Original Rock

Nostalgia is in the air this week. Tomorrow night film makers Richard Taylor and Jeff Krulik will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Razz's first single with an early peek at their new documentary about the band. DC Salon hosts this free event at the Shaw Library at 7 p.m. Razz played back in the day when live music bars were sprinkled all over this town-places like Desperados, Columbia Station, The Far Inn, The Keg and The Bayou. Back then the Unicorn Times listed bands in categories which included "original rock," and we had a wealth of talent to choose from. Here's a Unicorn Times ad from October 1979 created by Razz's truly creative front man Michael Reidy.

On Saturday night Ruthie and the Wranglers will open for what remains of NRBQ. Although NRBQ is not from here, the band had a big following in DC, and weirdly enough, this ad appeared in the same October issue of the Unicorn Times.

Ruthie and NRBQ will be at the Hamilton which is a great place to see a show.  Once upon a time this used to be Washington's own Garfinckel's Department Store which catered to the white and wealthy. The eight story flagship emporium was built in 1929, but many decades later our friend and local rock connoisseur Patty Ferry worked there as a sales girl. She remembers when the cashiers sent money around in space age plastic tubes which travelled through vacuum powered chutes. Now three floors of this massive building are devoted to eating and drinking plus two music venues. One of these is a small club on the third floor, and the other is a state-of-the-art performance space in the basement.