Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

Plastic Bag blog...

i don't know who hilary crowe is, i'll google her in a sec, but i'm curious (genuinely) why you posted that--do you agree/disagree? see something insightful in that quote?

ah i see i confused interviewer and interviewee. well, the question still stands.

I thought it was provocative. I think DC is more gentrified now, but there seems to be little gained from complaining about how things aren't the way they once were (and I like that LCD Soundsystem song about NYC). Plus one should also note the positives of the changes, and it's not like folks have a way-back machine anyway. There's some 'wildness' in every era, you just have to look for it.

it's a pretty standard complaint but entirely valid - real estate prices hiking and the general shifts in the direction of music and nightlife seem to hit DC a lot harder than in other metro areas only because it's so tiny in comparison. there wasn't much to hold things down but of what was there, especially for the "back when" crowd, it was all relatively quality and intense at the time. it hurt to have that really good end of the edm and punk/hardcore era in the city snatched out from under us by mid-decade.

notable nails in the coffin? the redevelopment of u street (r.i.p. kaffa house)... the nationals' stadium wiping out that entire entertainment/ne'er do well neighborhood... club red closing, becoming "fly lounge".

but as it's always said, dc has it's waves. there are actually good alternatives to what once was, albeit more disjointed as a community, and more spread out physically.

All good points.

Hey, you got a vote in the house of representatives.

Till the Republicans challenge it in Court and get the conservative Supremes to find it unconstitutional

Rob Garza of Thievery quoted in the NY Times regarding what music he is listening to at his vacation home in the Yucutan

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/01/arts/music/01Play.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

has anyone been to the disco city night at rnr hotel? chris burns is the resident. been wanting to check it out for a while, maybe this friday.

I have not been but I do have to give Chris Burns props for being respectful and mentioning African-American DC djs who came before him (and in some cases are still out there) when certain bloggers and newspaper folks seemed to want to suggest or imply (possibly unintentionally) through their coverage that that the only house and disco djs in DC worth mentioning were those ones who reached a crossover indie-rock crowd in '08.

The space is not that big btw, either upstairs or downstairs.

thanks for the info. i don't really know much about him but was hoping his night was more disco+house, less indie/blog house. i saw he also has a night called "hometown heroes" at trinidad and tobago in petworth. maybe you know recognize some of these names:
OJI and POPE (Poji Records - Baltimore)
LOVEGROVE
JOE L.
VERSION SOUND
KING SELASSIE I

I have not been but I do have to give Chris Burns props for being respectful and mentioning African-American DC djs who came before him (and in some cases are still out there) when certain bloggers and newspaper folks seemed to want to suggest or imply (possibly unintentionally) through their coverage that that the only house and disco djs in DC worth mentioning were those ones who reached a crossover indie-rock crowd in '08.

i'm sure it's unintentional and mostly out of ignorance, especially among the blog crowd. out of the people that tend to throw parties as part of/alongside that crossover group, i can't think of anyone aside from maybe eastman that've both been around dc long enough to know about those djs, and actually attended the kind of parties they'd have been at... or at least not anyone with as much enthusiasm for traditional deep house as chris.

i was chatting with him about this night a bit ago, i hadn't realized lovegrove actually lives in dc now (doing more management than actual djing) - he used to be my highlight at starscape back in the day and i wish'd he'd come down from baltimore more often.

it won't be indy/bloggy at all - you'll get alot of classic-sounding disco/deep/gospel-y stuff out of oji and pope, they used to be residents at the old sanctuary parties (i've still yet to find out if they drop "we lift our hands in the sanctuary," outside of the sanctuary). lovegrove and joe l'll probably be more contemporary, funkier disco + jacking cuts. version sound and king selassie i being dub/reggae, surprise.

i was talking with juan of the former-ish east coast boogiemen last week, also in the everybody loves music crew with joe l - had a lot of good things to say about these parties in terms of the overall good vibe of the crowds that show up for this in petworh as opposed to some club downtown.

xpost - found the comments here illuminating. i'm assuming that commenter "curm" is you, curmudgeon. great response from chris burns.

it's interesting to me the expectations you have for music coverage from the cp, based, i imagine, on a history which i wasn't around for. and the couple of cp reporters i am acquainted with, well, i'm not impressed with--would give any articles i read by them about as much credibility as something i read on a personal blog. i think of cp as trend journalism for college kids with little or no sense of history, i guess, and am slightly disappointed by not overly bothered by it. you want in-depth anything these days, you have to go to blogs, messageboards, books--personal outlets.

on friday i went to red lounge, a new place above international grill on 14th next to marvin. the crowd early on was fairly diverse, racially, 20s and 30s age-wise. the dj crew was composed of what looked like 19 or 20-year old kids, all white. it really seemed like their shitty djing killed the diversity--i watched people take off after trying to make a go of it on the dancefloor, until the crowd looked more and more like the dj crew. blown opportunity?

thanks for the info, fauxmarc. can you tell me the venue, trinidad and tobago?

*about the venue

i've never been and don't have anything on it, except that it's not usually a party venue - it's the actual building for the cultural association of trinidad and tobago or something along those lines, just people getting together in a public space to dance.

I think Wonkabout is a good thing - sure there's plenty of overlap with CP/BYT, but more coverage is always better.

I think the DC scene hit a real low point maybe 3-4 years ago and has gotten much better since - a substantial number of new venues have opened, more people are throwing more parties with more diverse lineups, and more people are showing up and having a great time, which allows weekly and monthly parties to flourish.

I was talking with friends a few weeks ago about how DC's EDM scene is actually better now than at any point since the end of Buzz, and to be honest probably a good deal before the end of Buzz. Loads of talent coming through and loads of great parties - a few years ago it used to be hard to find a great event a couple times a month, now there are sometimes several in a night.

have you heard anything about what electric cabaret is up to? i can't find anything beyond damian lazarus from last week

2.26.09 DAMIAN LAZARUS (Crosstown Rebels - London)

3.05.09 RETURN of the MEXICANS (Jorge HM, D-Bug Live, Paravoice Live – Mexico)

3.12.09 GUIDO SCHNEIDER (Poker Flat Recordings – Berlin)

3.19.09 THE ELECTRIC CABARET TAKES A WEEK OFF (Forward Festival)

3.26.09 RADIO SLAVE (Rekids – Berlin)

I mean, holy shit.

wow.

x-post to Will. Old guy me remembers when Alona Wortofsky was at the City Paper and writing up go-go and dancehall regularly as well as Dischord stuff, and I remember more recently Sarah Godfrey (who still writes for them on ocassion) highlighting go-go, rap and r'n'b. So when new folks post "indie and indie-crossover is the world" stuff I get frustrated. They don't have to like other stuff, just acknowledge that it exists.

gotcha.

chris burns's blog http://chrisburnsdc.com/

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a222/blueimage/MoneytownFLYERMarchsmall.jpg

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a222/blueimage/fm_flyer1.jpg

Moneytown welcomes it's March guests, DJs Larry Grogan and Prestige!

Larry Grogan (Funky 16 Corners, Ashbury Park 45 Sessions) & DJ Prestige (Fleamarket Funk, Ashbury Park 45 Session) have been killing it at their monthly Funk and soul extravaganza in Ashbury Park, NJ. They travel to DC to bring you some of their best material to shake it to.

Friday, March 6th
10PM-3AM
Dahlak (1771 U St., NW DC)
Free! No Cover
w/ DJ Nitekrawler & special guests: DJs Larry Grogan and Prestige!

Some details on our guests:

Larry Grogan is best known as the man behind one of the most influential funk & soul blogs on the planet, ( http://funky16corners.wordpress.com ), PLUS one of the founding DJs of the Ashbury 45 sessions, a wild funk/soul dance party in NJ. His main counterpart, (and fellow DJ at the Ashbury 45 Sessions), is DJ Prestige, a man who has also become legendary via his blog: www.fleamarketfunk.com . Though neither have been on tour in quite a while, they haven't lost their ability to take the Ashbury show on the road......and they're itching to rock Dahlak to the ground. Don't miss this pair when they combine talents at Moneytown

The White House has had Stevie Wonder; Earth Wind & Fire; and Sweet Honey in the Rock over the past few weeks.

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE – 2 days ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is the place to be on Wednesdays.

Since the presidency changed hands less than six weeks ago, a burst of entertaining has taken hold of the iconic, white-columned home of America's head of state. Much of it comes on Wednesdays.

The stately East Room, where portraits of George and Martha Washington adorn the walls, was transformed into a concert hall as President Barack Obama presented Stevie Wonder with the nation's highest award for pop music on Wednesday.

A week before that, the foot-stomping sounds of Sweet Honey in the Rock, a female a cappella group, filled the East Room for a Black History Month program first lady Michelle Obama held for nearly 200 sixth- and seventh-graders from around the city.

Cocktails were sipped during at least three such receptions to date, all held on Wednesdays.

Bookending the midweek activity were a Super Bowl party for select Democratic and Republican lawmakers and a dinner for governors, the new administration's first black-tie affair. It was capped with a performance by the 1970s pop group Earth, Wind and Fire. And a conga line.

The flurry of entertaining is in keeping with the Obamas' promise to make the White House a more open place for everyone.

The governors' dinner was "a great kickoff of what we hope will be an atmosphere here in the White House that is welcoming and that reminds everybody that this is the people's house," Obama told the state chief executives after they had dined on Maryland crab, Wagyu beef, Nantucket scallops and citrus salad.

"We are just temporary occupants. This is a place that belongs to the American people and we want to make sure that everybody understands it's open," he said.

At the dinner in the State Dining Room, the Obamas looked comfortable, chatting and smiling with their guests. Afterward, they escorted the governors down the hall to the East Room, which had been arranged with few tables and chairs to encourage dancing to "September," "Boogie Wonderland" and other hits from a musical group Obama listened to growing up.

crooked beat and chris burns on abc news' nightline about vinyl

http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=7011708

Wow.

In sad news (although he had a fairly long life) DC born, Bowling Green John Cephas died. He was a fine acoustic Piedmonst style bluesman, nice guy, and founder of the DC Blues Society.

bummer. back when i was in school @ UMD, i took a folklore/folk music class with barry pearson, who wrote a book on piedmont stuff focusing mostly on cephas & wiggins.

cool deal re: the abc news story. i work at red onion over on 18th & T on sundays, and i'm honestly surprised by how healthy the vinyl market seems to be right now.

also while i totally agree re: the health of dc's edm and dj offerings, rock music around here is some seriously weak gruel and has been for most of this decade.

http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
I want ya'll to play this at funerals in the hood.
Til all this black on black crime stop.
Some say the blind lead the blind.
But in the ghetto you never know,
When it's gon be yo time.
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Sons of Funk, Mo B. Dick, O'dell]
Sittin at the ghetto thinkin bout
All my homies passed away (uuunnnggghhh!)
Candy painted cadillacs and triple gold
That's how me and my boys rolled
How could it be?
Somebody took my boy from me
My best friend's gone
And I'm so all alone
I really miss my homies
Even though they gone away
I know you in a better place
And I hope to see ya soon someday
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Master P]
I used to hang with my boy even slang with my boy
Used to bang with my boy, goddam I miss my boy
We started out youngstas in the park throwin birds
In your hearse, damn it's sad to see my nigga in the dirt
The game got me workin, got me perkin, never jerkin
Still blowin dolja fo ya cause I know you up there workin
Ya little baby's cool and ya baby's mama straight
But today's a sad day to see the t-shirt with ya face
From the cradle to the grave, from the streets we used to fall
In the park you liked to ball, put yo name upon the wall
In the projects you's a legend on the street you was a star
But it's sad to see my homeboy ridin in that black car
A lotta soldiers done died, a lotta mothers done cried
You done took yo piece of the pie but you was too young to retire
Why soldiers ride for yo name leave it vain
Some Gs never change, damn they killed you for some change
Smile for my homie Kevin Miller my boy Randall
The ghetto persons that lost they loved ones to these ghetto scandals
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
Take a minute to smile for the dead (uuunnnggghhh!)
Smile for the dead (RIP 2Pac, Makaveli)
All my homies who done made it to the crossroads
(Biggie Smalls)
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Sons, Mo B. O'dell]
How could it be?
Somebody took my boy from me
(It's like I can't believe you gone)
My best friend's gone
(Sometimes I feel like I can't go on)
And I'm so all alone
(Everytime I see something you done left
I really miss my homies
(It just remind me, more and more of you, dawg)
Even though they gone away
(I just keep reminiscin)
I know you in a better place
(Cause I know you alright)
And I hope to see ya soon someday
(And I keep smilin, knowin I'm a see you in the crossroads]
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Pimp C]
We used to grip on the grain and flip them candy toys
But I'd give up all that bullshit if I could get back my boy
Off in the club smokin weed til 3, hollerin at the hoes
Spendin $4000 on me on gators and clothes
When I turned to rap, he had to chase the game
Nigga told me, "C, leave that dope, cause rappin is yo thang"
I ain't gone even lie, some nights I ride and cry
Wonderin why the real niggas always the ones to die
So I just smoke my weed and try to clear my mind
I wish that I had the power to turn back the hands of time
I wonder if there's a heaven up there for real Gs
For all the niggas in the game that be sellin keys
I keep my memories, try to keep my head stromg
But baby it's hard to be strong, when yo main homie gone
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Sons, Mo B. O'dell]
Even though you gone away
(Even though you gone, you ain't never gon be forgotten)
I know you in a better place
(Cause as long as I'm here
You gon live through me and other TRU playas)
I really miss my homies
Even though they gone away
I know you in a better place
And I hope to see ya soon someday
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
[Silkk]
I'm just sittin here dazed thinkin bout all the times we had
Thinkin the past, some was good and some was bad
Remember Dante?
It was a group of us, just a group of five
Now three dead, one in jail, it seem right now I'm the only one alive
To all my soldiers before me, may ya'll rest in peace
When He took three, took my soul, just the bodies
He at the crossroads guide us out to the rest of me
Wishin I could rewind time like demos
Me and you gettin girls, writin down numbers like memos
Makin million dollar bets, makin all our money stretch like limos
Even though I smile, it's sad, but they say gangstas can't cry
But if I close my eyes and visualize me together
Then I suddenly wanna smile
To see you laid down when it's yo time, when your time was up
You never seen your child, but he's here to remind us
Even though you was wrong, I never could belive that that was true
You was with me forever, you could check my rest in peace tattoos
See me and C and P forever gon be ridin and thuggin
Rest in peace to all the ones that didn't make it
And rest in peace to my brother
We gon miss you
http://images.lowriderarte.com/drawings/0701_lrap_06_z+drawings+notorious_big.jpg
(I love these fools)
I know you in a better place
(Every time I get on my knees)
And I hope to see ya soon someday
(I pray for you, I'm glad you in a better place
I hope I see ya soon, ain't no more killin
Ain't no more fights, and ain't no more tears)

rock music around here is some seriously weak gruel

why is this?

hm...i mean that's a question with many valid answers. when it comes to indie/underground/whatever rock, i guess the weirdest thing to me is that for a city of dc's size there's so little attention directed inward. it's an everyone loves it or no one does kinda town, and if everyone does, it's probably because it sounds like a watered-down version of a nationally popular act they're already familiar with.

you can toss in all sorts of other things - gentrification, the transient nature of so much of the potential audience, NPR-indie-as-lifestyle-accessory, the palpable absence of dischord (if only because nothing's sprung up to take its place), lost infrastructure, etc. but still, there's something about the way that stuff's played out here that's put a damper on things in a way it hasn't elsewhere (baltimore, for example, whatever you think about the quality of the resulting output).

i dunno, i'm probably strawmanning the hell out of my argument. i'm also ignoring modern dc hardcore and metal when i'm talking about stuff like this, which is dumb of me.

first a x-post. I heard Barry Pearson talk about Piedmont blues and stuff at the U of Md once, but did not take his class. He does a nice job putting together the PG Community College Bluebird fest every year.

the palpable absence of dischord (if only because nothing's sprung up to take its place)

This is what I've wondered about. There are a fair amount of young DC rock bands but none have established a niche in the way Dischord once did, or even the way some Baltimore acts currently do.

My buddy Jeff "Heavy metal Parking Lot" Krulik is now researching an earlier era of DC rock bands, late '60s to early '70s. Many of them played the Wheaton Youth Center along with bigger name acts like the Stooges. Jeff will be filming folks reminiscing Saturday March 7th at noon there as part of an event(soon to be a Jeff movie doc) called "Led Zeppelin Was Here." Apparently their 1st DC area gig was there in 1969 I think. There will also be some bands playing and record dealers.

i'm also ignoring modern dc hardcore and metal when i'm talking about stuff like this, which is dumb of me.

i'd assumed you were talking about hc, it sums it up pretty well. the good few central venues for this were closed or pushed out like the kaffa house on u street (now an h+r block) and the old wilson center in columbia heights. the warehouse next door by the convention center popped up and brought a bit of a revival, but then their taxes hiked something like 700% and had to close. kids moved to baltimore and beyond.

the palpable absence of dischord
to be fair, dischord hasn't really been any sort of leading force in the dmv since at least as far back as the mid 90's - not to disparage them but to say that from then for about another decade or so there was a lot going on, primarily from bands and labels that had nothing to do with dischord yet still had influence on an international scale. they just don't have the benefit of being recognized as among the first of it's kind like dischord has to keep it's name being brought up. the scene around say, magic bullet records was great then.

well as far as hardcore goes, there's still a pretty active house show community kicking around. still, you're totally right when it comes to actual venues. warehouse was a real gem; definitely had the best booking. the dude who did things there (and also at his house, 611 florida) moved over to velvet when it shuttered, but he's since moved to philly.

dischord is a tough one. it doesn't do nearly anything these days, and hasn't for a while, i agree. it's more notable today as a negative space that nobody's tried to fill in a long time. i mean it's obviously not just my opinion that it was a legitimately *great* label; a few classic records and one of the definitive examples of doing things the right way and succeeding wildly in the process. but i wonder sometimes if its historical influence has frozen things here to the point where people are afraid or unwilling to try to build because they feel the territory's already occupied.

I'm on a punk show e-mail list that includes some of those house shows, and maybe I'm not keeping up enough, but do some of those bands ever get bigger and play clubs and get written up here or elsewhere? I often feel like I'm completely out-of-touch when I see the bills for some of those shows.

i've been out of it for a good while now but when i went to shows you had bands like majority rule, darkest hour, good clean fun, pg. 99, enemy soil... strike anywhere and city of caterpillar although that's reaching out to richmond at that point, all of which get international recognition in punk and hardcore circles although they wouldn't necessarily end up playing clubs per se as that's just not the nature of things.

now, i really have no idea

synchronicity: found the link to this article on chris burns's myspace
Tale of Two Cities
Washington's Inability to Sustain DIY Culture Highlights Baltimore's Greatest Strength

dischord is a tough one. it doesn't do nearly anything these days

The new Title Tracks single (John Davis / Q and Not U + Georgie James guy) is out on Dischord in less than a month, and it's really great.

DC rapper x.o.'s realmatic is getting love from City Paper, Washington Post, and dcist.com. I'm still making my mind up about his wordy flow

The Surf Club in Bladensburg, now known as the Surf Club Live, is temporarily shut down for the month of March with no other information. Hmmmm. The zydeco bands that play there interest me, but not the same ol' same ol' local roots-rockers.

bummed to miss guido schneider tonight, but i have a cold and have to get up early tomorrow. radioslave in two weeks, though!

Guido Schneider was a snooze the one time I saw him but, yeah, very much looking forward to Radioslave.