perspectives on shared ownership structures, empowering corporate cultures, linked reward and risk incentives, and human-capital innovation models. The film follows as decisions are made from founding and expansion, succession and recruitment, to layoffs. As the companies in the film show, employee ownership comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. What they have in common as “Best Places to Work” is that shared ownership and employee voice are integral to their responsible business practices, strategy, and success.

Tuesday May 19 * doors at 7pm, music at 7:45pm * $15 * TICKETS

Knave is a rock band from washington dc.

Rain Shears is indie folk rock from dc.

Big Government - brass-infused indie rock with dance worthy rhythms.

Wednesday May 20 * doors at 7, show at 7:45 * $10 * TICKETS

Born and raised in the suburban landscapes of Maryland, the ethereal music artist known as Strawbalien possesses a talent that transcends the ordinary. Her music, a fusion of haunting melodies and poetic lyrics, transcends traditional genre boundaries. Influenced by the whimsical world of cartoons like Adventure Time and the hazy vibes of early cloud rap artists like Yung Bruh, her sound is a journey into a realm of otherworldly beauty and introspective storytelling.

Hirow - cloudy, dreamy Experimental Hip Hop from Charleston SC - 'industrial hip-hop with tangents of soulful rhythm and blues tunes. The consistencies of the beats amplify or distort the vocals, displaying Hirow’s cohesive yet experimental style.' ''“joy ride” is ominous from the start, opening with layers of distortion and eerie, moaning vocals. A quick beat drops, and Hirow begins to rap against the textured noise, keeping a stilted-yet-steady pace...it show’s Hirow’s ability to pair complex sound and production choices with stirring lyricism and creative delivery'

Iris

Jerrystar

Thursday May 21 * 7pm doors, 7:30pm show * $15-30 sliding scale * TICKETS

Presented by Outside Time.... Madison Greenstone is a clarinetist, writer, and composer based in Brooklyn. Their solo practice, exstatic resonances, explores phenomenological, material, and spatial expressivities of sound through richly noisy timbral actions. As the clarinetist of TAK Ensemble, “one of the most prominent ensembles in the United States practicing truly experimental music” (I Care If You Listen) they have premiered music by Tyshawn Sorey, Eric Wubbels, Weston Olencki, Michelle Lou, Jessie Cox, Brandon López and champions some of the most radical music currently devised.

Their debut solo album, Resonance Studies in Ecstatic Consciousness (Relative Pitch Records), was included in Bandcamp’s Best Experimental Music of 2023 compilation, and has been described as “one hell of a calling card” (The Wire) and “mind-blowing” (Nowhere Street).

Two Weeks is Ben Starkey and Obie Feldi. Together they make music with computers.

Friday May 22 * doors at 7, show at 7:30 * $15 * TICKETS

Red Brick presents:

ROBBER ROBBER (Burlington, Vermont) - "Pinpointing the specific catalyst for an avalanche can be slippery — any combination of classic elements, human interference, or freak accident can trigger disaster — and documenting these precise moments often rests on serendipitous reflexes. On Two Wheels Move the Soul, Robber Robber offer themselves as ignition and capture every sound in the wake. Involuntarily thrust into the throws of rootless nomadism, Robber Robber ringleader Nina Cates collects a series of pressurized vignettes to assemble the Burlington quartet’s thrillingly explosive sophomore album….”

EMPATH (PHILADELPHIA, PA)

Saturday May 23 * 2pm * MASKS REQUIRED * $35-45 * REGISTER

Dye sessions act as an interactive introduction to natural dye. Every dye session is uniquely tailored to each group and may change seasonally due to the availability of natural dye materials. Each participant will work with cotton bandanas to learn and practice a variety of dye techniques.

Fatima Janneh is a Gambian American fiber and textiles artist. Based in DC, she works primarily with natural dye and is an avid knitter. Currently teaching dye workshops and selling at markets around the city.

Scholarships are available - please reach out via email to info@rhizomedc.org

Saturday May 23 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Minibeast is a three-piece band comprised of Peter Prescott (formerly of Mission of Burma, Volcano Suns, Kustomized) playing guitar, keys, noises (mouth & other) & the mind bending rhythm section of Keith Seidel on drums n' percussion and Niels LaWhite on bass. It's liquid music...always moving. They gratefully accept influences from Fela Kuti, Can, and the Stooges.

Washington DC's Nice Breeze have been kicking around since before the start of the decade. The trio of John Howard, Martha Hamilton & Andy Fox churn out solid, hook-laden, bullseye-pop gems by the bushel. DC area bands have always seemed to possess that extra digit when it comes to honing a particular strain of post punk expression & Nice Breeze are no exception.

FREQ FLAG are a DC/Baltimore trio from Dave Bryson, Joe Halladay and Burleigh Seaver (ex-members of Son Volt, Des Demonas, Shortstack), dealing in rhythm-centric cosmic Americana.

Sunday May 24 * noon-4pm * $5-10 suggested * RSVP

The DC Modular Society is a group focused on learning, teaching, and performing electronic music with modular synths. DCMS meetups are open to all with an interest in electronic music, modular and other hardware synths, and hybrid systems for creating and performing music. We encourage and support building a diverse and inclusive community—if you’re wondering if you belong—the answer is yes! No equipment is necessary to attend meetups, but feel free to bring gear if you like. Mixer and PA system provided. We frequently do informal demos of synths and electronic music techniques.

Sunday May 24 * 4pm * Free / donations * RSVP

Join us for a screening and discussion, presented in conjunction with our May exhibit 500 Miles Out - Carceral Ties between the District and Central Appalachia

All donations through the RSVP link will be passed along to the Building Communities Not Prisons Coalition - or you can donate directly HERE.

CALLS FROM HOME USA 2023 31 min

A longstanding radio program sends familial messages of love to people incarcerated in Central Appalachia. Directed by Sylvia Ryerson, a former DJ for the show, CALLS FROM HOME follows the weekly broadcast through prison walls, portraying the many forms of distance that rural prison building creates—and the ceaseless work to end the racist system of mass incarceration and family separation.

Monday May 25 * doors at 7, music at 7:45 * $15 * TICKETS

Fixations (NC Garage Punk)
https://getfixxedidiot.bandcamp.com/album/try-less

Everything (MD Fastcore)

Glycine (DC Hardcore)
https://glycine.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2025

Rocky IV (DC Punk)
First Show, Only show!

Tuesday May 26 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Sarah Hughes is a performing and visual artist. She has 26 years of experience playing the alto saxophone and also doubles on the soprano saxophone, flute, and clarinet. Her music is intuitive and genre-liberated while displaying an unquestionable command of her instrument and musical vocabulary.

Gerswyn Foster Is a DMV - Electronic composer and sound designer.

Michael R. Bernstein lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, where he is developing a band of robot musicians to alleviate humans from the burdensome task of creating music for themselves. In former lives he ran the Heavy Tapes cassette label, performed over 100 live shows with improvised quartet Double Leopards, and started a rock band called Religious Knives with his best friend and wife, Maya E. Miller

Wednesday May 27 * Doors at 6:30, show at 7 * $20-25 * TICKETS

Glenn Jones is a master of American Primitive Guitar, a style invented in the late 1950s by John Fahey, whose traditional fingerpicking techniques and wide-ranging influences were used to create modern original compositions. Jones, who led the post-rock ensemble Cul de Sac, brings his own made-up tunings, the use of custom-crafted partial capos, and a highly skilled picking style on both banjo and guitar, to create personal compositions that are lyrical, emotive and elegant.

Liam Grant is a New England guitarist and improviser cut from the American Primitive cloth. The restless guitar explorations, modal epics, and driving uptempo rags recall the likes of Grant's pedagogue, Takoma Records, and the path that was paved by his forebears John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Peter Walker, Max Ochs, and later, Glenn Jones, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Jack Rose, and others.

Ari Rosenfield is a folk singer and songwriter from the southwestern US who has had severe writer's block for about six years. She will play you some sad songs she wrote for the banjo a long time ago, and hopefully that will help her overcome her writer's block. She wishes her songs sounded like if Joanna Newsom helped Leonard Cohen write his songs and then Karen Dalton played covers of them, but in reality, they're probably much worse.

Friday May 29 * doors at 7pm, music at 7:30 * $15-20 / NOTAFLOF * TICKETS

Alex Koi x Kirin McElwain is a duo of original music for voice, cello, and modular synthesizer.

Kirin McElwain is a cellist and composer working in the realms of experimental, contemporary classical, and improvised music. Weaving together classical and Baroque influences with an affinity for sub-bass and harsh electronic textures, her music explores themes of desire, shame, perfection, and belonging.

Alex Koi is a composer, vocalist and improvising musician. Combining her diverse influences in Jazz and improvised music, the avant-garde and electronic, her work has been called “primal and futuristic at the same time” [Current Magazine] and “impossibly beautiful” [Stereo Stickman].

Previously, her former long-term band project Saajtak has been called “one of the most intriguing and unclassifiable bands in the country right now" [Tone Madison]. Saajtak has released five independently-released EPs and one LP via Chicago’s American Dreams record label.

Alex has received grants from the Church of Noise, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and YoungArts. She has been awarded residency at Avaloch Farm Music Institute in 2024 and 2026. She was a composer fellow at NewAmsterdam Composer Lab as well as a performer fellow with Bang on A Can. In addition to her many collaborative projects, she is developing the music for her debut solo recording.

Walsh Kunkel is a guitarist, composer, label curator and electronic musician hailing from Baltimore, Maryland. With a focus on combining electronic and acoustic music styles, Kunkel is forging his own sound and searching for ways to express his views of the world through his work.

Saturday May 30 * 1pm * $5-30 sliding scale * REGISTER

Participants will learn about 16mm film projection, create their own hand drawn physical film loops, and see their own film loops projected. Materials will be provided.

Link to Sample loop: https://vimeo.com/766522792

Instructors: Emily Francisco and Joanna Stillwell

Saturday May 30 * doors at 7:00, music at 7:30 * $12-15 * TICKETS

Kevin Knight a.k.a. Nevin Kight is a Multi-Instrumentalist, song-crafter, absurdist, & experimental recording artist based in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. “Songs of love, pain and spirit from a nature nerd in the age of the Anthropocene”

Bohemian Waxwing is a coming together of four musicians with roots in alt-country, punk, ambient, and indie rock. With songs that ponder our connections with art, science and the natural world, their lyrics sit at the intersection of our internal and external lives. Their songs might be compared to Yo La Tengo, with the harmonic leanings of XTC, and the lyrical bent of Bill Calahan.

Nayan Bhula is a DC rock lifer who turned 50 and decided to get louder. A veteran of post-punk outfit GIST and orchestrated indie ensemble The NRIs, Bhula has spent decades carving space for South Asian artists in rock ’n’ roll—DIY, defiant, and relentless. His current band, NAYAN, blends DC post-punk urgency with classic rock swagger and ’80s new-wave hooks.

Sunday May 31 * Doors at 1, music at 1:20 * $10-25 * TICKETS

People's Music Supply and Rhizome are proud to present the fourth installment of our cutting-edge series showcasing improvisational interplay between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. — two vanguard's of today's experimental music scene.

Francisco Quintero, Stephen Arnold, and Kelton Norris bring a contemporary and honest approach to the guitar trio setting that capitalizes upon each member’s unique voice and years of playing in a variety of styles and genres.

FFMMAP! are Flandrew Fleisenberg, Mason McAvoy and Aaron Pond. Sonic scenery for an absurdist theatre at the end of time. Transmissions become beacons; lighthouses burn bright, guideposts for a journey without end.

Nate Scheible (percussion/found sounds), Victor Provost (steel pan), Connor Eeckles (electric guitar), and Christina Gesualdi (dance) come together to discover the nuanced edges of cultural meaning.

QUEERING SOUND26

01-28 JUNE • VISUAL ART • RHIZOME DC

05 JUNE • 7 PM • RHIZOME DC
ARI VOXX / ASHANTI (SPOKEN WORD) / MARCUS WEBB (VIDEO) / THIS COULD GO BOOM! SHOWCASE / ERIN FRISBY / CACIE / AERYN GOLDSTEIN 

06 JUNE • 2 PM ART RECEPTION • RHIZOME DC
THE CONSTRUCTIVIST BROTHERHOOD

06 JUNE • 7 PM • TAKOMA SPARK • 7112 WILLOW AVE TKPK MD
ELLA G SAFETY BEAR • SAD VEILED BRIDE

07 JUNE • 10 AM • TAKOMA PARK GAZEBO • 7035 CARROLL AVE TKPK MD
TÉ • MADDIE CARDOZA

07 JUNE, 2 PM • QUEERING NOIZE • RHIZOME DC
DEDBOI / EYEROLLS / DEPRESSION FACTORY (JEFF BARSKY + MARKUS MEIER) / THVT CLOUD w/ JAN SWINBURNE (VIDEO)

07 JUNE, 7 PM • RHIZOME DC
BLOOD FAMILY REUNION / BOY MEETS PEARL / YOUTH IN GOVERNMENT / MYSTERYBAND / ADRIAN GASTON GARCIA / AGG (SPOKEN WORD) / KERRI SHEEHAN (VIDEO) / GLORIAN (BALTIMORE) 

14 JUNE, 1 PM • ART WORKSHOP • RHIZOME DC

WWW.QUEERINGSOUND.COM

Monday June 1 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $15-20 * TICKETS

The Early is Alex Lewis (guitars, synthesizers) and Jake Nussbaum (drums, electronics). The two have spent the past seven years reinventing their shared musical language, infusing the textural grandeur of post-rock with the communicational intimacy of jazz improvisation, the patient grooves of minimalism, electronica, and drone. Their 2026 release, I Want To Be Ready (Island House Recordings) was described by Record Crates United as “drifty, minimalist jazz fusion soundscapes that hum, drone and rumble like the atmosphere of a clockwork city.”

Bent Light is the duo of Michael Slyne and Russel Linder. 2 punk rockers and less volume. Two guitars. Millions of pedals. Busted tape machines sing too. Sometimes beautiful, sometimes harsh. They say it feels like a dream. 

Raven Bauer Durham is an experimental guitar-based performer from Virginia, incorporating electric and acoustic ambient textures, voice, and song layers. Previously a member of the improvisational group Phoenix Auto Group. 

Tuesday June 2 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

"Philadelphia's Street Rat is a pulsing, writhing pile of static and uncoiled energy. Featuring modded electronics and full-body engagement, their wild noise emanations are simultaneously electric and unquestionably organic. " - subscape2025

POST COMMUNITY is a collective, a collaboration, an open group founded by members of a slew of East Coast punk bands, and presently operating out of Baltimore - message the band if you're keen to participate in basement activities.

Odette is an conceptual noise project from Baltimore. Harsh atonality and sludgy industrial laments ‘Quo Vadis?’ “Sounds like a John Grisham novel.” - Jason Laird Wise, Cussfucker

Suburbanabuse - “Felt like a sonic interpretation of Guantanamo Bay levels of darkness..” — Review of Suburbanabuse from an American University undergrad scholar.

Thursday June 4 * 7pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

We are pleased to present an evening of films by Margaret Rorison (Baltimore), who will be present for a discussion with the audience following the screening. Margaret Rorison is a filmmaker, artist and educator from Baltimore, MD. Her work incorporates 16mm film, alternative photographic processes, poetry, and sound to explore her interests in portraiture, memory, and landscape. Her films have been exhibited at Miami PULSE Art Fair, Microscope Gallery, The Museum of The Moving Image, The National Gallery of Art, and The Walker Art Center. Her short films have shown at film festivals including Edinburgh International Film Festival, Images Festival, Open City Documentary Film Festival, & FICUNAM in Mexico City. From 2012-2022, she directed Sight Unseen Screening Series, an experimental film series that brought contemporary filmmakers and curators to Baltimore to present their work.

Friday June 5 * 7pm * $15-20 * TICKETS

Ari Voxx is DC’s Dreamy Pop Princess. Well-versed in many different music worlds, she focuses on writing music that is eclectic and authentically her, transcending genres, with a sound heavily inspired by the moods and vibes of 80s/90s new-wave and pop artists.

Ashanti (spoken word)

Marcus Webb (video) is an ambient composer and multi-instrumentalist whose work has carved a unique space within the realms of experimental and drone music. Known for his distinctive fusion of ambient soundscapes and metaphysical exploration, Webb creates music that resonates deeply with listeners seeking immersive, meditative experiences.

This Could Go Boom! Showcase: Erin Frisby - Cacie - Professor Goldstein

Sunday June 7 * 10am at the Takoma Park Gazebo * Free

QUEERING SOUND at the Gazebo on Carroll Ave

Maddie Cardoza- melancholic indie pop

Té - ”I work and play in sound and the cosmos”

Sunday June 7 * 11am * pay what you like, $15 recommended * REGISTER

Want to crochet, but don't know where to start? Crochet 101 Back to Basics is the perfect class for you! We will learn how to hold a crochet hook and yarn, how to read a basic pattern, and how to start project in single crochet. 

No experience necessary!

Pay what you like, recommended $15. Crochet 101 is led by Annie with Swamp Rose Studios. Class every first Sunday of the month, topics rotate monthly. Questions and comments: swamp.rose.studio@proton.me

Sunday June 7 * 2pm * $10-15 * TICKETS

Depression Factory (Jeff Barsky & Markus Meier) - Meditations. Dedicated to resistance.

Bodied - NoVA hc/screamo/skramz

Eyerolls - No sound left unprocessed.

THAT CLOUD with Jan Swinburne (video) - sound by JS ADAMS (BLK w/BEAR), CHRISTOPHER MATHEWS-LARSEN (Youth in Government, Outboard, Grave Nature),and CHRIS VIDELL; Jan Swinburne is a Canadian visual artist whose interdisciplinary practice makes use of traditional and digital media. Swinburne approaches all media from a painter’s sensibility and this drives her aesthetic.

Monday June 8 doors at 6:30, music at 7 $20-30 TICKETS

Paolo Angeli is considered one of the most important innovators on the international music scene. Originally from Palau (at the northern tip of Sardinia), he grew up with his gaze turned toward the sea. Starting from the traditional instrument, thanks to a decade-long apprenticeship with master Giovanni Scanu and the influences of 20th-century avant-garde visionaries, he created the prepared Sardinian guitar, a true orchestra-instrument. Since the mid-1990s, he has embraced influences from free jazz, folk noise, minimal pop, contemporary flamenco, Arabic music, and post-rock, reachin at a synthesis language that brings Sardinian traditional music into the contemporary world. Improvisation is the driving force behind Paolo Angeli’s 30-year career, not only as a means of connecting and developing compositional structures but also as a practice of communication among musicians from diverse latitudes and musical cultures. His journey reached a milestone in 2018 with a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York, cementing his place among the world’s leading “innovators with roots” and defining a groundbreaking path for Mediterranean avant-garde music.

Opening set by Kiyan Saifi (solo guitar)

Tuesday June 9 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $20-30 * TICKETS

Transparent Productions presents...

Michael Foster (sax), Zach Rowden (bass & tapes), and Joey Sullivan (drums)

Michael Foster is a saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist working in the fields of free improvisation, noise, free jazz, graphic & video notation, performance art, and other forms of weird music. Foster utilizes extensive instrumental preparations, augmenting his saxophone with amplification, objects, balloons, drum heads, vibrators, tapes, and samples as a method of subverting and queering the instrument’s history and traditional roles.

In addition to his work as a performer he is also active as a curator throughout New York City, co-founding "Queer Trash," a curatorial collective focusing on providing visibility to LGBTQIA+ performers engaged in experimental performance practices. In 2018, "Queer Trash" was the Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow for Issue Project Room, producing a year's worth of performances that ranged from harsh noise to fashion.

Friday June 12 & Saturday June 13 * TICKETS

Friday 6/12/26 - doors at 6:30, music at 7 - $25-30
Marisa Anderson / Shane Parish / Ian Nagoski DJ set

Saturday 6/13/26 - doors at 12:30, music at 1 - $40-50
Ian Williams (BATTLES) / Lea Bertucci / Dorothy Carlos / Paleography (Hugh McElroy of Black Eyes) / Day for Night / Daniel Wyche / The Caribbean

2-day pass: $60-70

Hailed by The Wire as “A grand menagerie of creative music,” Seventh Stanine is a gathering of artists who, against all promise of financial gain, notoriety, or any of the usual tropes associated with playing music, continue to make art because they have to; they can't imagine their lives without it.  As described in the Washington Post in 2025 by pop music critic Chris Richards, “The mere idea of a “music festival” implies a certain bigness, but what if instead of inviting audiences into a treasure vault, organizers offered a glimpse into a jewel box?”

Sunday June 14 * 1pm * Free / donations * REGISTER

Queering Sound presents...

An art workshop with Mei Mei Chang

Add your personal embellishment to one of Mei Mei Chang's tissue garments from the Queering Sound visual art exhibit.

Markers, colored pencils, pastels, rubber stamps, embroidery materials, cardboard, fabric swatches, and fabrication tools will be provided. Feel free to bring your own personal collage ephemera and tools.

Sunday June 14 * doors at 6:30, show at 7 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Kalia Vandever (they/them) is a trombonist and composer living in New York. Praised by AllMusic as “a master musician and composer” and “a singular talent,” Vandever’s approach to the trombone is distinctive, defined by their sonorous tone and lyrical voicing. They lean into the challenges of the instrument and allow patience and melody to guide their process. Vandever’s music has quickly and widely gained traction in the last few years despite the fact that their style has been consistently difficult to pin down, boasting a compositional scope ranging from the palatial modern jazz of their quartet work (notably featuring guitarist Mary Halvorson) to the synthetic, gauze-like droning ambience of their solo material, their compositional practice draws from their love of both songs and improvisation, creating a landscape of sounds that resonate in the body and hold the listener. This dexterity has not gone unnoticed, with The Wire asserting, “Vandever has never sounded more assured and in control of their many strengths.”

Emily Francisco is an artist and educator based in Washington DC. Their work has been reviewed and discussed by Hackaday, The Washington Post, Hyperallergic, the Media Archeology Lab, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and at The National Gallery of Art. A five-time Janet and Walter Sondheim Award semi-finalist, her work is currently on view at The Delaware Contemporary through August 2026. Alex Tyson is an artist and musician based in Washington, DC. As a musician, they’ve been a featured artist at SXSW and have played a Tiny Desk… But always with others. Their visual work lives somewhere between the screen and studio floor: generative visuals, robots, metal, plaster, and lately lasers. They are a recipient of a grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.

niki afsar: 'i am a nonbinary/femme, iranian-american writer and interdisclipinary artist. my work explores not only longing but also the lack that persists in my relationships to language and mythologies of identity. these liminal spaces of void are where desire lives. they are essential for change and reinvention. i employ a number of mediums including devised movement and performance; poetry and text; live singing and recording using a vocal loop machine; sound collaging; and more recently, mirror work.'

Monday June 15 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15 * TICKETS

Neptune's origins trace to 1994 as a sculpture project by Boston artist/musician Jason Sidney Sanford, who forged the band's haphazard guitars and reluctant drums from scrap steel and found objects.

Shadow Riot - Kamyar Arsani - Jeff Barsky - Dug Birdzell - Jerry Busher. Join us. 

Icky Bits - Philly-based trio of Mark Feehan, Scott Verrastro, and Cameron Healy.

Saturday June 20 * 3pm * $25 / scholarships available * REGISTER

This is an in-person workshop on the basics of vocal feminization: raising your pitch, shifting your resonance, and sustaining your trained voice. It'll be interactive, so come prepared to try the exercises in a judgment-free setting. Instructor: Jessica Austin

Scholarships available - please email info@rhizomedc.org

To find out more about me or schedule private lessons, visit my website: https://thetransjessicaaustin.com/

Sunday June 21 * 11am * Free / Donations * RSVP

Chinese culture understands time as cyclical and relational. The traditional Chinese calendar divides the year into 24 Solar Terms, presenting the subtle shifts in nature and having different celebrations each term. 

One of these terms is Duanwu Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month: a time when summer begins to intensify, marked by remembrance and cultural rituals such as dragon boat racing and eating zongzi. In this event, we will:

- Introduce Duanwu and its meaning, connecting personal stories of hometown, cultural roots, and remembrance;

- Participants DIY two gifts inspired by their hometown and cultural memory: one kept for themselves, and one exchanged with another participant (A to B, B to C, C to A);

- Share reflections on how ritual, making, and exchange create a moment of pause.

The event is free, and donations to Rhizome DC are suggested. We will provide basic art supplies (paper, pencils, colored pencils, acrylic paint & brushes), but please bring any other materials for DIY.

Sunday June 21 * 6pm * $10-20 * TICKETS

Amptext, the solo project of Washington DC native Gary Rouzer, explores the area between free improvisation and composition. His current focus harkens back to his teenage years on the four string electric bass. https://amptext.bandcamp.com

Perfectly Reasonable People - Baltimore duo making perfectly reasonable music.

Jeff Surak - Maximum musique concrète.
https://zeromoon.bandcamp.com/album/an-ideal-death

Tag Cloud - Solo drone/noise/ambient atmospherics. Mostly modular but sometimes other sources. Latest release out now!
https://tagcloud2.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-shoe-drops

James Wolf is a DC-area violinist and multi-instrumentalist.
https://jwolf333.bandcamp.com/music

Tuesday June 23 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $10-20 / NOTAFLOF * TICKETS

Grace A. Keller - DC-based singer/songwriter, 1/4 of hotel sewing kit

Jem Wilde - DC/Baltimore

Devin Shaffer's new album, Patience, mirrors life's highs and lows on the search for spiritual meaning, purpose, and connection. Patience updates the hushed intimacy of songwriters like Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier, and Linda Perhacs for the twenty-first century. Shaffer challenges both herself and the listener to find peace in the unknowing and comfort in the surrender.

Solo performance by Ella G of Lud Roes

Friday June 26 * doors at 6:30, music at 7 * $20-35 * TICKETS

Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser FRED FRITH has been making noise of one kind or another for more than 50 years, starting with the rock collective Henry Cow, which he co-founded with Tim Hodgkinson in 1968. Fred is best known as a pioneering electric guitarist and improviser, song-writer, and composer for film, dance and theater. Through bands like Art Bears, Massacre, Skeleton Crew, the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, Cosa Brava, and the FF Trio he has stayed close to his roots in rock and folk music while branching out in many other directions. 

CHAO TIAN is a boundary-breaking Chinese dulcimer virtuoso, improviser, and sonic thinker whose music unfolds across tradition, experimentation, and diasporic imagination. Trained in the classical lineage of the Chinese dulcimer since the age of five, she now bends that legacy into new shapes—treating the instrument not as a symbol, but as a living, questioning voice. 

Saturday June 27 * 1pm * $35 * REGISTER

This 2 hour workshop will begin with a flowing yoga practice to bring us into a present state of awareness. Then we’ll sit and explore the foundational basics of tarot cards. With prompts and exercises, we’ll pull tarot cards and explore our observations, feelings, and reactions to them. After the workshop, participants will have a better understanding of how yoga and tarot can foster a deep inner connection and build mindfulness and intuition.

Workshop materials -

Yoga mat (required)

Deck of tarot cards (optional)

Journal and writing utensil (optional)

Any other desired yoga props such as a blanket or blocks (optional)

Saturday June 27 * 7pm * $15 * TICKETS

Spark Isle is an experimental rock trio based in the DMV. The group's instrumental compositions touch on jazz, funk, punk and styles in between. Visually, Spark Isle presents projections to accompany each song that often feature footage of collaborations with artists from other mediums (painters, dancers, etc.).

Sur Cósmico is a Spanish psychedelic rock project by Bolivian artist Jardiel Ruiz, delivering immersive and atmospheric live performances.

My Mandy - All is breathing the astral dust. Stripping it down to the moment, My Mandy is the music project by Malynne Petoia, seeking to capture our shared inner & outer worlds, echoed into lyrical melodies.

L☆LY is a human In this invented world Where concrete is the soil And money is the soul. L☆LY is a star as Citlally translates Of nahualt origin And death as the fate.

Sir Cie - If you like indie and alternative music with folk, pop rock, and classic rock influences, congratulations, j’suis ta copine.

Tuesday June 30 * doors at 7pm, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS

Secret Planet presents... Chicago pianist Josh Harlow and Detroit percussionist Jonathan Barahal founded Teiku around the concept of using their respective families’ unique Passover melodies as conduits for new forms of spontaneous musical expression. Their self-titled 2024 debut was a meditation on their shared history and a tribute to the ancestral melodies that they grew up singing. Sophomore album Klang expands on this reinterpretation of traditional sounds by drawing source material from the wider community, rare manuscripts, voice recordings, and memories of late-night ritualistic chants. Five of Klang’s six tracks represent the same Passover song/liturgical text, with each becoming a completely distinctive and unique melody when filtered through regional and family variations. 

simone baron is an accordionist, pianist, composer, improviser, and instigator whose playing is known for its “gestural joie de vivre," marked by “living, breathing vitality and exquisite nuance” (Washington Post). Engaging a broad spectrum of idioms, their music “ego-less, genre agnostic and without expectations” (JazzTimes) explores dreams, somatic empathy, memory and transformation. simone has received grants, fellowships, and residencies from organizations including South Arts, Chamber Music America, Conserere Milan, Sacatar Foundation (Brazil), the Banff Centre, Strathmore, Hambidge, ArtOMI, Avaloch Farm, Marble House, Bloedel Reserve, and Spectrum Toronto. 2026 engagements include tours with their chamber jazz ensemble Arco Belo, DeCollage trio, the transatlantic baron-calcagno duo, and a new solo project. simone is a Victoria Artist, plays a Poeta XB Accordion, and is a founding member of the Boulanger Initiative.

Friday July 3 * doors at 6:30, show at 7 * $15 * TICKETS

Penanggalan
Baltimore Black Metal

Crows Foot
Baltimore Black Metal

Tartarean
MD Blackened Grind

Sunday July 5 * doors at 7, show at 7:30 * $10 * TICKETS

Trepenate (DC Power Violence)

Hostile Mind (DC Hardcore)

Lagoon (DMV Hardcore)

Drugs of Faith (DC Grind-n-Roll)

Saturday July 11 * 3pm * $5 suggested * REGISTER

Live Action Role Play is a combination of improv, theater, physical movement, crafts, and just about any genre of story you can think of! All are welcome to these 2-hour LARPs hosted at Rhizome DC, whether you're completely new to the artform or a seasoned veteran.

On Saturday, July 11 from 1-3 pm we're playing Heroic Measures by Daniel Eison and Sam Zeitlin, a game about illness, death, and making end-of-life medical decisions for a member of your fantasy adventuring party. Expect a fairly serious and sober tone from this game, but just as in real life there is plenty of potential for joy and laughter in remembering the life of a loved one.

Saturday July 11 * doors at 6:30, show at 7pm * $20 * TICKETS

Magic Tuber Stringband, hailing from North Carolina, probes the undercurrents of the landscapes around them. Highly skilled players and writers, the trio are leaders within the burgeoning avant composition world utilizing folk instrumentation. Their music appears to weave in and out of the fabric of their surroundings, reflecting their time spent living across the Southeast and studying its regional folk traditions and natural histories.

Tacoma Park is a North Carolina-based duo. Brian Howe of IndyWeek described them as playing "abstract impulses in a style you might call homespun monumental, with heavily processed guitars and richly textured synths combining into a Southeastern American take on a certain German tradition of droning, pulsating, landscape-traveling electronic music.

Jon Camp Band: Jon Camp is a fingerstyle guitarist and composer based out of the DC region. Jon blends melody, twang, and drone into a cohesive whole that is exploratory without forsaking the hook. 

Rhizome will host a puppet slam on July 18, 2026. If you are interested in participating, please submit example(s) of your show (or at least your artistry) to Rachel Gates at rhizomepuppetlab@gmail.com. All selected artists will receive a small stipend.