Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

The only electronic night i have ever been to is called Matter and it is held at the Blue Room on 18th street. I am not sure if it still exists, as i havent seen it listed for a while. The Djs played a lot of techno, including all the requisite hip german stuff, but whenever i went, there were 20 people there, and everything was being played at lounge volumes. it was a bit sad really, though the bar has a good beer selection.

SALT (listed first, because it's my night, dammit)
synthfunk, indiepop, dancehall, grime, electropunk, hip hop, industrial, hits
DJ's Sad and Lonely
1st Wednesday monthly
Cafe Saint-Ex

<>
indiedisco and beyond
DJ Will Eastman
generally 3rd Saturday monthly
the Black Cat

Confusion
disco, new wave, funk, postpunk, hiphop
DJ's Serpico, William Alberque, Cullen Stalin, Sad
generally 4th Saturday monthly
the Black Cat

Yellow Fever
reggae, groove, soul, hip-hop, dub
DJ's Yellow Fever
Tuesdays biweekly
Cafe Saint-Ex

Spilt Milk
rock, disco, funk, mod, punk, soul
Tuesdays biweekly
Red

Blowoff
indie house?
DJ's Bob Mould and Richard Morel
Saturdays
9:30 Club

Taking the Piss
jingle-jangle indie pop & psychedelic
occasional Fridays
Marx Cafe

We Fought the Big One
UK post punk, shoegaze, guitar pop, indie dance
DJ's Brandon Grover and Rick Taylor
1st Friday monthly
Marx Cafe

The Wag
60's garage soul & trash
DJ Mark Zimin
1st Saturday monthly
the Black Cat

The Mousetrap
brit pop, indie
DJ Mark Zimin
generally 2nd Saturday monthly
the Black Cat

Cold
coldwave, darkwave
2nd Sunday monthly
the Blue Room

Atmosphere
post punk, UK indie, dream pop
3rd Sunday monthly
the Blue Room

The Melting Pot
everything, 1964-1980
DJ Neville Chamberlain
Thursday biweekly
Cafe Saint-Ex

UH-HUH!
rock and roll
DJ Johnny
Sundays
Cafe Saint-Ex

Groove
soul, mod, garage
DJ Beat Neat-O
Thursdays biweekly
Cafe Saint-Ex

I'll work on a whole separate list of the club/hip hop/EDM events...

24 Hour Access: 24 Hour Psycho

February 28, 2004 at 5:30 p.m.
A first for the Hirshhorn---the Museum will open the Douglas Gordon exhibition for twenty-four consecutive hours. 24 Hour Psycho (1993), the artist's video installation that stretches the Hitchcock classic into a twenty-four-hour experience, is the inspiration for this all-night happening. Launch the leap year with this unique, drop-in event, which will also include music, gallery discussions, and a "Meet the Artist" interview with Douglas Gordon conducted by Hirshhorn Director of Art and Programs and Chief Curator Kerry Brougher on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the Ring Auditorium. "24 Hour Access: 24 Hour Psycho" is made possible through the generosity of Aaron and Barbara Levine.

http://hirshhorn.si.edu

The following music (presented by Signal 66) will be played:
5:30 ˆ 7:00pm DJ Sandwich Man
7:00 ˆ 8:00pm Band Chessie
8:00 ˆ 8:30pm DJ Debut
8:30 ˆ 9:15pm Band The Hipnotix
9:15 ˆ 9:45pm DJ Beat Neat-o of Groove
9:45 ˆ 10:30pm Band Rose
10:30 ˆ 11:00pm DJ Neville Chamberlain
11:00 ˆ 11:45pm Band The Phobes
11:45 ˆ 12:15am DJ Neville Chamberlain
12:15 ˆ 1:00am Band Sounds of Kaleidoscope
1:00 ˆ 1:30am DJ Happy Family
1:30 ˆ 2:15am Band Sons of Disobedience
2:15 ˆ 2:45am DJ Neville Chamberlain (tentative)
2:45 ˆ 3:30am Band Gully Jimson

Habib Koite from Mali at the National Geographic Grosvenor
Hall--Habib's got a nice live cd out--He trys to meld styles from
different parts of Mali, and while he's not a big fave of mine he's
definately not bad

Bobby Sanabria & Quarteto Ache at the K. Ctr. Eisenhower Theater--A
wonderful percussionist, bandleader, and sideman (not to mention a
college professor) who is very charismatic and entertaining with his band

Los Hombres Calientes from New Orleans at the Clarice Smith Center-An
interesting bunch from New Orleans who blend that city's jazz with
flavors from throughout the Caribbean. I believe WPFW's Jim Byers is
hosting and leading a chat with them as well.

Muzsikas at the Freer-Hungarian vocal combo
________________________________________________________________

Sat. 2-14

Sanchez and Richie Stephens at the Crossroads-Jamaican lovers rock for
Valentines Day
_________________________________________________
Sun. 2-15

Haj Youness, Casablanca, Moroccan oud player and the Voice of Wisdom
Orchestra at 2 p.m. at the Smithsonian S. Dillon Ripley Center
Lecture Hall

La India and Sonora Caruseles at the Washington Hilton, 1919
Connecticut Ave. NW salsa
__________________________________
Tues. 2-17

Peru Negro at the Kenn. Ctr- Excellent Afro-Peruvian veteran combo--if
you like Eva Aylon or Susanna Baca this outfit's blend of soaring
melodies, strumming, and funky drumming (on instruments including
wooden boxes and donkey jawbones) will be up your alley
__________________________________
Other cool stuff:2-11-Super Furry Animals
from Wales at 930;2-12( & 2-13) jazz singer Jane Monheit at the
Birchmere; 2-13-Atmosphere at 930;2-14 Black Dice at Ottobar;Jazz
singer Dee Dee Bridgewater at K. Ctr.;Carmaig De Forest at Roots Cafe;

To get on my DC African/Latin/World whatever events ocassional e-mail thing, contact me at ritmika@hotmail.com The above comes from that...

Which reminds me...any news regarding a new location for the Metro Cafe?

dc-improv-announce-owner@yahoogroups.com

salsanews@aol.com

the blow_up@hotmail.com

bw_zydeco@yahoo.com

Dizzee's supposedly coming back for a bigger tour in the summer, but I'm not sure if he'll hit DC or not. I don't know of anything regarding Dear or Mayer, but if they came I imagine it would be at 5ive, unless it was a one-off somewhere else.

What's odd it that it seems to be only the EDM scene that really tries to escape the city - the most successful go-go and indie artists are, if anything, too tied to DC.

Is it odd that the most interesting and boosterish electronic dance DJ in DC over the last year has been Bob Mould?

The DC go-go artists have seemingly given up on being national and international acts (go-go hasn't crossed over) although Chuck Brown gets flown to Japan periodically to play.

Dischord indie rockers are always playing worldwide but such gigs just never get much local press here. Q and Not U are also booked to play that big fest coming up in California over the summer(Coachatella or something). Black Eyes toured Europe awhile back.

Why did they locate it in Georgetown? You can only make so much money from selling prog to white hats from GW. Better to be on U st with a big deep house section. They never seemed to have their shit together anyways. They cheated me out of $40 once but totally inadvertantly. I had my revenge during their clearance sale I guess.

As for Q and not U, I tried to see their last show at the Black Cat and ended up waiting in line for an hour by myself. As I was waiting, the show sold out. That is all. They need to play here more often.

I always wanted to check out the Grits & Gravy dj night at Bar Nun... Years ago I saw DC rappers Opus Okuben playing with a live band at the now defunct Metro Cafe. Wow, they were great. Now they just mostly play Europe, sometimes with Ny jazz guy Steve Coleman. They were at Black Cat around New Years Eve but I missed them.

anyways, wednesday night P Brotzmann is playing with Hamid Drake and William Parker. Its at Twins on U st (btw 13th and 14th?) at 8pm.

DC 9 is in the original Asylum space, I'm not sure what it was between then and now. Half the music I've heard played there has been great indie/hip hop/disco, the other half has been too much midrange compressed guitar and singers that sound like they're in beer commercials. Which is a better hit rate than most places, but the DJs seriously can't mix or sequence their tracks.

List of EDM events is not so good. Seems like no place is doing well with regular nights and lineups are changing like crazy. And Cubik is filling the main room at Nation with the level of talent that would have played the front room at Buzz.

how long have you been in DC? what is the reason for the instability?

Is the below show which is at the Ottobar coming to DC?

Thursday March 25th
DEFINITIVE JUX PRESENTS:
Murs
The Perceptionists
(Feat. Mr. Lif, Akrobatik, DJ Fakts One)
RJD2, C Rayz Walz
Hangar 18, SA Smash and more
Doorsat 8pm/ Show at 9pm- ALL AGES

3 years! I want stuff NOW ;)

I've been complaining to friends for 2 or so years that I wish someone would book all of the Afropop and Latin acts that play for free in Central Park in NY each summer, in DC... So I'll have to form my own group to do this...

There's the once.twice festival coming up in Baltimore next month-

April 15th - 17th, 2004
Baltimore's 4th Annual
once.twice:festival of sound and video art feat.
AKUFEN . DIMBIMAN . AGF . CHRISTOPHER WILLITS .
DABRYE . SUE COSTABILE . MATTHEW DEAR .
GHISLAIN POIRIER. NAUTICAL ALMANAC.JIMMY EDGAR
MYLENA BERGERON . CAROLINE HAYEUR .
SCOTT PAGANO + more TBA

once.twice also runs the occasional Treatment night at Sonar, the last one in November featured Magda and Sammy Dee.

On a different note, any musicians (d.j.'s?) who wanna perform for free outdoors or maybe at Carter Barron or other locations during the June 18-21st 2nd annual Fete de la Musique DC should call 202-724-5614 or e-mail jose.dominguez@dc.gov . There will also be meetings at the DC Arts Commission, 410 8th St. NW , 5th Fl. on Mon. 3-15 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 and on Thurs. 3-18 from noon to 1.

I'm trying to encourage them to expand the musical horizons of this event...

Five is a great venue, nearly perfect, but the different promoters that do nights there only really book house, d+b, and reggae. There was the electroclash/breaks night there, too, but that's over and has turned into a retro night.

9:30 Club, as you mentioned, is a live music venue. They'll have the occasional DJ, but it always comes off as a bit out of place.

It costs a lot of money to run a club in DC due to the scarcity of suitable spaces. In a town with 8-foot ceilings in 95% of all buildings, there’s going to be a lot of competition for the remaining few with large open spaces. Permitting, safety codes, and accessibility standards are pretty tightly enforced, which means you have to sink a lot of money into a space before you can do anything with it. This goes for bars, dance clubs, live music clubs, and pretty much everything. And don't even get me started on ANC's and "voluntary agreements".

"After over 4 years in business, the owners of Now! Music and Fashion
have decided to close permanently, so we can move on and pursue
other opportunities. We've had a blast talking to you about music,
putting on instore performances, and participating in the local
community. But the best thing about running a record store has been
the opportunity to meet you. Many thanks to our loyal customers and
friends we've made along the way.

We will be having a going-out-of-business sale beginning this
weekend. All clothing and music (except consignments and bargain bin
stuff) will be on sale for 30% off the regular price."

So I don't think DC's gone utterly down the pan. Close, but not gone yet.

They're also stocking the Ellen Allien album and remixes, Coloma's Finery. I think I even saw that Damon Album demo double 10" there, too!

Melody on Conn. Ave. is very underrated - I always thought they were better than DCCD for keeping up with current releases and pointing customers in the right direction. Good international and classical sections, too.

Sounds like that has been the experience of many with the Runaway.

Nobody is giving to their go-fund me

Throughout this process, much has been said about the challenges of city life — street artists, for example, and crime

DC Mayor Bowser’s letter re retaining Wizards and Caps blames “street artists “ first!

She has failed to get the DC crime lab working , the number of cops and private security folks in the area dropped over the years, but yeah let’s blame loud percussionists , buskers, graffiti.

$75 raised of $25,000 goal

oof

Ooof indeed. As an aside, my partner had trouble getting any local bands to join the bill. Several have noted after the fact that they didn't want to play there.

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/679074/a-gatsby-party-and-billy-dee-williams-city-lights-for-feb-15-21/

My preview of Friday Feb 16 Chicago r& b singer and poet Jamila Woods at the Howard Theatre is included in the link

Haven’t listened yet to new J Robbins album Basilisk or the new Mary Timony singles out before the release of her new album

Reuben Jackson, who alternates as dj with Larry Appelbaum on WPFW on Sundays 4 to 6, who used to write for City Paper a bit, who is a published poet, jazz archivist at the Felix Grant collection at UDC, and a busy social media poster just had had a massive stroke about 10 days ago, and has been moved to hospice. Tragic news. Jackson spoke for a lengthy period of time to me for my Greg Tate obit that focused on Tate's life in DC. Jackson was friends with Greg Tate and his brother Brian growing up in DC. A good guy.

Folk-artist and performer Lonnie Holley will be backed by Lee Bains from Alabama Joe Lally, and Brendan Canty at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage tonight from 6 to 7 pm Eastern US time. The show is free but ticketed. It will also be streamed on the Millennium Stage Youtube & Facebook page

https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/millennium-stage/2024/february/lonnie-holley/

https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2024-02-16/one-of-a-kind-poet-dj-and-jazz-scholar-reuben-jackson-dies-at-67

Damn , this hurts. RIP Reuben Jackson. I will cherish that long phone call we had where you told me about going to Greg and Brian Tate’s house as a teenager where they had jazz records at one end of a room and punk records at the other. You told me about the poetry scene then and the early days at dc space and so much more about your DC and how self-proclaimed awkward Black nerds like yourself fit in.

Rare Essence streaming from K Ctr tonight

https://www.kennedy-center.org/whats-on/millennium-stage/2024/february/rare-essence/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/02/21/j-robbins-concert-dc/

I want to love the new J Robbins album ( he’s best known from being in Jawbox and Government Issue), and like how he mentions steps he takes to keep his new album and live show fresh, but on first listen it’s to me just good and not innovative enough

The Wammies voters again did not nominate any of the Capital Bop top jazz albums for Wammies awards. Washington Post Chris R&chards fave dc rapper Wifi Gawd had one of his top 2023 albums of the year, but no Wammy nomination. Some guy named Ethan Spalding got nominated for best rock artist and best rap artist at Wammies. Anybody know his music?

Spalding calls his sound traprock

WAMU just suddenly shut down DCist

They’re even blocking insult to the site. Fuckers.

https://dcist.com/story/20/04/30/two-local-ethiopian-jazz-greats-have-new-albums/

Blocking access to my 2020 freelancer article for them on Hailu Mergia and Selam Woldemariam

https://www.ninaprotocol.com/articles/no-ones-moving-to-dc-to-get-famous-maybe-thats-why-the-music-is-so-good

interesting article on dc high bpm techno dance club music, dc experimental rap, and dc rhizome experimental jazz , but I wish article could have also mentioned Green Zone middle eastern djs, Adobo DMV, Ethiopian live music & dj scene ; dc Caribbean DJ scene. Article acknowledges dc go-go and dc punk as historic & still alive

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/02/28/new-thing-exhibit-american-university-museum/

Early 70s DC in exhibit

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/681410/when-the-music-stopped-remembering-reuben-jackson/

ALona in City Paper re Reuben Jackson

Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning doc plus a doc short on great current photographer Dee Dwyer who is best known for her SE DC photos and is a go-go fan; Sat March 2 from 2 to 4:30 @ngadc . See the great Lange exhibit too

https://www.nga.gov/calendar/film-programs/art-films-special-screenings/dorothea-lange-grab-hunk-lightning.html/2024/03/02/1400

https://theforeigncorrespondentsdc.bandcamp.com/album/lovin-you-aint-easy

The Foreign Correspondents is a power pop band with Brendan Canty , and former DCers Ted Leo, Michael Hampton, and Sohrob Habion

Sounds interesting! Ted Leo was, of course, in Chisel with my former colleague John Dugan. Next time I saw him he was out with Aimee Mann and Liz Phair. Brendan has been around forever. I confess I don't know the other two.

Michael Hampton was in DC hardcore band Faith , and then in some other bands . Lives in NY now I think

Sohrob was in dc postpunk band Edsel, and I think is now in postpunk band Savak. He lives in NY or Jersey now too.

DJ RBI mix of classic old and obscure new hiphop on Saturday nights 9 to 12 midnight last night on WpFw was so good.

I listened for a bit in the car as my wife and I were coming back from Baltimore where we saw the Ethiopian art at the Walters Museum and heard dc Ethiopian Ras Band there with guest vocalists. They had free tej Ethiopian honey wine samples and food too. We ate a full Ethiopian meal at Tabor afterwards.

https://wtop.com/music/2024/03/michael-reidy-dynamic-front-man-of-revered-dc-rock-band-razz-dies-at-73/

Michael Reidy was a great, charismatic front man for rock/ proto-punk band (the) Razz in late 70s/80s in DC. He was also a clever artist /painter who had art exhibits in local galleries, and designed cool flyers and zine ads for the band.

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/682485/2024-spring-arts-guide/

I previewed late 70s early 80s Urban Verbs rock band talk ; Orquesta Akokan; Amaarae; Ms Kim; Arushi Mudgal dane & music ; & George Pelecanos for City Paper Spring Arts 2024. The Pelecanos one is under “books” but that Palisades Backstage event will have music too. Details in the preview DC rock fans. Also, the new Pelecanos book is kind of wacky -- written from the perspective of a dog who gre up in a public housing project, and later lived with a drunk, and then a drug dealer among others

If you pluck my name from there and enter in blogspot as well, you can find my March 2024 DMV calendar with some gigs by touring acts in various genres plus local bands and djs I am interested in from such genres as Ethiopian music, go-go, Latino genres, rock, r& b, rap, South Asian, old-school and new school African genres. A bit of jazz and experimental but not as comprehensive for jazz as the Capital Bop list

Love your monthly list

Thanks.

Typo above, should read - Arushi Mudgal dance and music (her sister is 1 of 2 vocalists for that event)

Saw the crappy 9 and 53 Washington Wizards win a basketball game last night @ Capital One & then we stuck around of course for Northeast Groovers and Backyard Band go-go . we had bought 2 tickets for $25 total via a special deal. Huge turnout for the go-go.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/03/08/a-dc-indie-rock-musician-is-now-ceo-of-amtrak/

Member of 90s art pop groups Lorelei and Chessie is now head of Amtrak

Me on Michael Reidy of late 70s DC rock band Razz and his provocative visual art for galleries, Razz ads in the Unicorn Times , Razz record sleeves, Washington City Paper , and punk fanzines

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/685208/remembering-michael-reidy-musician-and-visual-artist/

Dear Rhizome community,

An UPDATE, and an INVITATION…

1. We have NO NEWS on when/if we are ever going to actually get kicked out of everyone's favorite house on Maple Street. We're still there, and still going strong.

2. We have YES NEWS on a potential "forever home" for Rhizome, and we want to share it with you.

VERY BRIEFLY: We have an opportunity to purchase a building nearby with the help of a big grant from the DC Arts Commission.

We will be hosting a TOWN HALL on TUESDAY March 26 at 7pm to share information about the building and how YOU can make it happen. (Yes, we need HELP!)

To attend meeting by zoom you need to register on their google doc. Look for a link in their social media or on their website

Very interested to see what Rhizome figures out. Hopefully they end up in a great spot and can keep things rolling along.

The Urban Verbs nostalgia talk at Palisades yesterday/Sunday was the same time as the WPFW jazz dj, poet, archivist , writer Reuben Jackson memorial poetry tribute service at Josephine Butler Center, so I chose the latter. Very emotional and touching. Poets read Jackson poems and then read their own work about Jackson. Plus they showed an Ellie Walton 6 minute video interview with Jackson. Some of those Jackson poets hit hard .

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/686524/washington-women-in-jazz-festival-city-lights-for-march-28-to-april-3/

Some of these events are a bity pricey, but once a year DC's Washington Women in Jazz fest happens with a range of styles

Leonsis just did a make nice tweet to Ron Moten of Dont Mute DC, while simultaneously I am seeing this:

Axios -What we're watching: Another Leonsis lament, noisy street buskers, are also included in the terms. Monumental proposes creating an 'Entertainment District' around the arena with rules against vending, loitering, and noise

January W Post article on the buskers

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/01/18/ted-leonsis-street-musician-noise-gallery-place/

https://www.capitalbop.com/rhizome-dc-community-investment/

Rhizome is gonna try to buy a building on Alaska Ave off of Georgia Ave in DC. They got a $350,000 grant from DC Arts , and the hard part is going to be raising 400, 000 more via loans and donations. I think if they raise 200 grand , they then get a bit more time before having to come up with remaining 200 grand

I listened to the Zoom. New location is not near a Metro station, just near Metro bus routes. They seem more optimistic about raising the bucks than I would be

I’d be willing to donate, but the document I saw is that they are going to crowdsource loans of a minimum of $2,500.

They are supposed to based on my listening to the zoom have a separate donation link to a go fund me . But yeah for the loan they want more - 2500 . Which they say they will pay back in 10 to 15 years

https://givebutter.com/rhizomedc

Link for Rhizome donations

Thanks! If they haven’t used their email list yet to blast the link, they should.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2024/03/29/rhizome-dcs-diy-mecca-is-trying-to-buy-a-permanent-home/

Washingtonian with more details re current rhizome landlord; and some stuff re the move

My April concert calendar is posted, and my City Paper preview of the DC history conference is also online . The conference has presentations on big serious items with race, class, and gender aspects as well as looks at the beginning of the 930 Club on F Street; go-go and politics; U street and Howard Theatre history; a guy who painted pics of Rock Creek Park in the 1800s. If I was in town this weekend I would go to see Digable Planets and Sun Ra for free at Franklin Park

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/687813/curtis-sittenfeld-district-dreamers-film-fest-city-lights-for-april-4-to-10/

April 12 deadline to submit for consideration to Amanda M for Fort Reno summer concerts

https://www.fortreno.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/listings/items/orquesta-akokan-april-10/

My City Paper Spring Arts preview of Wed April 10 Orquesta Akokan at Hamilton live

My City Paper preview of Sunday April 14 gig by Ethiopian music band Qwanqwa is included in the link

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/689557/new-worlds-atmosphere-and-more-city-lights-for-april-11-17/

DC punk band Ekko Astral got an 8.0 from Pitchfork

reunited Dc punk bands Scream and Soulside are about to tour UK

DC's Mark Cisneros is touring Australia as part of Kid Congo's band . Mick Harvey from Bad Seeds and others is playing bass on this tour

Dreamcast Moe ep getting lots of attention