Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

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.

I also have given them a list of stuff I'd like. They have an account with Forced Exposure, so I'll soon have the Lawrence album I've been gasping to hear for ages.

Re: Melody: While they're matchless on international, classical and jazz, their electronic section is showing conspicuous gaps since Joel, who used to buy for the electronic section left for Baltimore at the end of last year. CD Warehouse deserve to clean up!

The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities invites musicians to participate in the 2nd Annual Fête de la Musique DC. The Fête is an internationally recognized music festival that marks the first days of summer. Festival dates are June 18-21, 2004 with performances throughout the afternoon and evening. The Arts Commission is sponsoring special workshops for area musicians interested in participating in the Fete and conducting live auditions for “acoustic” and “acapella” musicians and performers.

All types of musicians and bands interested in learning more can attend one of two special festival workshops. The workshops will provide valuable information on how musicians can participate and receive promotional assistance from the Arts Commission. The workshop dates are:

Dates and Times: Monday, March 15, 2004 at 7:30 PM – 9:30 PM

Thursday, March 18, 2004 at 12 Noon – 1 PM

P Place: DC Arts Commission, 410 8th Street NW, 5th floor

Please call (202) 724-5614 or send an email to jose.dominguez@dc.gov with any questions that you may have.

st ex has chimay, stella and delerium and a few more that i cant remember on draft. really nice people there. the barback, by mistake, bussed my last cigarette and matches when i went up to the bar to get another beer. when i mentioned this to the bartender, he gave me matches, a regular hooked me up with a cigarette, and a woman who was with the DJ said she was going out a cigarette run, and asked me what i wanted. i was actually confused by kindess.

My attempts to get the DC Arts Commisssion to add more indie-rock, Latin, African, go-go and hiphop to the upcoming June 20th Free Music Fete seem to have run into bureacratical walls and lack of money. Oh well, I tried.

didnt mix, just having some fun. am going to see Ken Mcintyre of AACM fame tonight I think.

6/11 is Richie Hawtin and Magda at Cubik

here's the day-by-day linup for the once.twice festival in Baltimore...

>>>>>>>>>

avant hip-hop + twisted rhythms
THURSDAY APRIL 15TH
2549 N Howard Street
www.theottobar.com
All ages / Doors open @ 9pm / ADMISSION $10

DABRYE [ DETROIT - Ghostly International ]
GHISLAIN POIRIER [ MONTREAL - 12k / Chocolate Industries ]
JIMMY EDGAR [ DETROIT - Warp / M3rck / Audio.NL ]
NAUTICAL ALMANAC [ BALTIMORE - Heresee ]
MARC LUSSIER [ BALTIMORE ]

>>>>>>>>>

PERLON LABEL FOCUS
FRIDAY APRIL 16th
THE SUPREME IMPERIAL
223 Pearl STREET
http://www.thehush.net/supreme.htm
All ages / Doors open @ 9pm / ADMISSION $10

AKUFEN [ MONTREAL - Perlon / Force-Inc / Musique Risquee ]
DIMBIMAN aka ZIP [ BERLIN - Perlon ]
MATTHEW DEAR aka JABBERJAW [ DETROIT - Perlon / Plus8 / Ghostly ]
SOMEONE ELSE [ PHILADELPHIA - Foundsound / Musik Krause ]
BEN PARRIS dj set [ Baltimore - Once.Twice / Foundsound ]
MISKATE dj set [ PHILADELPHIA - Foundsound ]

>>>>>>>

SATURDAY APRIL 17th JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
MATTIN CENTER ROSS JONES BUILDING, SDS ROOM
3400 N CHARLES ST,BALTIMORE MD
All ages / Doors open @ 8pm / ADMISSION $10

AGF [ BERLIN - Orthlorng Musork / Kitty Yo ]
+ SUE.C [ SAN FRANCISCO - Orthlorng Musork ]
CHRISTOHPER WILLITS [ SAN FRANCISCO - 12k / Fallt ]
+SCOTT PAGANO [ SAN FRANCISCO - Reline ]
MYLENA BERGERON [ MONTREAL - Oral ]
+ CAROLINE HAYEUR [ MONTREAL ]
LOADBANG [ BALTIMORE ]

I've been really pleased with the ridiculous amount of good music available to us in the last month or so. Bummed about missing TV on the Radio, but Xiu Xiu were great, and the prospect of seeing Sunburned Hand of the Man + Four Tet (again, in Baltimore, Tuesday the 20th) = more excitement. Add CocoRosie on to that, and I'll be near broke.

resident DJ's Milo & Daedau

every Friday starting tonight

at Saveur
2218 Wisconsin Avenue, NW
Glover Park, DC
10ish-2ish
NO COVER CHARGE

The 9:30 empire runs a tight ship.

Saw so many cool go-go, Latin, and more Art All Night clips on Instagram (was home with visiting relatives) . DC also had Ekko Astral opening at Anthem, cool stuff out in Silver Spring this weekend, and on Sunday a visiting relative and I saw Waxahatchee, Dylan, Willie Nelson and more at the tight ship run Merriweather Post. Yay DC area

Kinda randomly ended up in the underground beneath Duppnt Circle Sat night and it was a fun scene. Some band playing; no idea who they were. But yay DC.

Not sure who's at H street NE fest today (they don't list bands in advance) although I did see a gospel go-go band Tru Worshiperz mention they will be there at 11th & H St NE at 2:30

I am curious about Prince Ndedi Eyango 40 years career anniv. w/ full band, Les Montagnards from Cameroon, guest Pierre Didi Tchakounte 8 pm @ Afrikabana Center in Laurel, MD (Cameroon singer/guitarist)

Maryland has lost 15,100 federal jobs since January — the most in the country. That includes 2,500 jobs lost in August, marking the second month in a row Maryland's seen the highest fed job losses among states

Iggy Pop at Anthem was fun last night. Got there early and stood close to the front.

Transmission is opening October 3rd in old Rock n Roll Hotel space on H St NE. Lots of electro dj dance plus some live music.

Still working on my October dc area music calendar. Some upcoming stuff--

Wed. Oct 1- *2024 film Las Muertes Mas Bellas del Mundo ("The Most Beautiful Deaths in the World") 7 pm @ AFI Silver (good Ellie Walton & Quique Aviles artsy film about DC-based El Salvador born poet Aviles and the trauma that haunts him from his birth country & life today. They worked together on earlier film La Manplesa)* also screening 10-9 @ MLK Library & 10-15 @ Montg. Coll. Cultural Center*

Thurs. Oct 2- Neko Case, Des Demonas @ Lincoln Theatre (rock); Yasmin Williams w/ Tre Charles @ Rams Head Annapolis; * Miramar 5-7 free @ Metropolitan Park National Landing/Crystal City/Arlington (boleros)* ; *Verny Varela @ Bossa (salsa); *TOB @ Fast Eddies*

Fri. Oct. 3- Soweto Gospel @ Hylton Manassas ; Punks for Palestine benefit Oct 3-5 @ St Stephens Church; *Amy Bormet big band tribute to Sweethearts of Rhythm 9 pm @ Theatre on the Run Arlington*; *Transmission opens in old RnR Hotel Space H St NE; *DJ Pedro Night 11 pm @ the Vamos Habibi party @ Vera Ivy City*;

*Sat. Oct 4- Yeison Landero, La Marvela 3-6* @ Lamont plaza; DC space & Rhizome DIY event 3pm @ MLK; E Ethelbert Miller 12-1pm @ nga*; Munit Mesfin sings Roberta Flack 9pm @ Theatre on the run Arlington* ; *go-go juke joint benefit for & @ go-go museum * ; Culture Fest Block Party w/ Freeze Int., DJ Young Chow, DJ Aakil 4-10 pm @ Arlington Beer Garden;Trace photo exhibit opening w/ photos by Lely Constantinople, Martina Fornace, Claire Packer , Antonia Tricarico 5-7 @ 5335 Wisc. Ave NW; DJ Pedro Night @ 9am banger @ Culture; 3pm -10pm @ Everyday People; @ 10pm on @ Transmission

Posted my dc global music and more calendar on the 4th and have since updated it.

For Washington City Paper I previewed a great film that is showing for free 6pm Thursday October 9 in association with the DIY exhibit at the MLK Library. The 2024 Quique Aviles & Ellie Walton directed film “Las Muertes Mas Bellas Del Mundo/ The Most Beautiful Deaths in the World “ is about DC based Salvadoran artists and how they deal with the trauma of ‘70s-80s Salvadoran Civil War and life in DC . It conveys this through both traditional means — old tv footage & news clippings- and artsy and effective acted out performances and poetry .

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/772224/war-and-peace-alejandro-varela-and-more-city-lights-for-oct-9-15/

Saw E. Ethelbert Miller talk on the 4th at the National Gallery of Art & the related Black art photographers exhibit; then the next day the National Gallery shut down because of the government shutdown. Then I went up to MLK for the dc space talk and then to Mt Pleasant to see Yeison Landero at Lamont Plaza. I was tired by then and went home and did not see Redd Kross & the Melvins that night at Black Cat.

Author, musician & U of Md punk archive head John Davis & Chris Richards of Washington Post & band Q and Not U will have a conversation about the UMD Punk Archive & about Davis’ new book Keep Your Ear to the Ground about dc punk fanzines on Sat Oct 11 @ 3 pm to 4:30 @ MLK Library in DC

My DC punk membership card may be revoked for me missing the book talk and Black Eyes Saturday, but after seeing Miki Berenyi Trio (from Lush ) Friday night at Pearl St Warehouse, I instead decided on Saturday to drive 2 1/2 hours to the Richmond Folk Festival where I saw Louisiana a cappella gospel, Pakistani sounds, DC beat ya feet dancers, Miami-based Cuban sounds, and more. It's a great free festival.

Gonna see John Davis talk about his dc punk fanzine books w/ Ian Mackaye on wed. Oct 29 at Politics & Prose Conn Ave NW. Black Eyes will probably be playing DC again sometime

Saturday Went to No Kings then walked up to MLK for end of dc diy panel and jazzy noisy rhythmic ensemble Volcanic Ash playing live . Went home briefly and then went to the Trace pop up up photographers interview

Tonight Monday saw soul cover singer Shirletta Settles at Westminster Church sw. She brought up singer Ray Apollo Allen for a duet, then a cousin for “Dr Feelgood” and then some random guy from the crowd who sang Lou Rawls just like Lou Rawls . $10 to get in , show ran from 6 to 9, and I bought jerk chicken with okra and cabbage in the basement. Former WPFW DJ Dr Nick was the emcee.

https://wamu.org/story/25/10/30/in-keep-your-ear-to-the-ground-local-author-and-archivist-traces-the-history-of-d-c-punk-fanzines/

While some of you were groovin in the dark to Autechre at the Howard theatre, I was getting nostalgic at the John Davis punk zines book talk he did with Ian Mackaye. Ian ended up telling more anecdotes about zines than asking questions, but they were good anecdotes and he and Davis have known each other for a long time so Davis may have been ok with the approach. Lots of people were there at Politics & Prose on Conn Ave.

My old zine Thrillseeker made the web version of the WAMU story by Jackson S who also writes for Capital Bop, the dc jazz website.

A bunch of current WMUC at U of Md folks were there in attendance. I had dj'd at WMUC long ago so that was interesting to meet them. WMUC still does a Third rail radio live event thing on Sunday night with lesser known DC punk and experimental bands

One of my old bands did an in-studio Third Rail Radio performance - maybe 2005ish? My wife went to Maryland, so it was one of the few times she was interested in what I was doing.

My Steve blogspot dmv global music and more concert calendar for November is posted

It has Brian Baker(Minor Threat, Bad Religion) book talks, Playboi Carti, countless Ethiopian places with music, and a National Pupusa Day with djs event plus a reissued Lynda Barry book (in which music plays a role) book talk

Have added more to the list like The Butthole Surfers doc showing Thursday and Saturday nights at MD Film Fest in Baltimore (and the Sun Ra Doc Saturday at that fest); a Friday hurricane benefit for Jamaica event in Laurel and more* ... look for asterisks

My preview of South African DJ & music maker Oscar Mbo at Karma tonight Friday is in this link

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/774090/afrohouse-with-oscar-mbo-and-the-aces-at-930-city-lights-for-nov-13-19/

City Paper Fall Arts preview from earlier this year has my previews of La Santa Cecilia at George Mason Center for the Arts on Saturday Nov 15; and the Saints 73-78 at Union Stage on Sunday Nov 16. This latter show has the original guitarist and drummer of the Saints , Mudhoney singer, and Mick Harvey from the Bad Seeds & Birthday Party in the band. Ticket price seems high because there’s like a $12 service fee

Oh I wrote my 1st article for the 51st on the reopened Benning Rd dc club the Chateau Lounge that has hand dancing on Fridays and rented out by dc go-go promoters gigs on Saturdays and sometimes Sundays

https://51st.news/dc-chateau-lounge-hand-dance/

https://playbill.com/article/senate-democrats-launch-investigation-into-kennedy-center

excerpt--A series of contracts and receipts obtained by the EPW showed the Kennedy Center providing venue rentals to allies at a deep discount; spending almost $40,000 on luxury hotel rooms, lavish meals, and entertainment for friends over a period of three months; and providing work contracts to friends that were seemingly unrelated to Kennedy Center business.

The most notable example, which was also reported by the Washington Post, was the Center letting FIFA use its entire space for three weeks at no charge—at a loss of over $5 million to the Center.

The EPW documents also showed deeply discounted venue rentals to conservative organizations, including a $19,820 discount for a NewsNation town hall and a $21,982.60 discount to the American Conservative Union Foundation—the latter contract included a note of “waived costs from OOP” (the Office of the President).

In his letter, Whitehouse also detailed that Grenell provided a former colleague a $15,000-per-month contract to perform “policy research and speechwriting," noting it's "unclear how this work relates to your role at the Kennedy Center, since the contract is devoid of any detail, nor have you delivered any substantive speeches or remarks that would justify these payments." The Center also entered into a $10,833.33 per month contract with Jeff Halperin, husband of conservative pundit Kari Lake, for “social media capture/editing” services.

In his letter, Whitehouse requested the Kennedy Center's financial records.

Surprise! Remember when Grennell publicly accused his predecessors at the Kennedy Center of “fraud” and said he was going to prosecute them?

Always accuse your enemies of doing what you’re doing.

Hey curmudgeon how is Rhizome’s move going? I was there last night and realized it’s been about a year, if not more, since they obtained the space on Alaska Avenue.

I heard that the current location is still ok for a bit as the developer and DC government are not ready to move ahead with the housing that will be built there. I read that Rhizome folks and people that they hired did a bunch of work yanking out all medical building stuff from prior users of Alaska Avenue, other demolition stuff, and that they had to deal with getting rid of asbestos. They are still trying to raise money to complete the following at Alaska Ave:

We need to raise a bit more money in order to complete necessary renovations:
-ADA-compliant bathrooms
-a second exit added to the front of the building (required by code)
-new electric and plumbing
-a new roof
-new energy-efficient HVAC equipment

As with the demolition work, we are committed to doing as much as possible ourselves in order to keep costs down. And, we will hire licensed professionals to do the things that by code and by good sense ought to be left to professionals. We have met with several contractors who are open to working with us in this way.

Our second and final goal is to raise $50,000 more in combined donations and loans by December 31, 2025.

Grenell of K. Ctr responded on X to Senator Whitehouse with a convoluted response. Kennedy Center might have had some questionable financial items in the past, but Grenell throwing out nonsense about how Kari Lake's husband is doing an amazing job and how some Vet he knew in Germany is creating a great exhibit doesn't address the drop in ticket sales.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/democratic-senator-asks-ric-grenell-records-kennedy-center/

My review of Glo-Worm dc twee pop reissue is included here

https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/774737/beats-me-is-back-with-new-music-from-black-fortune-phil-ade-and-kind-of-christine/

I previewed Earl Sweatshirt at Fillmore Silver Spring for City Paper too