Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

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.

see you guys next weekend for Pan-Pot & Derek Plaslaiko, yes?

yeah, i think so. man, i wish they would stop doing the best stuff on thursdays, though :\ i can't remember if i ever saw derek when i lived in new york, but i liked his recent RA podcast.

on the buzzlife forum the 88 guys are really hustling this forward festival. i like the idea, hope it works out for them as far as media coverage and ticket sales and building community (or whatever other organizational goals they may have).

Morgan Geist at Comet Ping Pong next Saturday FREE!!!

I had heard a rumor about that. Glad it came true.

so that weekend is shaping up:

3/19 Thursday:
Pan-Pot and Derek Plaslaiko

3/20 Friday:
Mochipet live, Jeremy "Ayro" Ellis live @ Gallery
Heidi @ Muse

3/21 Saturday:
KiloWatts, The Great Mundane, and Aligning Minds live @ BeBar
Dan Berkson & James What, Pheek live @ Gallery
Morgan Geist @ Comet Ping Pong

That is actually more good electronic music bookings in one weekend than DC had in all of 2006.

Morgan Geist @ Comet Ping Pong

wut, who's started booking edm there?

probably S0lomon S@nchez - he's spun a few nights there.

My friend has played there once or twice and had a hand in booking Geist. There was one time maybe 2 years ago I saw S0lomon DJ there, but I think it was only recently they started booking shows again (could be wrong about that).

cool. seeing the mountain goats at 6th and i that night, maybe we'll make the trek up connecticut to listen to dance music. dance music.

adding to saturday:

3/21 Saturday:
KiloWatts, The Great Mundane, and Aligning Minds live @ BeBar
Dan Berkson & James What, Pheek live @ Gallery
Morgan Geist @ Comet Ping Pong
Miami Horror & Will Eastman @ 9:30 Club
DJ Harvey @ ESL

This says there's also a Bruno Pronsato live set on Wednesday.

what is with the "secret venue" shows lately? Really the only thing that means to me is that the show is at an illegal venue or it's a club that's too shitty to tell people about ahead of time.

adding to Friday:

3/20 Friday:
Mochipet live, Jeremy "Ayro" Ellis live @ Gallery
Heidi @ Muse
Armand Van Helden, Shy FX, John B @ the old DC Tunnel

dc star (ex-tunnel) seems like it might be picking up bringing the old rave-type events back into town, i wish i'd checked it before i left. was really thinking of coming back for avh but with all of the janky stuff he's produced over recent years i wasn't sure i could trust his live sets again.

also on thursdays it seems to have a reggaeton night which was really needed outside of the typical eurotrash venues, although it might be the same vibe.

3/19 Thursday:
Pan-Pot and Derek Plaslaiko

holy shit this was great

yeah? i'm sorry i missed it, it just wasn't in the cards. how was the secret location venue? i'm going to check out pulse on saturday--don't recognize any of the names, though.

desperation, but: anyone have or know of an extra ticket for the mountain goats/john vanderslice on saturday?

The secret location venue worked out really well! It was actually a warehouse sex club. I am not kidding

I really enjoyed Plaslaiko's set, but Pan Pot were really really on. Great to see 200+ people out dancing at 2am on a Thursday night.

Sounds fun. Weeknights are tough for me. Still going to try to make it to Radio Slave though.

I heard Bruno Pronsato was boring. Not really surprised judging from what I've heard by him.

Looking forward to Morgan Geist. Any of you planning on being there?

me!

Great! I haven't seen you in forever.

really glad to hear a good crowd showed. i want those guys to be successful. warehouse sex club = i am not sure exactly what that means. a venue for public sex? legit? or more like a strip club?

It was a little empty in the main room during Plaslaiko's set but between new arrivals and the second room emptying out there was a really good vibe for Pan Pot - incredibly great. The venue is in far southwest - past the baseball stadium - and is basically a private sex club, but a legit operation. There were very amusing and disturbing flyers and notices posted all over.

I have a feeling the Morgan Geist show tomorrow will be jammed. Good!

i'll be there!

I don't think anyone's writing about this stuff for the City Paper. Just BYT.

I didn't go - was absolutely swamped with work this weekend. Missed some great shows because I had to work on making more places for great shows.

Booka Shade this Wednesday, Radioslave Thursday!

mountain goats and morgan geist in one night, wow. great stuff from both. i really like comet's back room for dancing, it reminds of the bunker parties at subtonic years ago.

Yeah, I had a great time all around! Pleasantly surprised with the venue and the crowd.