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And to finish up this weekend with a bang- look at all the folks gathering at Jammin Java Sunday for the equivalent of a DC music old home week punk style rock family reunion extravaganza kicking off with The Beatnik Flies EARLY at 7:30 and rocking on until the last band is hear from. If you don't recognize some of these bands you will recognize a lot of the players from groups like Government Issue, Black Market Baby, Minor Threat and The Slickee Boys. Bring the kids and show 'em how it's done.

Party Party Weekend @ The 9:30 Club

Yes. It's Prabir and The Substitutes on Friday night AND a big rock show Saturday night BOTH at the The 9:30 Club, but what can you do? It happens. One is the future, one's from the past. And speaking of the past....


Mark Holmes, d.j./artist from the olden days at the 9:30 Club made schedules an art form. You can see an assortment of these framed in the basement of the new club where ghosts reside at the original back bar. (I sure have a boat load of memories there. My best friend once passed out and hit his chin on that bar twice in one night. Not to mention... well, don't get me started.) The 9:30 Club used to advertise itself as a place in time, and this Saturday night we can all get in that way back machine thanks to Marshall Keith (Slickee Boys, Ottley) who had a light bulb moment last summer at the DC Space benefit for Tom T:
I really liked the idea of a bunch of acts doing short sets. It kinda reminded me of those shows in the 60s where there would be a back up band, and then 10 acts would do 2 or 3 songs each. So Marshall grabbed the right person that very night, made his pitch, and now the idea is coming to life.
To all of us who were hanging out or playing in bands at the beginning of the DC new wave/punk scene, the 9:30 club is like Grandma's house. Makes me all warm & fuzzy.

Boyd Farrell (Black Market Baby, Rustbuckit) has a slightly different take on the old 9:30: The putrid smell of old beer and puke..I had to wash my clothes twice after spending just 5 minutes there.

Anyway.

Marshall especially wanted to get The New Standard on the bill since they missed playing the gig last summer. The New Standard emerged from a band called The Penetrators which formed in 1977 and played at The Atlantis- The 9:30 Club's first incarnation. In 1979 they opened for The Cramps at the LBJ Club - a gig listed in some music histories as DC's first true punk event according to George Dively, a founding member. In 1980 The Penetrators broke up, and George went on to reform the band as The New Standard with Mash LeGrande and Matt Makaio. As a three-piece 'power pop trio', we took quite a few people by surprise, playing songs at breakneck speed with complex chord changes and 'beatnik poetry' lyric.
The group has been on and off again over the years, but like a lot of these bands- they're seasoned musicians ready to throw it out there again. The 9:30 Club gig January 12 is an excellent opportunity for open-minded indie/alt music aficionados to revisit or discover one of DC's least-known 'great original bands'.

And the cover is $12- what a deal at just two bucks a band!!! (And don't worry the smell is gone- smoke free even)

Here's the low down from Marshall:

30 years over DC- The Resurgence: Limp records veterans in great new bands. We're doing condensed 30 minute sets so you hear la creme de la creme de la creme only. Former members of Razz, Penetrators, Slickee Boys, Black Market Baby, Velvet Monkees, Trenchmouth, White Boy, Crippled Pilgrims and more- Headlining the whole shBang is 9353. (our comrades from a couple of years later)
Doors open at 7:30.

8-8:30 The New Standard
8:45-9:15 Rustbuckit
9:30-10 Rambling Shadows
10:15-10:45 The Howling Mad
11-11:30 Ottley
11:45-12:15 9353

Click on the card below to read it and get a blast from the past-
Be sure to check out Sun 13

artwork by Mark Holmes 1981

Part Two: How Slickees Meet Flies... OR.... Who Is This Martin Guy Anyway?

When we last left our heroes, (below in yesterday's posting) they were still operating out of various bedrooms scattered across the DC area, but Martin wanted to get their sound recorded. Marshall remembers:

He had this whole concept. He was changing his name to Kim Kane for the record, and the band would be called The Slickee Boys. Martin grew up on a base in Korea, and "slickee boys" were street punks that sold the GIs black market items. He played us a few obscure 1960s punk songs that we learned. He gave me chords to a song he was trying to write. I added a bunch of lead guitar to it. He gave Martha three times as many lyrics as were needed, and she chopped them down to fit. "Hands slide down snakes, a curling black-eyed sweetness, we're in a mandarin red-veiled dream." I had an instrumental version of "Exodus" I was working on. The record was called Hot and Cool. We went in a studio, and actually recorded it. He took care of all the art work and printing, and we actually put it out. I was shocked!

Getting the outfits for the cover photo started us all on a lifelong fascination with thrift stores. It matched the music. We were playing music that no one wanted anymore, just like the clothes in the Good Will. Recycling to the max.

Meanwhile, those three lost beatnik boys of Bethesda had moved into a group house in Wheaton. It was 1976, and something happened that changed everything according to Joe Dolan:
Somehow we came into possession of a "NY ROCKER" magazine which featured a pictorial of the NYC punk scene. Well, that was it. It was like a revelation from God above. Out came the real amps and drum kits. We were possessed, we were going to be punk rockers ( I couldn't play the electric guitar for shit, but I wasn't going to let that stop me). We spent the next few years playing the usual basement, garage, friend's party etc., but we never played at real rock clubs because we didn't think we were good enough. Then somehow by the grace of the rock gods, we were invited to play at DC Space.
We were playing with Black Market Baby. The place was packed; it seemed like anyone who was anyone in the DC music scene was there. When we got up to play our set, I had my shades on. After a few numbers I took them off and the audience started shouting " put the shades back on" ( that's how the shade thing got started). After we finished playing, Skip Groff came up to talk to us. He told us we would be perfect with The Slickee Boys, so we gave him our number. Lo and behold, a few days later Kim Kane called us and invited us to play with them at the Psychedelly in Bethesda. The rest is history, I've long since lost track of how many times we've played with them, but the excitement has never left.

Get over to the Surf Club tomorrow night and you can catch the excitement yourself in a rare reunion of both The Beatnik Flies and The Slickee Boys. Get there early and check out Prabir. The show starts at 9 p.m. Don't miss it.




P.S. And TONIGHT another legendary band comes back to life- The Rosslyn Mountain Boys
are at El Boqueron II in Rockville. (And I can't help using the word legend. It's not an exaggeration- this town has quite a few.)

Bittersweet SHow @ 9:30 Tonight

The posters that were all over town some 20 years ago are back- only this time they're in color. 9353 at the 9:30 Club. It's not deja vu; it's actually happening. If the posters read "with Black Market Baby," you'd KNOW you were dreaming, but that's sort of happening, too, in the guise of Rustbuckit. King Giant is also on the bill. They all played in July at the dc space reunion, and they all rocked. Twenty years or not.

But King Giant has an especially hard row to hoe tonight as they have lost their lead singer, Bob Dotolo. Shortly after the reuinon, a bunch of us found ourselves back at the 9:30 Club- only this time it was for bOb's wake. It was a rude awakening indeed. A lot of us don't see each other anymore, and bOb was definitely among the missing in many circles. It was good to see him again, and it's hard to know that that was the last time. BOb worked at the club way back when, and he was always a friendy, I want to say gentle guy- even though he was a door man. He smiled a lot. Even though so many hadn't seen him in so long, I think he would be surprised at how much he will be missed- and remembered. Tonight will be no exception there.

A Quandry

Blogger went to the beach, but came back just in time to ponder which show to go to tonight- Alice Despard is back at the Galaxy Hut, and she won't be playing again for quite a while. Then again there is the old folks' show* at The Velvet Lounge with New Standard ( x Penetrators) Ottley (x Slickees) and Rustbuckit (x Blackmarket Baby) All still alive and very much kicking. I'm not sure how The Velvet Lounge can handle all that energy, but it'll definitely be worth finding out.


*sorry, Mary, but that's what everybody's calling it.

Raise Your Hand If You Remember 1977

OK. Thirty years was a long time ago. Jimmy Carter was president. Star Wars came out. Elvis Presley was still alive. (until August) Disco was in, though punk was here. The Ramones' "Teenage Lobotomy" and The Sex Pistols' "God Save the Queen" were up against The Eagles and Fleetwood Mac. Alice Cooper went into rehab; Elvis didn't make it. Talking Heads and the B 52s were coming up. The funk band, Parliament put out "Get Down and Boogie". Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd were still touring. (All that music and my class picked Boz Scagg's "Lido Shuffle" as our song.)
On the dark side, Debby Boone was elected best new artist. My college housemate played "You Light Up My Life" for more than two hours straight- an experience which scarred me for life.

And last but not least, dc space opened its doors.

My memory is crystal clear, but for those of you who are little hazy, and you know who you are, here's a little primer on just some of the names performing this Sunday at the dc space reunion @ the 9:30 club :

Marshall Keith, (Slickee Boys)
Martha Hull, (Slickee Boys, DCeats, the Steady Jobs, The Dynettes)
and Bob Berberich (The Hangmen, Grin, Rossyln Mountain Boys)
are all in Ottley.

Boyd Farrell, (Black Market Baby)
Mike Dolfi, (Black Market Baby)
and Sean Saley (Government Issue, Moodroom)
are in Rustbuckit.

Michael Reidy, ( Razz, Nightman)
Abaad Behram ( Razz, Johnny Bombay & the Reactions)
and Doug Tull( Razz Tommy Keene Billy Coulter)
are in The Howling Mad.

Also, Mark Noone ( Slickee Boys and too many bands to mention) will perform for the first time with The Beatnik Flies, an historic event.

Speaking of too many bands to mention, the performances are limited to ten minutes each and scheduled from 4:30 p.m. until 1 a.m. with five minute change overs. (This is not the old 9:30 by the way, but a very professional night club with a huge staff.) All kinds of music and performing arts will be going on- see previous posts for a large, but partial list.

I would pay twenty dollars just to see a few of these acts, but most importantly this event will help our friend, Tom Terrell and his ongoing struggle with cancer. Not a fun fight or a fair fight, but he's fighting just the same. Please come and celebrate the local scene here, past and present, and give a hand to Tom. Besides being a good cause, it's going to be a great party.


(Michael Reidy @ the 9:30 Club, 2006 by Steve Edgar)