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.
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| Skip @ WMUC 1967 from his archives |
Bands to consider this weekend include Bold Deceivers and Jelly Roll Mortals at the Takoma VFW Friday night,
and a rare 4 p.m. matinee with The Thrillbillys at JVs on Saturday.
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