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.