Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

(And in answer to steve-k's question, the Franchise is mostly geeky rock with an 80s flavor, more They Might Be Giants than Gang of Four. For more information than you could really ever want, see http://www.listentothefranchise.com or http://www.cdbaby.com/thefranchise.)

"HIS LOVE IS REAL BUT HE ISN'T!! HIS LOVE IS REAL BUT HE ISN'T!!" I couldn't name a high-concept act that I genuinely like.

This year at Fort Reno I saw the Evens and Q and Not U. There's a note on my calendar for Mary Timony and Medications on the 15th, but we'll see if I make the effort to actually go there.

What do "Fake Accents" sound like?

you should listen to a madonna interview, that oughta give you a pretty good idea.

bandwise though, people have told me at various points that we reminded them of the fall, unrest, archers of loaf, pavement, the pixies, the stones, polvo, superchunk, the stooges and the velvet underground. i agree with some of those more than others, but overall i would say that i tend to write spiky, strummy, distorted pop songs, and dave usually goes for rocking fall/velvets-worshipping one riff wonders. thanks for asking, by the way.

in any case, as pete noted, if you're interested you should come see us at the warehouse the 22nd. if you can't, we're also gonna be at the black cat sept 9. if you make it to either, please say hi, it'd be rad to meet some dc-area ilxors. i'd actually been debating proposing a dc-area FAP, but you know, apathy and all that, so this'd be an acceptable substitute.

"HIS LOVE IS REAL BUT HE ISN'T!! HIS LOVE IS REAL BUT HE ISN'T!!" I couldn't name a high-concept act that I genuinely like.

I saw these guys at a basement show back in my college days. They're quite worth seeing. I remember during that song ("HIS LOVE IS REAL BUT HE IS NOT!") I turned to my friend and said, without irony, "Is this supposed to be about Jesus?"

anyone going to bmore to see zombi?

Zombi?

Kevin Costner's Russian's Rusty: Washington DC Metropolitan Area Thread II

Robert Redford Is A Republican. DC Metro Area Thread 3.

http://www.dc-rock-and-roll.org

Richard Harrington who presented the WAMA lifetime achievement award to Link Wray will also speak.
Rare film footage of Link from the 1950's!
Musical guests for the evening will include:
Former Link Wray side Men: Ricky Mitchell, Ed Cynar, Johnny Sneed

Jack Casady & the Triumphs - The Triumphs are the group Jack & Jorma Kaukonen played with when they were youngsters in DC, prior to playing moving to California and founding the Jefferson Airplane. The Triumphs opened for Link Wray in the local DC clubs in the early 1960's. The band will be comprised of Jack Casady,Ron McDonald, Johnny Sneed, and Joe Stanley.
It has to be some 45 years since a Triumphs performance has taken place.

Robert Gordon (played with Link Wray in the late 1970's early 1980's)

Eddie Angel (Tex Rubinowitz, Switchblade, Billy Hancock, the Planet Rockers, the Neanderthals, Eddie Angels Guitar Party, Los Straitjackets, etc.)

Billy Hancock (Saxtons, Fallen Angels, Roy Buchanan and the Snake Stretchers, Danny and the Fat Boys, Billy Hancock and the Tennessee Rockets etc....) w/Dave Chappell, Steve Wolf & Barry Hart

Joe Stanley (Saxtons, Roy Clark, the Orioles, Big Joe Turner, Sam Cooke, Little Anthony, Lloyd Price, The Drifters, Jackie Wilson, Dion and the Belmont’s, Freddie Cannon, Dale Hawkins, The Rainbows with Don Covay Marvin Gay and Billy Stewart, Charlie Daniels, Danny and the Fat Boys, the Dynaflows and Big four Combo, etc..)

Ratso & Switchblade

The A-Bones

Daryl Davis (Muddy Waters, The Jordanaires, The Coasters Pinetop Perkins, Johnny Johnson, Chuck Berry etc..)
Billy Miller

Jerry Dallman
and numerous others local acts

We will also feature a song from the Wray Children, a group that consists of Link Wray's children and grandchildren.

All of these musicians played at one time or the other with Link Wray in Washington DC.
***

Other news--Joe Lally from Fugazi is according to the Dischord website working with Discord producer (and performer) Don Zientara on something. Last time I spoke with Lally he and his family had moved to Los Angeles.

tonight i am playing underground techno/technohouse/ketaminimal/whatever at the Reef in Adams Morgan.
1030 to close, no code or cover.

it should be fun. the monday night drink special is 1/2 price mixed drinks for ladies, and the bartender is one of the coolest in the city.

this is my first time playing out in a few months and i might be a bit rusty BUT the records will be good!

Cheers!

Turntables:
1. Belt-driven.
2. Set up in a hip-hop/sideways style, with the pitch adjust furthest away.
3. Screwed into place.
4. Mounted unevenly.
5. Mounted too high - I had to stand on a crate and I am 5'9".
6. Shoddy pitch adjust.
7. No torque to speak off. Simply touching the record was enough to throw it off at least two beats.
8. No strobe light.
9. Did not hold its speed even without touching, adjusting, etc.
Mixer:
1. No meters.
2. 2-band EQ.
3. Meant for scratching with no fader curve at all.
4. Faulty grounding posts.
5. The worst cue system ever. There was never any sensical relationship between the volume of the record itself, the level of gain, the level in the headphones, and the actualy output.
The Booth:
1. Small as hell, no place for records.
2. Turntables too high.
3. An earpad fell off my headphones and fell underneath the platform because nothing is sealed off.
4. No isolation at all.

Even when I was able to overcome the deficiencies of the turntable itself to get the next record in line, the combination of the uneven mounting, the lack of proper grounding, and the lack of isolation from the bass, meant that almost every record (even new ones) skipped or sounded crackly. I couldnt hold a mix because both records were randomly jumping. It was all so disorienting because my style is based upon the fact that I can hold mixes for a fair amount of time. I dont pack my bag full of minimal techno assuming that I am going to play all 10 minutes of every track unmixed.

On a positive note, my programming was really solid. I really played a nice spectrum of tracks, and paced them very well. Everyone complimented me on a job well done. They want me back. I am confused.

Maybe there are djs out there who can play just as well on the equipment I used tonight as on a pair of 1200s and a Pioneer/AllenHeath/Vestax mixer... First off, I would like to meet them, second off, I would like to know their secrets, and thirdly, well, actually I dont give a shit. I have never been, and will never be, a prima donna, regardless of the success I may or may not achieve in this field but, from now on, I only play on direct-drive turntables.

I would still love for anyone to come down to my next gig, and I will make sure to announce it ahead of time. There are only a handful of us buying the sort of records I play in all of DC...

... which reminds me. DJ Milo on Tuesdays and Saturday at Science Club around 19th and M NW is one of the surest bets in all of DC for everything from downtempo to electro to house to techno. Respect!

I forgot to mention that one of the channels on the amp was blown so only the left channel was playing. There was no "mono" button on the mixer, of course.

Lastly...
I truly, and very deeply, love the Reef. It has always been one of my favorite bars in DC. The dj booth is new, the equiptment is old, but I am sure they are totally committed to working out the bugs I described above. I honstly think that in a few months, it will be one of the best places to hear DJs in an intimate setting in all of DC.

* ELECTRONICA
VOCALIST
Anousheh Khalili
Jen Lasher
LouLou
Rachel Panay (winner)

ARTIST/PRODUCER
Arthur Loves Plastic (winner)
Deep Dish
Fort Knox Five
Holmes Ives
Human Factor
Thievery Corporation

DJ
Bev Stanton (winner)
Bobby Jae
Charles Feelgood
Jen Lasher
Kidgusto
Rob Harris
Scott Henry
Simon
Yiannis

RECORDING
George Is On/Deep Dish
Movin' On/Kidgusto
Radio Free DC/Fort Knox Five
The Cosmic Game/ Thievery Corporation (winner)
Untie Me/Holmes Ives

http://www.wamadc.com/wama/wammies/wbal05.html#ELECTRONICA

* ELECTRONICA
VOCALIST
Anousheh Khalili
Jen Lasher
LouLou
Rachel Panay (winner)

ARTIST/PRODUCER
Arthur Loves Plastic (winner)
Deep Dish
Fort Knox Five
Holmes Ives
Human Factor
Thievery Corporation

DJ
Bev Stanton (winner)
Bobby Jae
Charles Feelgood
Jen Lasher
Kidgusto
Rob Harris
Scott Henry
Simon
Yiannis

RECORDING
George Is On/Deep Dish
Movin' On/Kidgusto
Radio Free DC/Fort Knox Five
The Cosmic Game/ Thievery Corporation (winner)
Untie Me/Holmes Ives

http://www.wamadc.com/wama/wammies/wbal05.html#ELECTRONICA

Anyone know if Chief Ike's Mambo Room still exists?

WYPR, with headquarters on Baltimore's North Charles Street, also is planning to transmit to the Washington suburbs. The station has gotten permission from the Federal Communications Commission to push aside a low-wattage student station at the University of Maryland, College Park that already occupies WYPR's signal on 88.1 FM. (Brandon and Bienstock both said they would help the college station move its signal to the Internet.)

Still, becoming Maryland's pre-eminent public-radio voice may be difficult. "It's a lofty and noble goal," said Sue Kopen Katcef, an instructor at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism, "but I don't know how you're going to grow that younger 18-plus audience, the audience you need, when it isn't listening to radio, whether it's commercial or public." http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/lifestyle/bal-to.wypr22feb22,0,2542376.story?page=2

I remember when WMUC was the only station at 88.1. It was there before Johns Hopkins set up the Baltimore station. The WMUC signal used to carry farther then (in the early 80s)--to Northwest and Northeast DC, Arlington, Bowie, parts of Montgomery County...

I think WYPR is nearly all news and public affairs. As if the DC area does not have enough such stations. Ugh.

But the good news is that WMUC may not be dead yet. The station GM says the reporter misquoted the WYPR people and it's not a done deal(yet).

you can still get MUC as far as columbia heights, and rte. 29 in silver spring.

i think that a lot of this is WYPR trying to make the impression that this is a done deal, when the real situation is far murkier. while WYPR did receive approval to redirect their signal to a degree and up its strength from 10 kw to 15.5 kw, how this is going to play out is hard to say. in any case, the FCC renewed MUC's license in 2003, and it's valid until 2010.

i also can't imagine WAMU being particularly happy about this - another NPR station to cut into their listener/contributor base.

I found this U of Md Diamondback article-
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/02/28/440437c2b42e4

http://www.diamondbackonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2006/02/24/43feddabaad83

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/education/bal-md.radio24feb24,0,7952970.story?coll=bal-education-top

as an aside, the fake accents are playing at DCAC this saturday night for free! people can definitely afford that.

"To all:

We had scheduled a reunion planning meeting for March 14 at 7pm on
campus. However, we are going use that time, instead, to focus on the
current situation for the station. Steve Gnadt, the Administration's
rep on the WMUC Appointments and Advisory Board, will be in attendance
to fill us in on what's happening and where things stand. We will, of
course, also be asking station reps to attend as well."

Re your aside--I've gotta get out and see the Accents sometime. Maybe Saturday.