Trick or Teeth

Halloween is usually one of my favorite days of the year, but today I woke up filled with dread. I had an appointment with the dentist.

After spending a terrifying and tortuous forty-five minutes getting my teeth cleaned, I would like to send out a big thank you to Brian Eno who got me through the worst bits which felt more like dental extraction than hygiene. The tiny masked sadist who waged war upon my gums was armed with razor sharp objects, but I, open mouthed and ear plugged, dis-engaged from her torment with my small but mighty iPod blasting “Here Come the Warm Jets."  The perfect sound track with occasional distracting plinks of a seemingly random piano kept me in the chair and off the ceiling. 

I escaped with my life only to walk down a dreary K Street devoid of any indication of Halloween pending or the Nats' splendiferous World Series triumph last night which is why people get a bad impression of this town. So drab and buttoned up. That's not us!!! Georgetown still celebrates Halloween with a crazy street party which should be especially exciting this year due to the stormy forecast, and The Thrillbillys will be carrying on at JVs while Go Mod Go and Apollo 66 rock the Pie Shop.

Here's November's calendar of amusements and musical distractions... A list which is always incomplete so please step up all my fellow freaks and dentophobes and write me with your hyper-local suggestions:

2

Billy Price /Shirletta Settles /Jodse Ramirez /Afterdark Fundraiser @ Pearl Street Warehouse

3

Los Straightjackets @ Pearl Street

5

Robert Gordon w Chris Spedding/ Jumpin Jupiter@ City Winery

8

Ruthie and the Wranglers @ JV

Eric Brace and Peter Cooper @ Jammin Java

8-10

Mary Chapin Carpenter @ Birchmere

9

Last Waltz Tribute @ The Hamilton

9-11

Punk the Capital Screenings w/ special guests @ AFI

14

RTTs @ Takoma VFW

17

Azalea City CD Release Party @ El Golfo

23

Billy Coulter Band @ New Deal

30

Little Red and Renegades @New Deal

Pretzels and Pumpkins

I confess. I don't have a pumpkin on my porch for the first time in decades. It's not that I can't find one. I just got back from Safeway where  I managed to face down an entire wall of orphaned squash.

I enjoy carving pumpkins as much as the next guy, but I never did like scooping out their guts. Even if I used a large spoon those slimy strings and seeds would climb up my arm.

I still love the season. I've got skeletons, a spider, a black cat, and a witch.

And a bat.

Not to mention an extra large bust of Edgar Alan Poe which always comes in handy this time of year.

I just don't like pumpkins. Or giving out candy. Or being humiliated for giving out pretzels that ONE time.  (Yes, I was that person.)

Halloween parties this weekend might be overshadowed by our beloved baseball team, but for non-sports fans, DC's own Count Gore De Vol will present a director's cut of that crazy feel good film about a little girl with satanic issues on Saturday night at AFI. "The Exorcist" was set in Georgetown because the film was based on a story about a possessed boy who lived right here in Cottage City. His parents supposedly brought him to Georgetown Hospital so the Jesuits could take a swing at extricating his demons. If you go see the movie, don't forget to sleep with your light on!

Avoiding baseball and scary things? Catch Bill Starks on Sunday at JVs. No beds levitating here, just a fun night and a new CD.

Finally, a very cool thing is happening on Monday. Two stars from the Slickee Boys will appear low in the sky at the Galaxy Hut when Marshall Keith opens for The Yachtsmen. I promise it'll be a stellar event with plenty of beer, but no pretzels or pumpkins.

Home Run

Congratulations Nats! What a week it's been. Our baseball team is the talk of the town, and yesterday I heard a well meaning fan on WAMU talking about how excited he is, and how this event will bring people together "especially in a city as transitory as Washington, DC where everyone comes from somewhere else."

Wait, what?

Of course yours truly has something to say about that.

I know what he thinks he means. Yes, the District is a place where Congress and the like sweep in and out, but underneath that shifting tide, people like car mechanics, teachers, and bus drivers quietly slog out a living here. Politicians are the migrating sharks; DC natives are the coral reef.

Yes, Virginia, there really is such thing as a DC native. I offer this photograph as evidence. There's my mom with her little brother and cousin and their grandfather at Griffith Stadium in 1933, the last year a Washington team made it to the series. (I'm betting they probably couldn't get tickets to the game.)

This weekend while we all take a break from baseball, there's plenty of things to do both new and with history. Tonight check out the cool sounds of DOGO at the Bossa Cafe and Lounge.

On Friday The City Paper is hosting a conversation on the history of go-go at Public Bar which happens early. Afterwards catch the Dave Chappell Band at the New Deal Cafe.

Saturday drop by WOWD's fundraiser at the Takoma VFW. WHFS veterans Weasel and Milo both host shows at this tiny but important station. Please help keep truly local radio alive.

DC Libraries Rock

DC Ax slinger Dan Hovey 

Last Sunday the Takoma Park Street Fest featured more bands than a person could possibly catch in one afternoon. The event showcased how lucky we are to have so many musicians prowling around this burg. They shred, jive, and wail- just like the politicians Washington is famous for, but with much better results.

Our library even has a punk rock archive which is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a party this Saturday at the Georgetown Library up there on Book Hill, one of my favorite places in DC. If anything jazzes me up more than music, it might be having a library card, and DC has better borrowing terms  than a used car lot in Detroit. Check out up to fifty books for twenty-one days, and, if there are no holds, renew them up to ten times. What? That's gives a person 210 days get through Go Dog Go or War and Peace. And there's a 30 day grace period on top of the due date so technically you can keep a book for about as long as it takes to have a human baby.  And if you act now, you can also borrow DVDs, CDs and LPs. The librarians will even show you how to use the digital collection which includes audio books, movies, newspapers and music. Did I mention magazines?

I will stop now.

The open house runs form 2:30-4 p.m. Here's the low down from DCPL:

Selected materials from the DC Punk Archive collections will be on display in the Peabody Room, the punk archive's temporary home during the renovation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Read zines, view rare concert footage, and learn about how the collections have been used by researchers over the years.

Outdoor Celebration 2:30-5 p.m.

Exhibition of photographs by Antonia Tricarico, author of Frame of Mind: Punk Photos and Essays 1997-2017

DIY merch: Make a button and stencil your own posters and t-shirts! Paper will be provided, but you must bring your own t-shirt

Music by Les the DJ at 2:30 p.m. and CORIKY (Amy Farina - Ian MacKaye - Joe Lally) at 4 p.m.

And celebrate DC's first Indigenous People Day holiday weekend with live music, and too many choices starting tonight with the Rock-A-Sonics at Pearl Street and The Rhodes Tavern Troubadours at Takoma VFW where the Bold Deceivers and Jelly Roll Mortal will be on Friday, which competes for our attention with Little Red and the Renegades up at Haydees, and last but not least, King Soul reigns over the Takoma VFW on Saturday leaving me to award the folks at "Hell's Bottom" with "The Little Engine That Could" award for great music this weekend.

Villains, Saints and the Death of a Rock Club

The Cravin' Dogs and The Yachtsmen will not be at Villain and Saint this Saturday due to lack of venue. 

The club was badly laid out with a long aisle and a miniature dance floor. A massive bar forced patrons into a narrow aisle between booths on one side and bar stools on the other. Still, Villain and Saint was one of the few live music venues in Bethesda, and the staff, as well as musicians, worked hard to make this a fun place.

In the end the villains outweighed the saints here. Employees found out the club was closed when the locks were changed on Monday morning. Coming development has been blamed, but negligence from the top is mostly at fault.  Club owners can't seem to understand that a live music venue is not an instant cash cow without proper promotion and curating. They ignored expert advice, and doors closed.

The good news is the fire damaged Hank Dietle's Tavern will literally rise from the ashes next spring thanks to the collaborative and herculean efforts of local music lovers Thomas Bowes, his wife Sarah Bonner and music photographer Alan Kresse. The new crew hopes to bring both national and local acts to a restored and updated historic roadhouse.

photo by Alan Kresse

Meanwhile we still have music to support this weekend. Please note the Little Red and the Renegades show at New Deal Cafe has been postponed until November, but Valentine Slim will be at the Takoma VFW, Color School is at the Vinyl Lounge, and the Euphon-X folks always produce a cool gathering of interesting bands...this time at Slash Run. All these events are on Saturday.

Sunday enjoy the fall weather, food, and music at the Takoma Park Street Fest which features eighteen bands on three stages including The Half Smokes - a new WHFS cover band which has got to be a hoot for all us geezers who grew up with "homegrown radio."  Hit the link for a full schedule of bands.