Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

There are three things that you can only get in Washington D.C., The President, Go - Go Music and Mambo Sauce. This electrifying group takes their name from the mystery sauce popular at Chinese/Soul Food carry - outs throughout D.C. Comprised of seven of D.C. and Go - Go musics most prominent musicians, the band seeks to create a new form of music, Pocket that effectively blends D.C. Go - Go percussion with well crafted songs, explosive raps and sultry melodies. Mambo Sauce and their label Red C Records intend to use this formula to infiltrate the national music market with the D.C Go - Go sound.

Mambo Sauce do "Miracles" with that "Oh, oh, I see the light" lyric. I've been loving that song for awhile and only just discovered the name of the tune and the group. Their new single "Welcome to DC" is not as good. They may win best band at the KYS Go-go wards in November.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=23493815

A heads up:

The Ambassador Theater--DC Psychedelic Concert Hall 1967
40th Anniversary Panel Discussion Saturday 11/3/07 3PM
DC Historical Studies Conference at the old Carnegie Library,801 K Street, NW

For six glorious months beginning in July 1967, the Summer of Love landed right in Adams Morgan when three entrepreneurs convinced a skeptical neighborhood to allow DC's very own Fillmore--The Ambassador Theater. Tony Finestra, Court Rodgers and Joel Mednick were selling fire extinguishers on college campuses when they heard the siren call of San Francisco, and after visiting the Fillmore and Avalon Ballroom, decided to pour all available resources into duplicating that psychedelic experience in an abandoned movie theater at 18th and Columbia Road.

Within months, they had defied the odds and opened a psychedelic concert hall, hippie hangout and community center that also boasted The Psychedelic Power and Light Company, one of the most happening psychedelic light shows on the East Coast! Every name rock band on tour at the time passed through the Ambassador, including a five night stand by Jimi Hendrix in August '67 (with two 3PM matinee performances), as well as the Fugs, Moby Grape and many more. It was even one of the staging points for the March on the Pentagon, with Norman Mailer rallying the protesters from the stage days before the October 21, 1967 march.

WAMAdc President Mike Schreibman was not only there, he helped run the place, and he'll be part of a panel discussion, with Richard Harrington of The Washington Post, and more guests to be announced. Promoters Court Rodgers and Joel Mednick have been invited, as well as Jerry Mermelstein who helped run The Psychedelic Power and Light Company light show. We've also located Bill Havu, drummer for the band Natty Bumppo, as well as Walter Hart who ran the head shop on the mezzanine of the theater.

The presentation will include a slide show of concert posters, personal photos, and newspaper clippings from the mainstream, college and underground newspapers, and memories, anecdotes and recollections provided by members of the audience. It will be moderated and presented by Jeff Krulik, who was six years old at the time but wishes he could have been there for Vanilla Fudge.

Cultural historians Mark Opsasnick (www.capitolrock.com), Mara Cherkasky (www.culturaltourismdc.org) and Bob Embery (DC Monuments fanzine) will assist.

There will be an after party to be determined.

Mambo Sauce are getting major play on WKYS

Mambo Sauce were added as the opening act for Toots & the Maytals Monday night at the 930. Pretty impressive. A woman drummer as well as a woman vocalist (for those interested in such gender topics). In a scene where most go-go bands just do covers of hiphop songs and go-goize them, these folks try to do oringinals and have some that work. Nice vocal harmonies as well as conga beats and cowbell and keyboard.

http://rockondc.blogspot.com/

How did I never see this blog? The blogger's into old DC rock stuff like Razz, and posts about Chick Hall's Surf Club (sale still not final, this Baladensburg honky-tonk will still be around through November).

Bladensburg

DC Reggae Awards Tuesday night at Zanzibar

mambo sauce are great! i heard the 'welcome to dc' song on pgc last night

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/goingoutgurus/2007/10/not_just_another_show_at_the_r.html#more

Shame on me (seriously). I've still never seen the Points.

i got someone else's blood and like five beers on me that night! great show.

The Ambassador Theater--DC Psychedelic Concert Hall 1967
40th Anniversary Panel Discussion Saturday 11/3/07 3PM
DC Historical Studies Conference at the old Carnegie Library,801 K Street, NW

For six glorious months beginning in July 1967, the Summer of Love landed right in Adams Morgan when three entrepreneurs convinced a skeptical neighborhood to allow DC's very own Fillmore--The Ambassador Theater. Tony Finestra, Court Rodgers and Joel Mednick were selling fire extinguishers on college campuses when they heard the siren call of San Francisco, and after visiting the Fillmore and Avalon Ballroom, decided to pour all available resources into duplicating that psychedelic experience in an abandoned movie theater at 18th and Columbia Road.

My buddy Jeff Krulik has put together a nice event--old photos and news clippings, panelists who were there, etc. DC rock scene, 1967, and Hendrix stories...

I just discovered there was also a panel or presentation on "Teenerama", the African-American DC teen dance show that was the subject of a documentary that aired on local public television.

Although they struck out getting media ink for the event, I understand there were around 75 to 100 people there for the Ambassador Theater discussion/panel presentation.

Republic Gardens shut down last week for being way behind on rent, and now a different type of closing--Farewell Childe Harold--where I saw various Dischord bands including Beefeater plus folks dressed like Elvis, and other shows I've momentarily forgotten.

An Early D.C. Stage For Musical Greats Has Quiet Last Call

By Paul Schwartzman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 7, 2007; B01

Before they became limousine famous, Emmylou Harris and Bruce Springsteen played in a litany of run-down, no-name joints, where small, unsuspecting audiences got that rare chance to see, hear and touch undiscovered genius.
In Washington, that joint was the Childe Harold, a cozy, wood-lined saloon in Dupont Circle, where, in its heyday, patrons filled every nook and cranny, the bathrooms reeked of marijuana and everyone talked for years after about whom they saw perform there.
Now the bar itself will become part of the city's collective memory.
After 40 years, the Childe Harold shut down Saturday for the last time. The owner made no announcement, saying he was too grief-stricken over losing something that has been in his blood since he was a teenager washing dishes in the kitchen and, later, broiling steaks for Springsteen between sets.
"This place has been my life," Hossein Shirvani said yesterday, seated at the bar as a friend removed mementos from the walls. Down came a framed copy of Springsteen's contract to play at the Childe Harold in May of 1973, two years before he landed on the cover of Time and Newsweek and became world famous.
Springsteen's payday for three nights: a grand total of $750.
Shirvani said he was forced to close because of a dispute with the property manager, real estate company Randall Hagner, which he said had wanted to nearly double his rent.

...

Heard began offering music in the early '70s at the bar's brick-faced home at 1610 20th St. NW, among the first nightspot destinations in otherwise sleepy Dupont Circle. The Ramones, Bonnie Raitt, Al Jarreau and Son Seals were among the eclectic mix that turned the bar into a well-known spot for rock, blues, country and jazz.

What am I saying, I saw Beefeater and other Dischord bands at the old Food for Thought. At Childe Harold I saw Bad Brains maybe. Excuse my old man ramblings.

ya think they mentioned Springsteen enough in that article?

M.A.N.D.Y. is playing Buzz ar Fur tomorrow night. Woah, like actual for real big time Berlin DJs in DC.

Buzz is getting hip

So the Creative Loafing folks who bought the City Paper have taken their latest step in trying to reduce costs. They dropped the folks who used to distribute the paper, and hired a new cheaper outfit. Alas, I have been unable to find the hard copy in Alexandria for 2 weeks in a row now.

M.A.N.D.Y. is playing Buzz ar Fur

Brian, did you go, how was it?

Post classical reviewer Tim Page is in trouble

i saw that on the news last night. WTF @ pent-up rage!

btw this is what he sent to barry's aide, in response to receiving some unsolicited press release from barry's office:

"Must we hear about it every time this crack addict attempts to rehabilitate himself with some new -- and typically half-witted -- political grandstanding? I'd be grateful if you would take me off your mailing list. I cannot think of anything the useless Marion Barry could do that would interest me in the slightest, up to and including overdose."

I missed the KYS DC Gogo awards tonight. Maybe Daria went. So leaving the 930 after the Cafe Tacuba show I saw Brendan Canty showing up. I think he must played live with Bob Mould at Blow-up.

The Post has a music blog. Billions of Springsteen supporters have posted comments there.

what do you think of the rock and roll hotel? saw om and grails there last week. didn't like their sound system too much. the upstairs bar seemed pretty nice, lots of really old flyers up on the walls.

x-post. I was there upstairs once when Dj Nitekrawler (Kevin from the DC Soul website) was spinning obscure soul reocrds and a buddy of his played afrobeat and soul vinyl. It was nice, although the sound was not too great and there weren't many folks there (and many dancing). The soundsystem downstairs was ok the last time I was there.

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2007/10/15/story2.html?jst=s_cn_hl

Just saw this October article on the future demolition of the Zanzibar club.

I wish someone would open a club in DC kinda like the 80s Kilimanjaro in Adams Morgan but with bands coming on at decent hours and with prices that are not unreasonable. It could attract folks who currently go to Zanzibar, Crossroads, et. al. and Peace Corps types and others (open-minded indie-rockers and others)...I'm dreaming...

uhhhh i kinda think it blows. their sound system is the joke of the city and i've had bad experiences w/their management. good beer selection and bartenders are attentive. upstairs is pretty well done, although basically a punk-themed house of blues. it's also a hassle to get down there unless you're driving or willing to lay out cash for a cab from union station. they continually book worthwhile shit, though, and people say good things about their transparency when it comes to paying bands.

(xp)

thank you for verifying their bad sound. i was hoping it wasn't just me because i was seriously frustrated that night with how shitty it was. punk-themed house of blues is pretty accurate.

i remember going to kilimanjaro once for a hardcore matinee (lol). got there early and had to listen to dancehall at ear-bleeding volume for an hour or so, something i'd willingly endure nowadays but this was before i knew better

:) no go-go awards for me! i haven't been to any shows i just listen to it on the radio. who won?

Don't know! Maybe the WKYS website lists them. I do know that Sugar Bear from EU was getting a lifetime achievement award. I haven't read the Take Me Out to the Go-go e-mails I get automatically sent, in the last few days.

So I guess I was lucky with the sound that time I saw bands at the RnR Hotel--or maybe my hearing is so shot I can't tell the difference!

Yea, the RnR Hotel has its issues but have you folks ever seen live music at H20, Zanzibar or the Crossroads? The music rarely starts before midnight and the bouncers/door people are not exactly friendly. Press-wise, I can never get anyone to return my calls or e-mail their club schedules early enough. H2O is the worst, the others not so bad.
Kilimanjaro was not so good either--but I dealt with it somehow.

haha those clubs all have terrible websites too. crossroads at least updates their events. trying to google for h2o's site i found:

According to police, Holmes said he and his friends were in the club's VIP room about 3:45 a.m. when he accidentally bumped into Able, causing him to spill a $600 bottle of Cristal champagne. Holmes said Able demanded that he purchase another bottle but that he refused, police testified.

Authorities have said that Holmes and Able were escorted outside by H2O's security staff and that the argument continued. Holmes allegedly shot Able in the back of the head. Police said that Holmes has told authorities that Able threatened him with a knife inside the nightclub and approached him outside the club with his hand in his pocket.

Holmes pointed a gun at a D.C. police officer as he fled, investigators said, and that officer shot Holmes in the groin, thigh and finger. Holmes was charged with first-degree murder and is in jail awaiting a court hearing.

Ryan Elliott at Be Bar Saturday was too much fun! More than made up for M.A.N.D.Y. last week...

I used to go to H20 on "Latin Fridays." The bouncers/door people were rude but I thankfully never had any other problems--other than exhaustion from being up early on Friday for work and then being out till 3 am. The place was always packed--even more people than the 9:30 club (and my friend and I or sometimes just me were the only gringos there). I'd go ahead and pay the extravagant parking fee for the garage located underneath H20 and Zanzibar as it was convenient for getting in and out of the clubs quickly. That was before the shooting and the club's other liquor license problems with the city. That shooting occurred the night they were showing a pay for view Boxing match on a big screen set up in the club. I'd love to see Lil' Wayne there November 30th but doubt I will go.

H2o's website is hard to find, has too many bells and whistles, and the list of upcoming events is always updated at the last minute.

kinda wish i'd gone to the opening of the new wilson center last night, but had other plans. i'll check it out soon though.

Lou, I thought M.A.N.D.Y. was pretty good! Nice set, they were having fun, crowd and line did, of course, leave something to be desired. They lost the plot briefly about halfway through but picked back up. MSTRKRFT there was more solid. I wish I'd been able to go to Ryan Elliott but I had my big gay club opening (which was really great - the space turned out well and they definitely know what they're doing).

Brian, re: M.A.N.D.Y.: It's funny- I was worried about the crowd/venue but that turned out just fine (I got there after the line ordeal). It was M.A.N.D.Y's set that left me wanting more! Of course, it was cool to have the opportunity to see them play in DC, and for that I am grateful. But I thought their set was suprisingly weak--they kept getting something good going (loved hearing the Shlomi Aber track) and then completely losing the momentum.

Anyway, it wasn't enough to keep me from going back. I'm excited to see what Buzz has put together for the coming months.

re: Town- I didn't realize it was opening on Saturday until we were already at Be Bar. Jay and I are looking forward to checking it out after the holiday. Our friends said they had fun there Saturday.

kinda wish i'd gone to the opening of the new wilson center last night

I did not go either. I am thinking this is just likely a one-off thing, with the school not regularly allowing bands to come in all the time. But maybe you're thinking the same thing and you wrote what you did tongue-in-cheek.

Is Town the former Kili's near the 9:30 Club? I saw folks lined up outside that place when I was leaving the Cafe Tacuba show at the 9:30.

curmudgeon- That's it. Just opened on Saturday.

curmudgeon have you been to the setting nightclub in hyattsville

http://www.settingonline.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/11_23_2007.jpg

Nope, just to the Crossroads.

wait was the wilson ctr thing the evens show at capital city charter school? my friend teaches there, and i hung w her yesterday and she was like man i have to do some work tomorrow night, but theres gonna be this show at my school :( - i hadnt heard anything until then... i think it's not gonna be a super-regular thing, cause it's the first time CCCS has allowed someone else to use their space. i assured her that everyone would be stone-sober and totally not messy.

Yep. I think the City Paper blog had the details on the negotiations to have that Evens show there at the former Wilson Center (ah the memories of shows I saw there...)

Lou, I wasn't super impressed with M.A.N.D.Y. as DJs but it was just really nice to hear a bunch of those tracks in a club on a good system.

The upcoming Buzz schedule has some decent acts on it (Calderone, General Midi and Laylo & Bushwacka), but nobody that I'm at all interested in. Maybe January...

"Hear Mount Pleasant" will rally at the Mt. Pleasant Library (1600 Lamont St., NW) Monday November 19th at 6:45 p.m., outside a forum where Mayor Adrian Fenty will make an appearance. They have requested a brief audience with Mayor Fenty, where they will present a petition signed by 1600 residents supporting efforts to overturn restrictive voluntary agreements in their neighborhood, including a ban on live music in Mt. Pleasant establishments.

DC rapper Wale is listed in Entertainment Weekly as one of their top 8 to watch for in 2008. They compare him to Lupe Fiasco (not sure if that's a good thing)

Meanwhile in the Washington Post I see that Seth Hurwitz is still trying to convince Montgomery County to let him have a club in Silver Spring rather than LiveNation

So the WKYS website has photos of some of the winners at their November 18th go-go awards but no text. Googling for it, I came across an article I had forgotten that quoted various folks taking KYS to task for their initial 2006 awards (nominating broken-up bands, leaving out names of folks who should be nominated, etc.)

http://rockondc.blogspot.com/

Nice November 29th posting here about the late Tom Terrell, an enthusiastic fun guy who dj'd at PFW, MUC, and HFS (in the '80s), wrote liner notes for a Miles Davis box set, wrote for many publications and got me free tickets to a Tom Waits show once! He will be missed.

Friday, Dec 07
Washington City Paper: The Cuts
FishbowlDC has learned of the unfortunate cuts coming to the Washington City Paper: Staff writers Joe Eaton, Amanda S. Miller, Tim Carman and Jessica Gould, plus editorial assistant Joe Dempsey.

Tim (and possibly Joe) will continue as a freelancer.

>UPDATE: Editorial assistant Amanda Hess will be taking over the Show & Tell column.