Play Ball

Since today is Opening Day for the Nats, I have a story about both music and baseball. Last spring I met Hank Thomas at a tribute to Billy Hancock.  We must have crossed paths in the past. Hank used to manage Poseurs and the Psyche Delly. We had a brief conversation, but what with Washington being the small town that it is, I soon realized that our grandfathers were acquainted with each other.  I even have a letter from his grandfather to mine and an old photograph of the two of them moldering away in a family album.

I don't know how Roger Calvert met Walter Johnson, but I'm sure he was fan. Walter Johnson played ball for the Senators for 21 years back in the day when your home team actually meant something, and players weren't traded away like baseball cards. I also learned a lot about Walter Johnson from Jake Flack's song "Big Train" which should be on every baseball fan's play list.

As far as music this weekend Friday there's a free rockabilly show with the Flea Bops and Aaron LeBeau at the Pie Shop on H St NE. This might be my new favorite venue. Great sound, a nice space both indoors and roof top, and PIE! Also on Friday,  Crooks and Crows are honky tonkin' at the Takoma VFW which is always a fun place. 

The Cherry People are at Jammin' Java. Yes, The Cherry People. I had to read that twice myself. The Cherry People were a local sensation during the swinging sixties and seventies of the last century. This performance is billed as a final show with original players Chris and Doug Grimes and Jan Zukowski. 

And on Sunday you can catch King Soul livening things up after the game at the Bull Pen.  A very cool way to finish off the weekend with both baseball and music.

Cobwebs and Strange

Staring at the ceiling wondering what to write about this week, my eye falls on those pesky cobwebs I keep meaning to knock down. I think what the heck are those things anyway and what exactly is a cob?  A quick tour of the web comes up with everything from magical fairy creations to a slightly more rational theory concerning sticky abandoned spider webs. I also find out that a "cob" is translated from the Middle English "coppe" meaning spider which seems like a stretch to me, but, as my Greek grandmother used to say " there you go." I look for a video and find Cobwebs and Strange  an aptly named little piece by The Who featuring a lot of drums and a small scream from Keith Moon. (Crank this baby up full blast to wake up your comatose teenager.) Speaking of moons, tonight is the last of the Three in a Row Super Moon Set of 2019. Look for this moon rise a little before 7 pm, just an hour after Official Arrival of Spring at 5:58 pm aka the Equinox.

Get on your fairy helmets- it's going to be a witchy kind of evening and a perfect one for "Sweeping Cobwebs off the Moon."

O.K. I'll stop now.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming. There's a lot of music this weekend from Dead covers to...well,  the sky's the limit. Ok, stopping now. For real.

Support our musical tribe, DC!

Here's some suggestions for budget conscious rock n roll animals:

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The Nighthawks @ Pearl St Warehouse (free!)

King Congo's Birthday Party @ Comet Ping Pong

The Hall Bros. @ College Park Legion

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The Outpatients @ JV ( 4 pm)

Split Seconds @ Dangerous Pies

Cravin Dogs @ Red Bear Brewery

Riverbreaks/ Suspect Class/ Beanstalk Library @ Union Stage

The Oklahoma Twisters @ College Park Legion

Elikeh @ Gypsy Sally's

Shout Out to the Inimitable Boz

This week brought long anticipated Spring weather to our area with bright sun and mild temperatures, but Charles Dickens said it best:

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:  when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. "

Flowers are so ready to bloom that I swear a clump of daffodils opened while my back was turned filling the bird feeder. 

surprise

Enjoy our little town this weekend. It may be the last before the mosh pit of cherry blossom pilgrims arrives. Speaking of mosh pits,  St Patrick's Day is upon us or, as professional bartenders like to call it, "amateur night." I would say celebrate at home with corned beef and cabbage, but, like many St Patrick's Day celebrations, that custom is an American thing. Back in the old country, lamb was a more traditional dish.

Another reasonable alternative to dying your hair to match that chartreuse beer might be the early (4 p.m.) Sunday show at Villain and Saint with Suga Grits and Surprise Attack.  You can be home a half an hour before the devil knows you left. 

You Turn Me On

Sometime in the late 1980s, I turned to WAMU to get away from commercial radio. WHFS had been my go-to station for years, but the price of becoming increasingly popular was taking its toll with more and more commercial interruption as they say in the biz. Now I have a hard time listening to WAMU's supposedly commercial free broadcast. The bombardment of pre-recorded mini commercials masquerading as a list of sponsors is driving me bonkers. Yes,  I understand that programming is expensive because they tell me so every few minutes and 3 or 4 times a year with endlessly annoying fund raising campaigns. Such is the price of success.

That being said, I realize I am an eccentric old whiner. I do think public broadcasting is very important. I just wish NPR and the like could come up with a more creative fund raising plan.

When I can't take the professional drone of WAMU anymore, I am grateful for old school and very local WPFW. Just yesterday I heard a strange melange of sound bites about incarceration punched up by 10 seconds of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," a short bout of dead air, and a real person apologizing for hitting the wrong button. I love that. Even their fundraisers are low key, and I smile when I hear the deejay call out new members by hitting the kind of bell I associate with summoning bell hops in old movies.



WPFW keeps DC real for me. And so do local musicians playing original music in funky little places or a one of a kind film fest brought to you by fellow local eccentric Brian D. Horrorwitz.




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Color School @ Gypsy Sally's Vinyl Lounge 

Cravin' Dogs/ Trophy Husbands @ Villain and Saint

Hall Brothers @ College Park Legion

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King Soul @ Villain and Saint

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The Bob Band @ JV

The Thrillbillys @ Villain and Saint

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Psych Out Cinema @ Slash Run

Marching In

The lions of March have stomped into our town with an icy mess today, but Mardi Gras is coming. I just returned from New Orleans where, even on an ordinary day, a simple walk outside can turn up a rooster guarded intersection, a man riding a horse down Mystery Street, and a white wading bird wandering down the sidewalk.

photo by Derek Huston

This year I will miss waking up Mardi Gras morning with Kiki and wandering down to Lorelei's place in the Marigny, but I did see a really big car last weekend which is how crewe royalty rolls.

Here are a few picture postcards to get you in the mood for those of you who "know

 what it means

to miss New Orleans."

Muses by Derek Huston

Back here in D.C., the Wharf has a free Mardi Gras party going on all Saturday afternoon including a free show with the Grandsons early and The Crawdaddies later at Pearl Street Warehouse. Also  look for Little Red and the Renegades throwing it down at the New Deal Cafe.  On Tuesday, Clarendon still does its parade, and although I don't usually mention out of town bands, Hill Country is hosting Eric Lindell and Cowboy Mouth which might be the best place to be if you can't be you-know-where.

MARCH ON

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Nighthawks @ Takoma VFW

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Little Red @New Deal Cafe

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*Happy Mardi Gras*

Eric Lindell/ Cowboy Mouth @ Hill Country

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Thrillbillys @ JV

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Cravin' Dogs/ Trophy Husbands @ Villain and Saint

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King Soul @ Villain and Saint

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The Bob Band @ JV

The Thrillbillys @ Villain and Saint

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Psych Out Cinema @ Slash Run

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The Rhodes Tavern Troubadours @ Takoma VFW

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Suga Grits/ Surprise Attack @ Villain and Saint

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King Congo's Birthday Bash @ Comet Pingpong

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Split Seconds etc @ Dangerous Pies

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Surfer Joe/ Hall Monitors/ Atomic Mosquitos

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The Thrillbillys @ Takoma VFW

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the Very Small / Neuro Farm @ Rock n Roll Hotel