Only Love Can Bring the Rain

RAIN.  Please. Washington DC has not had more than a trace of rain since August 7th, and yes, I've been counting the days.  Now my yard crunches like Rice Krispies when I walk across what used to be a bunch of short green plants masquerading as grass. 

Now even the weeds are withering while the sun is acting as if it were mid-August, not almost October. And the dog next door won't stop barking. Irrelevant, perhaps, but annoying just the same. 

Please rain.

Please.

A thunderstorm does not count.  What we need is an old fashioned Cat in the Hat kind of long, gray, rainy day . 

Or a Singing in the Rain kind of night. The sleeping with the windows open and the curtains damp with mist kind. 

Preferably....both.

There are more than a few rain dances coming up in October. Please get out and support local music rain or shine: 

.

OCTOBER

3

Thrillbillys @ JV

5

Little Red @ New Deal

Valentine Slim @ Takoma VFW

Cravin Dogs/ The Yachtsmen @ Villain and Saint

EuphonX @ Slash Run

Color School @ Vinyl Lounge

7

Takoma Park Street Fest

9

Trupa Trupa/ Tone @ The Pie Shop

10

Jamie McClean/ Rock-A-Sonics @ Pearl Street

RTT @ Takoma VFW

11

Bold Deceivers/ Jelly Roll Mortal @ Takoma VFW

Little Red @ Haydees

12

King Soul @ Takoma VFW

17

Thrillbillys @ JV

18

Dave Chappell @ New Deal

23

Stiff Little Fingers/ The Avengers/ The Split Seconds @ Black Cat

24

Dave Chappell @ JV

27

Bill Starks CD party @ JV

28

The Yachtsmen @ Galaxy Hut

31

Go Mod Go @ Pie Shop

Thrillbillys @ JV

Miscellany Redux

There's a fine, discretionary line between collecting, and, Ok,  I'll say it: hoarding.  Sometimes I wonder which category I fall into. I like cool old things, but I don't want to end up like the Craig's List Cautionary Tale of Too Many Salt Shakers. Once upon a time an Arlington woman started a salt and pepper shaker collection. She was six years old, and it seemed like a harmless activity, but when she died, her sister had the sad task of selling about ten thousand pairs.  Three thousand were enough to fill shelves lining the entire second floor of a bungalow and then some.  I thought the collector-woman should have opened a museum, but her sister told me one already exists in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Recently on a fun filled vacation in Pittsburgh I visited a couple who justified their fascination with things macabre by turning their home into a museum. Trundle Manor, where the Addams Family meets steam punk, features grisly displays of abandoned prosthetics, skeletal remains and lots of cleavers.

The occupants within curate all things creepy...

and create personal touches themselves like a human size chute jutting out the second story as well as a robotic man to guard the kitchen.

They also have a penchant for taxidermy which doubles as a leisure activity.

Back here in DC, local musician Al Sevilla solved his passion for musical instruments by opening a shop called Big Al's Trading Post which used to be in Silver Spring by Crisfield's. Al closed the store after a few years, but he never stopped collecting, and his current cherished accumulation will be up for sale at Atomic Music- just in time for their 25th anniversary event.

Atomic is the bomb for musicians looking to sell or buy gear, and their honest reputation has brought them great success through the years though marketing may not be their strongpoint. When I first watched the video advertising the anniversary sale, I thought I was back at Trundle Manor.  The frowny Pinocchio-like marionette jittering about gave me the impression he was hopped up on speed as he flitted between drums and amps waving one spastic arm, but then I realized I forgot to turn up the volume.  It's amazing the difference a sound track makes. With a falsetto narrator and comical horns blaring, a maniacal puppet turns into a benign little tour guide with a slightly filthy mouth.

Atomic's sale/anniversary party runs all afternoon and includes live music from five bands and refreshments. Congratulations Luis and Eric!

Kodachromatica

The evolution of photography in my family started with my great grandfather John Henry Bailey in the 1890s. He was a share cropper living in western Tennessee and didn't have two cents to rub together as they used to say. When John was just eighteen, his father died, and he had to pay the doctor with a "stiff neck mule." Meanwhile John's little brother Jim left home at the age of fourteen to sell Bibles, but he came back a photographer, and in 1892 he asked his brother John to join him in his chosen profession. They opened a studio in Milan, Tennessee (pronounced "Me-lan" in those parts.) Consequently I have a treasure load of what would have been unaffordable photographs of our family back then. Here's one of my grandmother with her little sister on the floor. And poultry in a hat.

When I grew up, the Kodak Instamatic camera came out in 1963 and cost about $15. The best part was the film cartridge which eliminated the need to thread the film. Plus there was a flashbulb which snapped right on. Just point and shoot!

Except my mother wasn't very good at it.

Now of course our phones are our cameras and visa versa. If I can't see the stage at a concert, I can often look up at the little screens being held aloft in front me. This doesn't happen so much at local events. Perhaps people are having too much fun to bother recording things for posterity. Tonight The Rhodes Tavern Troubadours return for their monthly gig at the Takoma VFW. This Saturday I'm thinking  Dingleberry Dynasty and Marc Rebillet at 9:30 Club which will be a crazy cool show, or King Soul at a new venue for them in Silver Spring which sports a big dance floor unlike many of their other haunts.

Sunday it's Spider Cake and Crown Cobra at the Galaxy Hut- still my favorite bar in the universe of Arlington. I tried a new brew pub around the corner last week which had neo-country music blaring, and it was an excruciating experience. I could barely sit through a beer. Iota has been lost to new construction, but you can still find refuge at the Hut. For now....

I can't listen to what they call country in this century, but give me John Prine any day. On Monday local musicians including a trio of Williams, (Billy Coulter, Bill Starks and Bill Williams- whoa! Double Williams!) will come together for a tribute to Mr Prine at St Mark's social hall.

Let's Get Together

The Police did it. Blondie, too. The Slickee Boys faithfully did it- often twice a year. This Saturday The Uptown Rhythm Kings will do it at Glen Echo's Spanish Ballroom. The band broke up in the late 1990s when lead singer Eric Shoutin' Sheridan moved to Chicago. They haven't done a reunion show since 2008 so fans will want to get in on this dance rave which includes sax-man Derek Huston up from New Orleans for the event.

Meanwhile- the other show to see this weekend will be a conflict generator for some of you.

Many a seasoned musician round these parts grew up watching our own legendary guitar hero, Danny Gatton. More than a few played with him. "The Telemaster" was born in Washington DC in 1945 and started thrashing guitar when he was nine years old. He did his time as a session musician in Nashville in the 1960s, but he mostly spent his life in our area. He mastered jazz, swing, rock n roll, blues- everything and anything telecaster driven. The line up for his tribute this Saturday at the Birchmere includes many a slinger who admired his chops...

In A Garden Of Vida

Astronomical Autumn arrives in Washington DC on Monday, September 23rd at 3:50 am, but my personal clock senses a more imminent seasonal shift. The sun slants at a different angle as the days grow shorter, and gymnastic butterflies are flipping around the yard in a nectar driven frenzy. Here's a photo from my friend Jan of a butterfly digging her Ironweed.

Hey. Remember Iron Butterfly?  What the hell was In-A -Gada-Da-Vida anyway?  Legend has it that Doug Ingle either drank a gallon of Red Mountain wine or was tripping on LSD when he came up with the song, and Ron Bushy misheard "in the garden of Eden" as "in a gadda da vida" This explanation nicely fits the term "acid rock," but did Doug really slur his way into one of the longest songs in rock and roll history? Why are all the other words clear as day? I think it's an unsolved mystery. That's Doug Ingle on the far left not looking at the photographer. What is he hiding?

But I digress.

I know many people feel low about the passing of summer, but I for one will not miss the heat, the mosquitoes, or the maniacal spider whose web hits me in the face every time I take the trash out to the alley.

beware arachnid zone

Before I get started on all things arachnophobic, there are more than a few musical events to look forward to in September. Please feel free to add your suggestions....

SEPTEMBER

1

Detroit 442/ Capital Offender/ Rodney Henry @ Pie Shop

Nighthawks @ New Deal Cafe

6

Sister Ex/ Venray/Creep Crusades/LNT @ Pie Shop

7

Uptown Rhythm Kings Reunion @ Spanish Ballroom

Danny Gatton Birthday Tribute @ The Birchmere

5

Thrillbillys@ JV

8

Tommy Lepsom and the Bad Dawgs @ JV

12

RTTS @ TAkoma VFW

14

King Soul @ Knights of Columbus / Silver Spring

Allen Toussaint Dance @ The Hamilton

15 

Spider Cake/ Crown Cobra @ Galaxy Hut

16

John Prine Tribute @ St Mark's

20

Tom Principato BAnd @ JV

RTTs/ Col. Josh @ Villain and Saint

22

Roy Buchanan Tribute @ Birchmere

28

Jimi Smooth @ JV

Black Masala @ Villain and Saint

30

Los Lonely Boys / Billy Coulter Duo @ Birchmere