Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

There was one African-American woman singing with an all white retro soul band, an Asian-American and lots of white people. If Tiny Desk guy just ran his own personal blog, I would be cool with that, but this gig was supposed to represent all of National Public Radio's ALL music considered website (which does have writing about Latino music, r'n'b, rap and more)...

signed,

cranky man shaking fist at clouds after telling kids to get off of his lawn

https://www.capitalfringe.org/events/778-royal-height-fringe-music-in-the-library

soul singer with the Winstons and the Legendary Orioles for free Saturday at 2 pm

Woodridge Neighborhood Library
1790 Douglas St. NE

Casual Dots are back tonight, ten years later it seems, with punk veterans Christina Billotte, Kathi Wilcox, and Steve Dore. At Comet Ping Pong

Aww man, missed Casual Dots (in DC & Baltimore) and soulman Royal Height,oh well, can't see 'em all.

https://www.capitalfringe.org/calendar/program/fringe-music

Luke Stewart is booking some of Fringe library gigs now=more jazz

Too bad about the knuckleheads at the end of that Scarface, Northeast Groovers gig the other night.

Saw Chuck Brown's guitar and a bit of other music-related stuff in the "1963 to 1975" exhibit about Washington D.C. at the Anacostia Museum, yesterday. Worth checking out. It's there till October 23rd. Sadly, nowhere near as many folks there as I saw later in the day at the Renwick.

http://www.washingtonian.com/2016/01/11/hank_dietles_oldest_bar_in_montgomery_county_maryland/

An Eddie Dean piece, of course. That's a good thing

http://bandwidth.wamu.org/backyard-bands-adele-cover-is-putting-go-go-back-in-the-spotlight/

BYB, Beladona and others including bouncebeat bands covering this

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/oct/11/pj-harvey-seamus-murphy-review-hollow-hand-southbank-centre-royal-festival-hall

PJ Harvey spent some time in DC in preparing her next record. The songs referenced in this live review are on her new album (haven't heard it yet)

"River Anacostia" "Near the Memorials to Vietnam and Lincoln" and "Community of Hope"

Hyped for the PJ record.

I do some volunteer work w/ teenagers, and tonight I asked a couple about what music they're into. Did not expect their immediate answer to be Jazmine Sullivan. The youth of DC know what's up.

And speaking of r&b, KING is at U St in a couple weeks and people should go to that.

Go-go vocalist and old-school r'n'b dj James Funk made it over to the WPFW 89.3 (and online) studio (now at K and 20th Sts NW) and has been on all day spinning great tunes. I wonder if anyone will make it over there to replace him?

James Jas Funk ended up being on the air from 7 to 7 Saturday.

Unrelated:

http://dcmusicdownload.com/2016/01/22/how-d-c-musicians-balance-day-jobs-with-their-creative-pursuits/

1 dogwalking business and 2 other jobs; all 3 play in rock bands

Mon Feb. 1 zoning hearing at Office of Zoning in Judiciary Square on Union Arts Building (411 NY Ave) new owners plan to convert building into a "luxury boutique arts hotel".

https://www.facebook.com/events/232235183782617/

an inevitable bummer

Thursday night January 28 events that I just discovered or I had forgotten about because of ‪#‎snowzilla‬ :

Electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnck (of Silver Apples of the Moon fame) is performing at American University's Katzen Arts Center for free at 7:30 with Jenny Lin and others; also

Ed Hamilton author of “Legends of the Chelsea Hotel” will read from his new book, his first fictional one, “The Chintz Age: Tales of Love and Loss for a New New York” (Cervena Barva Press 11/2/15) at 7:00 pm at Upshur Street Books, 827 Upshur Street, Washington DC. The Chintz Age focuses on artists and their response to gentrification, but it’s also a book about real estate and the urban housing crisis. While the stories are set in NYC, the themes they deal with, according to the pr, are equally relevant to any rapidly changing urban environment.

Coup Savage & garage punkers Foul Swoops are Capital Fringe;

Old-school rapper Slick Rick is at the Howard;

Backyard Band are at Capitale

Garland Jeffreys at Rams Head Tavern Annapolis

Kelly Willis at the Birchmere

Grant Lee Philips at Jammin Java

Gonna be away and have to miss King at U Hall. Oh well...

wait King as in the r&b group who have an album coming out this year?

Yes sir... I think the album is streaming now on npr or it may already be available. King on Sat Feb 6 all ages at U Hall

http://www.ustreetmusichall.com/event/1038061-king-washington/

Got mine last week!

Borderline-unfathomable that Dawn Richard is still playing a room as small as dc9. Seems like she's gotten 930-sized love and then some (deservedly).

Wow. In March.... I saw her at the Howard last year and the crowd was small, but that is a big room. There were probably around 150 to 200 there.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/general/2016/01/29/union-arts-to-become-a-boutique-hotel-with-an-arts-program/

more details here. Boutique hotel will contain a few artists spaces, but likely no performance diy space

http://bandwidth.wamu.org/how-hardway-connection-found-fame-in-a-scene-it-had-never-heard-of/

Playing Sunday night at Bethesda blues and jazz

Union Arts zoning hearing tonight

..........

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/02/01/a-trove-of-rarities-in-jazz-singers-exhibition-at-library-of-congress/?ref=music

This opens Feb. 11th

More music stuff at the Library of Congress:

2/9: Nicholas Brown of the Music Division discussing "boy-band sheet music and memorabilia in the Library's collections" (Noon, Whittall Pavilion)

2/11: Ted Gioia presenting "Love Songs: The Hidden History" (7pm, Montpelier Room, Madison Building; free but tix req'd)

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2016/02/11/government-issues-john-stabb-battling-stomach-cancer/

DJ EZ Street of WKYS is hosting a go-go panel discussion tonight Friday from 6:30 to 8 (although I also saw a 7 pm start time listed elsewhere) at Union Temple Baptist Church, 1225 W St. SE

http://www.uniontemple.com/content.cfm?page_content=announcement_include.cfm&announcement_id=40

Union Arts benefit gig thing tonight too (with Priests, Janelle & Anthony, Escape-ism w/ Ian S., and more)

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2016/02/22/at-panel-discussion-a-call-to-action-for-preserving-the-future-of-go-go/

Thanks for posting.

Can't help but think that preservation mode is one of the least fruitful modes for a scene to be in.

Yep. Despite less clubs hosting go-go, and few go-go bands releasing new, original material, events like the following are happening:

Keeping Go-Go Alive! Team Familiar, Junkyard, Sugar Bear w/ EU, and Suttle Thoughts at DAR Constitution Hall
Apr 16, 2016 Sat 7:00 PM EST

Even just the title of that event builds in a losing proposition ("Keeping [Anything] Alive"). I wish people would think bigger.

This might be interesting

http://www.politics-prose.com/event/book/ben-ratliff-every-song-ever-twenty-ways-to-listen-age-of-musical-plenty

Tuesday, February 23, 2016 at 7 p.m.

Most discussions of music in the digital age have focused on open access and the ethics of downloading. Ratliff, a New York Times jazz and pop critic for nearly twenty years, and the author of The Jazz Ear, Coltrane, and Jazz: A Critic’s Guide to the 100 Most Important Recordings, looks instead at the sheer wealth of music available today, and considers how this unprecedented diversity changes how we listen. Focusing on musical qualities such as speed, repetition, and harmony, Ratliff explores the music-making traditions of several continents and periods to posit a new aesthetic of listening.

Ratliff will be in conversation with Chris Richards, the pop music critic for The Washington Post.

5015 Connecticut Ave NW

WashingtonDC

I went to that last night. I like Ratliff's writing and him reading his writing more than when he speaks slowly like a stereotypical philosophy professor in explaining components of music that he values and does not think Spotify has made algorhythms for

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/music/2016/02/24/there-will-be-no-landmark-music-festival-this-year/

But they say they will be back in 2017. Boo. Trust for the National Mall Prez left in Sept 2015 and still has not been replaced.

My booing is aimed at them coming back at all

My booing is aimed at Landmark featuring Miguel last time, thereby preventing him from paying a proper show in DC.

Miguel was pretty great when I saw him at the Howard. Hmmm, has he done a gig of his own here since? Maybe not. Maybe just Landmark.

awww man....
x-post

Update, 12:42 p.m.: The Trust for the National Mall has gotten back to us and indeed confirmed that Landmark Fest won't happen this year. The reasoning? The opening of the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture on Sept. 24. In an email to City Paper, Trust spokesperson MacKenzie Babb says that "as friends of our Smithsonian neighbors, we want to do everything possible to support—and not distract from—their highly anticipated opening weekend."

Babb adds that the festival will indeed return in 2017: "We remain committed to building on the success of the inaugural Landmark Music Festival and staging the cause-related festival next year, and we plan to grow it into an annual fundraising event that engages and entertains young adults while raising awareness of the park's history, significance and pressing restoration needs."

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/general/2016/02/25/wama-postpones-30th-annual-music-awards-show-due-to-computer-crash/

Shouldn't WAMA just call it quits?

One would think.

Movies with music themes that are part of the DC Jewish Film Fest

tonight Thursday 2-25- Movie “On The Banks Of The Tigris: The Hidden Story Of Iraqi Music” at 8:45pm at Bethesda Row (In search of the exiled Jewish Iraqi musicians) also on Sunday, February 28 at 7:00 p.m. at the DCJCC and Monday, February 29 at 8:30 p.m. at Landmark West End Cinema

Movie “Kli Zemer” at 6:30 pm at E St. NW (In 1943, a group of Polish villagers gathering in the woods to discover a listless and injured man. Recognizing him to be a Jewish musician, the party heatedly argue about what to do next)

Sun 2-28-
Movie doc in progress (almost finished) “The Mamboniks” at 12:30 pm at E St. Cinema as part of WDC Jewish Film Fest --In the 1950s, a group of mostly Jewish dancers from NYC fell in love with a sultry dance from Cuba called the mambo. Set in NYC, Miami Beach, the Catskills and Havana, The Mamaboniks features the infectious sounds of Tito Puente, Celia Cruz and Mongo Santamaria. 12:30 pm – E Street Cinema

Movie doc “The Record Man” at 2:30 at the AFI---Brooklyn-born Henry Stone exported the music of Miami to the world. From distributing records out of his ‘48 Packard to establishing the largest independent label of the 1970’s, he was a shrewd record executive . His chart-topping artists (soul legend Betty Wright, KC and the Sunshine Band, George McCrae) led to the original Miami Sound and the birth of Disco with the song, “Rock Your Baby.” Also on Monday, February 29 at 8:15 p.m. at the DCJCC and Wednesday, March 2 at 8:30 p.m. at Landmark Bethesda Row

Washington Post has more dirt on Landmark Festival-- Fest's profits only covered expenses; various folks have now left the Trust for the National Mall; Drake threw a fit and threatened to cancel unless they let him have a giant tall stage with pyrotechnics. NPS eventually gave in to Drake demands

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/47934/the-legendary-orioles-at-mr-henrys-sunday-feb-28/

1950s era dc R'N'B/doo wop singers still around with special guest from that era

Would've liked to go to that.

guest vocalist Ronald “Posie” Miles of D.C.’s The Rainbows, sounded good (even at 80 something) on his group's regional hit from 1955 “Mary Lee." Show was a bit pricey with a cover and a minimum, but it's a small room. I think that's where Roberta Flack sang in the 70s, maybe even with Donnie Hathaway.

The bass player of the Legendary Orioles is the father of go-go drummer Kenny Kwick Gross (who has played with Chuck Brown and RE).

The Legendary Orioles' only surviving original member Diz Russell, can now, no longer stand for the whole show, so he sang lead on only a few songs, from a chair right up front near the stage.

"DC Music Summit"; possibly helpful for new acts:

https://www.facebook.com/events/460317270828968/