All You Need Is

The Beatles knocked out this country with a cultural and musical punch that has not been equaled since 1964. All that practice in Hamburg, the artistic touches of Astrid Kirchherr and the brilliance of Brian Epstein and George Martin delivered those lads into a bedlam that American girls were more than happy to provide. But the question wasn't how much do you love the Beatles; the question was which one ?

I was pretty young when the band landed here, but when I was old enough to know better, I went for the one with the temper who was thrown out of art school. Yeah, yeah yeah- it was John Lennon for me.

That bad teddy boy would have been 75 on Friday so this Saturday Ronnie Newmyer has rounded up a host of local talent at the Hamilton to pay tribute to a man we lost too soon. The Hamilton is one of my favorite venues to see a band, and this show promises to deliver a lot of music in the name of love.

Rain Rain (WON"T)Go Away-Event Cancelled

The first Sunday in October usually brings stellar, shades-wearing weather. I know this because I've been going to the Takoma Park Street Festival for twenty plus years now wading happily through food on a stick type vendors, activists, crafts and, best of all, music everywhere.  It's definitely a party for all ages.

Like Godzilla, this free event has taken over most of Old Town, and bands no longer play right on the tarmac, but that's a good thing. Music stages now anchor both ends, plus there's live music going on in the gazebo in the middle.

 Eighteen local bands will be bringing it on with a truckload of talent. It's a great way to see what this area has to offer.

The festival happens rain or shine, but may not be hurricane proof. Hit the link above for updates on the weather situation as well as the band schedules, beer crawl instructions, etc.

Cool Cause Rocks

Benefit your ears, and help the Cancer Can Rock folks capture solace at JV's this Wednesday.
Too many top local musicians /"special" guests to name (from the Thrillbilly gang to Martha Hull, too!)  You never know who will show up or what will happen at events like this. All good.

A Rumble in Georgetown

Sometimes I wonder whatever happened to Georgetown? Since the 1980s so many night clubs have fallen right and left, morphing into clothing stores and chains. The Bayou on K Street. A movie house.  Cellar Door at 34th and M a sandwich shop. And Desperados was just across the street - next to Sunny's Surplus where all the hippies used to shop.  My friend Shelley was recently reminiscing about being at Despos the night that John Lennon died. Billy and the Shakes was playing and, after absorbing the shock,  the band began covering Beatles tunes for the rest of the night.
Sure, the neighborhood is a lot quieter now.
And a lot duller.

But there is a (relatively) new venue called Gypsy Sally's in a super secret location down on K Street near the Key Bridge. The club has great bones with numerous tables, a dance floor and a decent sound system. Plus there's a funky little auxiliary bar slung along one side called the Vinyl Lounge. This Friday night's shoot out show between the Texas Chainsaw Horns and King Soul means only one thing. A really fun time. The Chainsaw gang leans more toward Tower of Power, and King Soul seamlessly stacks originals with B sides Memphis style. Both bands will be throwing it down in a crazy ass "blue eyed battle,"  a post Pope Frankie dance party taylor made to set your soul free.

Places and People That Aren't Gone

Fall is in the air, and with it comes a certain slant of light which reminds me of a Slickees Boys' song called "Your Autumn Eyes," a melancholy little ballad unlike the usual frantic beat of this gone away band. But before you Summer People plummet into Seasonal Despair, there's plenty of opportunity to get your nostalgia fix this temperate weekend. For instance homeboy favorite Tommy Keene is back in town for one night only at IOTA on Friday.

And Saturday Marshall Keith (ex-Slickee) and company will be up at the slightly spooky historic Hyattstown Mill for an annual shindig they like to call "Revolve." Then back here, in the no man's land between Bethesda and Rockville, the original folks of  Goin' Goin' Gone will be holding forth at one of the area's last standing honky-tonks Hank Dietles on the Pike with the almighty guitar slinger Dan Hovey on board for the evening.

Feast Your Ears Once More

I feel my little news black out is slowly winding down partially due to sheer soul crunching boredom in my car which is not set up for satellite or fancy things. For weeks now I've trolled through the musical wasteland on my radio only to come up with, at best, an exhausted Springsteen tune shoehorned between endless commercials.

It didn't used to be this way. Once upon a time DC had a panoply of good straight ahead rock, soul and college stations, although the penultimate sweet spot for many of us was 102.3 FM. 'HFS.
 This "Home grown radio" station was born in Bethesda and featured complicated on air personalities bent on tuning us in to the music that turned them on, not some corporate cat's play list.  Even the weather was delivered by someone who perhaps got wet on the way to the studio, thus inspiring a whole queue of rain songs for their first set.

No one was yelling at us to buy things.  Unlike the cold calculations of corporations based on sales, both local and national musicians liked to drop by the studio for an impromptu chat. These radio people were our cohorts and companions whether it was during the day when they alleviated the tedium of a drive round the Beltway, or deep into the night when Weasel, muttering and chattering through his late shift, let us know we weren't alone in those sometimes woebegone wee hours.

Wish you could go back? Jay Schlossburg does- so much so that he is making a documentary which he and his crew hope will capture those crazy times atop the Triangle Towers. This Saturday night, there's a big kick starter party at Villain and Saints back in the hood where it all began featuring the Rhodes Tavern Troubadours playing with their original guitar hero Dave Chappell, plus Marti Jones and Don Dixon, Jon Carroll, original WHFS staff and more. You can choose to schmooze or just come for the show. It's not a huge place so get your tickets ahead of time to guarantee entry and help make this film dream become a reality.

What Good Is Life in the Jet Age Without Music?

Right in tune with my ongoing news and talking heads blackout, a rather appropriate press release flew across my desk this morning like a miniature missile:

"It's been another shitty year in America, another year where I have to really wonder what the hell I've gotten my kids into," says Eric Tischler, songwriter, guitarist and singer for The Jet Age, about the inspiration behind his band's latest record, Destroy. Rebuild." 

I'm listening to the new CD now. (instead of the usual NPR Morning Edition)  The songs are dark and mesmerizing, but not depressing, and this DC born and bred project bottles up a crazy mad energy which emerged straight out of Eric Tischler's home studio. Fortunately for us The Jet Age will be unleashing that genie this Saturday night at Villain and Saints in Bethesda.

Also on Saturday, across the river at IOTA, Herschel Hoover has set up another crazy line up of bands he loves to turn people onto while playing a rather mean set himself with his group the Chess Club Romeos. The last euphonX event Herschel threw was so much fun that I stayed out past my bed time.

Punk Still Kicking

Gina Harlow and the Cutthroats used to play joints like CBGB in the hey day of that scene, but Gina's reformed and relocated to our burg. Give 'em a warm slamming kind of welcome this Thursday at the Treehouse Lounge. The Cutthroats share the bill with cow punks and shore punks-so don't look for guitar solos here.

Curate Your Weekend

Hello there, dear readers. This reporter is still blissing out in a self imposed news ban bubble, but I've heard things here and there. None of them good, of course- some even horrifying- so I think I'll linger off the grid a little longer this last weekend of summer.

Instead I'm thinking about my friends both past and present. I'm thinking how lucky I am to have so many close relationships with fellow earthlings, although too often the natural consequence of these connections can lead to abrupt heartbreak due to that dude the Grim Reaper. Throw in limiting time factors- things like jobs and other commitments, and our companions can fall by the wayside. Perhaps an extra day tacked on to this weekend is a good chance to curate your crew, so why not call up a friend or two and go get crabs?  (Ha. I'll bet you thought I was going to say go see live music. Right? Did I get you?)

Down at Maine Avenue the construction cranes might out number the boats, but you can still find Captain White and his neighbors peddling seafood on their floating barges- at least for now. The master plan for waterfront development calls for these anachronistic markets to stay, but eviction rumors are flying, and when push comes to shove we all know who tends to lose. In the meantime make your protest loud and clear by getting your Chesapeake crustacean fix at this DC institution. And speaking of native life, Trouble Funk, EU and more will be playing The Howard this Sunday. If you call yourself a music lover, and you don't know who Big Tony is, do NOT miss this show. And if you do know, then you already know you want to go-go.
Take a friend.

No News Is What It Is

It's been over a month since I heard the news. Any news. Normally I am a bit of a NPR junkie flipping on an audio trail of radios all over the house from the time I wake up until I can't take it anymore around 7 p.m. Traveling overseas completely severed this routine except for one morning in Paris when we woke up to an inordinate amount of helicopter noise. I jumped on the internet just to make sure nothing major had happened near the Eiffel tower where we staying, but the only 'breaking news' I could find centered on a vacationing couple who had inadvertently left behind their three year old  in a rest stop en route to Marseille.

In Greece, I didn't hear any news, but, despite the overwhelming financial problems there, my cousins were very worried about Donald Trump being elected. I had to reassure them that this was only a vuvouzela chorus of pre election weirdness. (And as my good friend Anne would say, babies not even conceived of yet will be born before November 2016)

And so my little self imposed boycott goes on. I remain not woefully but deliberately ignorant for now, listening to music instead, and since DC ROCKS rarely offers riffs on the news, the lack of breaking updates in my brain should make no difference here.

That being said this weekend's forecast is sunny and musical. Check DC ROCKS' side bar calendar for bands playing everything from pool parties to night clubs starting with Dave Chappell at JV's Thursday night to an early gig with Goin' Goin' Gone, Ruthie and the Wranglers and more this Sunday afternoon at Sligo Cafe.

Return of a Native

photo by Mark A Noone

Greetings Readers

After flying all day from the future which was morning in Paris through a time warp somewhere over Greenland to what I think is six hours in the past here in Washington DC, I think I am back..
(at least my body is here- just don't ask me what time it is)

Where is everybody?

Hello? Anyone there?

I know where you are.

Places like Maine, Ocean City, the mountains- anywhere but here in town. But it's nice in DC with so many people gone away- especially all those pesky politicians and their minions, and, as long as you don't venture down to the tourist spots, we're left with lots more places to park. Hard to believe that in   about a week the DC schools will be back in session, and traffic will snarl anew.

For those of you still hanging around, Chip Py, occasional DC ROCKS photographer, has a gig tomorrow evening at Martin Luther King Library about his adventures in the go-go world which include documenting the sadly late but always great Chuck Brown.

DC ROCKS AWOL

Dear Readers

Sorry to abandon the ship, but transmitting from overseas is proving to be a technological effort beyond my ken resulting in colossal futility. Watch this space for things returning to something akin to normal sometime in mid-August. Until then, hang in there DC. Try to stay cool without me... (Ha!)

Let's Go Honky Tonkin Round This Town

Roadhouse. Tavern. Honky Tonk. Dare I say dive? These are the places where DC ROCKS feels most at home. This Saturday night Ruthie and the Wranglers will be throwing it down with The Thrillbillys at the new and improved but still small enough to rub elbows with everyone JV's  in Virginia. This show is sure to be a hoot- a revved up rocking version of a hootenanny.

Not to be outdone, over in Maryland, Hank Dietle's Tavern now has Curley-S Q BBQ's truck in the yard (check their website for time) with Monsters from the Surf and Jumpin' Jupiter in the house to work off that pig.

When We Go to the Beach

One of the great things about living in Washington, D.C. is our sweet spot location between the mountains and the shore. However, judging by the traffic on Route 50 every weekend, I think the beach "wins" by a long shot, and always has. Many of my summer memories go way back to an old hotel in Ocean City, Maryland called the Del-Mar which had a dining room, rocking chairs on the double decker porches and beds with sunken mattresses.  My brother and I shared one bed which was okay except we tended to end up in the exact same space, and then a lot of kicking ensued. Remember that "I Love Lucy" episode when they all slept in a cabin by the railroad tracks? Fred and Ethel had the bunks, and Lucy had to tuck Ricky into their bed with a tight fitting sheet so they both wouldn't roll down to the middle... It was like that.

This summer you don't have to fight traffic to experience the seashore. The Building Museum has got our backs on this with its own version of "The Beach" - a 10,000 square foot space devoted to the illusion of sand, sea and light. Admission (which includes access to the entire museum) seems a bit stiff at first - $16 for adults and $13 for kids, but maybe that's because I am spoiled rotten having grown up with the Smithsonian Institution. Today, and every day, the weather at "The Beach" is 70 degrees with no chance of rain, and when you think about it, the entry fee is not much more than a movie. Plus one million translucent balls don't come cheap.

photo by Christine Hansen Martin

Crazy Cat Round Up

Imagine herding cats. (aka musicians)  How many could you get on a stage for one evening? Take your typical rock band which has 4 or 5 people involved, odds are one of them forgets to check their email on a regular basis, one travels for work and yet another is in two other bands. Now add a bath tub on that stage because there is always going to be some kind of extra problem about getting there or parking or not having all your cables and mike stands.

Enter Herschel Hoover, cat wrangler extraordinaire from Chess Club Romeos, who dreams big. He wanted The Romeos to play on a bill which would feature his eclectic taste in music and his favorite bands- hoping to turn people on to all kinds of music in one fell swoop. The result is euphonX -eight bands playing at IOTA this Saturday. Yes, eight bands doing half hour sets starting at 6 p.m. and running all night.  Just twelve dollars for a lot of crazy cats.

Come Outside DC

Now that we are deep in the heart of summer, the Fort Reno Concert Series is back in business starting tomorrow at 7 p.m. and happening Mondays and Thursdays through out the month of July.  If you've always wondered why that little stage is there- set seemingly at random in a park on the highest hill in Washington, then now is the time to find out. Tomorrow's bands are East West Hwy, Sara Curtin and The Fuss. I'll be there for a lot of the shows, but will sadly miss Jack On Fire July 27 so somebody please let me know how that goes.

Comin' Comin' Back

Goin' Goin' Gone hasn't been around for a long long time, but now the band is back, back back with  members whose names will be familiar to people who have been in the DC music scene for a while: David Goodfriend, Russ Beeker, Nick Ruggieri and Mitch Mitchell. GGG has already had a few gigs under its new belt, so they are ready to go, go go. See them live and in person Saturday night at Hank Dietles on da Pike, and bring bring back some memories.  Here is the scoop from David Goodfriend:

"Late last year Russ and I talked about putting the band back together, and I knew he was ready to do it.  Mitch Mitchell, who played bass in GGG for over a decade, and I have been playing together for the last 5 years.  Both he and Nick Ruggieri, who played drums in GGG for a few years, were up for another go round.

It's the four of us for now. We will add a 5th piece when we find the right one.  We really miss being onstage and rocking,and Russ and I have gotten much better at writing through the years.For now we have a few originals in the mix including one I just wrote.  We've gone through old set lists and brought back the songs we thought were our best.  

While it is of course a reunion, we look at it as more of a continuation.  We'll do some of the old tunes we know people dug and add lots of new ones as we go along."

It's All In How You Look At It

I like rock and I like stars, but the last time I went to a super star rock concert,  I wondered why am I paying all this money to sit in the back of a sports stadium and look at a gigantic screen?

Instead, for a mere $10 I can see four hard rocking working bands including The Beatnik Flies this Thursday at the Tree House Lounge- a joint not even big enough to hold a jumbo-tron.  The Flies are a hard act to catch these days, and they never fail to knock me out.

By the by- speaking of knock-outs-we get two full moons this month. Moon Number One will be working its show all night long tonight- literally from sunset until sunrise. (none of that sneaking up during the day biz here) The "once in a blue moon" will be happening July 31. Watch them both alive and in person if you can.

Experiment

The Split Seconds have a history of the DC music scene wrapped up in their new project of original music. Lead singer Drew grew up listening to Discord bands and seeing DC players out and about. You can check their sound out here, but better yet- go see them. Live music is always an experiment so get in the laboratory with these guys and see what happens at Wonderland Ballroom Thursday with The Long Knives and fellow DC group The Prahns.

I Survived 9:30 and Lived to Tell About It

For those of you who wonder where the heck the writer of this blog came from- I'd have to say it all started with a bizarre little haunt down on F Street called the 9:30 Club. I grew up wandering Georgetown listening to street musicians and going to concerts in little places like the Pour House Pub or big ones like Constitution Hall and the Capital Centre, but the 9:30 Club was … well, different. It drew a certain kind of a person- crazy, creative, passionate people. Current co-owner Seth Hurwitz called it "the Island of Misfit Toys."

I couldn't agree more.

 And I couldn't make these people up. They are my friends.

I was in college when Dody DiSanto and John Bowers turned a decrepit building into an art venue. My first show sometime in the early '80s was Kurtis Blow although I had no idea just where we were headed or what we were going to see the night a bunch of my Maryland housemates and I decamped for F Street in a Ford Falcon station wagon. It was such a cool place that I was surprised they let me in.

Thanks to my friend and music muse, Peter Alsberg, dc space and the 9:30 Club became the places we wanted to be, and that in turn led to meeting a lot of local artists and musicians- many of whom worked in bars. (Imagine that.) Some of you might remember Mark Hall with his black cap, black jeans (black pretty much everything) serving drinks and video dee-jaying behind the bar during happy hour Wednesday through Friday.

Music videos were the rage, and Mark's taste ran from Dear God by XTC to Run-DMC's Walk This Way with Aerosmith. At the end of his shift,  Mark would chase customers away with strategically quiet classical music while the doormen extracted cover charges from patrons wishing to stay for the show.  Quite a few bands like Troublefunk, Tru-fax, Insect Surfers and Beatnik Flies are still playing- giving me fodder to write about.

A lot of art and music erupted from that tiny hole in the wall, but no film or book has yet to fully capture this "place and time."  While we are waiting for that project to happen, "Salad Days"  (showing again tomorrow at AFI) gives a nod to that community, as does the recently re-released book Banned in DC. A must for any DC punk rock lover.