Back the Punks That Rock DC

If you have lived here long enough, you know that Washington, DC. has an incredibly prolific and diverse, yet crazily incestuous and intimate mosh pit of a local music scene- especially if you go back a few decades. Here's a quick quiz:

Raise your hand if you ever went to Madam's Organ. 

Talk to me if you remember Mark Hall's mural on the side of the Ontario. 

Did you ever run the gauntlet through that scary (and bad idea) of a plaza when F Street was closed between dc space and 9:30? 

And speaking of  9:30, were you ever thrown out of the old club?

Were your front teeth knocked out (accidentally) during a slam dancing kind of show?

If you weren't around back then, this was a time when DC was stagnating. Neighborhoods laid to waste in 1968 were still struggling. People fled to the suburbs at the end of the work day. Just about the only characters willing to brave the void were the unsung heroes we call artists, and musicians. These people made this town come alive while congressmen slept. 

"Punk the Capital" is an exploration/ road map of how the 1970s music scene begat what became harDCore in the 1980s. Way before cell phones captured every other minute, this movie looks to  preserve raw and rare footage combined with primary source interviews and memories straight from the horse's mouth. We are lucky to have so many voices still alive to tell the tale- among them Alec and Ian MacKaye, Cynthia Connolly, Xyra Harper and Henry Rollins. 

And bands. 
We were stinking rich with bands like: Half Japanese, The Nurses, White Boy, Bad Brains. Black Market Baby, GI, Faith, Minor Threat. The Urban Verbs, Razz and Slickees.

photo by Alan Kresse

DC film makers James Schneider and Paul Bishow were very much in and of that scene. Please help them finish this daunting but very important project. Visit their "Punk the Capital" kick starter page, watch the clip, and see if it doesn't grab you like it grabbed me. You can back this film for as little as a dollar, but larger pledges have a variety of rewards including a punk rock walking tour of DC, bricks from the now razed Ontario, and a sneak preview of the film (along with other surprises) at the Black Cat on June 10th. (which I'm thinking would also make for a hellatious reunion party/event.) Who's with me?

Throw Me Back to Georgetown

Georgetown. Whatever happened to you? You used to be so cool. What happened to the old book stores? The record shops? (Ok -I know where the record shops went.)  And clubs ? Seemed like every other storefront was a music club:  Emergency, Crazy Horse, Beneath It All, Desperados, The Bayou, the Cellar Door and, one of the lone survivors, Blues Alley to name a few.  If you want to check out the old scene, kick back this weekend and read the piece David Arnson of the Insect Surfers wrote for me awhile back about a walk through Georgetown circa the late 1970s.

Or better yet, check out Gypsy Sally's, the new kid in town with a throwback sensibility located on the Key Bridge end of K Street- down under the Whitehurst tucked away from the tourists.  Reminiscent of a cross between Desperados and the Crazy Horse, this 300 capacity club is owned by a couple who want to make a go of bringing back that scene with an emphasis on roots rock. This Saturday check out the high energy and vintage instruments  brought to you by the Highballers. Plus The Weathervanes' new CD party and an acoustic set by Lauren Calve. All this for $12. If you go, let me know what you think.

Throw Down Friday

Come What May

May weather sounds the clarion call to rediscover the Great Outdoors. Birds are all atwitter, lawnmowers are abuzzing and motorcycles, well, motorcycles take me back to the days when the Olney Ale House was a rural destination. Tucked into a fork in the road where Route108 meets Dr Bird, it was a biker bar /hippie roadhouse in the middle of nowhere; the kind of place Arlo Guthrie would've loved.

The first time I went was for my friend Lisa's 14th birthday. Her mother raved about the fried chicken all the way there, and she was right. It was worth the trip- not just for the food but for how cool it was. When I lived in College Park, it was the Great Escape from suburbia. Half the fun was riding on those winding country roads and getting lost trying to find it again. Then we used to sit outside under the great old tree that shaded the beer garden and the parking lot and watch the motorcycles roll in. The ale house is still there- fairly unchanged on the inside, but the ex-burbs have taken most of the farmland and woods away- and the bikers, too for that matter.

Warm weather also bring on the phenomenon known as out door music which is hard to miss all over this town and mostly free. This Saturday alone (lord willing and the creek don't rise) you can watch The Magic Flute/ "opera in the outfield" at National's Park. (How amazing is that?) There's a Funk Parade going on all afternoon down on U Street. Out in the 'burbs  The Rockville Art Fest features live music including King Soul from 4-6. Or catch my friend Doug Stevenson and his Spades bringing a honky tonk kind of thing to the streets of Adam's Morgan.

Good Things Come in Tiny Venues

(picture courtesy of Gerald Martineau)

What is it about little dives that grabs me? Is it the guitar hangers on the wall? The portrait of the owner watching all the bands? Maybe's it's the feeling that you might meet someone new, or that anything can happen, and that the experience will be a lot looser and more fun than a perfectly choreographed show.  Last time I was in JV's, I  ran into a couple who had driven all the way down from New York to see The Thrillbillys, and they were not disappointed- not even when Mark Noone sat in for a song.

This Thursday's show is brought to you by The Soul Serenaders- one of those local super groups featuring players like Tommy Lepsom,  Billy Price, Pete Ragusa and Dan Hovey just to mention a few.  These guys are all pros, and they'll cram their talent onto that tiny stage and give it all they've got- no matter how small the crowd is.  (And for you more upscale types, you can catch them in the act again this Saturday at Bethesda Blues.)


JVs is about to expand into the space next door, so if you want to see the original mccoy- plan a trip (or two) soon.

DC You Really Got Me

photo by John Penovitch

DC is my home town, but it is changing so fast it astounds me. Sometimes I feel a bit lost wandering around, gawking at all the new brew pubs and eateries springing up like dandelions. I know I lean towards nostalgia,  but I do try to embrace the changes which are revitalizing so many neighborhoods.  I also fall back on old haunts. Eating a fried fish sandwich on the hood of a car, one block off H Street Northeast was not something I'd recommend 10 years ago, but recently I did just that. (And just one warning about that: one fish sandwich from Horace and Dickey's will feed a family of four-even if that family includes 3 musicians and an inebriated writer.)

When looking over my shoulder, I often recommend Walt Whitman's spin-off band- the Vi-Kings for a hit of nostalgia. Lately they lost a band member way too early, but as my friend Bill Petsche recently reminded me- though we can't change the direction of the wind, we can adjust our sails. Please come out and support the Vi-Kings - sailing on this Saturday night at Clyde's in Chevy Chase.

Find Your Inner Wild Child

Do you remember when art and dancing came naturally?
We come into this world wired to rock and roll and to create masterpieces.  I, for one, was incredibly proud of the abstract I created circa the mid sixties. The medium involved a lot of red and white finger paint on paper, crisscrossed by exuberant black lines. I'll never forget: our whole kindergarten class got to dip a string in a can of black paint and whap our paintings with impunity.

(yes, i still have it)

As soon as we can stand up, we dance. We danced the Twist, we danced to the Beatles. Even better, we danced to goofy songs playing in our heads. Pot lids were rhythm instruments, and everyone was Keith Moon.

You might have to go back to second grade to recapture that state of mind. Or kindergarten.  Some studies indicate we start losing creativity when we go to school. (Imagine that.) But lucky for us, some people don't lose "it," and what's more, others are still bringing it to those that can't or won't anymore.
(As my good friend Anne would say: "god bless the freaks.")

That being said two crazy ass shows are happening back to back this week. First on Thursday night Jake Starr's new incarnation Go Mod Go will be headlining at the Rock and Roll Hotel, and he's bringing a whole mod/retro crew of wild folks to the bandstand with him including The Yachtsmen and the El- Reys.

Friday night the Strathmore Mansion will be stormed by veteran DC rockers Tru Fax and The Insaniacs, The Atomic Mosquitos and The (can't play enough this week)  Yachtsmen. Putting this show over the top will be artwork from Diana Quinn and Stephen Blickenstaff (whom I'm guessing never did color between the lines.)

Both shows are way too much fun for the mere $12 cover.

Ch-ch Changes

A last slice at Luigi's

I admit I am adverse to change- especially when it comes to old things being torn down to make way for new. I miss old school Italian joints like Luigi's in Foggy Bottom and A.V. 's on New York Avenue. I miss parking in the senators' parking places at National Airport when I ran in to meet a plane. (Yeah, I go way back with my List.)

BUT, on the other hand, nothing works a change better than spring time in Washington.

We've got all those cherry trees and that very cool yard ornament from Japan. Soon you'll be able to tiptoe though the tulips courtesy of Lady Bird Johnson. Or head down to Fletcher's to watch the mayflies and catch the shad running. (That's one thing I wish they would change- that hair raising,  narrow-ass entrance right off Canal Road; it scares the pants off me.)

As the temperatures fluctuate, and we wait for the last freeze-usually between April 15th and May 1-here are a few pictures to remind us to hang in there:

Connecticut Ave last Sunday 

Shadblow trees bloom when the fish are running

Rock climbers at Carderock

Fletcher's Cove- worth that hairpin turn

Last Rites

This week seems to be all about nostalgia here at the DC Rocks headquarters overlooking the wild and wooly Potomac River. At least the river has almost held its own although we did our best to kill it- especially in the sixties. Back then my parents sternly warned me never to go near its polluted waters.  (I always imagined my limbs withering away if I fell in by accident, but I never dreamed up snakeheads or that fish with two sexes. Yipes!)

Meanwhile it's going to be quite the going away party this Sunday up at Blob's Park, an institution that has seen everything from polka bands to Slickee Boys over its seventy plus year history. Julie Scharper at the Baltimore Sun has the full scoop.  She and I have written about the closing twice, but this time it doesn't look like the bulldozers are going away.

If you can't make it up to Jessup, check out The Bumper Jacksons- a new favorite of Ruthie Logsdon's-they'll be playing right here in town.  This crew has an old fashioned funky sound going with clarinet, trombone and upright bass to boot. Join in on their record release party at Sixth and I Synagogue and check out this very cool and unusual band. Too bad they didn't get to play at Blob's.

Easy Prospecting in Silver Spring

Mining for rock is no sweat at the Quarry House, and you don't need a pick axe to dig a true gem of a band the Highballers and the Rock-A-Sonics show this Saturday. No cover !

Washington Wake Up and Smell the Seafood

The warm weather last Thursday gave me the notion to wander down to Hains Point to see if anyone was out waxing their car, but I ended up at Maine Avenue instead, gazing at a shrink wrapped, once presidential Sequoia.  Wandering up stream, my companion and I came upon the Channel Inn- a remarkably ugly building aptly named for its water front location on the Washington Channel.  I'd walked by it many times, but now I  remembered that my one and only association, "The Oldest Inhabitants of DC," have meetings there so we ducked into the Engine Room Lounge to check it out.

As luck would have it, we stumbled upon a free happy hour buffet. Wilson, our bartender, was friendly in a professional way, and the dozen other patrons were all clearly regulars. Definitely old school. Definitely somewhere we felt at home. We kicked back after filling our plates and were happily getting to know Wilson when he suddenly announced that this was the end of an era. All of the furnishings had already been sold, and the place was slated to be torn down soon. Their last day is March 30.

Yeah, I should have seen that coming. 

After promising Wilson we would return next week to say good bye, we wandered down to the fish markets and learned the same sad news.  The wharf will also be closing at some point- maybe this summer. The developers say the fish market will be back, but it will never be the same, of course, and the waterman we talked to didn't know how he would survive the proposed two year closing.

The Washington we once knew is fast slipping away- eroding quicker than a beach at high tide- so explore it while you can before the whole city qualifies for "Ghosts of DC" - a great site for those who like walking backwards.

Musings Upon a Long Winter

Yes, it's snowing again here in DC. The weather industry has come up with all sorts of snappy nick names for storms, but I think I'll stick with exactly what's happening here- a long winter. This might be the wrong time to bring it up, considering it's late March, but I love the white stuff.  I associate snow with sledding and hot chocolate and pancakes. I don't like driving in it, but I love watching it from a window- feeling lucky that I am inside.

Snow was a great cause for celebration growing up because of the possibility of "a get out of jail free" card at school. It didn't happen very often, but I still remember the suppressed exhalation of joy that would escape when, while trapped at our desks, one of us would look out of the window. "Oh! It's snowing!" someone would whisper, and all eyes would leave the teacher.

Back then I loved the "Little House" books so much that when the TV series came along I was truly offended that Michael Landon didn't grow a beard for his part as "Pa." The Long Winter was one of my favorites- the story of a tiny frontier town enduring an endless succession of blizzards,  but what I remember most about the book was the pancakes.

illustration by Garth Williams

To refresh your memory, the handsome Wilder boys, entrepreneurs of their day, had hoarded seed wheat and hid it in the wall of their shanty. Every night they would enjoy buckwheat pancakes while the rest of the town was on the edge of starvation.  No ordinary griddle cakes these- they were "light as foam, soaked through with brown sugar." The description goes on, but the scene was so wonderful that to this day, I am driven to make pancakes almost every snow fall. (Sometimes I even make them for dinner - eaten by candlelight of course)

That winter, which really happened in South Dakota in the early 1880s, makes DC's white out look like a piece of angel food cake. Yeah, the snow is falling, but the streets are (mercifully) clear; and even if they weren't, we have snow plows and public transportation. (back then even the train could not get through) We've got electricity and various sources of heat. Indoor plumbing. A gas stove with four burners...

Who wants pancakes for dinner?

illustration by Garth Williams

Catch the Soul Train to Frederick

Spring fever brings the clarion call to get out of that cabin and sally forth. This Saturday, when the temperature is predicted to hit seventy, might be a good day to consider motoring up to Frederick. Once there, you could stop in at Vinyl Acres and maybe even visit with DC veteran rockers Martha Hull and Bob Berberich. Their record shop is about a two minute walk to where Bob is playing Saturday night in downtown Fred. Have a bite somewheres and meet up at the Weinberg Center- a cool old theater which will be featuring Ronnie Newmyer's colossal spectacular of Southern Soul. Ronnie has corralled talent from all over this burg including  Bob Berberich,  Jon Carroll, Tom Principato, Patty Reese and members of the Hardway Connection. That's just to mention a fraction of musicians who will be working their show with three bands: Soul Serenaders, Soul Crackers and King Soul. Tickets are $20, but you can get the DC insiders' discount by entering the promo code: "Tribute 20" which will shave off 4 bucks.

Don't feel like leaving town? The same circus of characters in the Soul tribute show will be at  Bethesda Blues and Jazz this Friday night.

And another alternative for Saturday?  Hang close in with DC's own Nighthawks- back where a lot of bands belong- in Georgetown at Gypsy Sally's.

Hanging Tough

At least my geraniums are thinking Spring. This eagerly awaited season arrives here in Washington on Thursday when we will wake up to our Earth leaning neither toward nor away from the Sun. The equinox happens at 7:02 a.m. here in the District of Columbia.

Weather forecast? As of now sunny and high near 60.

Don't Check This Out

The Quarry House. It can get crowded. It can be loud. Sometimes it can even smell a little weird, but The Beatnik Flies are playing there this Saturday, and the Flies rock.

 I won't say anymore because I don't want anyone else to come.

DC Trash Talk

Jake Flack of the Rhodes Tavern Troubadours has a way with words and a wicked sense of humor. His song "Supercan," a DC anthem of sorts, sincerely thanks Marion Barry for bringing us those democratic vessels that grace our alleys, and only gently alludes to our mayor-for-life's foibles. Just this month, we denizens of the District got brand new Supercans thanks to our current mayor Vincent Gray. But along with the garbage bins came a new report further involving Mayor Gray's possible involvement with a shady shadow campaign. Despite his denials, things smell a little off -a lot like that that forgotten chicken sandwich in the back of the firdge.

DC politics as usual?

It's makes my head hurt to think about it. That's why I'll be at Iota this Friday night listening to the Troubadours rock and roll rather than Mayor Grey making statements that begin with "to be honest..." The uber- talented though sometimes elusive Marshall Keith will make a rare appearance to get the night going bringing the sum total of Slickee Boys in the house up to two. Music starts round 9. Cover only $12.

Lundi Gras

When people fall in love with New Orleans, they fall hard. Head over heels, ass over teakettle, hard. Some come for work, others for the music. Some find themselves here just on a whim. A guy I talked to last night drove with a buddy from Maryland, woke up under a banana palm, finished off the bottle of wine he had started the night before, and made up his mind that this was the town for him.. eighteen years ago.

Every time I come here I come in contact with people from Washington. One young couple from DC  came down here post Katrina and started the St Bernard Project to help survivors who couldn't afford to fix their own storm damaged homes. Yesterday I spent the afternoon with my son touring a few of those houses.

Life here is sweet. People are friendly and extremely creative. New Orleans is not your usual homogeneous American town, but a unique and spicy blend of cultures which trickle down from French, Spanish and African settlers. Religious refugees from Arcadia found their way here. Pirates felt at home. Musicians, writers and artists continue to flock here.

Right now - the city is pulsing with excitement. Mardi Gras is upon us, and raw energy is pumping throughout the neighborhoods. People walking to and from parades and parties are a pageant in and of themselves-all decked out in feathers and beads, funny hats and striped shirts. King cakes are piled up at the grocery store. Purple yellow and green feathers are stuck in fences and scattered across lawns by the wind. If you have never been, it might be  time you came down to see for yourself, but be aware, you might fall in love, too.

Hallmark Happy Hour

 If you ever went down to the old 9:30 club for happy hour in the 1980s,  you more than likely got a drink from Mark Hall. Mark first got into the bar biz at Columbia Station in the mid 1970s, but he also worked at Desperados and dc space. He was a manager, bartender and deejay at 9:30 for many years, and played everything from punk to Bob Dylan; go-go to Bach. At happy hour, he both bar tended and deejayed. I still remember some of those videos he played - Run DMC's "Walk This Way," ( which was a sort of battle of the bands with Aerosmith.) INXS' "Need You Tonight" with that hot guy in the leather jacket. Robert Palmer and his girls. The Cure.

It's been over 20 years since Mark Hall's last happy hour at the old 9:30 Club, and about time we got together with old friends and new. Please come out and raise a glass, but also help raise funds for "Hallmark" so Mark can stay in his apartment until he figures out what's next. 

The Big Hunt is throwing a rent party from 4-7 pm on March 16. Expect live music from Roaddog and The Yachtsmen. ( which include members of former bands you might recall like The Razz , Slickee Boys, Jr Cline, Nightman and Southern Wind to name a few) 

Cash bar. 

If you can't join the party, donations can be sent to: 
Mark Hall Fund 
3311 19th Street, N.W. 
Washington, DC 20010 

Fifty Shades of Gray Too Many

Last week, or maybe even all this winter, I've felt startled to see the sun. A couple of weeks ago I left home around four o'clock, and the light outside was the color of slate. I thought the sun might be going down soon, but an hour and a half later, I came home in a gun metal fog which finally gave way to the charcoal of dusk. The next morning would bring, you guessed it, the cold gray light of dawn.

Then last night I had a nightmare. I dreamed I heard an automated voice saying sternly "Snow will accumulate  4 inches." It scared me so much that I woke up and had to assure myself it was just a dream. This has never happened to me before. I love snow and always have. To me snow is what punctuates the gray with exclamation points of light. (whoops, sorry- my english major slips out from time to time.)

At any rate Washington has nothing to fear this weekend except a lot of muddy snow melt as the temperature is predicted to flirt with the sixties. At least those coveted parking places will be freed up again. (and no, people, you can not legally save these spaces with lawn chairs. Sorry. )

Feel like music? I'd hit up the Quarry House Saturday night for 7 Door Sedan and Doug Stevenson and the Spades. If you feel like getting out of town, the irreverent Maritime Republic of Eastport is throwing a Mardi Gras party with Little Red and the Renegades.

And Sunday when you are thoroughly besotted with spring fever,  IOTA has Color School in the house in an early slot. Show starts at 8.

We Are WHat WE Are

Congratulations are in order to all the Washington Area Music Association winners and nominees.  If you have never heard of WAMA, you might want to take a minute to watch the 25th anniversary video for a little back ground and some great footage of DC music history and what our music scene is all about. WAMA has been criticized for being too closed a group, and it's true that often the same people rotate around, but membership is open to everyone inclined towards things musical, and no one else has stepped up to create anything like it.

I watched the anniversary video this morning and realized some things haven't changed much. You can still see great talent often awkwardly stashed in a corner of a hotel bar or restaurant. On the other hand, good size venues are popping up like Gypsy Sally's in Georgetown and the renovated Lincoln and Howard Theaters. A lot of this year's winners like David Kitchen and Dave Chappell are  featured here on DC ROCKS because we are lucky to see them play without paying a lot of overhead, but it would be good to see them in those slightly larger venues as well.

Since everything is all about me, this year I see my connection to the scene as both slim and stretchy- like a rubber band. Once upon a time I lived in a group house that had notorious all night keg-ers. When the beer ran out, we'd take up a collection for a late run to Tick Tock Liquor on University Boulevard which stayed open late and was also a bar.  My boyfriend's little sister crashed the party a couple of times, and she always brought her best friend- this year's WAMA song writer of the year and roots rock vocalist:  Patty Reese.

Be Mine Cowpoke

Feel like getting more down home than duded up this Valentine's Day? Want to go where you don't need a reservation and drinks are cheaper than a ten dollar Stetson on a five cent head?
Then check out the Valentine's Day show at the Takoma Park VFW on Orchard Avenue. This space has been described to me as a micro Surf Club complete with stage, a dance floor, and, this Friday, a whole lot of live music to boot.

A Forum For Bealtle Maniacs

This week's forecast calls for snow on Wednesday. That being said, let's try and rise above the usual high pitched screams and save them for the library. Yes, a snowy forecast provides the perfect setting for the upcoming Beatles retrospective at the Shaw Library.

DC Music Salon will be screening this landmark concert and rambling down the Penny Lane of memory with local eyewitnesses including rock journalist, Michael Oberman, and manager to the stars, Tom Carrico. Join everyone at the library this Wednesday evening from 7-9 for photos, stories and lots more. Events like this are a labor of love for  Marc Eisenberg, and yet another reason DC ROCKS.

Meet These Guys

LOOKEE all you peoples that live up that 270 corridor way. Here's a chance to see a fun band shake the dust off old memories.  The Vi-Kings are playing a free show this Friday night at the Golden Bull way up there in Gaithersburg to commemorate that fateful night when the cuddly mop tops took over earthling TV and gave Ed Sullivan a rocket boost in the ratings. 

Musicians like this space- it's a big room with plenty of dance floor, and this week's show is free due to  the gig being moved from Saturday to Friday. To get you in the mood - here rare clips of Beatles footage brought to you by the folks at Rolling Stone.