Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

It's Folklife Fest time. Under the "Roots of Virginia" theme there's a good Latin show coming up Sunday, and a gospel Brass band before that on Friday I think. Don't know much about the Irish or Mekong River artists.
Food should be good (if overpriced with small portions).

I'd like to see Julie Ocean tonight at Fort Reno. Not sure I'll make it though.

Correction--Folklife Fest Virginia brass band gospel and a cappella gospel show is next Friday. This Friday is Louisiana Cajun folks

Missed Julie Ocean at Fort Reno. Evens and Joe Lally there next week. Free Latin stuff at Carter Barron tonight. I've got Orioles tickets though.

CCB "Classy" and Chuck Brown "Don't Give a" still getting lots of radio airplay. Go-go lives.

i haven't been to a single ft. reno show this year - gotta remedy that next week, maybe.

I finally made it to Fort Reno this summer. It was Dischord old home week at the Joe Lally/Evens show: Henry Rollins, Sassy Ian Sev (however you spell his last name), Eddie Janney, Guy P., Brendan Canty, Jerry Busher, & Alec Mackaye were all there. Plus a guy from old Dc garage rock group Beatnik Flies. Joe and the The Evens were ok. Just ok.

I wonder how Chicago's Dells were at Carter Barron Saturday night(speaking of outdoor places where it's nice to see a show)?

A Capitol Fourth
Independence Day Concert at the U. S. Capitol
Tony Danza - Host of A Capitol Fourth
Elliott Yamin(from American Idol)
National Symphony Orchestra
Dierks Bentley(country star)
Bebe Neuwirth
Hayden Panettiere
Yolanda Adams(gospel star)
Fireworks Over the Washington Monument

I watched the DC fireworks from Iwo Jima.

Y'all reading the new Washington City Paper music blog?

Everyone's got a racket:

http://www.goingouttonightdc.com/home.htm

Welcome to Going Out Tonight?

Are you on vacation in DC and not quite sure where to go for a fun night out?
Are you new to DC and haven't found your nightlife niche?
Do you frequently visit the DC area for
business and want to get the most out of your evenings?
Would you like a special evening out and just don't have time to do the planning?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, never fear, Going Out Tonight? is here! We provide you with a detailed, personalized itinerary to suit your needs. Whether you're in DC for a day or a week, we've got you covered.

BRAND NEW!!! NIGHTLIFE TOURS
We are now offering guided walking tours of DC's hot nightlife destination spots

I missed Kitty Hawk again. I bet last night's Fort Reno show was nice.

yeah, it was fun - kind of unbearably hot @ first, especially b/c 69 and i had the genius idea to try and walk from dupont. we made it to adams morgan before conceding and taking the metro.

tons of people there (i guess statehood [ex d-plan] and greenland draw pretty well?). made me wish i'd gone to more shows there this year. didn't stay for any of the other bands because i had business to attend to at home, but khawk were very good.

69 and i had the genius idea to try and walk from dupont

i always knew you were mentalists

anyone know of any noise/experimental/avant/weird stuff going on in dc? i figure this stuff wouldn't be advertised in the usual places, and it'd be great to see if dc has anything going on with these types of music.

scott verrastro is a local treasure as far as booking that sorta stuff (and is in a few acts making music along the lines yr interested in, kohoutek for one). he used to do a bunch @ the warehouse next door, but has since moved over to booking pretty much every worthwhile show at the velvet lounge. he also hosts stuff at his place, 611 florida.

http://claviusproductions.alkem.org/

he's a totally awesome, nice, friendly dude who is really, really into music.

baltimore has a lot of what you're after, as well.

nice, thanks a lot.

So there was apparently a big turnout on a weeknight for the Dcist.com show with Le Loup from DC and Brooklyn band XYZ Affair. Le Loup seem to be going for that Broken Social Scene/Arcade Fire big band pop thang.

http://www.dcrockclub.com/

July 11th posting at this blog re Fake Accents covering "Jonathon Richmond" [Considering my hurried typing and spelling here I guess I should not mock this mistake, though it seems more likely done from lack of knowledge than a typo]

woah the comments on that are hysterical

It bothers me that this band rejects any possibility of fame. We should step in and manage them and subject them to a strict regimen of threats and abuse, interspersed with frequent beatings. Soon their mansions would fill with Gold Records, and we could act all modest and say shit like, no man, they did all the work, they deserve the credit.

yeah, that was a very nice review. the confusion's probably our fault since we said the song was by jonathan reatard.

however, no mention of mr. que's impeccable slide whistle contributions to the flipper cover = no cred

"impeccable"

"bands such as Flipper, Jonathon Richmond, Jay Reatard, and Psychedelic"

Moneytown ( myspace.com/moneytowndc )

THE DEEPEST Funk, Soul, Afrobeat Dance party in the Washington Metro Area, is BACK

Friday, April 27th @ Rock and Roll Hotel, 2nd Floor

Shake your assets to HARD grooves, (think James Brown), provided by:
DJ Nitekrawler & DJ LunchMoney

please come out and support!

Oops, strike the date. Moneytown is this Friday, JULY 20TH. Thanks guys!

Anybody read some of the comments from the Late Night Shots Georgetown preppy Republican folks on the City Paper website in response to the cover story? Scary.

Moneytown looks like much more fun. But I'll be out of town for this one.

LNS stuff is pretty entertaining, if only because some of the early outraged comments misuse "hippies" in place of "hipsters."

went to soulfuck last weekend at the black cat and had a blast; i've only been twice but both evenings have been killer fun.

my roommate's band (impossible hair) is playing @ galaxy hut on saturday and i will probably attend. quirky catchy indie jams from the baltimore/dc axis.

also a bro of mine is promoting the sugar and gold (from sf) show saturday at selam. smooth funky 70's/80's electro disco band. never seen a band at selam before; wonder how they'll work that.

finally got around to listening to le loup. um...why the fuss?

Are you gonna be around on Friday, August 3rd? That's the next Moneytown date at R&R Hotel.

I went to one of the soul fucks and definitely had fun. The only thing I might suggest to the DJs is that if they play one song which is slower...maybe 94 BPMs, it might not be such a good idea to play something that's 120 next and so forth. I was trying to dance and sometimes that made it difficult. Music's great though!

Maybe on the 3rd.

Sugar & Gold are playing Selam? OH SNAP! I'll definitely be there.

I thought Selam's DJ nights were on hiatus until their ANC stuff got worked out, but maybe it's a different classification for a band.

sooooooooo if any DC dudes are lookin for something to do on thursday, my band's gonna be playing the rock & roll hotel w/benni hemm hemm and get him eat him. it should be fun; we're debuting our new bass player and a slew of new stuff.

also the john stabb assault as recounted here is some lame, lame, lame bullshit

That's terrible.

In more mundane news: Baltimore rules over DC (says theez folkz sorta)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/22/AR2007072201244.html

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/blackplasticbag/?p=77

Jason Cherkis' 7-19 blog posting about Dan Deacon

All of this makes me nostalgic for the days when D.C. musicians had such ambition. Maybe they still do? But shit, Baltimore’s music scene is pretty damn stacked.

dc space reunion thang from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the 930 club tonight--footage of bands that played at space showing at the 930 downstairs while upstairs tons of folks for brief sets:

4:ish-5:00 Jeff Krulik –Heavy Metal Picnic + Parking Lot

5:10-5:15 Mark Nickens

5:15-5:25 Traciana Graves

5:25-5:30 Juliana Luecking

5:30-5:40 Luci Murphy

5:45-5:55 Avery Steck

6:00-6:10 Virginia & the Blue Dots

6:15-6:25 Sylvana Straw

6:30-6:40 Charles Blume

6:45-6:55 2 Jens & Some Guy

6:55-7:00 Girl Loves Distortion

7:00-7:10 Hamiet Bluiett

7:15-7:25 I Am Eye

7:30-7:40 Rambling Shadows

7:45-7:55 E. Ethelbert Miller

7:55-8:00 Eric Brace

8:00-8:10 Heavy Metal Picnic

8:15-8:25 The Pietasters

8:30-8:40 Joyce Lacovara

8:40-8:45 Alain Nu

8:45-8:55 The Beatnik Flies

8:55-9:00 Mark Noone

9:00-9:10 Myrrh

9:10-9:15 w/ The Jazz Trio

9:15-9:25 Chuck Brown w/ The Jazz Quintet

9:30-9:40 Reuben Jackson

9:45-9:55 Karl Straub

10:00-10:10 Ruthie & the Wranglers

10:15-10:25 Rustbuckit

10:30-10:40 Oliver Lake

10:45-10:55 Tiny Desk Unit

11:00-11:10 Esmirelda

11:15-11:25 Robert Goldstein

11:30-11:40 The Howling Mad

11:45-11:55 Ajax

12:00-12:10 9353

12:15-12:25 Ottley

12:30-12:40 Morley

12:45-12:55 King Giant

yeah that lineup, crazy.

yeah honestly bmore's music scene kicks dc's ass so hard right now it isn't even funny

Saw part of the dc space thang--Eric Brace sang a country tune in which he mentioned names of bands who had played space--rapeman, big black, manifesto, 9353, 9353, 9353. One of those if you were there it was funny and clever moments...Heavy Metal Picnic was something else. Some guy filmed it a few months before Jeff Krulik & John Heyn did Heavy Metal Parking Lot in 1985. Awesome footage of women heckling crude guys, two dudes getting ready to throw punches until one picks up a beer botel and starts waving it at which point a crowd leaps on him, and some some footage of a band!
Chuck Brown did a nice little set. Hammiet Bluiett squonked. Boyd Farrell, from Black Market Baby, is still a charismatic frontman even if I do not like Rustbuckit's metal-punk sound...

Oh, and on the Baltimore v. DC thing, I see that Jessica Hopper wrote a Baltimore scene report thing for Spin magazine...

Hey guys, just a reminder that this Friday is "Moneytown" at Rock and Roll Hotel. If you like funk, James Brown-ish material, and like dancing, then please come out! It'll be myself and DJ Harry Hotter this month. All 45s.
I'll be dropping quite a few local funk recordings from the early 70s, so for those of you interested in that kind of thing, please support! Here's our MySpace page: www.myspace.com/moneytowndc

-Kevin / DJ Nitekrawler

Ah, so it is still on. I had not seen it mentioned in the RnR Hotel ad or the Washington City Paper dj listings so I thought it might have been cancelled. But I see it is posted at the RnR Hotel website --9:30 p.m. on for free.

And the night before is that Chris Richards Crowd Control dj thing at DC 9.

so not to play negative nancy here but if anyone would like to hear exactly what is wrong with the majority of the dc rokk scene in the mid-aughts, the blog 1n$trum3nt4l 4n4ly$1$ has an mp3 mix up that summarizes the case nicely. 40 bands/songs! no more than five or six good ones! many of those only good considering their peers!

if i hear another band pulling that overenunciated, overserious, draaaaaaaaaaawn out vowel "yearning" big big big phoney baloney bullshit vocal style i'm going to scream. there are a few good bands around here and things aren't actually as bad as that thing makes it look but...yeesh.

So do you think Baltimore's Double Dagger are godlike also? I checked out their myspace page and was impressed, but I'm not sure that I'm ready to join your pal (and others)in proclaiming them kings of da local scene.

If I can figure out the name of that blog, I might check it out.

In reference to a different genre, I saw that the TMOTTGG blog was encouraging go-go bands to to originals and not just covers. That latter approach has been going on for 30 years. Good luck in trying to change it. Some go-go covers I like, but that version of "Umbrella(ella ella ella)" that's getting played on the radio is pretty formulaic instrumentally and the vocal is not that awe-inspiring.

haha, i think i was a little overzealous with the googleproofing there.

i'd put double dagger more in the category of "really good band" than "greatest thing ever," but i certainly dig them.

haven't heard the "umbrella" cover yet, but i'll have to - i usually like go-go covers.

Double Dagger is good, but they totally sound like they should be on Dischord!

The umbrella cover (if it's the lissen version we're talking about) isn't so hot.

I am on the Take Me Out to the Go-go (TMOTTGogo) e-mail list, and they (or just Kato?) also have a website and an online radio show. I have no idea what some of the e-mails mean though. Just got this for example (I wonder if the upcoming webradio feature will be archived so I could figure out what it is all about--I haven't tried googling it--maybe that "infamous" reference is just hyperbole):

THE HIGHLAND 25th ANNIVERSARY!!!

Monday, August 6 (10:00am – 12:00noon)
We will be celebrating 25 Years of the Infamous Rare Essence Highland Tape....
since this weekend marks that 25th Anniversary of one of the most famous
PA Tapes ever made in the history of Go-Go!

Did the Crowd Control dj thing Thursday night at DC 9, and the Moneytown funk 45s and Afrobeat lps thing Friday night upstairs at the Rock n Roll Hotel. Crowd Control was fun and had a fair amount of folks dancing including a couple of guys breakdancing. I was surprised how much Chris Richards and Dave Nada stuck to playing hits old and new--Madonna, Jackson 5, Sean Paul, Tribe C. Quest, Q Tip solo, Notorious BIG, Justin Timberlake, Stevie Wonder...I was tired and left at midnight--The Committee, a rap group (who have a go-go mix out) had not yet come onstage yet. The postcard for the night was a takeoff on the Minor Threat Out of Step ep (whichever one had the drawing with the black sheep going away from the white sheep) except they added a black guy among the white sheep.

DJ Nitecrawler Kevin at the RnR Hotel stuck to obscure funk and soul 45s (except for James Brown). He really knows his stuff. The other dj played some obscure Ghanian and Nigerian afrobeat lp tracks. All pretty danceable except most folks there were just hanging out, drinking and playing pool. It was fun also. Not that big a turnout considering it was free.

But I missed all the live music this weekend: Bobbie Womack and Millie Jackson and more at Showplace Arena; LCD Soundsystem and others at Virgin Fest; Otis Taylor and Aretha at Sandy Point; the Jamaican embassy thing at the OAS; Aquarium at Fort Reno Thursday

It was good to have you there at Moneytown on Friday, but you're right about the dancing issue. The venue has problems with their speakers and sound system and the EQ and volumes levels make it more like someone's car sans bass. I'm looking to move the night somewhere more dancefloor-friendly....maybe DC 9.

Yea DC 9 is a bit more dancefloor-friendly but I kinda like the RnR Hotel upstairs despite the inferior soundsystem and lack of an establish dancefloor area. It has the various rooms and the couches and pool tables. Somehow, you gotta develop a bigger Moneytown following.

That would be another reason to move - it's a bitch to develop a following out at RnR.

after our last experience playing there i'm not exactly itching to go back.

I'll be working at bringing in more people for the Moneytown thing. My other nights round DC do do extremely well, however. Got one coming up this Thursday. People definitely dance at this one, as the system goes loud...and well the crowd that I get loves it. Here's the info:

HEAT
THIS THURSDAY
August 9th (monthly, every second Thursday)
9:45PM-close (No Cover)
Saint Ex, Gate 54 (14th and T, NW DC) http://www.saint-ex.com/location.html

Dance Floor Funk+Uptempo Soul = HOT. We're talking 70's Soul Brother material......from straight ahead jams with that James Brown punch, to funky island covers. Rated as one of DC's top nightlife events in On Tap Magazine and recently mentioned by NBC 4! ( http://www.nbc4.com/dcscene/13688511/detail.html )

This month featuring DJ Nitekrawler and DJ Lunch Money
Set your soul on fire!

As a last resort, you guys should come out for my Wonderland Night. That night is super outta-control so if you want to dance, there is no better and it's been solid for over 2 years. Here's that info:

BREAKIN' GLASS
Saturday, August 18th (monthly, every third Sat)
10PM-3am
Wonderland Ballroom, (11th and Kenyon, Columbia Heights in NW DC)
OldSchoolHiphop*80s*Electro*Funk*Disco
DJs Nitekrawler & Lunch Money

Boogie til' your glass hits the floor. No Cover!