Navigating the Madding Crowd

According to wikipedia "non-human species associated with stampede behavior include zebras, cattle, elephants, blue wildebeests, walruses, wild horses, and rhinoceroses." In the District of Columbia, a trip to the grocery store the week before Thanksgiving puts us right up there with the wildebeest. Woe betides the weak minded member of the pack who innocently strolls into Giant to stock up on necessities. She senses danger upon entry and soon finds herself in line behind a woman racking up $400 worth of provisions which include a giant foil roasting pan full of root vegetables while the clueless one behind her is buying paper towels and laundry detergent. And a chocolate bar.

Next year Clueless hopes to have the foresight to stock up on non- perishable items in advance and avoid this soul crushing experience. And for those avoiding all things grocery, home, and hearth on Thanksgiving Thursday, JV's will be open by 4 pm for dinner with the Dave Chappell Band hitting the stage round 8:30 pm. See one of DC's best players for no cover and, surprisingly,  no stampede.

Friday catch the venerable Nighthawks at the stately State Theater, and on Saturday, Little Red and the Renegades will be throwing down their New Orleans vibe at New Deal Cafe.

If that's not your thing, Lunch with Bob fires things up at the Takoma VFW, or dare to split the herd and go to both.

Whatever the case, keep your wits and humor about you like the chaps in the photos above, and have a very happy thanksgiving!

Gavel to Gavel Coverage

Richard Nixon's impeachment hearings commenced on television in May of 1973, but  I wasn't paying a lot of attention even though one of the Watergate burglars lived right next door.

I was more tuned into his son's rock band which practiced "Smoke on the Water" almost every day after school.  I was also thinking that I needed to get my ears pierced.

 In 1998, when Bill Clinton was facing the music, I had two small children and missed a lot of that drama while hanging out in circles of hell such as DC Stoddert soccer games, play grounds, and birthday parties. Those were blurry days full of sugar highs, low crimes and misdemeanors.  Once I intercepted my five year old trying to smuggle a croquet ball out of a party in his goody bag.

Fast forward to now. Impeachment number three for me in DC. Living in a world of multiple media sources makes living here even more of a fishbowl, but we also have many sanity saving distractions. Here's a few suggestions:

 #1
Tune into online old school radio and reconnect with deejays we grew up with like Cerphe's Music Planet Radio, and Weasel live on WTMD on Fridays and Saturdays and WOWD on Sundays. Plus Milo's on WOWD on Wednesday mornings. I also love WPFW Saturdays.  Good for your groove.

#2
Stare at art. We have a lot of it from tiny galleries to Smithsonians including the newly updated Anacostia Community Museum which reopened last month. Good for the brain.

#3
Get out of town. Even for the day. Massive amounts of water like the Chesapeake Bay and views from Sugarloaf Mountain are good for the soul. Barring that, wander down to our rivers and sit yourself down on Roosevelt or Kingman Island.


#4
You guessed it, dear readers.  Live music. Preferably in a bar without a tv. Good for whatever ails.
See  DC Rocks' calendar for a subset of options.

Reel Music

I didn't even know you could listen to music on a reel to reel contraption until I moved into a group house on Dickinson Avenue in College Park. The year was 1979 and thank god, my house mate Alan had similar musical tastes which were basically eclectic and WHFS driven. Those were the days when friends would drop by around 12:30 a.m. to see if anyone was up, the drinking age was 18, and we spent an inordinate about of time at the Varsity Grill and Italian Gardens.

Back then bands like NRBQ were in heavy rotation on Alan's magic machine. NRBQ has weathered many a roster change throughout the years, including founding member Joey Spampinato bringing in his younger brother Johnny which brings us to a story from Ruthie Logsdon of Ruthie and the Wranglers:

"I booked my band and The Spampinato Brothers for Bill Starks’s 1st CD party at Bethesda Blues and Jazz several years ago. Joey and Johnny knew the NRBQ song "I Got A "Rocket in My Pocket" was written by my cousin Jimmie Logsdon so we had a rockin’ hootenanny of a finale with that song. Joey has been ill and unable to tour so I invited Johnny back to DC to play with us, and we finally found a date that worked at JV's. To make the trip from Cape Cod worthwhile, I suggested Johnny as a guest artist for the Last Waltz tribute as well. Johnny did a call in with Weasel last week and has just returned from a string of dates in Japan. Gonna be a busy weekend with JVs on Friday and the Hamilton Saturday!"

Kudos for wrangling this guitar slinger for the JV party, Miz Logsdon, and congratulations to Lorraine for keeping the doors open for 72 years, and for hosting live music pretty much 365 days a year which is tantamount to running a chicken circus.

Meanwhile the Last Waltz Tribute at the Hamilton has become a Thanksgiving tradition round these parts, and the ticket price includes a turkey dinner in a mason jar. The show usually sells out so get your tickets in advance. This year's line up includes our old friend Eric Brace who is on that two gig-economy-tour bandwagon and is also playing Friday night with Peter Cooper at Jammin Java. And, for something completely different, I'm liking Color Palette at the Pie Shop- also on Friday. 

For those who want to slipstream back in time, "Punk the Capital,"will be screening all weekend  at AFI with multiple Q and A panels brought to you by members of Chalk Circle, Black Market Baby, The Slickee Boys, Tru Fax and more.  Check AFI's website for details. Plus Eric Felten will be up at Glen Echo on Saturday celebrating Veteran's Day with a canteen dance. Vintage attire encouraged.

Trick or Teeth

Halloween is usually one of my favorite days of the year, but today I woke up filled with dread. I had an appointment with the dentist.

After spending a terrifying and tortuous forty-five minutes getting my teeth cleaned, I would like to send out a big thank you to Brian Eno who got me through the worst bits which felt more like dental extraction than hygiene. The tiny masked sadist who waged war upon my gums was armed with razor sharp objects, but I, open mouthed and ear plugged, dis-engaged from her torment with my small but mighty iPod blasting “Here Come the Warm Jets."  The perfect sound track with occasional distracting plinks of a seemingly random piano kept me in the chair and off the ceiling. 

I escaped with my life only to walk down a dreary K Street devoid of any indication of Halloween pending or the Nats' splendiferous World Series triumph last night which is why people get a bad impression of this town. So drab and buttoned up. That's not us!!! Georgetown still celebrates Halloween with a crazy street party which should be especially exciting this year due to the stormy forecast, and The Thrillbillys will be carrying on at JVs while Go Mod Go and Apollo 66 rock the Pie Shop.

Here's November's calendar of amusements and musical distractions... A list which is always incomplete so please step up all my fellow freaks and dentophobes and write me with your hyper-local suggestions:

2

Billy Price /Shirletta Settles /Jodse Ramirez /Afterdark Fundraiser @ Pearl Street Warehouse

3

Los Straightjackets @ Pearl Street

5

Robert Gordon w Chris Spedding/ Jumpin Jupiter@ City Winery

8

Ruthie and the Wranglers @ JV

Eric Brace and Peter Cooper @ Jammin Java

8-10

Mary Chapin Carpenter @ Birchmere

9

Last Waltz Tribute @ The Hamilton

9-11

Punk the Capital Screenings w/ special guests @ AFI

14

RTTs @ Takoma VFW

17

Azalea City CD Release Party @ El Golfo

23

Billy Coulter Band @ New Deal

30

Little Red and Renegades @New Deal

Pretzels and Pumpkins

I confess. I don't have a pumpkin on my porch for the first time in decades. It's not that I can't find one. I just got back from Safeway where  I managed to face down an entire wall of orphaned squash.

I enjoy carving pumpkins as much as the next guy, but I never did like scooping out their guts. Even if I used a large spoon those slimy strings and seeds would climb up my arm.

I still love the season. I've got skeletons, a spider, a black cat, and a witch.

And a bat.

Not to mention an extra large bust of Edgar Alan Poe which always comes in handy this time of year.

I just don't like pumpkins. Or giving out candy. Or being humiliated for giving out pretzels that ONE time.  (Yes, I was that person.)

Halloween parties this weekend might be overshadowed by our beloved baseball team, but for non-sports fans, DC's own Count Gore De Vol will present a director's cut of that crazy feel good film about a little girl with satanic issues on Saturday night at AFI. "The Exorcist" was set in Georgetown because the film was based on a story about a possessed boy who lived right here in Cottage City. His parents supposedly brought him to Georgetown Hospital so the Jesuits could take a swing at extricating his demons. If you go see the movie, don't forget to sleep with your light on!

Avoiding baseball and scary things? Catch Bill Starks on Sunday at JVs. No beds levitating here, just a fun night and a new CD.

Finally, a very cool thing is happening on Monday. Two stars from the Slickee Boys will appear low in the sky at the Galaxy Hut when Marshall Keith opens for The Yachtsmen. I promise it'll be a stellar event with plenty of beer, but no pretzels or pumpkins.

Home Run

Congratulations Nats! What a week it's been. Our baseball team is the talk of the town, and yesterday I heard a well meaning fan on WAMU talking about how excited he is, and how this event will bring people together "especially in a city as transitory as Washington, DC where everyone comes from somewhere else."

Wait, what?

Of course yours truly has something to say about that.

I know what he thinks he means. Yes, the District is a place where Congress and the like sweep in and out, but underneath that shifting tide, people like car mechanics, teachers, and bus drivers quietly slog out a living here. Politicians are the migrating sharks; DC natives are the coral reef.

Yes, Virginia, there really is such thing as a DC native. I offer this photograph as evidence. There's my mom with her little brother and cousin and their grandfather at Griffith Stadium in 1933, the last year a Washington team made it to the series. (I'm betting they probably couldn't get tickets to the game.)

This weekend while we all take a break from baseball, there's plenty of things to do both new and with history. Tonight check out the cool sounds of DOGO at the Bossa Cafe and Lounge.

On Friday The City Paper is hosting a conversation on the history of go-go at Public Bar which happens early. Afterwards catch the Dave Chappell Band at the New Deal Cafe.

Saturday drop by WOWD's fundraiser at the Takoma VFW. WHFS veterans Weasel and Milo both host shows at this tiny but important station. Please help keep truly local radio alive.

DC Libraries Rock

DC Ax slinger Dan Hovey 

Last Sunday the Takoma Park Street Fest featured more bands than a person could possibly catch in one afternoon. The event showcased how lucky we are to have so many musicians prowling around this burg. They shred, jive, and wail- just like the politicians Washington is famous for, but with much better results.

Our library even has a punk rock archive which is celebrating its fifth anniversary with a party this Saturday at the Georgetown Library up there on Book Hill, one of my favorite places in DC. If anything jazzes me up more than music, it might be having a library card, and DC has better borrowing terms  than a used car lot in Detroit. Check out up to fifty books for twenty-one days, and, if there are no holds, renew them up to ten times. What? That's gives a person 210 days get through Go Dog Go or War and Peace. And there's a 30 day grace period on top of the due date so technically you can keep a book for about as long as it takes to have a human baby.  And if you act now, you can also borrow DVDs, CDs and LPs. The librarians will even show you how to use the digital collection which includes audio books, movies, newspapers and music. Did I mention magazines?

I will stop now.

The open house runs form 2:30-4 p.m. Here's the low down from DCPL:

Selected materials from the DC Punk Archive collections will be on display in the Peabody Room, the punk archive's temporary home during the renovation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. Read zines, view rare concert footage, and learn about how the collections have been used by researchers over the years.

Outdoor Celebration 2:30-5 p.m.

Exhibition of photographs by Antonia Tricarico, author of Frame of Mind: Punk Photos and Essays 1997-2017

DIY merch: Make a button and stencil your own posters and t-shirts! Paper will be provided, but you must bring your own t-shirt

Music by Les the DJ at 2:30 p.m. and CORIKY (Amy Farina - Ian MacKaye - Joe Lally) at 4 p.m.

And celebrate DC's first Indigenous People Day holiday weekend with live music, and too many choices starting tonight with the Rock-A-Sonics at Pearl Street and The Rhodes Tavern Troubadours at Takoma VFW where the Bold Deceivers and Jelly Roll Mortal will be on Friday, which competes for our attention with Little Red and the Renegades up at Haydees, and last but not least, King Soul reigns over the Takoma VFW on Saturday leaving me to award the folks at "Hell's Bottom" with "The Little Engine That Could" award for great music this weekend.

Villains, Saints and the Death of a Rock Club

The Cravin' Dogs and The Yachtsmen will not be at Villain and Saint this Saturday due to lack of venue. 

The club was badly laid out with a long aisle and a miniature dance floor. A massive bar forced patrons into a narrow aisle between booths on one side and bar stools on the other. Still, Villain and Saint was one of the few live music venues in Bethesda, and the staff, as well as musicians, worked hard to make this a fun place.

In the end the villains outweighed the saints here. Employees found out the club was closed when the locks were changed on Monday morning. Coming development has been blamed, but negligence from the top is mostly at fault.  Club owners can't seem to understand that a live music venue is not an instant cash cow without proper promotion and curating. They ignored expert advice, and doors closed.

The good news is the fire damaged Hank Dietle's Tavern will literally rise from the ashes next spring thanks to the collaborative and herculean efforts of local music lovers Thomas Bowes, his wife Sarah Bonner and music photographer Alan Kresse. The new crew hopes to bring both national and local acts to a restored and updated historic roadhouse.

photo by Alan Kresse

Meanwhile we still have music to support this weekend. Please note the Little Red and the Renegades show at New Deal Cafe has been postponed until November, but Valentine Slim will be at the Takoma VFW, Color School is at the Vinyl Lounge, and the Euphon-X folks always produce a cool gathering of interesting bands...this time at Slash Run. All these events are on Saturday.

Sunday enjoy the fall weather, food, and music at the Takoma Park Street Fest which features eighteen bands on three stages including The Half Smokes - a new WHFS cover band which has got to be a hoot for all us geezers who grew up with "homegrown radio."  Hit the link for a full schedule of bands.

Only Love Can Bring the Rain

RAIN.  Please. Washington DC has not had more than a trace of rain since August 7th, and yes, I've been counting the days.  Now my yard crunches like Rice Krispies when I walk across what used to be a bunch of short green plants masquerading as grass. 

Now even the weeds are withering while the sun is acting as if it were mid-August, not almost October. And the dog next door won't stop barking. Irrelevant, perhaps, but annoying just the same. 

Please rain.

Please.

A thunderstorm does not count.  What we need is an old fashioned Cat in the Hat kind of long, gray, rainy day . 

Or a Singing in the Rain kind of night. The sleeping with the windows open and the curtains damp with mist kind. 

Preferably....both.

There are more than a few rain dances coming up in October. Please get out and support local music rain or shine: 

.

OCTOBER

3

Thrillbillys @ JV

5

Little Red @ New Deal

Valentine Slim @ Takoma VFW

Cravin Dogs/ The Yachtsmen @ Villain and Saint

EuphonX @ Slash Run

Color School @ Vinyl Lounge

7

Takoma Park Street Fest

9

Trupa Trupa/ Tone @ The Pie Shop

10

Jamie McClean/ Rock-A-Sonics @ Pearl Street

RTT @ Takoma VFW

11

Bold Deceivers/ Jelly Roll Mortal @ Takoma VFW

Little Red @ Haydees

12

King Soul @ Takoma VFW

17

Thrillbillys @ JV

18

Dave Chappell @ New Deal

23

Stiff Little Fingers/ The Avengers/ The Split Seconds @ Black Cat

24

Dave Chappell @ JV

27

Bill Starks CD party @ JV

28

The Yachtsmen @ Galaxy Hut

31

Go Mod Go @ Pie Shop

Thrillbillys @ JV

Miscellany Redux

There's a fine, discretionary line between collecting, and, Ok,  I'll say it: hoarding.  Sometimes I wonder which category I fall into. I like cool old things, but I don't want to end up like the Craig's List Cautionary Tale of Too Many Salt Shakers. Once upon a time an Arlington woman started a salt and pepper shaker collection. She was six years old, and it seemed like a harmless activity, but when she died, her sister had the sad task of selling about ten thousand pairs.  Three thousand were enough to fill shelves lining the entire second floor of a bungalow and then some.  I thought the collector-woman should have opened a museum, but her sister told me one already exists in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Recently on a fun filled vacation in Pittsburgh I visited a couple who justified their fascination with things macabre by turning their home into a museum. Trundle Manor, where the Addams Family meets steam punk, features grisly displays of abandoned prosthetics, skeletal remains and lots of cleavers.

The occupants within curate all things creepy...

and create personal touches themselves like a human size chute jutting out the second story as well as a robotic man to guard the kitchen.

They also have a penchant for taxidermy which doubles as a leisure activity.

Back here in DC, local musician Al Sevilla solved his passion for musical instruments by opening a shop called Big Al's Trading Post which used to be in Silver Spring by Crisfield's. Al closed the store after a few years, but he never stopped collecting, and his current cherished accumulation will be up for sale at Atomic Music- just in time for their 25th anniversary event.

Atomic is the bomb for musicians looking to sell or buy gear, and their honest reputation has brought them great success through the years though marketing may not be their strongpoint. When I first watched the video advertising the anniversary sale, I thought I was back at Trundle Manor.  The frowny Pinocchio-like marionette jittering about gave me the impression he was hopped up on speed as he flitted between drums and amps waving one spastic arm, but then I realized I forgot to turn up the volume.  It's amazing the difference a sound track makes. With a falsetto narrator and comical horns blaring, a maniacal puppet turns into a benign little tour guide with a slightly filthy mouth.

Atomic's sale/anniversary party runs all afternoon and includes live music from five bands and refreshments. Congratulations Luis and Eric!

Kodachromatica

The evolution of photography in my family started with my great grandfather John Henry Bailey in the 1890s. He was a share cropper living in western Tennessee and didn't have two cents to rub together as they used to say. When John was just eighteen, his father died, and he had to pay the doctor with a "stiff neck mule." Meanwhile John's little brother Jim left home at the age of fourteen to sell Bibles, but he came back a photographer, and in 1892 he asked his brother John to join him in his chosen profession. They opened a studio in Milan, Tennessee (pronounced "Me-lan" in those parts.) Consequently I have a treasure load of what would have been unaffordable photographs of our family back then. Here's one of my grandmother with her little sister on the floor. And poultry in a hat.

When I grew up, the Kodak Instamatic camera came out in 1963 and cost about $15. The best part was the film cartridge which eliminated the need to thread the film. Plus there was a flashbulb which snapped right on. Just point and shoot!

Except my mother wasn't very good at it.

Now of course our phones are our cameras and visa versa. If I can't see the stage at a concert, I can often look up at the little screens being held aloft in front me. This doesn't happen so much at local events. Perhaps people are having too much fun to bother recording things for posterity. Tonight The Rhodes Tavern Troubadours return for their monthly gig at the Takoma VFW. This Saturday I'm thinking  Dingleberry Dynasty and Marc Rebillet at 9:30 Club which will be a crazy cool show, or King Soul at a new venue for them in Silver Spring which sports a big dance floor unlike many of their other haunts.

Sunday it's Spider Cake and Crown Cobra at the Galaxy Hut- still my favorite bar in the universe of Arlington. I tried a new brew pub around the corner last week which had neo-country music blaring, and it was an excruciating experience. I could barely sit through a beer. Iota has been lost to new construction, but you can still find refuge at the Hut. For now....

I can't listen to what they call country in this century, but give me John Prine any day. On Monday local musicians including a trio of Williams, (Billy Coulter, Bill Starks and Bill Williams- whoa! Double Williams!) will come together for a tribute to Mr Prine at St Mark's social hall.

Let's Get Together

The Police did it. Blondie, too. The Slickee Boys faithfully did it- often twice a year. This Saturday The Uptown Rhythm Kings will do it at Glen Echo's Spanish Ballroom. The band broke up in the late 1990s when lead singer Eric Shoutin' Sheridan moved to Chicago. They haven't done a reunion show since 2008 so fans will want to get in on this dance rave which includes sax-man Derek Huston up from New Orleans for the event.

Meanwhile- the other show to see this weekend will be a conflict generator for some of you.

Many a seasoned musician round these parts grew up watching our own legendary guitar hero, Danny Gatton. More than a few played with him. "The Telemaster" was born in Washington DC in 1945 and started thrashing guitar when he was nine years old. He did his time as a session musician in Nashville in the 1960s, but he mostly spent his life in our area. He mastered jazz, swing, rock n roll, blues- everything and anything telecaster driven. The line up for his tribute this Saturday at the Birchmere includes many a slinger who admired his chops...

In A Garden Of Vida

Astronomical Autumn arrives in Washington DC on Monday, September 23rd at 3:50 am, but my personal clock senses a more imminent seasonal shift. The sun slants at a different angle as the days grow shorter, and gymnastic butterflies are flipping around the yard in a nectar driven frenzy. Here's a photo from my friend Jan of a butterfly digging her Ironweed.

Hey. Remember Iron Butterfly?  What the hell was In-A -Gada-Da-Vida anyway?  Legend has it that Doug Ingle either drank a gallon of Red Mountain wine or was tripping on LSD when he came up with the song, and Ron Bushy misheard "in the garden of Eden" as "in a gadda da vida" This explanation nicely fits the term "acid rock," but did Doug really slur his way into one of the longest songs in rock and roll history? Why are all the other words clear as day? I think it's an unsolved mystery. That's Doug Ingle on the far left not looking at the photographer. What is he hiding?

But I digress.

I know many people feel low about the passing of summer, but I for one will not miss the heat, the mosquitoes, or the maniacal spider whose web hits me in the face every time I take the trash out to the alley.

beware arachnid zone

Before I get started on all things arachnophobic, there are more than a few musical events to look forward to in September. Please feel free to add your suggestions....

SEPTEMBER

1

Detroit 442/ Capital Offender/ Rodney Henry @ Pie Shop

Nighthawks @ New Deal Cafe

6

Sister Ex/ Venray/Creep Crusades/LNT @ Pie Shop

7

Uptown Rhythm Kings Reunion @ Spanish Ballroom

Danny Gatton Birthday Tribute @ The Birchmere

5

Thrillbillys@ JV

8

Tommy Lepsom and the Bad Dawgs @ JV

12

RTTS @ TAkoma VFW

14

King Soul @ Knights of Columbus / Silver Spring

Allen Toussaint Dance @ The Hamilton

15 

Spider Cake/ Crown Cobra @ Galaxy Hut

16

John Prine Tribute @ St Mark's

20

Tom Principato BAnd @ JV

RTTs/ Col. Josh @ Villain and Saint

22

Roy Buchanan Tribute @ Birchmere

28

Jimi Smooth @ JV

Black Masala @ Villain and Saint

30

Los Lonely Boys / Billy Coulter Duo @ Birchmere