Part Two: How Slickees Meet Flies... OR.... Who Is This Martin Guy Anyway?

When we last left our heroes, (below in yesterday's posting) they were still operating out of various bedrooms scattered across the DC area, but Martin wanted to get their sound recorded. Marshall remembers:

He had this whole concept. He was changing his name to Kim Kane for the record, and the band would be called The Slickee Boys. Martin grew up on a base in Korea, and "slickee boys" were street punks that sold the GIs black market items. He played us a few obscure 1960s punk songs that we learned. He gave me chords to a song he was trying to write. I added a bunch of lead guitar to it. He gave Martha three times as many lyrics as were needed, and she chopped them down to fit. "Hands slide down snakes, a curling black-eyed sweetness, we're in a mandarin red-veiled dream." I had an instrumental version of "Exodus" I was working on. The record was called Hot and Cool. We went in a studio, and actually recorded it. He took care of all the art work and printing, and we actually put it out. I was shocked!

Getting the outfits for the cover photo started us all on a lifelong fascination with thrift stores. It matched the music. We were playing music that no one wanted anymore, just like the clothes in the Good Will. Recycling to the max.

Meanwhile, those three lost beatnik boys of Bethesda had moved into a group house in Wheaton. It was 1976, and something happened that changed everything according to Joe Dolan:
Somehow we came into possession of a "NY ROCKER" magazine which featured a pictorial of the NYC punk scene. Well, that was it. It was like a revelation from God above. Out came the real amps and drum kits. We were possessed, we were going to be punk rockers ( I couldn't play the electric guitar for shit, but I wasn't going to let that stop me). We spent the next few years playing the usual basement, garage, friend's party etc., but we never played at real rock clubs because we didn't think we were good enough. Then somehow by the grace of the rock gods, we were invited to play at DC Space.
We were playing with Black Market Baby. The place was packed; it seemed like anyone who was anyone in the DC music scene was there. When we got up to play our set, I had my shades on. After a few numbers I took them off and the audience started shouting " put the shades back on" ( that's how the shade thing got started). After we finished playing, Skip Groff came up to talk to us. He told us we would be perfect with The Slickee Boys, so we gave him our number. Lo and behold, a few days later Kim Kane called us and invited us to play with them at the Psychedelly in Bethesda. The rest is history, I've long since lost track of how many times we've played with them, but the excitement has never left.

Get over to the Surf Club tomorrow night and you can catch the excitement yourself in a rare reunion of both The Beatnik Flies and The Slickee Boys. Get there early and check out Prabir. The show starts at 9 p.m. Don't miss it.




P.S. And TONIGHT another legendary band comes back to life- The Rosslyn Mountain Boys
are at El Boqueron II in Rockville. (And I can't help using the word legend. It's not an exaggeration- this town has quite a few.)

dc space...back in the day

Count Four /photo by danny brown

Back in the day, 1977 to be exact, one of the scarier walks at night was between dc space and the old 9:30 Club. People may be leery of the new 9:30 Club's urban setting on V street, but back then there was nothing open and lit between 930 F Street and 7th and E. (except maybe those adult places on 9th) There was a truly scary pedestrian mall where the Portrait Gallery is, or you could skirt around that through a parking lot. But it was worth it. Once you got to either of those places, there was music and poetry and people interested in whatever was new inside. ( And sometimes a lunatic from the bus stop outside Space would reel through) Bill Warrell and his mother, Susan had a vision, and they made it happen- way back when DC was NOT the place to be anymore- "space was the place".

And now over 50 artists are gathering at the 9:30 Club to celebrate dc space and to donate their efforts to help their friend, Tom Terrell who is battling cancer. Tom T, King Pleasure-always upbeat on the radio. I would call him late at night just to hear him say hey.
His show "Cafe C'est What" was on WHFS, but he also deejayed at WPFW, space and the 9:30 club. He wrote music articles for The Unicorn Times and The City Paper and others. If you're lucky you might still catch him reviewing jazz for NPR on "All Things Considered."

So come on down to the 9:30 Club on Sunday. Doors open at 4. Dig up a twenty (for Tom) to get in.
It'll be a scene like no other...

dc space reunion/benefit for Tom Terrell

THIS SUNDAY JULY 29
@ the 9:30 Club

(Click on flyer to enlarge)

dc space

(9353 will be there)


It opened 30 years ago on the corner of 7th and E. Then it was a bar, but more importantly it was a space for ALL kinds of art: music, poetry, dance, and performance art. (which was sometimes provided by the drunks at the bus stop)
Now it's a Starbuck's.

If you've ever been there, you have a story about it, and if you haven't- Sunday, July 29th is your chance to catch up. Over fifty artists and musicians are gathering to perform at the 9:30 Club for the dc space reunion/ benefit for Tom Terrell. You might remember him as Tom T on WHFS. ( Cafe C'est What and Sunday Reggae Splashdown) He was on WPFW, too.
If you don't know him, he's always smiling, and always made me smile when I heard him on the radio late at night. Now he's fighting cancer and needs support.

And even if you don't remember any of the above, it stands to reason you might have been there anyway.
So be there now. Somebody might remember you. It's going to be a great party, and it's a good cause.

WATCH THIS SPACE

Space was the place
Originally uploaded by alex.DC

It happened before- it can happen again...
DC Space Reunion at the 9:30 Club- Sunday- July 29th, 2007 in conjunction with a benefit for the one and only Tom T. who is fighting cancer. Tons of performances: Ajax Joe Drayton, Amy Pickering, Beatnik Flies, Bill Warrell, Bobby Donovan, Rust Bucket, 9353, Ruthie and The Wranglers...

And that's just the top of the iceberg-more later!

Ra Ra X- Husbands

The Velvet Lounge had a lot of energy going on Saturday night, and it was packed when The X- Husbands played, and even more packed for Ra Ra Rasputin. Us old folks in the audience had to line up against the knee wall, so we wouldn't get knocked over, but Joe Dolan, of The Beatnik Flies (aka Daddy- O) went up there and rocked with the X-Husbands- playing drums for them which made us fogies proud. (Some of us ain't dead yet.)




And it was all hands on deck when they were joined by Hayley's sister, Theresa on maracas and one of the Rasputins. To everybody that missed it- you gotta get out more. Later this month, catch the Beatnik Flies at the 9:30 Club's
DC Space Reunion- July 29th.