Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

How come Maryland soul acts the Hardway Connection and Jim Bennett & Lady Mary never play DC? Some of those folks digging Skip Mahoney and other soul acts at Carter Barron and Fort Dupont would show up I think?

MN8 productions should give 'em a try.

I hope the Buzz dj promotion folks are a little more imaginative this time around (please not just the same big name trance and drum & bass acts) at Fur. How about obscure African-American house djs and German minimalist kompact djs and dancehall djs and dj rupture types?

GLOW has pretty much taken over the big name trance. Buzz announced their opening night lineup and it's Moby, Sander Van Doorn, and Scott Henry. Not too exciting, but I'll go because Moby's actually a pretty damn good DJ.

I'll reserve judgement until they announce the first full month of lineups - I really hope they're bringing up and presenting new talent and genres instead of booking the same names that were playing Buzz 5-10 years ago...

Wonder what ever happened to these guys...

Check out the Blackcat schedule for Sept. 14th :)

Nitekrawler spinning Afrobeat I guess. So, do you like Chopteeth's Fela homages? I guess since good Nigerian bands do not come through town that often, Choteeth serve a function (and/or maybe they have gotten more original since I listened to that one cd)

Group told me to play obscure uptempo funk actually, no afrobeat.

That's odd. I guess they just wanted live afrobeat. Anybody make it to any of those Wilson plaza near the Reagan building shows? I hear that Willie Colon was great in the rain last Friday and there were thousands there to see he and his band. Last night while I was helping my kid study for his science test and write an English paper after baseball practice, Little Richard and the Jewels were there. Also, I think obscure local soul/r'n'b band the Mustangs are gonna play there at lunchtime soon.

Other stuff I missed last night(Thursday the 20th): Opening of a Brazilian dj Thursday thing at St. Ex; a Curley Taylor zydeco show; the NEA Roots music Heritage Award show and I think a decent indie rock show or 2.

endless boogie last night = so awes

Like for real or in an "ironic way." Read that they were influenced by Canned Heat!

oh no, very very much for real. i mean, basically the thing is that they take a real raw groovin blues rock jam approach, locate the exact moment in said jamming where you achieve liftoff, and just extend that out for like 20 minutes. they have fun with it but that's obviously not the same thing as an ironic take (not that you implied it was!). also, nicest dudes ever.

I was there too, fuckin' awesome. Why can't DC have local bands like that? I had to bail before Circle, did anyone see them?

Are people reading music blurbs on who's appearing in town, in the Onion, as well as elsewhere(City Paper, W. Post,W. Post Express, blogs, club websites, e-mails) or instead of? Or are they not reading the Onion? Any circulation experts or folks with anecdotes out there?

Gonna be out of town and miss the dc library benefit at 930 with ESL djs and Federal Reserve bands. Sometime I'll finally see Kitty Hawk.

930 Club's Seth Hurwitz sure seemed like he was snoozing as first the Birchmere and and eventually live Nation got involved with trying to open a club in Silver Spring. He's complaining now about Montgomery County and State of Maryland tax payer dollars going into the Sliver Spring Fillmore. Where has he been? The County has been talking about this for like a year now.

Not that I think it's a good thing. Live Nation has the reputation of Walmart without the low prices.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I do not get the point of the DAM(District Awake Music) Festival. It looks like the same indie-rock bands that play local clubs every other night of the year.

The Washington DCJCC’s Annual Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival presents Steven Lee Beeber, author of The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s: A Secret History of Jewish Punk and panelists Mark Jenkins, Steve Kiviat and Lauren Strauss at the Black Cat on Tuesday, October 9 at 8:00 pm.

With a dynamic interplay of information and music (including the Ramones song "Commando" with the line “Fourth rule is, eat kosher salami”), the panel will explore the Jewish origins of punk rock. The centerpiece will be Beeber’s book, which will be available at a signing following the program.

The Heebie-Jeebies at CBGB’s is based in part on recent interviews with more than 125 people —including Tommy Ramone, Chris Stein (Blondie), Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), John Zorn and the late Hilly Kristal (CBGB’s owner). It focuses on punk’s beginnings in New York City to show that punk was the most Jewish of rock movements, in both makeup and attitude. As it originated in Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the early 1970s, punk rock was the embodiment of a Jewish cultural tradition that found its ultimate expression in the generation born after the Holocaust.

Beginning with Lenny Bruce, “the patron saint of punk,” and following pre-punk progenitors such as Lou Reed and The Dictators,and on into Joey Ramone, Tommy Ramone, Lenny Kaye, Chris Stein, Richard Hell, Alan Vega, manager Danny Fields, Jonathan Richman, Hilly Kristal, founders of Punk magazine, various photographers, and others this fascinating mix of biography, cultural studies and musical analysis delves into the lives of Jewish punks to create a fascinating historical overview of the scene. Reflecting the irony, romanticism and humor of the Jewish experience, this tale of changing Jewish identity in America reveals the forces that drove New York Jewish rockers to reinvent themselves and popular music...

bump

The Black Cat backroom was packed for the Beeber book thing and panel. Ian M. told me afterwards that Bubba Dupree from Void is Jewish. Who knew? I always liked Void anyway, and now I can claim Bubba as a fellow member of the tribe.

DC Reggae Awards coming up October 30th at Zanzibar. WKYS Go-go Awards November 18th(?) at DAR Constitution Hall.

I wanna see Marcel Montano's soca and more band when they're in town next weekend for Howard U.'s homecoming. Plus I bet the Saturday night step show that weekend at the Armory will be awesome.

Anyone wanna join me in hating on the predictable DAM Fest. I want a DC event that mixes All Tomorrows parties approach with a Ponderosa Stomp Approach and throws in some club and reggae fest action as well.

Buzz appears to be bringing in the same 'ol names-Carl Cox, etc.

Yea some interesting bands are appearing in town in conjunction with the Dam Fest, but heck, there are always rock bands worth seeing here--what's unique about this. I'm not just being an old guy disdainful hater--when I was in my early 20s I was digging Minor Threat, King Sunny Ade, Troublefunk, Sugarhill label rap, Delta 5, Clifton Chenier, and Prince. Is it wrong to expect more than just rock now?

I love listening to PFW 89.3 on Saturday mornings and afternoons for the chitlin circuit blues and soul but they're doing one of their 4 times a year pledge drives again. I usually contribute although these drives run on too long(10 days to 2 weeks I think), and I have my doubts on how efficient the station is run.

Mika Miko at AU, Kay Spiritual Life Center
American University (Tenleytown/AU on the red line- courtesy shuttle to campus) 4400 Mass. Ave. NW
tonight for free with DC's the Apes. Sounds promising though there are like 2 other bands on the bill(I'm tired of overly long shows)

Justin Moyer's blogging his band's European tour over at the Washington City Paper blog.

The Going Out Gurus do a little nightlife agenda at washingtonpost.com each week (Rhome and Fritz help make it more than just rock, and the rock choices are impressive and often obscure).

aw damn it i wanna go to that mika miko show but i'm supposed to go polka with my mom ;_;

and no, you're not alone in hating on DAM fest. well, "hating" is way too strong a term, just more "eh, whatever." i don't really see the point, or how it's even a "festival," in that it seems all they did was slap the same name on a few shows that'd be happening anyway.

Chuck Brown is at the Santa Fe Cafe in College Park tonight! They've started booking bands there.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/iceland/

I like reading Justin's tour diaries even though he never mentions his own band's name, never mentions his fellow bandmates, and often writes in an arch, tongue-in-cheek I think, hi-falutin manner

Taking the P 5 year aniversary---This could be fun

15 deejays this Friday night (possibly more), each doing a 20-min set, putting their personal stamp on the evening and showing you the wide range of perfectly framed indie pop moments. We'll have much of DC's indie pop illuminati working it that night - musicians, deejays, and gladhanders like myself. Specifically, on hand will be representatives of Velocity Girl, Barcelona, Eggs, the Antiques, Lorelei, Boyracer, Parlor Scouts, BLISS, We Fought the Big One, the First Ladies DJ Collective, and that's enough already. Crazy rhythms, all night. Blink and you'll miss a set.

Commemorative pins are in the works. Come and get one and celebrate with us.

WHERE: Marx Cafe, 3203 Mt. Pleasant St, NW
WHEN: Friday, October 19, 2007, from 10 pm to 3 am

NO COVER

ill be there ^^^ WASTED

as will i

FYI: I'm back with Chopteeth Afro Funk Big Band, this time at Rock and Roll Hotel this Friday:

http://www.rockandrollhoteldc.com/portal/calendar/
http://classifieds.washingtoncitypaper.com/washington/ViewAd?oid=oid%3A366586

I'll be playing danceable funk again....not afrobeat.

If you played afrobeat would that be too much of a good thing, or is it Chopteeth don't want folks to hear the original real thing. Not that the funk wouldn't be worth hearing.

There are three things that you can only get in Washington D.C., The President, Go - Go Music and Mambo Sauce. This electrifying group takes their name from the mystery sauce popular at Chinese/Soul Food carry - outs throughout D.C. Comprised of seven of D.C. and Go - Go musics most prominent musicians, the band seeks to create a new form of music, Pocket that effectively blends D.C. Go - Go percussion with well crafted songs, explosive raps and sultry melodies. Mambo Sauce and their label Red C Records intend to use this formula to infiltrate the national music market with the D.C Go - Go sound.

Mambo Sauce do "Miracles" with that "Oh, oh, I see the light" lyric. I've been loving that song for awhile and only just discovered the name of the tune and the group. Their new single "Welcome to DC" is not as good. They may win best band at the KYS Go-go wards in November.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=23493815

A heads up:

The Ambassador Theater--DC Psychedelic Concert Hall 1967
40th Anniversary Panel Discussion Saturday 11/3/07 3PM
DC Historical Studies Conference at the old Carnegie Library,801 K Street, NW

For six glorious months beginning in July 1967, the Summer of Love landed right in Adams Morgan when three entrepreneurs convinced a skeptical neighborhood to allow DC's very own Fillmore--The Ambassador Theater. Tony Finestra, Court Rodgers and Joel Mednick were selling fire extinguishers on college campuses when they heard the siren call of San Francisco, and after visiting the Fillmore and Avalon Ballroom, decided to pour all available resources into duplicating that psychedelic experience in an abandoned movie theater at 18th and Columbia Road.

Within months, they had defied the odds and opened a psychedelic concert hall, hippie hangout and community center that also boasted The Psychedelic Power and Light Company, one of the most happening psychedelic light shows on the East Coast! Every name rock band on tour at the time passed through the Ambassador, including a five night stand by Jimi Hendrix in August '67 (with two 3PM matinee performances), as well as the Fugs, Moby Grape and many more. It was even one of the staging points for the March on the Pentagon, with Norman Mailer rallying the protesters from the stage days before the October 21, 1967 march.

WAMAdc President Mike Schreibman was not only there, he helped run the place, and he'll be part of a panel discussion, with Richard Harrington of The Washington Post, and more guests to be announced. Promoters Court Rodgers and Joel Mednick have been invited, as well as Jerry Mermelstein who helped run The Psychedelic Power and Light Company light show. We've also located Bill Havu, drummer for the band Natty Bumppo, as well as Walter Hart who ran the head shop on the mezzanine of the theater.

The presentation will include a slide show of concert posters, personal photos, and newspaper clippings from the mainstream, college and underground newspapers, and memories, anecdotes and recollections provided by members of the audience. It will be moderated and presented by Jeff Krulik, who was six years old at the time but wishes he could have been there for Vanilla Fudge.

Cultural historians Mark Opsasnick (www.capitolrock.com), Mara Cherkasky (www.culturaltourismdc.org) and Bob Embery (DC Monuments fanzine) will assist.

There will be an after party to be determined.

Mambo Sauce are getting major play on WKYS

Mambo Sauce were added as the opening act for Toots & the Maytals Monday night at the 930. Pretty impressive. A woman drummer as well as a woman vocalist (for those interested in such gender topics). In a scene where most go-go bands just do covers of hiphop songs and go-goize them, these folks try to do oringinals and have some that work. Nice vocal harmonies as well as conga beats and cowbell and keyboard.

http://rockondc.blogspot.com/

How did I never see this blog? The blogger's into old DC rock stuff like Razz, and posts about Chick Hall's Surf Club (sale still not final, this Baladensburg honky-tonk will still be around through November).

Bladensburg

DC Reggae Awards Tuesday night at Zanzibar

mambo sauce are great! i heard the 'welcome to dc' song on pgc last night

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/goingoutgurus/2007/10/not_just_another_show_at_the_r.html#more

Shame on me (seriously). I've still never seen the Points.

i got someone else's blood and like five beers on me that night! great show.

The Ambassador Theater--DC Psychedelic Concert Hall 1967
40th Anniversary Panel Discussion Saturday 11/3/07 3PM
DC Historical Studies Conference at the old Carnegie Library,801 K Street, NW

For six glorious months beginning in July 1967, the Summer of Love landed right in Adams Morgan when three entrepreneurs convinced a skeptical neighborhood to allow DC's very own Fillmore--The Ambassador Theater. Tony Finestra, Court Rodgers and Joel Mednick were selling fire extinguishers on college campuses when they heard the siren call of San Francisco, and after visiting the Fillmore and Avalon Ballroom, decided to pour all available resources into duplicating that psychedelic experience in an abandoned movie theater at 18th and Columbia Road.

My buddy Jeff Krulik has put together a nice event--old photos and news clippings, panelists who were there, etc. DC rock scene, 1967, and Hendrix stories...

I just discovered there was also a panel or presentation on "Teenerama", the African-American DC teen dance show that was the subject of a documentary that aired on local public television.

Although they struck out getting media ink for the event, I understand there were around 75 to 100 people there for the Ambassador Theater discussion/panel presentation.

Republic Gardens shut down last week for being way behind on rent, and now a different type of closing--Farewell Childe Harold--where I saw various Dischord bands including Beefeater plus folks dressed like Elvis, and other shows I've momentarily forgotten.

An Early D.C. Stage For Musical Greats Has Quiet Last Call

By Paul Schwartzman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 7, 2007; B01

Before they became limousine famous, Emmylou Harris and Bruce Springsteen played in a litany of run-down, no-name joints, where small, unsuspecting audiences got that rare chance to see, hear and touch undiscovered genius.
In Washington, that joint was the Childe Harold, a cozy, wood-lined saloon in Dupont Circle, where, in its heyday, patrons filled every nook and cranny, the bathrooms reeked of marijuana and everyone talked for years after about whom they saw perform there.
Now the bar itself will become part of the city's collective memory.
After 40 years, the Childe Harold shut down Saturday for the last time. The owner made no announcement, saying he was too grief-stricken over losing something that has been in his blood since he was a teenager washing dishes in the kitchen and, later, broiling steaks for Springsteen between sets.
"This place has been my life," Hossein Shirvani said yesterday, seated at the bar as a friend removed mementos from the walls. Down came a framed copy of Springsteen's contract to play at the Childe Harold in May of 1973, two years before he landed on the cover of Time and Newsweek and became world famous.
Springsteen's payday for three nights: a grand total of $750.
Shirvani said he was forced to close because of a dispute with the property manager, real estate company Randall Hagner, which he said had wanted to nearly double his rent.

...

Heard began offering music in the early '70s at the bar's brick-faced home at 1610 20th St. NW, among the first nightspot destinations in otherwise sleepy Dupont Circle. The Ramones, Bonnie Raitt, Al Jarreau and Son Seals were among the eclectic mix that turned the bar into a well-known spot for rock, blues, country and jazz.

What am I saying, I saw Beefeater and other Dischord bands at the old Food for Thought. At Childe Harold I saw Bad Brains maybe. Excuse my old man ramblings.

ya think they mentioned Springsteen enough in that article?

M.A.N.D.Y. is playing Buzz ar Fur tomorrow night. Woah, like actual for real big time Berlin DJs in DC.

Buzz is getting hip

So the Creative Loafing folks who bought the City Paper have taken their latest step in trying to reduce costs. They dropped the folks who used to distribute the paper, and hired a new cheaper outfit. Alas, I have been unable to find the hard copy in Alexandria for 2 weeks in a row now.