Where the Waldos Are

When I was in the fifth grade, my best friend told me to drop everything and read Harriet the Spy. She also told me to get a black and white composition book and to start thinking about a spy route.  I was in.  As soon as I finished the book, we got together to begin our new lives in espionage.  I firmly wrote KEEP OUT on the cover and PRIVET. My friend then dictated the rules which had to be written on the first page.

1. Never let anyone see this book no matter what.

2. Practice writing metholy.

3. Write everything in this book.

4. Use also for spy route

I asked her how to spell that inscrutable word in rule number two, not wanting to admit that I didn't know what it meant. I never did find out. Despite my confusion, I forged ahead with a spy route made up of five neighbors and loosely the whole fifth grade.  And then the sixth grade.  And so on.

I soon realized that keeping my thoughts in a notebook was an excellent way to relieve crushing boredom at school, work, or even a Grateful Dead concert. (Sorry, my dear deadheads, but in my defense, I was sober.) I became a voracious eavesdropper, yet somehow I got through most of my life without ever hearing about 4-20. According to one notebook, I did partake in high school.  (ha ha. high school,  get it?)  WHFS always used to play that inspirational anthem "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" on the radio, and we wouldn't go in to school until the song was over.

But I digress.

Although the expression was once credited to followers of the Dead, the real story happened at a school far away from my own in San Rafael, California. In the early 1970s, an informal smoking crew called "the Waldos" used to meet at 4:20 after school to discuss all things cannabis.  (Man, the internet is like one giant notebook, isn't it? ) The Huffington Post has the full story.

San Rafael High School paper

Celebrate the foggy legends of 420 with Better Off Dead and the Black Muddy River Band at Gypsy Sally's on Saturday, of course. 

If that's not your thing, The Luce Unplugged concert series is happening on Friday at the American Art Museum with one of my favorite bands We Were Pirates. Art, music and libations all together in one beautiful room.

Black Holes and Gravity

Yesterday we Earthlings were treated to the first known photograph of a black hole in outer space.  The event sparked manic joy in the scientific world, but this dark matter, molecule ripping, suck station is not my favorite example of a black hole. I would say that honor belongs to a much smaller orifice found in the middle of a vinyl disc.

Once upon a time in a galaxy not so far away called Rockville, Skip Groff opened a record shop in an otherwise banal shopping center appropriately named Sunshine Plaza. This seemingly ordinary store produced a mysterious gravitational pull which sucked kids like Henry Rollins and Ian MacKaye right out of DC and into Yesterday and Today Records. Sunshine Plaza was never the same.

Ian MacKaye with the luminary Skip Groff@ 9:30 Club 1984

The mystery was solved a few weeks ago when a cosmic cloud of local talent gathered to pay their respects to Skip who left us in February.  He was the star that pulled customers into his realm and shed light with his encyclopedic knowledge of music and his sympathetic ear.  Henry Rollins flew in from LA to say goodbye. Both Henry and Ian spoke of the many legendary trips in a beat up car from DC to Rockville just to talk to Skip and see what was new. Both attributed their musical careers, which include bands like Black Flag and Minor Threat, to Skip. Ian started Dischord Records. Mark Noone of the Slickee Boys remembered his visits to the store:

"I met Kim Kane there before I ever considered that I might some day be in Slickee Boys. My buddy Mike Dignan drove me there to get the materials that I would need to practice so I could audition for Slickee Boys. We used to go up there before that just to see who would be there. It was a church; a shrine. Skip Groff changed lives, including mine. He believed in people. He validated the thing we did and encouraged us to want to do it."

This Saturday is Record Store Day, and although Skip is gone, his comrades remain. Please support our local record stores. Joe's Record Paradise is having a listening party from 3-6 p.m. Here's a link to more choices brought to you by DC 101, but a field trip to Frederick would have to include local musical stars Bob Berberich and Martha Hull's shop Vinyl Acres. Plus the punks from Snubbed Records are putting on a free show with live music at the Pie Shop starting at 4 pm.

Make Me Rock

"Ratso." Eddie Angel. Johnny "Shock" Castle. Jim Dougherty. Any of those names sound familiar? Once upon a time, children, back in the eighth decade of the last century, there lived amongst us a bad ass rock band called Switchblade.  Though short lived, this band kicked up the DC music scene and spawned many a would-be musician who came away from their shows inspired by the roar of our own local rock and one especially high octane pompadour.

And now, stay tuned if you will,  for the Switchblade reunion is coming up on the first weekend of May at Villain and Saint, a somewhat intimate club perched on the edge of Bethesda. DC ROCKS is giving you the heads up now because both of the shows will probably sell out. 

No April Fool. 

In the mean time, here's the easily amendable calendar for

APRIL

1

American Television/ Alright/Late Bloomer @ Galaxy Hut

4

Thrillbillys@ JV

6

King Soul @ Takoma VFW

7

Chill Parents/ Ryan Harvey/ Conrado Music/ Company Calls 

@ Slash Run

11

Rhodes Tavern Troubadours @ Takoma VFW

Heavy Pets/ Suga Grits @ Gypsy Sally's

12

Little Red and Renegades @ Haydees

Karl Stoll/ Mojo Nixon @ JV

13

Record Store Day show free @ Pie Shop

Crooks and Crows @ Takoma VFW

On the Bus/ Ron Holloway @ Villain and Saint

14

Dave Chappell and Tommy Lepsom @ JV

Thrillbillys @ Villain and Saint

18 

Thrillbillys @ JV

20

District Funk Fest @ Pie Shop

Better off Dead/ Muddy River Band @ Gypsy Sally's 

22

Alex Parez and the Hell Rojos/ Lost Fox @ Galaxy Hut

25

Dave Chappell @ JV

Thrillbillys @ Takoma VFW

26

Lunch with Bob @ Takoma VFW

26-28 

Breakin Even Punk Fest @ Pie Shop

27

Valentine Slim @ Takoma VFW

Play Ball

Since today is Opening Day for the Nats, I have a story about both music and baseball. Last spring I met Hank Thomas at a tribute to Billy Hancock.  We must have crossed paths in the past. Hank used to manage Poseurs and the Psyche Delly. We had a brief conversation, but what with Washington being the small town that it is, I soon realized that our grandfathers were acquainted with each other.  I even have a letter from his grandfather to mine and an old photograph of the two of them moldering away in a family album.

I don't know how Roger Calvert met Walter Johnson, but I'm sure he was fan. Walter Johnson played ball for the Senators for 21 years back in the day when your home team actually meant something, and players weren't traded away like baseball cards. I also learned a lot about Walter Johnson from Jake Flack's song "Big Train" which should be on every baseball fan's play list.

As far as music this weekend Friday there's a free rockabilly show with the Flea Bops and Aaron LeBeau at the Pie Shop on H St NE. This might be my new favorite venue. Great sound, a nice space both indoors and roof top, and PIE! Also on Friday,  Crooks and Crows are honky tonkin' at the Takoma VFW which is always a fun place. 

The Cherry People are at Jammin' Java. Yes, The Cherry People. I had to read that twice myself. The Cherry People were a local sensation during the swinging sixties and seventies of the last century. This performance is billed as a final show with original players Chris and Doug Grimes and Jan Zukowski. 

And on Sunday you can catch King Soul livening things up after the game at the Bull Pen.  A very cool way to finish off the weekend with both baseball and music.

Cobwebs and Strange

Staring at the ceiling wondering what to write about this week, my eye falls on those pesky cobwebs I keep meaning to knock down. I think what the heck are those things anyway and what exactly is a cob?  A quick tour of the web comes up with everything from magical fairy creations to a slightly more rational theory concerning sticky abandoned spider webs. I also find out that a "cob" is translated from the Middle English "coppe" meaning spider which seems like a stretch to me, but, as my Greek grandmother used to say " there you go." I look for a video and find Cobwebs and Strange  an aptly named little piece by The Who featuring a lot of drums and a small scream from Keith Moon. (Crank this baby up full blast to wake up your comatose teenager.) Speaking of moons, tonight is the last of the Three in a Row Super Moon Set of 2019. Look for this moon rise a little before 7 pm, just an hour after Official Arrival of Spring at 5:58 pm aka the Equinox.

Get on your fairy helmets- it's going to be a witchy kind of evening and a perfect one for "Sweeping Cobwebs off the Moon."

O.K. I'll stop now.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming. There's a lot of music this weekend from Dead covers to...well,  the sky's the limit. Ok, stopping now. For real.

Support our musical tribe, DC!

Here's some suggestions for budget conscious rock n roll animals:

22

The Nighthawks @ Pearl St Warehouse (free!)

King Congo's Birthday Party @ Comet Ping Pong

The Hall Bros. @ College Park Legion

23

The Outpatients @ JV ( 4 pm)

Split Seconds @ Dangerous Pies

Cravin Dogs @ Red Bear Brewery

Riverbreaks/ Suspect Class/ Beanstalk Library @ Union Stage

The Oklahoma Twisters @ College Park Legion

Elikeh @ Gypsy Sally's

Shout Out to the Inimitable Boz

This week brought long anticipated Spring weather to our area with bright sun and mild temperatures, but Charles Dickens said it best:

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold:  when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. "

Flowers are so ready to bloom that I swear a clump of daffodils opened while my back was turned filling the bird feeder. 

surprise

Enjoy our little town this weekend. It may be the last before the mosh pit of cherry blossom pilgrims arrives. Speaking of mosh pits,  St Patrick's Day is upon us or, as professional bartenders like to call it, "amateur night." I would say celebrate at home with corned beef and cabbage, but, like many St Patrick's Day celebrations, that custom is an American thing. Back in the old country, lamb was a more traditional dish.

Another reasonable alternative to dying your hair to match that chartreuse beer might be the early (4 p.m.) Sunday show at Villain and Saint with Suga Grits and Surprise Attack.  You can be home a half an hour before the devil knows you left. 

You Turn Me On

Sometime in the late 1980s, I turned to WAMU to get away from commercial radio. WHFS had been my go-to station for years, but the price of becoming increasingly popular was taking its toll with more and more commercial interruption as they say in the biz. Now I have a hard time listening to WAMU's supposedly commercial free broadcast. The bombardment of pre-recorded mini commercials masquerading as a list of sponsors is driving me bonkers. Yes,  I understand that programming is expensive because they tell me so every few minutes and 3 or 4 times a year with endlessly annoying fund raising campaigns. Such is the price of success.

That being said, I realize I am an eccentric old whiner. I do think public broadcasting is very important. I just wish NPR and the like could come up with a more creative fund raising plan.

When I can't take the professional drone of WAMU anymore, I am grateful for old school and very local WPFW. Just yesterday I heard a strange melange of sound bites about incarceration punched up by 10 seconds of Marvin Gaye's "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," a short bout of dead air, and a real person apologizing for hitting the wrong button. I love that. Even their fundraisers are low key, and I smile when I hear the deejay call out new members by hitting the kind of bell I associate with summoning bell hops in old movies.



WPFW keeps DC real for me. And so do local musicians playing original music in funky little places or a one of a kind film fest brought to you by fellow local eccentric Brian D. Horrorwitz.




8

Color School @ Gypsy Sally's Vinyl Lounge 

Cravin' Dogs/ Trophy Husbands @ Villain and Saint

Hall Brothers @ College Park Legion

9

King Soul @ Villain and Saint

10

The Bob Band @ JV

The Thrillbillys @ Villain and Saint

11

Psych Out Cinema @ Slash Run

Marching In

The lions of March have stomped into our town with an icy mess today, but Mardi Gras is coming. I just returned from New Orleans where, even on an ordinary day, a simple walk outside can turn up a rooster guarded intersection, a man riding a horse down Mystery Street, and a white wading bird wandering down the sidewalk.

photo by Derek Huston

This year I will miss waking up Mardi Gras morning with Kiki and wandering down to Lorelei's place in the Marigny, but I did see a really big car last weekend which is how crewe royalty rolls.

Here are a few picture postcards to get you in the mood for those of you who "know

 what it means

to miss New Orleans."

Muses by Derek Huston

Back here in D.C., the Wharf has a free Mardi Gras party going on all Saturday afternoon including a free show with the Grandsons early and The Crawdaddies later at Pearl Street Warehouse. Also  look for Little Red and the Renegades throwing it down at the New Deal Cafe.  On Tuesday, Clarendon still does its parade, and although I don't usually mention out of town bands, Hill Country is hosting Eric Lindell and Cowboy Mouth which might be the best place to be if you can't be you-know-where.

MARCH ON

1

Nighthawks @ Takoma VFW

2

Little Red @New Deal Cafe

5 

*Happy Mardi Gras*

Eric Lindell/ Cowboy Mouth @ Hill Country

7

Thrillbillys @ JV

8

Cravin' Dogs/ Trophy Husbands @ Villain and Saint

9

King Soul @ Villain and Saint

10

The Bob Band @ JV

The Thrillbillys @ Villain and Saint

11

Psych Out Cinema @ Slash Run

14

The Rhodes Tavern Troubadours @ Takoma VFW

17

Suga Grits/ Surprise Attack @ Villain and Saint

22

King Congo's Birthday Bash @ Comet Pingpong

23

Split Seconds etc @ Dangerous Pies

27

Surfer Joe/ Hall Monitors/ Atomic Mosquitos

28

The Thrillbillys @ Takoma VFW

31

the Very Small / Neuro Farm @ Rock n Roll Hotel

Lists

I used to make a lot of lists when I was bored in high school. And I was bored most of the time. Travel lists. Lists of books to read and books I'd read. Lists of songs I liked and lyrics I admired.

I made a list of what I hoped my life would be like. A farm. A bunch of kids, dogs and livestock. Writers and musicians would hang out at my house.

What?
It was the Seventies.

I took life drawing and sheep keeping in college. I lived in a place we called the Dog House. My housemate Alan Kresse documented the scene.

The farm never happened, although the artists and musician did stay in my life. Sometimes whole bands show up at my door.

 I feel lucky that so many of my friends have hidden or out right talent in the art department of life, but, like my old pal Alan, most of them are undercover agents.  They work in coffee shops, libraries and construction.  They are teachers, bartenders, gardeners, and housekeepers. One of my oldest friends had both carpentry and gardening skills. His art was working with stone and making beautiful paths, but after he was gone, I found piles of drawing pads full of beautiful sketches under his bed.

This week the D.C. scene lost a very important someone who helped countless undercover and underground artists find both their tribe and their music. Skip Groff was a local deejay as well the proprietor and sage of Yesterday and Today Records. When he opened the store in 1977, he may have single-handedly saved Rockville from a bad case of banality. Plus the ever nurturing Skip produced a panoply of local talent on his own label Limp. Bands on the list included Minor Threat, The Slickee Boys, Velvet Monkeys, Black Market Baby, Tommy Keene, Nightman, The Nurses, and (the) Razz.

Although Skip has left us, his legacy will surely live on.

Skip @ WMUC 1967 from his archives

Thank you, Mr Groff. For everything.                                                                                                                  

Bands to consider this weekend include Bold Deceivers and Jelly Roll Mortals at the Takoma VFW Friday night,

or these folks at Comet Ping Pong,

and a rare 4 p.m. matinee with The Thrillbillys at JVs on Saturday.

Annabell Lee and Ziggy LOVE

Romantic love may not always work out the way we hope, but we can sometimes take solace in poetry or perchance with a bottle. In Baltimore you can indulge in both at one of my favorite watering holes, the Annabell Lee Tavern. Images of Poe grace every wall, and themed cocktails such as the "Purloined Letter" allow us to wallow happily in melancholia.

For those who are actually looking forward to Valentine's Day, musical possibilities abound this weekend kicking off with the Rhodes Tavern Troubadours' love-in at the Takoma VFW on Thursday. Why kill yourself for a dinner reservation when you can bring a couple of hotdogs along with your companion to the VFW? This has got to be the ultimate cheap date. There's no cover, the music starts at 7, and is done by 10.

Friday night a tribute show will honor the genius of David Bowie at Villain and Saint.  To me Bowie's songs transfigure every day life into a Ziggy Stardust kind of love.  Some are calling the event "Spiders From Marshall" with a "collection of kooks" which sounds perfect to me

although the official call is a "David Bowie Valentine."

Saturday, also at Villain and Saint, The Vi-Kings will take the stage with their psycho-active 1960s dance party.  Both shows are only 10 bucks. (Crunching the numbers,  I think that racks it up to about 75 cents per musician.)

Last but not least on Sunday Dangerously Delicious Pies founder Rodney Henry will be throwing down some rock-a billy punk kind of thing at his renovated for music pie shop on H Street NE with The Glenmont Popes.  Veteran players Jimmy Swope and Justin Jones are also on this top notch bill.

Please check DC ROCkS' calendar for more choices to support our local scene.

Tonight

Here's a quick heads up from our friend Bill Hanke, and a reminder that free music happens right under our noses at the Kennedy Center's Millennium stage every single day at 6 p.m. All you have to do is show up.


"In 1998 there was a band called The Route 11 Boys. When they broke up- half became Old Crow, half became Hackensaw Boys. Despite being able to whip the crowd into a frenzy with their original style of Americana, the strange world of "popularity" has not come knocking for these road warriors. Playing roadhouses throughout Appalachia for 20 years, they honed their skills to a razor-sharp edge."

All Together Now

When I was little, my parents didn't turn me on to a lot of contemporary music. Consequently, in 1964, I had Captain Kangaroo in my vinyl collection and no earthly idea of what was going on at the Washington Coliseum on February 11th.  The Beatles played their first concert here.  In Washington D.C. Without me.

This weekend I'm still unaware of most things, but there are a few extra curricular activities on my radar. The "House of Champions" closing reception is tomorrow night at Gallery O on H.  The show features photographs by Michael Horsley who had the presence of mind to prowl around D.C. with his camera in the 1980s when many thought nothing was happening.

For those of you mourning the downsizing of the Black Cat, the reincarnated Red Room Bar will be opening this weekend with promises of being a cover free space -even during shows. Check it out here.

In New Orleans, Mardi Gras is not so much about a certain Tuesday, but more about a season of parades and parties which ends on March 5th in 2019.  Celebrate the in-between time with a Little Red and the Renegades dance party at Haydees on Friday. No cover!

Saturday Beatle fans, who might have missed the boat like I did, can check out the myriad of local talent involved with the Newmyer Flyer Love Song show at the Hamilton.

Sunday afternoon bring your "canned food and such" and browse for cool stuff at the Punk Flea Market/ Food Drive at DC-9 which is happening at 3 p.m. in the afternoon.

Finally you can show off your flea market finds Sunday evening  at Villain and Saint when the Thrillbillys invade Bethesda with what we hope will become a monthly gig. The five dollar cover gives you a lot of rocking bang for your buck and will go a long way to curing those sinking "oh crap, it's Sunday night" blues.

Old Man Winter

The bitter cold yesterday reminds us that Mother Nature and her little sidekick Old Man Winter are always in charge. Color me perverse, but I like seeing vestiges of snow out there reminding us that the season is indeed winter.  Winter should be winter.

When I lived in California, the thing I missed most about the East coast was the vivid change of seasons.  Spring here in D.C. is outrageously beautiful starting with the white blooms of the star magnolia and peaking with the cherry tree thing. The darker greens of Summer are announced by fireflies, and that first crimson maple leaf on the sidewalk is a bright harbinger of more colors to follow. Now we are back to winter again, and even as I write an unexpected snow is falling which gets me jazzed up and thinking about making pancakes to celebrate.  I won't apologize.  Snow has always floated my boat. Here's proof.

For those of you winter weary pilgrims thinking I am nuts, there's a a slew of shows to warm things up.  This weekend, especially Saturday, Ground Hog Day, which, by the by, is a great movie to watch  in winter.  Looking into my crystal ball, I see all kinds of music kicking off with the Cravin' Dogs and Wicked Sycamore tonight.

On Saturday: The Yachtsmen, Seven Door Sedan and Apollo 66 will be tearing things up at the Silver Spring American Legion, the 18th Buddy Holly Tribute features a zillion players at the Rock Creek Mansion,

We Were Pirates, a perennial favorite, is back with  a CD release party at the Rock n Roll Hotel

and "There Will be Cake, " a phrase sure to grab my attention,  means a bunch of bands at Slash Run.

For those avoiding the pigskin festivities on Sunday chill out with Vintage #18 at JV.

Here's a partial list of what else is going on round town the rest of the month.  Please send along your suggestions.

FEBRUARY

1

Cravin' Dogs/Wicked Sycamore @ Takoma VFW

2

The Yachtsmen/ 7 Door Sedan/ Apollo 66 @ Silver Spring American Legion

Buddy Holly Tribute @ Rock Creek Mansion

There Will Be Cake @ Slash Run

We Were Pirates CD party @ Rock n Roll Hotel

3

Vintage #18 @ JV Matinee @ 4 pm

A Suite for Gil Scott Heron @ Millennium Stage

4

A Video Tribute to LuX Interior and the Cramps @ Slash Run

8

Red Room Opening @ Black Cat

10 

Punk Flea Market @ DC-9

Thrillbillys @ Villain and Saint

12

Hackensaw Boys @ Millennium Stage

14 

Rhodes Tavern Troubadours @ VFW

15

Bowie Valentine @ Villain and Saint

Valentine Slim @ Takoma VFW

16

The Vi-Kings @ Villain and Saint

Rock-A-Sonics @ Glen Echo Ballroom

17

Justin Jones. Rodney Henry/Jimmy Swope @ The Pie Shop

18

The Yachtsmen @ Galaxy Hut

23

Thrillbilly Matinee @ JV @ 4

28 

Suga Grits/ Black Masala/Surprise Attack/Nkula @ Gypsy Sally's

Dave Chappell @ JV