Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

https://wtop.com/dc/2022/04/dc-stage-at-carter-barron-amphitheater-catches-fire/

Awwww. Bad news. In 2017 Carter Barron was shut down because of structural problems with the stage. Then the National Park Service decided it need to update the entire amphitheater. It pledged to get the plans started by 2020 or 2021. It has sat since and now yesterday April 10, 2022 there was a fire below the stage. It was once a mainstay for r'n'b and more Black music styles, and for the local community. It also hosted a Bruce Springsteen show in the early '70s, and Shakespeare in the Park for many years. This so Sad. [Was reminded that I saw Bobby Bland there. I also remember a great soul harmonies bill there that I took Brendan to. Hardway Connection played there. A zydeco battle of the bands with Bouzou Chavis and Beau Jocque. Sheila and I saw some other local soul acts there as well as poets.]

Spring Silver album is well done and skilled but something is keeping me from being as impressed by others. It is too 90s, too Shudder to Think for me. Friday show w/ Born I and Outlier.mp3 @ Chaos FM (once The Void) in College Park, MD

Born I does rap and meditation. Not sure about Outlier

I went to The Hard Art 1979 ( second edition) book release event 3 to 7 pm Sunday April 24, 2022 w/ photographer Lucian Perkins and Alec Mackaye . Mackaye wrote text for this book that includes Perkins photos at 1979 DC punk gigs including at the Hard Art Gallery. 3 bands - POA , Quattracenta Time is Fire performed @ Lamont St. plaza and saw Perkins photos on display in Elle Alley off of Mt Pleasant St NW . POA had a dub-punk sound and have Jerry Busher on drums (who sometimes used to do extra percussion for Fugazi), Dug Birdzell (from Beefeater) on bass and Shawn Brown (Dagnasty) on vocals. Kinda cool and timeless at first (but after a bit I hoped for something different or new) .

When Blue Monday Blues at Westminster Church in SW DC gets soulful with Eddie Jones ( and last night his sister and son as well) there’s no better place to be. Eddie leads on old school renditions of songs and keeps them vital. Little Willie John and William Bell covers sounded great

June 8 Home Rule Fest @ the Parks at Walter Reed with jazz, funk, and bouncebeat go-go - Doug Carn, Plunky and Oneness of Juju, David Murray, TCB

Juneteenth fest-- Pharrell was feuding with his home of VA Beach so he moved his Something in the Water Fest to DC . $$$ for 3 days with stages on Constitution Ave?

Lots of rap plus Davido, Ozuna, Dave Matthews Band, Jon Batiste, Rare Essence, Backyard Band,

Bowser and Events DC (w/ National Park Service signoff I guess) hosting $350 to $550 event near national mall

DC to host Pharrell’s ‘Something in the Water’ Prices for three-day passes run from about $350 to $550, and it prompted one to question whether there’s ever been an event near the National Mall that was not free.

Bowser cited Dîner en Blanc dinners,

…hmm

How near are we talking?

They're saying Constitution Ave . Wonder how many people they can fit

The Messthetics are playing the Petworth Porchfest this Saturday, April 30. On a porch.
4515 5th st. NW at 3pm
2pm is Janel and Anthony

If it’s on Constitution Ave. I guess the Park Service has no say?

That's what I am thinking.

Another Saturday April 30 event

* "Billy Stewart: How Nice It Is" program @ 1:30pm @ MLK Library, 901 G Street, NW, w/ - Screening of doc "Fat Boy: The Billy Stewart Story. A Panel discussion; Hand Dance Showcase; & "Silk Soul" performing

The Petworth Porchfest thing seems promising. Many friends and occasional collaborators seem to be involved. I know and like Sidewalk Soul, Sid Satellite, Social Musica. Probably several others.

I have a family commitment and can't do any of them but if I could I might also want to check out

Lightmare @ 4 @ 600 Emerson St.; Samba school @ 4 & DMV rumbaros @ 821 Upshur St.; Near Northeast @5 @ 801 Taylor St main stage; Weird Babies @ 5 @ 720 Varnum St

came here to ask if you were here @curmudgeon :’(

can confirm it’s been kinda lit

Cool. Noticed that Homie Salazar played Porchfest too. He was in kinda shoe gaze band Go Cozy but has also done things with experimental rapper Sir EU

Broccoli Fest day 1 happened in the rain; Funk Parade got postponed to a day tba; and Big G of Backyard Band afternoon birthday event at Bullpen got postponed till uh today Sunday 2 pm to 7 pm.

Washington City Paper final print issue is out with lots of tales told by writers and editors from multiple eras. Online too.

Noticed late (on Facebook) that there was another big gospel bill in Capitol Heights yesterday (and one in Baltimore too). Have been to a few in the past and have always been wowed by the powerful vocals, sometimes delivered old-school quartet style.

Taste of Jamaica today Sunday May 8 from 1 to 9 pm @ 1 Veterans plaza in Silver Spring MD

Chris Richards has the dc hardcore punk scene covered. New article on band Hologram who are at Slash Run on the 13th. I don't know 'em

https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/05/11/hologram-interview/

This is profoundly lonely, hyper-percussive hardcore punk delivered at varying neural speeds, all of it composed and performed by one brain — D.C. vocalist-guitarist-bassist-drummer Brendan Reichhardt, formerly of Kombat and Closet Christ, among other groups

RE was great At MGM. 40 some years of music covering their early soul and funk stuff plus later rap and trap influenced sound. So many folks onstage plus nice video tribute to members of the Rare Essence family who have passed over the years

CNN Sunday night 10 pm travel and food and culture show Nomad did an episode on DC. I dvr'd it but haven't seen it yet.

Local area vocalist Juanita Williams was powerfully singing soul, blues, and jazz last night @ Westminster Church SW Blue Monday Blues (6 to 9 pm). Trumpeter /vocalist Curtis Pope backed her. Pope used to play with Wilson Pickett back in the day. Just a small crowd there, right after that 5 pm rain and wind storm

Sometimes Model Home is too avant for me, and sometimes they sound just right

New Album streaming via UK mag The Wire

https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/album-premiere-model-home-s-saturn-in-the-basement

3rd anniversary of Moechella being celebrated Saturday night with an indoor show w/ 3 bouncebeat go-go bands @ Howard Theatre- TCB, TOB, New Impressionz

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/556571/voices-of-zion-bring-back-black-georgetown/

This gospel opera and drama production about historic Black Georgetown that occurs (depending on the weather) at cemeteries in Georgetown and Dumbarton Church is happening Friday and Saturday night; and Memorial Day Monday afternoon. Looks worth seeing and hearing

https://www.facebook.com/294469177243809/posts/5398852716805404/?d=n

Dischord/Minor Threat’s Jeff Nelson has been over in Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and Croatia screening and talking about Punk the Capital doc and his own experiences over there

https://www.facebook.com/294469177243809/posts/5398852716805404/?d=n

Oh, James Schneider and Jeff Nelson also did Nordic countries and all over Europe as part of the April and May showings for Punk the Capital

Ukrainian refugee benefits included at a few stops

Not seeing a Melvin Gibbs thread (he was in Rollins Band and various jazz groups and more) or a DC band Messthetics one

had a meeting of the minds w Joe Lally (ex Fugazi bassist) over the weekend. We went over some ideas for the @htub03 Harriet Tubman/Messthetics double trio record we're cutting next month

— melvin gibbs (@melvingibbs) May 23, 2022

Funk Parade was postponed on a rainy May 7, with a pledge to reschedule but that hasn't happened yet.

https://www.washingtonian.com/2022/05/19/first-look-sandlot-anacostia-opens-soon-with-go-go-and-good-eats/

Opens in June

The online only now Washington City Paper now has just 5 “City Lights” previews a week instead of 7, plus they just post them all only once a week- Thursday usually

I previewed today’s 11 am to 9 pm free tribute to late DC house music DJ Sam the Man Burns at Fort Reno

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/557248/city-lights-dc-black-pride-and-other-best-art-bets-for-may-26-june-1/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG8USqMUAfI

Doc on Trouble Funk in England in 1986

yea the punk archive gig on the 8th on the roof of mlk will be pretty cool, but so will these underpublicized Sunday June 5 events

Sunday June 5 daytime events - *Faaji day party-- afrobeats vs amapiano" dj event @ Gee's Lounge (Nigerian and South African dance music) in Hyattsville
* The Mayor's Office on Latino Affairs presents 2022 DC Afro Latino Fest from 2 to 9 @ Malcolm X Park w/ Yissy Garcia, Dayme Arocena, Aurelio Martinez, Yasser Tejeda

Afro Latin thing was disorganized and music was uneven and there weren't enough nearby food trucks, but still a good time

Saw an advance zoom screening of Black Fire Records 1/2 hour doc last night . It's being shown Saturday at the home rule fest. Real interesting but left me wanting to know more-- Did label get any dc press attention then-- from W Post, Unicorn Times, City Paper which started in 81, local tv news?

Plunky said mid 70s WHUR gave him airplay. Did they then have decent record sales? Where did they gig?

Doug Carn & band's Love Supreme homage, David Murray and band's alternately out there and wistfully melodic jazz. TCB's uh out there bouncebeat go-go, and Plunky's afro-funky go-go & rap at Home Rules free Fest at the grass lawn naturl amphitheatre of the old Walter Reed was my kinda DC fest. Not packed but a sizeable crowd. Record fair there too.
My kind of music nerds in attendance - Dr Thomas Stanley, Kevin Coombe, Soul Called Paul and more.

Show was not packed as my theories: 1. Billed by some editors as only a jazz fest -- some don't like jazz, some jazz listeners only like posh nice seats of Kennedy Center; 2. no rock or pop; 3. Folks don't know of Plunky

event finished with Black Fire 1/2 movie doc too.

1/2 hour

Would have likes to have gone to the festival if I didn’t have a weekend-long headache and probably would have gone to the rally downtown first.

Sorry about that. I shoulda gone to the rally too. Went to the last one.

Meanwhile I missed and am gonna miss some flicks in this DC Caribbean Film Fest I would like to see-- next Sat. June 18 at 6 one called Rebel Dread about Don Letts= dj/filmmaker , colleague of the Clash and Johnny Rotten and once part of Big Audio Dynamite. But, a family commitment that night. I missed a doc about a studio in Kingston upstairs from randy's Records already

https://silver.afi.com/Browsing/EventsAndExperiences/EventDetails/0000000048

City Paper covered the Spain film fest but not the above one

New Flasher album coming out (one member from 1st album has left the group). Family stuff means I can't go to album release Friday at Comet. Am curious what they sound like now. Were enjoyable some time back at Fort Reno

NY-based jazz pianist Marc Cary used to play in dc go-go bands. He's in DC Sat. 3pm Columbia Hts Day w/ Indigenous Arkestra – go-go jazz combo w/: Cary, Tarus Mateen, Casey Benjamin, Brandon Woody, Lil Mickey, BJ /“The Future,” YML, Jrok, Michelle Blackwell, Kacey,
Killa_Cal

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/20/us/dc-shooting-moechella.html

terrible that kid is dead. Also bad that they are going to blame Moechella promoter for for not having a permit when there were lots of police there (who didn't identify the suspect, catch the suspect, or outline a plan to stop illegal weapons from getting into the city. Plus, 2017 Las Vegas country music concert was permitted and guy still shot lots of people. There had been no violence at Moechella street events for years.

https://www.fortreno.com/

According to Amanda M., the schedule is still in development but there will be Fort Reno concerts this year, beginning Monday, July 18.

Thanks. There's a DC Blues Society Summer solstice blues show at Fort Reno tonight 6 to 9 with Clarence Bluesman Turner

Dubai band Noon @ 6:30 @ Smithsonian Folklife Fest followed by EU w/ Sugar Bear at 7:30 . Free. Also streamed via Smithsonian Folklife

So is the Folklife Festival now some small thing? Not too long ago it was a huge deal, now it feels a little rinky-dink, like your local shopping mall’s Chinese New Year or Oktoberfest.