Short n Sweet

 Hello there, October. Always good to see you.  Bring on your cool breezes - your pumpkins and bright blue skies. Please wreak havoc with the local mosquitos who are lurking round the screen door and turn on that tree coloring machine.  

Fresh air music fiends will have plenty to do this weekend between Cheverly Day on Saturday and the Takoma Park Street Fest on Sunday.  The weather threatens to be perfect with sun warmed days and cool clear evenings. Nice to have some traditions back whilst we warily await less germ fraught times. 

Weasel @ the mike Takoma St Fest 2016

Fits and Starts

September already. Where did the summer go? I can't say I made it to a lot of shows in August. Between the heat and the creepy oak mite attacks, I'm kind of glad to see the end of those dog days.  I did get up to Fort Reno which seems to have its own weather- staying dry and breezy while the surrounding area was drenched by storms. It was gratifying to see both the music and the people.  Please help keep this uniquely DC event going. You can still support The Cause by buying a t-shirt here. (order by Sep 27)

Safety seems to be a state of mind, a mental calculation, or lack thereof, of risk over matter. Hanging outside a concert recently, I witnessed a somewhat volatile mask meltdown when a music fan felt the need to rail loudly against a piece of cloth. In our area, venues have a mixed bag of safe practices, and I am only mentioning ones with clear mask and vaccine protocols in place. 

Happy to see the 9:30 Club is re-opening this week with local shows including White Ford Bronco on Sept 3 and Troublefunk on Sept 5. Check Hank Dietle's schedule for loads of music all through the week.  Black Cat has lots of shows, too, including their 28th anniversary event on Sept 11. Lots of bands including Teen Cobra and The Owners- a rare chance to see Dante Ferrando back in action. Also my ole pal Alec MacKaye gets back to it when the Hammered Hulls open for Lydia Lunch Retrovirus on Sept 16- also at the Black Cat.

The Hub Cap Centre, which may be DC's newest venue, will be hosting the debut of The Longtimers on Sept 11. Can't wait to see what Tom Clifford has up its sleeve this time. 

For those who prefer more fresh air in their life, Billy Price is playing outdoors at Jammin Java on Sept 3. The next night, the Thrillbillys and Jumping' Jupiter are at Pearl Street which has those big garage doors open, and the State Theater will be having outdoor shows throughout the month. 

August 2021 Day One

well hello

is anybody out there?

anybody?

Crawling out of the bunker, it feels like musicians have been outnumbered by singing cicadas this summer, but things have been changing. Slowly but surely our local music scene is emerging through the fog of The Variant and other Covid set backs. Feeling trepidatious? Me, too. 

When King Soul played their first indoor gig at the tiny Takoma VFW,  they drew a double-vaxxed, practically punch drunk crowd thrilled to be at a bar with their favorite band kicking ass. I immediately retreated to the spacious back yard. Since then I've managed to go inside for shows. At least for a song or two.  The VFW still has bargain basement drink prices, and shows are extra early with music stopping by 9 which sort of suits a pandemic kind of schedule.

Speaking of schedules, I'm not maintaining the DC ROCKS calendar due to things being so weird right now, but hit the links to find shows at the venues mentioned. 

For those of you raring to go, I'm very happy to report the return of the newest oldest road house in Montgomery County. Hank Dietle's has been painstakingly retrofitted as a live music club, and the place has never looked so pretty.  I love the front porch which provides a covid get away for those of us still wary of gatherings. Lisa White, who booked the 9:30 Club for many a moon, will be wrangling music there most every day which is a feat in itself. 

JV's, another old haunt, opened their doors as soon as possible, and have had live indoor shows for months now. For the Brave of Heart, I see our local hero Daryl Davis is there on August 19. Black Cat and Galaxy Hut are open, too, but sadly, no more music at the Hut. 

Outdoor options include Jammin Java and The State Theater who graciously toed the line with free outdoor concerts which are still happening in August although it looks like shows will be moving indoors as well. Look for The Nighthawks outside at The State  August 29. 

On Sundays DC Brau has loading dock concerts outside and extremely good beer all of the time. Plus Roaming Rooster, right around the corner, makes a great fried chicken sandwich which you can oh so conveniently order while drinking a beer. 

Last but not least thank you Amanda MacKaye for reviving the Fort Reno concert series which starts this Monday, August 2 and runs for three weeks Mondays and Thursdays. Cool new stage, and I highly recommend Bandit Taco for your picnic dinner.

 PS  Supposedly Feedburner, the email service for DC ROCKS, will go down for the count come the end of August. Not sure if I am up to the challenge of re-booting a new widget. If you have a suggestion on a fix, please let me know.