Capital Swamp: The DC Resource Thread

I was a resident of Northern Virginia during my formative HS years. I was involved in the metal scene and started my own fanzine Curious Goods back in the late '80s. There was a surprisingly good metal scene there and in the surrounding burbs of VA and MD. I mean, Heavy Metal Parking Lot was filmed there... (and I actually know people in the 'lost footage' segment that was tacked onto the movie for subsequent VHS and DVD releases)...

My first experience with Deceased was when I was hit in the head with the demo for Birth By Radiation while seeing Metallica at the Cap Center. I had good seats so I theorized in the review of said demo in CG#1 that whomever threw the tape either wanted to get it to the band and failed miserably (the seats weren't that good) or hated it. I thought it was fun and silly and to this day King Fowley will make jokes about the review and how he will throw things at me for press. It's cool to see him still at it, a lifer...

Other bands I saw or knew from the area include Iron Christ, an excellent Voivid-influenced trainwreck whose discs I still pop in sometimes, and Indestroy, more straightfoward frash but I wasn't picky. The former was on New Renaissance Records; the latter was on Restless.

There was the short-lived radio station The Underground which played metal and cranked about ten watts out of Baltimore. I remember listening to the station in my Maverick in the parking spot outside my parent's place in manassas (Stephen Stills says hi), the only way to get it, and how excited the DJ was when I called to say I did just that. This was the first time I ever heard Metallica on the radio.

There was ROX Magazine which was started by a former Maryland Musician staffer who liked the hard stuff. The two editors hated each other which led for local metal bands to choose which publication they would align with and metal was even more ghetoized than before because of this.

The first 'scene' I adopted was around a short-lived club in DC called The Safari Club. It was a Go Go Bar most nights but for a short time in the early '90s hosted metal shows. It was booked by a guy named Johnny O who also managed a local band Medusa (not a typo) whose demo included the song "Popping Zits" (chorus: "Popping Zits, Popping Zits; Don't you know that it's the pits") and all of the local bands played there as did a few cool national shows. I saw Sacred Reich and Forbidden there. I bootlegged the show on cassette and still have it. I interviewed the bands in their tour busses, some of my first interviews. I felt so damn cool...

My record haunts were in NoVa as well. I used to shop at Dragonsong, a huge house painted blue that was a head shop, in Manassas. I bought Ride The Lightning on a Megaforce cassette there and also Operation: Mindcrime. My dad, a total liberal, hated me shopping there for some reason. I mean, they had bongs and shit but I didn't care about that (or the black light posters either). I would subsequently discover a small place in Fairfax called The Record Convergance, my first used place. I would call Jennifer, my punk rock frie3nd, and just say "Let's Converge" and we'd hop in her mom's blue Oldsmobile and hit the store. I still have vinyl with stickers from the place on it - Beowolf, Toxik...

On non-metal notes, I still have Crack The Sky albums on vinyl (Palumbo is supposedly still at it too!) and I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I came to love the more obvious hardcore and punk from the area as well at a time when it wasn't as common. It did start a love affair with the Bad Brains whom, when I get that "what's your favorite band?" question, I revert to and don't feel too badly about it.

Oh, and if you search you can find my 9353 appreciation thread on here. Fucking excellent band... And WHFS was sooo important to me then as well...

np: Minor Threat "Salad Days"

Do you still have any issues of "Curious Goods"?

Also, Jeff Krulik and John Heyn are still trying to track down everyone in the "Heavy Metal Parking Lot" footage -- they would be happy to hear from anyone that they haven't "reconnected" with yet.

I only put out one issue of Curious Goods before I moved back to NYC and promptly became too poor to do much of anything, let alone put out a zine. I gave it to a buddy of mine Jerry Rutherford who took it over and did it up nicely and parlayed it into writing gigs for Metal Maniacs and the now-defunct UK fortnightly Raw - I think he still does stuff for Maniacs sometimes, but I'm not sure. I cannot find my one issue so I emaieled Jerry just now to see if I could buy one from him. I gave him the "master" when I handed it over to him. He's a great guy and lives in Dallas these days. If I get it I'll make it into .PDFs and put it online... \m/

I actually did put my friends in touch with the directors. Since they weren't in the main movie, just the outtakes that got tacked onto the new releases that came out relatively recently (in the case of the DVD, very recently) they were appreciative but didn't go over to his house like they did with Zebraman and the like on the DVD.

Madonna can go to hell as far as I'm conerned, she's a dick."

I guessed you missed the 20th anniversary showings in Arlington at the Cinema & Draft House, and at Black Cat...?

Yep, Zebraman's quotes from the doc are classic.

Brian Miller must be off dj'ing somewhere (or just over on the ILE DC thread)

It look slike CG#1 lives... An email from Jerry I just recieved:

So I relied on my stash finding skills and not only did I find a few old glossy copies of Jake Wisely's Sheet Metal I found a few other issues of CG that I did. Here's the kicker though, right there in the bag that I put them in to keep both safe were both CG #1 and CG #2. Man, I don't know how you're gonna PDF or scan in CG #1 to put something online. It looks really rough. It's held up through all these years but the typesetting and printing ... oh man.

Anyway, I'm glad I didn't have to dig as hard as I thought I'd have to, but it does exist. Testament is on the cover and Mordred, Sacred Reich, Lizzy Borden and Fates Warning are in the zine. Medussa and Necrosis are in there too. I just saw Sonny Mayo from Sevendust last Saturday. He was originally from VA/DC and was in Necrosis waaaay back when.

Okay, I'll shut up now.
Later man
-RFD

I never did scan in any of the Thrillseekers (from the early '80s)

Dudes, what are you waiting for? There's gold in them thar hills.

My 1980 Op (predecessor to Option) piece on Ian Mackaye must be around somewhere! I think I wrote about go-go for them also.

All this DC nostalgia. Can't somebody post about something new here and /or give me an update on Graham's bill re underagers, current go-go, dj nights, rap, rock, the state of the Lincoln Theatre and the Howard Theatre... Anybody ever go to those "after hours" nights at local museums. I see that Sassy Ian Sevonius is djing Friday at the Hirshhorn. Kinda pricey though.

A friend of mine is playing at the Market Lounge tomorrow night:

METERMAIDS

March, 9 2007 at Market Lounge
1309 5th st. NE, Washington D.C., Washington DC
Cost : $10-$15

Unnatural Disasters Tour w/ Metermaids, Sentence, and DJ Halo.
ALSO: Philyos, Double Plus, Project Lumens, Subbterrainian Allstars, and Soulstice
KONKRETE JUNGLE D.C. EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT !!!!!!
Hip Hop, Rock, Other Early, Drum & Bass Late !!!
New Location : MARKET LOUNGE 1309 5th st. NE (block of 5th and Florida Ave N.W.) Washington D.C.
(Above the DC Farmers Market, in the warehouse district) (up the purple stairs)
Across the street from Gallaudet University Unlimited FREE PARKING in a safe, well lit area.
Four walking blocks from New York Ave. Metro stop
$10 21 and up $15 under 21 $5 off if you RSVP by e-mailing: AsonofJack@AsonofJack.com

http://i147.photobucket.com/albums/r305/superflouis/DC8x10-1.jpg

Oops- Sorry for the huge pic

Washington City Paper cover story on councilman Graham and his plans to regulate nightclubs. Nothing seems final yet.

So do people really follow the Wonkette site for recommendations on what to do in town?

well, not when he recommends people see one of our shows, that's for sure

Ha. You need to get 'metromusicscenedc' and WAMA to get behind you. Then you'll be stars and get to perform at next year's Shamrock thing, and DC101 barbeque events!

Odds and ends--I think Black Cat is much nicer now that smoking is banned (sorry Tombot, Alizay and others)...The Kennedy Center gets big crowds for $30 a ticket jazz shows---if those gigs were at, oh the Lincoln Theatre, I bet they would not draw as well....Are the people who race out of Kennedy Center jazz shows at 8:45 (that started at 7:30 ) before there's an encore, the same people who leave basketball and baseball games before they're over?

I thought most folks have long given up on drum & bass? I wonder how many people went to that Market Lounge thing?

That show ended up getting cancelled because of a double-booking. I don't know about the other acts on that flyer, but my friend's band is hip-hop, not drum & bass.

Oh, I see--it says hiphop, rock, and drum and bass ....

The Thursday issues of the Washington Post Express are worth checking out. Last week's had a nice little piece on the Take Me Out to the Go-go Magazine/website 10th anniversary (celebrated with a gig at the Lincoln Theater). A buch of ex-City Paper folks preview stuff on Thursday--Arion Berger, Glenn Dixon, John Murph, Christopher Porter...

And the Post.com online Going out gurus folks had a item about a dancehall show that I did not have on my concert list or see advertised elsewhere.

That's the good news. I took another look at that Washingtonian website and the writer/blogger pens only standard indie-rock stuff. Ugh. One thing I was kinda interested in-- I think she (and/or a guy who was working the event) was talking about that woman who paid something in the 5 figures (reportedly) to get Thievery Corporation to play a 40th birthday party for her hubbie at their Northern Va home.

yeah i heard about that thievery corporation thing - hi-larious! the post's music coverage is not bad at all, really, for a paper of its size.

I clicked hoping there was some sort of weird swampbeat scene in DC...

DC was built on a swamp, but alas has no swamp pop or swampbeat scene. Sorry

This looks fun:

The Champion Superior Soundsystem triumphantly thunders back to Marx Cafe on Friday at 10 p.m. DJs Braulio Agnese, Dave from Atlantis and Sammy Gong will bring an arsenal of funk, boogaloo, Brazilian, Kraut, hip-hop, reggae, rare groove and other hunks of raw beat to feed the shaking asses of the masses.

In other words, They drop, You bop.


The Champion Superior Soundsystem
Friday, March 16
10 p.m. - 3 a.m.
Marx Cafe
3203 Mt. Pleasant St.
NWDC


No Cover, No Escape

From Carrie Ferguson of the BreakUps:

It's time for a night-out with DC's Prime Maximum Rhythm & Punk band
the breakUps [plus Spoils of NW with Peter Hayes and a Don Fleming led group]

When: Thursday March 15 (9:00)
Where: The Red & The Black (1212 H Street, NE, Washington, DC)
Why: Kicks baby. . . kicks!

http://www.redandblackbar.com/portal/

Wanted to let you know that special circumstances have allowed us to add Demon
Fling, a sideproject of Don Fleming to the lineup for this Thursday. They'll be
opening the night at 9:15. We're psyched to be sharing the stage with them. I
have no idea what to expect, but with his musical resume it should be
interesting! Hope to see you there

Here's a blurb:

Demon Fling (Don Fleming/Chris Grier)

Don Fleming, for those of you who don't know, is the legendary rocker and
producer who has aided and abetted everyone from Half Japanese to Nancy Sinatra.
He produced or co-produced many of the LPs that have seen heavy rotation on your
turntable, by folks like Teenage Fanclub, Dinosaur Jr., Sonic Youth, Andrew
W.K., Hole, Alice Cooper, and Pete Yorn. He also pulled together the Wylde
Ratttz band that prompted the Stooges reunion. Check out www.instantmayhem.com
for the rest.

Chris Grier is a writer, guitar player, and troublemaker who plays with Don in
the avant-garde collective To Live and Shave in L.A. He has wreaked havoc via
guitar playing and mixing and production duties both here and abroad. He also
plays with Carrie from the breakUps in local songster Sean McArdle's band. Chris
also is one half of the Ultimate Vag duo, and is slated to record and tour with
Andrew W.K. sometime in 2007.

I think I last saw Fleming in the Velvet Monkeys

Big Fader magazine feature article on go-go influneced rappers Wale and Tabbi Bonney.

how long have you been contributing to dcist, steve?

About 10 days!

I'm contributing one and two line blurbs about shows to "The Weekly Music Agenda" and the Weekend agenda (whatever that is called)[mine are most of the international entries and the blues/soul ones. They have plenty of folks writing indie-rock ones]

Jim Bennett & Lady Mary's "Sometimes" (JaBen label) that has been receiving lots of Saturday afternoon WPFW airplay just debuted at 25 on the bluescritic.com Southern Soul radio chart

Why doesn't the Lamonts club in Pomonkey (off of Indian heady Highway just south of the Wilson Bridge in MD) have a working website? I need a southern chitlin circuit soul fix but need to know who's playing there when...

I ended up calling Lamont's. They're supposed to mail me (via snail-mail) a schedule! Gator Day (in honor of WPFW dj the Gator) is Saturday 3-31 I think.

for cross-referencing purposes:

The finest products of the DC rock scene: What will be remembered/treasured?

Laurence Small, the now-ex Smithsonian head who billed taxpayers via the Smithsonian for cleaning his pool and other non-legit expenses (and whose salary quadrupled during his 7 years) may gone, but there are still big problems there--some music-related, My sources report that:

Smithsonian Business Ventures, under whose direction the Jazz Cafe
operates, is threatening the Jazz Cafe with imminent closure (specifically, they have been
instructed not to book anyone else at this time, beyond April)

Um, I never have actually gone to the Jazz Cafe but I recall that there were some acts there I would have liked to have seen on their Friday night performances (I think that recent Buck Hill birthday party thing was at the Jazz cafe, and they had some good local Latin-Jazz acts).

OH NOES NOT THE JAZZ CAFE

Now as to a place I have actually been to, Lamonts, per my earlier posting actually mailed me an 8 1/2 by 11 inch envelope with flyers for their upcoming Spring and Summer events. Fort Reno, Fort Dupont and Lamonts--who says there's nothing enjoyable about a DC summer.

The Jazz Cafe is held in the atrium outside the imax theater at Natural History. It's nice enough but I'd never consider it a music destination - I haven't been to concerts there but the acoustics must be horrible!

Steve, did you make it to Crowd Control last month? I think the next one's coming up.

Wale, who performed at the last one, is really taking off.

Did not make the Crowd Control (1st Thursdays at DC 9), Thursday nights don't usually work for me. Will they eventually get a backlash from some ala Diplo and Hollertronics (or would that only occur if they start puttiing out cds of obscure funky stuff from somewhere else and don't give proper credits)

Ted Leo gets called a "DC Scene Legend" in the Express today, and is playing live and talking with Kojo Nnandi on WAMA 88.5 at 1-ish today. His 930 club show tonight is sold out. He lives in Jersey now, right?

I last saw him at Fort Reno a few summers ago.

wamU that is, available online as well.

Get those demos to Fort Reno booking by April 2nd: 3351 Highwood Drive SE, Wash. D.C. 20020

WTOP Radio Police crackdown on area nightclubs

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. - Prince George's County Police will put the padlocks on nine area nightclubs cited as hotspots for violence.

Last year, crimes committed in and near the nightclubs generated more than 1,000 calls for police -- 800 from one club alone.

County Executive Jack Johnson put club owners on notice on Thursday, and is ordering that the clubs be shut down immediately for drawing an element that he calls "just unbelievable."

"They're prone to violence. They're prone to crazy dancing, explicit sexual connotations. We are not going to have those establishments in Prince George's County. We're just not," Johnson says.

Police Chief Melvin High says a 2006 ordinance gives the police authority to shut down the businesses.

"Specifically when it's activities that present an imminent threat and danger to the health, safety and welfare of the public," High says.

The closures can be appealed, but Johnson says for some of these clubs, it's overdue.

The following bars and businesses are affected by the shutdown:

Crossroads, Bladensburg
La Pearl, Capitol Heights
CFE, Forestville
Classic III, Camp Springs
Tradewinds, Camp Springs
Knights of Columbus, Forestville
Cuzco, Hyattsville
Tick Tock Bar and Restaurant, Hyattsville
Millenium, Hyattsville

One of the business owners being targeted by the police crackdown is Amrit Singh, the owner of the Tick Tock Bar and Restaurant in Hyattsville. He says none of the allegations are true.

Singh says his business is staffed with security, including Prince George's County police, and that he's never been served with a complaint about crime or criminal behavior.

So why is his business being slated for closure? Singh claims it's political payback -- he didn't support County Executive Jack Johnson in last November's election and instead backed Johnson's opponent.

(Copyright 2007 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

Isn't Keith Washington, the PG Cop who shot and killed unarmed furniture deliverymen (and who repeatedly has been involved in tantrum throwing incidents) still on the force because he's a buddy of Jack Johnson? Yea, Jack Johnson is really cutting down on crime. Also, a "CRAZY DANCING" problem. Yea, that's what's causing the trouble. PG County like DC has education, crime and jobs problems that County Exec Jack Johnson should be worrying about. Sadly, people have been killed near go-go clubs and dancehall clubs (and street corners nowhere near go-go clubs) for years. The clubs in some cases might share some of the blame, but there are bigger societal issues that need to be addressed. I went to a happy hour at the Crossroads once, and saw a few African shows there, and around three or 4 soca shows there and never noticed any problems. The shootings late Sunday night/Monday morning there occurred on a dancehall night(white Bermuda dancehaller Collie Budz was there).

I wish Johnson's "Crazy Dancing" quote to WTOP had made the Washington Post cover story.

smash is reopening in adams morgan dudes! wonder how it'll affect crooked beat.

sales price battles maybe