Speaking of Radio

A few weeks ago we did a post called Feast Your Ears mentioning Cerphe and the old much beloved WHFS. A few people were wondering about the call number being wrongly listed as 102.3 instead of 99.1.
It's the same station-it just moved. Total recall depends on how old you are and how close you lived to Bethesda back then when the signal could get lost driving down to Glen Echo. Also it helps to have old music cases lying around the house.

Feast Your Ears

I remember "homegrown radio" being broadcast from the Triangle Towers right across the street from the Psyche Delly in what once was a tiny downtown Bethesda. WHFS, 102.3 on your FM dial, was the station you could count on to hear about the music you might never hear about. Often the staff at WHFS were the first to discover bands, both national and local, that hadn't hit the big time...yet. Deejays played what they wanted to play and corralled musicians passing through town for interviews and station IDs. Like Woodstock, people are still talking about that creative station some forty years later-as "modern" radio sinks into a morass of commercialism and homogenization. Knowledgeable deejays have been replaced by professional voices that spit out commercials in between the automated play lists.

ZZZZZZZZZZ.

Fortunately the counter culture is clawing its way back- not on the airwaves, but in cyberspace. Those of you who are really hip already know about streaming or down loading internet shows on your micro pods. So check this out: Cerphe, one of the original 'HFS frontiersmen and disc jockey extraordinaire has re-emerged with Cerphe's Progressive Show. He says:

"If you liked the original WHFS, I hope you'll dig this. It's rock music that moves outside the lines...everything from the geniuses who gave birth to the rock of the '60s and '70s to the evolving offspring of that music, including great stuff that came out last year or even last week. It's a musical stew shuffling past, present and future...feast your ears!"

Cerphe will have a new show every Friday, but through the miracle of Technology you can listen anytime and you can "see" the albums and songs that are being played so you don't have to run find a pencil and wait until the end of the set when you hear something you really like.
Now that's progress.

Rally Round The Cause, Boys and Girls

The economic hard times are hitting.  I was in the bank just today and heard a guy loudly forecasting the doom we will face with the new "zero" interest rate. Closer to hitting home, a DC staple musician, JR Cline and his family are in dire need of a place to live. A benefit will be held at The Outta The Way Cafe THIS Thursday featuring a local band that was dear to my heart way back in the 70s when my cousin used to sneak me into bars- Harbison, Bond and Goddard. (You might remember their song that Weasel would include every week in his "Frantic Friday" set on WHFS.) Also look for other DC favorites including soul/blues power singer Mary Shaver with Dan Hovey (Root Boy Slim, Jr Cline and The Recliners) Rico Petrocelli, (Rosslyn Mt Boys, Mary Chapin Carpenter) and Danny Schwartz.
The show starts at 8:30.

And across town- another benefit at Bangkok Blues in Falls Church. This one is for "Hungry For Music"-a great organization that raises money so that kids can get their hands on musical instruments. A variety showcase of local music will start at 7 with Harry Blevins and continue until 10 with Little Pink. In between look for David Kitchen, Dulcie Taylor, Bumpkin Pie, Jelly Roll Mortals and Esther Haynes.

And for you guitar buffs- a Les Paul Epiphone Special II signed by Mr Paul himself will be available for gawking at. (The guitar will be raffled off at a later date.)

Both of these benefits are not high dollar events, but every little bit will help. You can make the difference here.

Cafe C'est What Closed Down Today

To all you fellow music lovers, we lost one of our own today-Tom Terrell- who finally had to move on after struggling with cancer. It's kind of funny that just the thought of Tom, which has always made me smile, is making me cry today. Long ago, driving home from the old 9:30, I'd turn on the radio, and if he was on, I'd just laugh. Sometimes I'd call him up when I got home, and he always sounded so happy to hear from me- never bothered by the interruption. When he was spinning tunes on WHFS, he was "Tom Tee", and his show was called "Cafe C'est What" which is just so Tom. I know that was a million years ago, but I still remember how fun it was- he just loved to share his love of music with everybody.

I went to Tom's site today. He writes about that love so well, I'm letting him take over. Here's an excerpt from a memoir he'd been working on:

I remember how music somehow always made things better. When I was lost in the music, I found hope, freedom, joy, magic; I found me. WNJR, WABC, WWRL were my flashlights that chased away the darkness, Sonny Taylor, Dan Ingram, Frankie Crocker, Murray The K were my Obi Wan Kanobies. James Brown, the Temptations, the Miracles, the Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, Joe Bataan were my Guardian Angels.

And this after attending his Aunt Shirley Horn's funeral:

See, all my life, vocalists have given me faith, hope, and charity, caressed me, comforted me, taught me, guided me, carried me, nurtured me, encouraged me, loved me, forgave me, sheltered me, touched me, influenced me, and reached me in the darkest hours far heavily than family, friends, and lovers ever have or could. When I was a baby, my Moms told me the only thing that would stop me bawling was Johnny Ace's "The Clock" and "Pledging My Love". David Ruffin proved to me that wearing thick black eyeglass frames was cool, not corny. Curtis Mayfield, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, and the Staple Singers taught me smart was the real hip, black was always beautiful, funk is spiritual, and to always love myself for myself.

Most importantly of all, Marvin Gaye showed me that a real man is not ashamed to cry, beg, repent, atone, and apologize. After he died, I was in so much pain that I couldn't listen to his music for months: if a song of his came on the radio, I turned it off; if they played him at a party, I ran outside. I grieved profoundly until I heard Paul Young sing "Wherever I Lay My Hat Is My Home" a year later at the Bayou. I cried and wailed my soul out of mourning that night. To Sir With Love: From then until right here right now, not a day's gone by that I don't play at least one of your records.

And finally from a posting last spring:
Anyways, today was my last radiation session. The numbness is mostly gone and I have to do some physical therapy 'cause my right leg muscles are a tad weak. I resume chemo at the end of the month. Good news: my PSA last week dropped to 42, my hormone-pumped weight of 183 is now down to a svelte 168 and I STILL have a helluva appetite, no nausea, no pain, no lethargy. Oh yeah, my lust for life and laughter remains unstoppable.

Peace and Love Every Time,

lil tommy tee

(photo by Jeff The Purple)

He always signed his pieces that way- peace and love every time. I love that.
Thank you, Tom for all that love, and right back at you wherever you are.
Man, we'll miss you.

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

(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.

The Past Is Still Here

Fugazi @ Fort Reno -2000
The kids on my block are practicing for our neighbor's annual summer party called Fete de
la Musique. Everybody that wants to can perform. My daughter is in an all girl rock band covering Pink Floyd and Queen. (Don't ask me- I couldn't tell you.) It's a great thing though to see the old rock holding it's own with the new music- especially among the young.

Plus the concerts at Fort Reno are starting up again, and my son rode his bike up there to check it out for the first time. ( I didn't tell him his parents had taken him more than once to see Fugazi when he was much younger.)

Even Deejays like Cerphe and Weasel are still kicking around this town, though it's somewhat disconcerting to hear Weasel in the morning. I tell my kids I used to be up doing homework and listening to him do his maniacal thing at night on WHFS, our "home grown" radio in Bethesda. Then in the morning, somebody at the station would play "Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35" by Dylan-- ( "Everybody Must Get Stoned...") just when we'd pull into the school parking lot which we thought was both hilarious and bold. Half the time we'd be late going in because we didn't want to get out of the car. That was radio worth listening to.