Lists

I used to make a lot of lists when I was bored in high school. And I was bored most of the time. Travel lists. Lists of books to read and books I'd read. Lists of songs I liked and lyrics I admired.

I made a list of what I hoped my life would be like. A farm. A bunch of kids, dogs and livestock. Writers and musicians would hang out at my house.

What?
It was the Seventies.

I took life drawing and sheep keeping in college. I lived in a place we called the Dog House. My housemate Alan Kresse documented the scene.

The farm never happened, although the artists and musician did stay in my life. Sometimes whole bands show up at my door.

 I feel lucky that so many of my friends have hidden or out right talent in the art department of life, but, like my old pal Alan, most of them are undercover agents.  They work in coffee shops, libraries and construction.  They are teachers, bartenders, gardeners, and housekeepers. One of my oldest friends had both carpentry and gardening skills. His art was working with stone and making beautiful paths, but after he was gone, I found piles of drawing pads full of beautiful sketches under his bed.

This week the D.C. scene lost a very important someone who helped countless undercover and underground artists find both their tribe and their music. Skip Groff was a local deejay as well the proprietor and sage of Yesterday and Today Records. When he opened the store in 1977, he may have single-handedly saved Rockville from a bad case of banality. Plus the ever nurturing Skip produced a panoply of local talent on his own label Limp. Bands on the list included Minor Threat, The Slickee Boys, Velvet Monkeys, Black Market Baby, Tommy Keene, Nightman, The Nurses, and (the) Razz.

Although Skip has left us, his legacy will surely live on.

Skip @ WMUC 1967 from his archives

Thank you, Mr Groff. For everything.                                                                                                                  

Bands to consider this weekend include Bold Deceivers and Jelly Roll Mortals at the Takoma VFW Friday night,

or these folks at Comet Ping Pong,

and a rare 4 p.m. matinee with The Thrillbillys at JVs on Saturday.

Annabell Lee and Ziggy LOVE

Romantic love may not always work out the way we hope, but we can sometimes take solace in poetry or perchance with a bottle. In Baltimore you can indulge in both at one of my favorite watering holes, the Annabell Lee Tavern. Images of Poe grace every wall, and themed cocktails such as the "Purloined Letter" allow us to wallow happily in melancholia.

For those who are actually looking forward to Valentine's Day, musical possibilities abound this weekend kicking off with the Rhodes Tavern Troubadours' love-in at the Takoma VFW on Thursday. Why kill yourself for a dinner reservation when you can bring a couple of hotdogs along with your companion to the VFW? This has got to be the ultimate cheap date. There's no cover, the music starts at 7, and is done by 10.

Friday night a tribute show will honor the genius of David Bowie at Villain and Saint.  To me Bowie's songs transfigure every day life into a Ziggy Stardust kind of love.  Some are calling the event "Spiders From Marshall" with a "collection of kooks" which sounds perfect to me

although the official call is a "David Bowie Valentine."

Saturday, also at Villain and Saint, The Vi-Kings will take the stage with their psycho-active 1960s dance party.  Both shows are only 10 bucks. (Crunching the numbers,  I think that racks it up to about 75 cents per musician.)

Last but not least on Sunday Dangerously Delicious Pies founder Rodney Henry will be throwing down some rock-a billy punk kind of thing at his renovated for music pie shop on H Street NE with The Glenmont Popes.  Veteran players Jimmy Swope and Justin Jones are also on this top notch bill.

Please check DC ROCkS' calendar for more choices to support our local scene.

Tonight

Here's a quick heads up from our friend Bill Hanke, and a reminder that free music happens right under our noses at the Kennedy Center's Millennium stage every single day at 6 p.m. All you have to do is show up.


"In 1998 there was a band called The Route 11 Boys. When they broke up- half became Old Crow, half became Hackensaw Boys. Despite being able to whip the crowd into a frenzy with their original style of Americana, the strange world of "popularity" has not come knocking for these road warriors. Playing roadhouses throughout Appalachia for 20 years, they honed their skills to a razor-sharp edge."

All Together Now

When I was little, my parents didn't turn me on to a lot of contemporary music. Consequently, in 1964, I had Captain Kangaroo in my vinyl collection and no earthly idea of what was going on at the Washington Coliseum on February 11th.  The Beatles played their first concert here.  In Washington D.C. Without me.

This weekend I'm still unaware of most things, but there are a few extra curricular activities on my radar. The "House of Champions" closing reception is tomorrow night at Gallery O on H.  The show features photographs by Michael Horsley who had the presence of mind to prowl around D.C. with his camera in the 1980s when many thought nothing was happening.

For those of you mourning the downsizing of the Black Cat, the reincarnated Red Room Bar will be opening this weekend with promises of being a cover free space -even during shows. Check it out here.

In New Orleans, Mardi Gras is not so much about a certain Tuesday, but more about a season of parades and parties which ends on March 5th in 2019.  Celebrate the in-between time with a Little Red and the Renegades dance party at Haydees on Friday. No cover!

Saturday Beatle fans, who might have missed the boat like I did, can check out the myriad of local talent involved with the Newmyer Flyer Love Song show at the Hamilton.

Sunday afternoon bring your "canned food and such" and browse for cool stuff at the Punk Flea Market/ Food Drive at DC-9 which is happening at 3 p.m. in the afternoon.

Finally you can show off your flea market finds Sunday evening  at Villain and Saint when the Thrillbillys invade Bethesda with what we hope will become a monthly gig. The five dollar cover gives you a lot of rocking bang for your buck and will go a long way to curing those sinking "oh crap, it's Sunday night" blues.

Old Man Winter

The bitter cold yesterday reminds us that Mother Nature and her little sidekick Old Man Winter are always in charge. Color me perverse, but I like seeing vestiges of snow out there reminding us that the season is indeed winter.  Winter should be winter.

When I lived in California, the thing I missed most about the East coast was the vivid change of seasons.  Spring here in D.C. is outrageously beautiful starting with the white blooms of the star magnolia and peaking with the cherry tree thing. The darker greens of Summer are announced by fireflies, and that first crimson maple leaf on the sidewalk is a bright harbinger of more colors to follow. Now we are back to winter again, and even as I write an unexpected snow is falling which gets me jazzed up and thinking about making pancakes to celebrate.  I won't apologize.  Snow has always floated my boat. Here's proof.

For those of you winter weary pilgrims thinking I am nuts, there's a a slew of shows to warm things up.  This weekend, especially Saturday, Ground Hog Day, which, by the by, is a great movie to watch  in winter.  Looking into my crystal ball, I see all kinds of music kicking off with the Cravin' Dogs and Wicked Sycamore tonight.

On Saturday: The Yachtsmen, Seven Door Sedan and Apollo 66 will be tearing things up at the Silver Spring American Legion, the 18th Buddy Holly Tribute features a zillion players at the Rock Creek Mansion,

We Were Pirates, a perennial favorite, is back with  a CD release party at the Rock n Roll Hotel

and "There Will be Cake, " a phrase sure to grab my attention,  means a bunch of bands at Slash Run.

For those avoiding the pigskin festivities on Sunday chill out with Vintage #18 at JV.

Here's a partial list of what else is going on round town the rest of the month.  Please send along your suggestions.

FEBRUARY

1

Cravin' Dogs/Wicked Sycamore @ Takoma VFW

2

The Yachtsmen/ 7 Door Sedan/ Apollo 66 @ Silver Spring American Legion

Buddy Holly Tribute @ Rock Creek Mansion

There Will Be Cake @ Slash Run

We Were Pirates CD party @ Rock n Roll Hotel

3

Vintage #18 @ JV Matinee @ 4 pm

A Suite for Gil Scott Heron @ Millennium Stage

4

A Video Tribute to LuX Interior and the Cramps @ Slash Run

8

Red Room Opening @ Black Cat

10 

Punk Flea Market @ DC-9

Thrillbillys @ Villain and Saint

12

Hackensaw Boys @ Millennium Stage

14 

Rhodes Tavern Troubadours @ VFW

15

Bowie Valentine @ Villain and Saint

Valentine Slim @ Takoma VFW

16

The Vi-Kings @ Villain and Saint

Rock-A-Sonics @ Glen Echo Ballroom

17

Justin Jones. Rodney Henry/Jimmy Swope @ The Pie Shop

18

The Yachtsmen @ Galaxy Hut

23

Thrillbilly Matinee @ JV @ 4

28 

Suga Grits/ Black Masala/Surprise Attack/Nkula @ Gypsy Sally's

Dave Chappell @ JV