Urban Verbs Revisited

(photo credit: Michael Barron)

For those who of you who missed the Urban Verbs' truly stellar performance at the 9:30 Club last month, you can hear the concert and read about it here on NPR's music page. Sometimes you really can go home again.

Musings on Haley, Mott the Hoople and Other Things DC by Lyn2

Today I had to let our dear dog Haley go- it was a hard thing to do, but also an easy decision since it was the right thing. Haley was around 15, a stray hound who came to us 12 years ago. My girl, Nicole named her Princess Haley Sparkle Diamond Eyes because she was 8 and in a fem stage when we got her. My son, Richard doesn't remember life without her. She was a sweet dog who loved all her dog and people friends, hated thunderstorms and would not fetch a stick or ball even if it was wrapped in a hot dog. Driving home, I got to thinking about how it's the nature of things to be both fleeting and enduring. Haley was here one minute, then gone, but like so many dear friends, she won't be forgotten.

The other day I was listening to Mott the Hoople's All the Young Dudes while riding to a reunion of sorts in New Jersey. I was struck by what a kick in the ass that record was to the world when it came out, but the band didn't last as long as it should have given its innovation and influence. Thirty six years later it has endured quite well. Have a listen. Meanwhile my friends back home were at DC's own Urban Verbs reunion at the 9:30 Club, and by all accounts that music has held up, too. (Listen for the concert to be broadcast on NPR soon.)

Washington, the city also endures. After 9 years in exile working uptown, my office is moving tomorrow- down to Vermont and K. Before this job, I worked on U Street for 10 years. While downtown has changed a lot in the almost 20 years (yikes count 'em) since I went to work there every day, it's still the DC I grew up in. There is something local to this town that is hard to explain- especially to the political world. Anyway I can't wait to eat lunch in McPherson Square and Franklin Park, fending off pigeons and handing out money.

The more things change...as they always say.


(Haley was always very compliant with kids.
Last year the teenagers dressed her up as a graduate student)

Weekend Update from DC Rocks

Still on the fence about going to see the Urban Verbs tonight DC's finest rock venue-The 9:30 Club??
Or if you just want to soak in more information- check out the interview that was written up in Brightest Young Things.


Also PRABIR and The Substitutes ALERT!!!!! Tomorrow night that funky, funny bunch o' boys will rock The Galaxy Hut just across the river from DC in Arlington town.

Urban Verbs Planting the Flag

This week when I talked with Roddy Franz, lead singer of The Urban Verbs , he mentioned the phrase "planting the flag" more than once. He was referring to grabbing this band from the mire of obscurity and getting it back on the DC map where it belongs. (Although I kept picturing astronauts on the moon, I know what he means.)

When Roddy returned to DC a few years ago, he was not happy to see The Verbs being overlooked in film and books about DC music. He feels their band was a precursor to the somewhat significant DC punk scene when they formed in 1978 and practiced in that gloomy basement of The Atlantis- later the 9:30 Club on F Street. (if you ever went downstairs at the old club- you know it's not a place you wanted to spend a whole lot of time unless you were getting stoned)

Back in the day, I don't remember another group around here sounding quite like the Urban Verbs. Roddy's haunting voice combined with the rich sounds of Robert Goldstein on guitar and Robin Rose's synthesizer drove their songs. Every day life situations about subways and love affairs and friendships gone awry became mysterious and lyrical in their hands.
The Verbs were not without notoriety in their own time. They were the first local band to play New York's legendary CBGBs which resulted in Brian Eno (Yes, Brian Eno!) writing them a two page fan letter. Roddy feels their music was both immediate and personal, and better experienced live. But the recordings of The Urban Verbs somehow managed to sidestep that dated eighties sound; their music still stands up. Many thought they were ahead of their time- and many still feel that way. Their sneak preview at Comet Pizza a couple of weeks ago managed to catch The Washington Post's attention and caught a rave.

Now Roddy is on a mission to see that this band is not forgotten, and Seth Hurwitz, owner of the 9:30 Club is supporting that cause by giving them a gig this Saturday night- back at the place where-if not geographically at least spiritually- the band was born. They will be performing mostly older materiel, but will also have three new songs to unveil. And Roddy's son, Max will be on drums. It's an early show- doors open at 6. Martin Royle (Roddy says think Jonathan Richman- only better) will be opening, and The Verbs hit it at 8 p.m. sharp so I'm told.

Something strange is the theme of the evening. It should be something to behold.

They're Coming

It's been some time since The Urban Verbs played around here. In fact the last time I saw them they were one of the bands closing down the original 9:30 Club on F Street in 1995. So I am very happy to report their return to the scene this Saturday night. When lead singer, Roddy Franz returned to DC a few years ago, he was dismayed to find hardly a footnote of their significant impact here, but here's what my trusty correspondent, Lyn2 remembers:

So the thing about the Urban Verbs is that I was not someone who saw them all the time, but I did see them. Everyone I know had the first record and somehow the sound defined a period for me, despite there being many other great sounds at the time in local music. I never got the record on disc, but last summer when I got a turntable I popped it on. I knew every word and every note like I had been hearing it every day, even though I hadn't heard it much at all for over twenty years. Favorite lyric? "I get n-n-n-n-nervous whenever you're n-n-n-n-near me." Just recently when Roddy posted the Eno version of Next Question, I could barely work for the rest of the day. It blew me away because it sounded so right.

If you are pining for The Verbs or just curious and have a screwed up turntable or other such technical difficulties, check out their myspace page ( see link above) or Wounded Bird Records which has re issued their albums on CD. Look for another story this week as I had a long talk about the show with Roddy earlier today. I am one of many that thought this band was ahead of its time. (way ahead)

And, as an aside, something weird is going on with the titles to my post. They only appear if your cursor waves over them like a magic wand. If anyone knows how to break this spell-please email me. (This blog is managed by Luddite Inc. a division of The Knownothing Party)

NB: The Rosslyn Mountain Goats play The Quarry House TONIGHT.

dc space reunion bulletin

(picture by Adam Fenster)
This just in-Chuck Brown,
our own "godfather of go-go', will be joining the line up Sunday at the dc space reunion at the 9:30 Club, as well as the magician, Alain Nu.
Plus jazz guys, Hamlet Bluiett and Oliver Lake.

Going back in time, Tiny Desk Unit will perform a muti-media trans-continental feat with
Michael Barron virtually playing from the left coast, while Susan Mumford and Bob Boilen appear here in real time.
(Might be more magical than the magician.)

















Also look for Robert Goldstein of the Urban Verbs playing guitar with four back- up singers.

Doors open at 4 p.m.