Thursday October 9 * doors at 7, music at 730 * $10-20

If Gus Englehorn didn’t exist, one of his songs would have to invent him. A former pro snowboarder reborn as a nomadic psych-pop prophet, Englehorn has lived a rollercoaster life that reads like one of the fantastical fables that fill his songbook.Gus's latest album The Hornbook magically transmutes the entire history of 20th-century rock ‘n’ roll—’50s golden oldies, ‘60s garage spunk, ‘70s glam flamboyance, ‘80s indie transgression, ‘90s lo-fi weirdness—into an alien transmission from the future. Now, if you stayed awake during high-school history class, you might remember that a hornbook is an early-education tool for children dating back to the 15th-century—a wooden paddle inscribed with the alphabet, numbers, and the odd Bible verse. (Think of it as the beta version of your iPhone’s notes app.) “When I was writing these songs, it felt like I was making a children's book—every song was a little story,” Englehorn says of the title concept. “But it also felt like a little bit of a cipher for our whole world."

Mia and the Argonauts - A new quartet from Washington, DC featuring all teachers from Jackson-Reed High School, formerly known as Wilson. Singer-songwriter Mia Chu on guitar and vocals, with James Kelly (Boys Club) on lead guitar, Marc Minsker (MFS JMB & Co.) on bass, and Tom Murphy on drums.