Fort Reno's Back Thanks to Flack

Mark Noone Protesting Last Week @ Fort Reno

Hey,  DC Rockers- the tide has turned. Fort Reno is on again and ready to rock thanks in large part to collective outrage. Once the word was out that the concert series was cancelled for the summer, the word became pressure… and suddenly there was a productive meeting today between event organizer, Amanda MacKaye and the Park Service after all. You can read all about what happened here.

The first concert will kick off on July 7, and performances will continue throughout the month on Mondays and Thursdays. Bring the blankets, dogs and kids and celebrate live music.

What's Up with Fort Reno?

Fort Reno is one of the very few outdoor venues which features experimental music- most often youth oriented rock and rollers trying to break into the scene, but this year,  I'm sad to say, the park will be dark.

The whole shooting match is in jeopardy thanks to the indifference and bureaucracy of the Park Police who have stalled issuing this season's permit along with a new, and as yet, unexplained demand requiring a paid officer attend every event according to the venue organizer Amanda MacKaye. Please read what she has to say and decide for your self, but I get the feeling if we don't tell the Park Service this concert series is too important to lose, Fort Reno may be relegated back to the history buffs and the ghosts of the Civil War.

P.S. I hear some people had trouble with the link above so here's teh park service info.

National Capital Parks-East
1900 Anacostia Drive, SE
Washington, D.C. 20020
Phone: 202-426-5961
Fax: 202-690-1425

And now there's a petition, too. Check it out here.

Yes My Goodness Yes

Led Zep Redux @ AFI

Twenty Five Years and Twang Proud

All you people who were out and about 25 years ago might remember when a DC original roots/country band came to life. (Can it really be 25 years?)

The year was 1989. You remember 1989… right?

(Metallica was big, but I never really dug them)

No?

Come to think of it, nothing about that year really stands out for me... so maybe it's safe to say that Ruthie and the Wranglers was what was going on because when I google the year in images this is what I get:

That being said, let's turn our eyes forward to this Saturday when a celebration/reunion party/throw down will be going on at Gypsy Sally's, a night club which is trying to create a niche in a part of town where we all used to want to be: Georgetown. Get there early ( around 7) to reminisce in the Vinyl Lounge; get there a later for the music, but make sure you catch The Bumper Jacksons who will be bringing their creative and crazy retro sound to the mix as the opening band.

A fun night no matter how you look at it.

Keepin Body and Soul Alive

I saw the extravaganza that is  "A Southern Soul Tribute" twice.

Enough said?

This Saturday will most likely be the last chance to see it because wrangling this many musicians together isn't even like herding cats- it's more like herding flies. The line up is a variation on the last two performances, but still smoking hot, and in one of my favorite venues in DC-the Hamilton. (once upon a time the old Garfinckel's on 14th and F)

The Hamilton takes full advantage of this formidable and grand building (which dates back to 1929) with completely reinvented spaces featuring uptown bars, an extensive restaurant and a top of the line performance space in the basement. Good food; great service. Tickets are a little pricier than most shows I write about, but still quite a bargain.

Tiger Pride

At first I was annoyed that people from Westboro Baptist Church took it upon themselves to come all the way up here to protest Washington's Wilson High School Pride Day events. Personally, I wouldn't give the time of day to a group whose home page boasts the hashtag "godhatesfags." (a rather loose translation of the Bible if I ever heard one. ) No one knew what to expect at the clash of protests this morning, but their tiny band of Baptists was vastly out numbered and, as my 13 year old astutely observed, "Their signs were stupid."

photo by Deean Rubin

 In the end I have to hand it to the hate mongers for inspiring students, families and school staff to come out in droves to show their support of inclusion and love.  The counter protest was peaceful, and everything was over by 9 a.m.

photo by Deean Rubin

Afterwards, I registered my youngest at Wilson for next year, and I am happy he is going to a school with a courageous man like Pete Cahall in charge.

GO TIGERS!

What the Punk?

This week there are two events involving two films - both fascinated with the HarDCore scene here in the Nation's Capital. Thanks to the efforts of a kick-starter campaign, "Punk the Capital" is well on its way,  but the film makers could still use your help to meet their goal. That could be as easy as attending a party at Black Cat this Tuesday. Our old friend, DJ Tommy B from old 9:30 days will provide the music. Film maker James Schneider and Paul Bishow will screen rare  punk films circa 1979 and a section or two of the film.

How much of a fan are you?

Wednesday DC Salon will be hosting Scott Crawford at Shaw Library where he is showing sneak previews of his film "Salad Days." (As far as I can tell this film covers the punk scene of the 1980s from its birth and throughout the decade, where as "Punk the Capital" gives you the back story of how DC bands like Slickee Boys inspired that scene.) Tommy B. will be at both- as most of us probably should be.

Both events hope to bring old friends, band members and fans out of the woodwork so please come join the fray if you can.

Full Throttle Weekend

FRIDAY and SATURDAY 

LIVE MUSIC  CAN'T BE BEAT

When Ratso Met Kinky

Here's a little quiz for you long time DC music fans:

Who was in a band with Eddie Angel of Los Straightjackets?

Who was featured as a character in more than one mystery?

What DC musician plays with that crazy ass Texan Kinky Friedman ?

Who is an Emmy award winning news camera man?

Who can lay claim to all the above?

None other than DC Ratso. 

If you hop into the way back machine with me, back when the Cellar Door was still happening in Georgetown circa 1978, Kinky liked to do a solo show back then, but he also liked to "turn on the juice and cut the damn thing loose" by the end of the night.  Through mutual friends, Kinky found just the man to hook him up with local musicians that could fill that bill: Jim Silman (aka Ratso since college days. ) Those of you who remember Switchblade and Tex Rubinowitz and the Bad Boys will know exactly whom I am talking about; those of you who don't can read all about it here thanks to Buzz McClain. 

Cellar Door might be a thing of the past and Switchblade is no longer together,  but DC Ratso, a not so fictional character, and Kinky Friedman, a character in his own rite, are still making beautiful music together.  Kinky next comes to town June 11 as part of the Washington Jewish Music Festival. (Apropos considering Kinky calls his home band "the Texas Jew Boys.") The festival runs today through June 14th, and features ALL kinds of music from klezmer to reggae, jazz to Broadway; ticketed shows as well as out door free events. Something for everyone, and that's the point.

Vinyl Rocks

Calling all vinyl and nostalgic music fans. If you haven't gotten the chance to see Jeff Krulik's latest film "Led Zeppelin Played Here," tomorrow's event at Artisphere is where you want to be. The  DC Record Fair features music, film, discussions, and loads of vinyl from 11 until 5. The Led Zep movie, screens at 2:30, and will be followed by a talk with both the film maker and Dischord Records' Ian MacKaye. $5 admission all inclusive. Such a deal.

The Kids Are Alright

One thing DC does NOT have is places to take kids to see live music, but summertime opens up a lot more possibilities including the free Washington Folk Festival which runs at Glen Echo this weekend. If you haven't been to the park in a while, you'll be surprised at the restoration which is topped off with a big ole retro style neon sign and an old street car parked right out in front. (I used to go to the music events there in the 1970s when Glen Echo was pretty much abandoned and down to weeds and yurts)
The festival can get zoo-ey so go early or take a bike.

Also there's a rare chance to take the small fry to IOTA this Saturday at 5 pm for an all ages matinee with the NRIs who are celebrating their new CD "Playground." Check out  "Across the River." It's one of my favorite DC songs.  NRIS also play a "drinking age show" later that night with Light Arms and Step Pets.

More Trash Talk

I don't often write about things political, but in case you haven't heard, "Supercangate" is "on" in the District, and I heard Vincent Gray on WAMU this morning saying the move to supply every residence in DC with new Supercans was not motivated by politics.

Oh, come on.

This remark had me yelling at the radio as I can not take it when my intelligence is so directly insulted.

The vfliers for the "new" super can came out just before the DC primary last April.
In the past,  residents had to pay a fee to replace their old Supercan (I think it was around $65) and then suddenly we are all getting newer, bigger ones... for nothing?

Why not ask residents if they needed or even wanted a new bigger trash can? ( Older residents can hardly push these 96 gallon behemoths around.) And what to do with all those old garbage bins?
They were supposed to be picked up and recycled, and that's not happening either.

Now Gray, a lame duck mayor, has a lot bigger mess to clean up than that pesky shadow campaign.
Not political? Once again I've got to hand it to Jake Flack of the Rhodes Tavern Troubadours for calling them like he sees 'em- even back when it was Marion Barry's Supercan.

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