Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

Most people have probably never heard of my critic pick public access show item for the best of issue either.

http://gp1.wac.edgecastcdn.net/802892/production_public/Artist/1451020/image/1420240654_TheMuddyCrows-12.jpg

If their wardrobe is any indication it's probably better that we haven't heard them.

DC's Mumford & Sons it appears.

http://www.arlnow.com/2015/04/10/can-a-tech-startup-save-artisphere/

We'll have to wait and see

I'm out of touch. Barely recognized any of the names of bands who were at that Damaged City hardcore thang at St Stephens and elsewhere.

And the ones I do know, I keep waiting to see if they will eventually get more crossover attention , but it never seems to happen

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2015/04/16/go-going-the-distance-how-go-go-is-finding-its-place-in-the-digital-age/

Natalie Hopkinson, go-go book author talking with Nico of go-go radio live. Some interesting stuff.

No mention of Go-go Radio Live's competitor for online attention--Take Me Out to the Go-go or of WKYS Mon to Thurs 9:30pm to 9:55 pm or so go-go programming

Finally saw Priests live tonight. Lived up to the hype.

http://dcist.com/2015/04/clara_barton_sessions.php

Description of this project sounds interesting

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2015/04/17/michelle-blackwell-looks-back-on-15-years-as-go-gos-leading-lady/

one more thing from CP

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2015/04/20/record-your-own-music-and-eat-a-sandwich-at-songbyrd-record-cafe-now-open-in-adams-morgan/

Gonna see Little Margie from old-school dc soulful girlgroup the Jewels tonight from 6 to 9 pm at Westminster Church in SW DC. Then might see reunited '60s psych rock band Godz at Galaxy Hut later

i think an ilxor wrote this about a band my friend is in:http: noisey.vice.com/blog/beauty-pill-describes-things-as-they-are-interview-profile-2015

They have 3 Artisphere gigs coming up --Thursday through Saturday nights.

Unreleated:

http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/capitalcomment/sports/did-the-nationals-dump-chuck-brown.php

When a band gets stamped with the label “DIY,” that usually means it’s got independently released music on Bandcamp and a string of house shows under its belt. In other words, DIY could describe a lot of bands that are just starting out.

“It seems like a useless word to me because if you’re doing a band, aren’t you already doing it yourself?” says D.C. punk vocalist Katie Alice Greer, 26. “It’s a word that has totally lost its meaning, except that it’s a marketing term. It’s marketable to people.”

http://bandwidth.wamu.org/even-after-its-10th-release-d-c-punk-label-sister-polygon-is-still-stoked/

versus

Live, it’s clear that the North Country is a product of D.C.’s DIY scene; the band mixes up styles and tempos on the fly, radiating the explosive enthusiasm that’s become a pillar of house shows at spots like Paperhaus and Bathtub Republic, the band’s home base.

guy is talking about a dc folk-rock band in this dc alt-weekly article

National Park Service is forcing the Smithsonian Folklife Fest to be drastically cut back, as has been previously discussed. While the NPS is installing expensive, special grass on the mall with underground irrigation, this year's Folklife Fest will just have one theme, Peru, and take place near the Museum of the American Indian. There will be only 1 stage, and performances will only take place in the evenings, with no daily shows (gotta protect that grass ).

so the gf has been in dc for a contract, staying at some woman's airbnb but the woman is kinda terrible and we're looking to have her relocate

anyone know of any good places to live for exactly 2 months?

Maybe Hoos does?

Oh, the Folklife Fest will have daily shows, they just will be on a small stage in an area near the Museum of the American Indian, but not on the main part of the mall.

anyone know of any good places to live for exactly 2 months?

― iatee, Tuesday, April 28, 2015 3:33 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i can ask around a few of the places i can think of but be forewarned its mostly hippie houses

After the Funk parade, DC's Eastern High and Brooklyn's Royal Knights marching bands and dancers engaged in a drumline/dancers/horn players battle of the bands on 12th st just above U St.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7sFXSlPspI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kUZeZxahg8 check out the vieo at the 2 min 47 sec part till near the end. I also saw Junkyard Band earlier, and later soulman Lee Fields before a tiny crowd at the Howard

RIP Derek House Colquitt, bassist of the Junkyard Band who just died Sunday afternoon in a motorcycle accident

i can ask around a few of the places i can think of but be forewarned its mostly hippie houses

thx hoos..we actually ended up finding a place in foggy bottom

dc is cool I like dc

are you around much? we should kick it

An obit with quotes from family and friends

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/junkyard-band-loses-bassist-derek-colquitt-in-motorcycle-crash/2015/05/04/465564f0-f272-11e4-b2f3-af5479e6bbdd_story.html

yep I'll be around on random weekends for the next two months, I'll hit you up the next time

It's go-go drummers and percussionists sitting in week:

Tonight at little Bossa in Adams Morgan, veteran go-go great JuJu House will be playing with Sitali, a kind of middle-eastern folk group. Wonder if he will throw in any go-go rhythms?

On Sunday night at 8 at the Kennedy Center there's a Miles Davis & go-go tribute with NY-based, DC raised jazz pianist (and former gogo keyboardist with Northeast Groovers) Marc Cary adding go-go percussionist Go-Go Mickey and trap drummer Kenny Kwick Gross to his jazz lineup that will be doing Miles Davis songs that Ricky Wellman(who wasa member of Chuck Brown & Miles' bands) had played on.

don't quite agree with all this, just some of it. I think there's still plenty to do in town without attending the dj events he is dissing (some of which might even be more fun than some local musician events). Also, over the years some have dealt with high city rents, by gasp! living in cheaper burb locales-- go-go musicians, garage rockers, Fugazi members, rappers....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/going-out-guide/wp/2015/05/08/where-the-wild-things-arent-olivia-neutron-john-crash-lands-in-washington/

excerpt:

How about music scenes? Can they be rewilded? A scene is a cultural ecosystem of sorts — and Washington’s could certainly use some help. Surging rents have exiled too many inventive artists to Baltimore, Brooklyn and beyond. And who’s taking their place? Hordes of young professionals who, speaking broadly, do not appear to be all that interesting or interested. And so our nightlife becomes cluttered with nostalgic ’90s dance parties, tongue-in-cheek tribute bands and uninspired DJs who practice their dark arts with the charisma of a shuffling iPod.

This makes Anna Nasty a wolf. After leaving Arizona in 2013 for a solo tour, the enigmatic 20-something finally landed in Washington last spring as the bassist of two separate punk groups: Neonates and Chain and the Gang. But performing solo as Olivia Neutron-John, Nasty makes music that’s especially fraught, frightening and fantastic.

Somehow, it almost felt like a party.

And in a way, it was. When an artist with this much poise, edge and imagination decides to take up residence in the busy-busy blandness of This Town, their arrival should be widely noted and wildly celebrated.

Now run for your life.

http://www.forwarddc.com/schedule.html

some interesting stuff as part of this;

and in June a PR Company is sponsoring a fest that is well curated by folks who do not work for that PR firm:

http://ourcityfilmfestival.com/eventstickets/4589113265

But I do get the complaint from a member of Priests that she has to spend more time working a dayjob to pay her (higher) rent, which cuts into practice and gigs time for the band

PeterBug Fest Saturday near Eastern market (E ST SE) with old-school soul and gospel

Hardway Connection is at 2:00 doing a tribute to Don Covay. The Velons at 5:30ish. Awards at 6pm

Baby Washington, Halo, Orioles and others also supposedly performing

Forward Fest going on this week has djs near the mall (Constitution gardens)Saturday too

http://bandwidth.wamu.org/after-10-years-d-c-punk-book-banned-in-d-c-is-coming-back-into-print/

sweet

http://bandwidth.wamu.org/the-story-of-kato-hammond-the-d-c-go-go-scenes-best-news-source/

First Jessica Hopper the other week, now tonight another music critic reading. Banning Eyre will be reading from his book on Zimbabwe's Thomas Mapfumo tonight at the Busboys and Poets in Brookland at 6:30. Eyre is also a guitarist, so he might play some too. Eyre works for afropop.org and previously wrote a book on Malian music.

14 people there. I enjoyed it. Powerpoint, book reading and guitar playing with an effects pedal.

I think there were even less at a book reading I went to years ago for author Robert Gordon's "I t Came from Memphis" about music from that town and recorded there. He showed awesome video footage of the Cramps with Alex Chilton and other cool stuff for like 8 people.

I wanted to go to that Jessica Hopper one but it was over by the time I finished work ;_;

Actually I missed it too.

My wife saw Phillip Glass' book reading. NPR's Bob Boilen hosted that one at Sidwell, which got lots of advance press. Bob made a home-made bagel for Glass, as he knew from the book that Glass grew up eating bagels every weekend in Baltimore. They talked about music too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5M02zuIbbI

Anthony Pirog's surf band the El reys are playing for free from noon to one at the MLK Library in DC

on Friday http://pqliving.com/capital-fringe-music-in-the-mlk-library-on-may-22-at-noon/

More on Kato Hammond, go-go history, and tmott-go-go

written by Alona Wartofsky who used to write about go-go for the Post and Washington City Paper years ago
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2015/05/21/kato-hammond-go-gos-de-facto-historian-remembers-his-roots-and-go-gos-too/

Going to the Black Cat (for the first time) to see Death (the awesome proto-punk band from Detroit of A Band Called Death documentary fame) because the band's Philly date was cancelled and my wife adores the band.

It's not all bad: Never been to the venue and Obnox is supporting who I love (and whose drummer Bim I know from when we lived in Columbus, Ohio).

The plan is to get into DC around 4ish tomorrow. Hit the record stores close to the venue (Smash, Crooked Beat, Red Onion and Som Recprds are all walking distance from what I can ascertain), have dinner, catch the show.

Questions:

1) Parking - Should I hit a lot if I plan on having my car in that area from 4 until the show ends? Will I be feeding meters? Is street parking generally shitty there?
2) Dinner - We could just eat at the Black Cat - is their food good? Or is there something around there that you locals would recommend? We're omnivores who will eat anything.
3) Anyone wanna come out? I always like meeting ILXors.

My email address works if anyone wants to reach out for a hang or to just say hi at the show.

1) you're best off just finding a lot so you don't have to worry about the car. The area around there doesn't have parking for that long of a period for non-residents.
2) I'd eat elsewhere.

Have fun!

i'm thinking about going to that! uhhh i can't be really useful with parking as i have kinda public transit blinders on, but the food at the black cat is pretty good imo, but its kinda overpriced the space can get a little cramped near a big show like this one is prob gonna be.

I'd add Joint Custody to your record store list -- closer to the Cat than Smash or Crooked Beat and has been really good this spring

Eating options on 14th are plentiful, but pretty picey and pretty meh. For cheap food, hard to go wrong with Amsterdam Falafel (across the street & block north of Black Cat) or Fast Gourmet (in a gas station on 14th St north of U). Of the more expensive options, I've enjoyed the Epcot Center France vibe at Le Diplomate, though Balthazar it isn't. In the opposite direction of all the record shops is Seki (really good Japanese) and Dukem on U for Ethiopian and you can sit outside. Standard BBQ a few doors down from Black Cat will be overrun with young professionals if the weather is nice but the BBQ is decent.

My brother who lives in Reston picked a parking lot which will cost me $20 and he suggested Ted's Bulletin which is right across from the venue. The wife loves breakfast food so hopefully it'll be good.

Yelpsters like Ted's "adult pop-tarts" and milkshakes, I've never been. Another food option-- Further south on 14th st is Baan Thai, 2nd floor place above Thaitanic at 1326 14th st NW.

I'm thinking about going to Black Cat too.