https://dcist.com/story/20/07/01/dc-music-venues-coronavirus-black-cat-songbyrd-fallout/Dante Ferrando, the owner of the Black Cat on 14th Street NW, keeps fielding inquiries about his club’s status.“I’m getting calls, ‘Hey are you guys open tonight?’ ” he says. “I’m like, no, you guys don’t understand. We’re not open until next year.”That’s not an exaggeration. Ferrando says there’s no way for him to reopen in the foreseeable future and make any money. He’s considering adding tables into the main checkered-floor concert hall that typically hosts sweaty rock shows and dance parties, but if he did that, he’d only be able to sell tickets for a fraction of the room’s total capacity. With overhead costs like rent, insurance and staffing, it wouldn’t make financial sense.“It’s pretty simple: The numbers just don’t work,” Ferrando says. “It’s insanely expensive.”
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Wednesday, 1 July 2020 21:32 (four years ago) link
The city & the feds need to give clubs $
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 4 July 2020 04:27 (four years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/music/dont-miss-these-new-recordings-and-books-from-the-dmv-music-scene/2020/07/06/78bb97ac-bfb3-11ea-9fdd-b7ac6b051dc8_story.html
Chris Richards on recent dc music and books
― curmudgeon, Friday, 10 July 2020 03:55 (four years ago) link
https://thedcline.org/2020/07/15/in-uncertain-financial-environment-go-go-advocates-press-for-dc-arts-funding-equity/
My deep dive re how the Mayor & DC Council voted to give $ automatically on a yearly basis to Arena Stage and other large million $ entities, but not to go-go. Now go-go may get $ via 3 DC agencies, & individual musicians in many genres will be able to get $ from DC Arts Commission grants
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 16 July 2020 00:05 (four years ago) link
Two recent lesser known losses for Washington DC this past week: RIP Tex Gathings, WOOK-tv news & (50s-70s) & Teenarama (63-70) black teen dance show producer; Leon Gibson-funky soul singer, tv & stereo repairman & store owner , DC Council candidate in the ‘70s.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 18 July 2020 16:04 (four years ago) link
Wammies were quietly given out online last week. Hmmm. Dupont Brass Band won for best rap artist ( apparently they have a vocalist in addition to horns).
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 21 July 2020 18:11 (four years ago) link
RIP drummer Herbert Drake who played at Westminster jazz and blues shows over the years. Also, reportedly with Sonny Til & the Orioles. Maybe even with Dinah Washington and Otis Redding per one comment on Facebook.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 5 August 2020 18:15 (four years ago) link
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KM7kjF1pNeg
5 years old go-go rapper Lil Kelz
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 5 August 2020 19:02 (four years ago) link
https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/music/article/21141789/how-a-5yearold-rapper-became-one-of-the-newest-faces-in-gogo
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 5 August 2020 19:06 (four years ago) link
National Park Service says no more than 50 people including staff at Fort Reno till early October, so Amanda is going to wait until October and hope to do a fall 2020 season of shows if that is allowed then.
Meanwhile Carter Barron which was closed in 2017 because the stage was determined to be unsafe , is still closed. NPS drew up a plan for a new stage but they say they won’t have money to build it till 2021 into 2022! I wish they could hit up a millionaire or 2 in DC and start sooner ( or get more nps money to do so)
― curmudgeon, Monday, 10 August 2020 23:37 (four years ago) link
looking forward to hearing this - https://black-fire.bandcamp.com/album/soul-love-now-the-black-fire-records-story-1975-1993
― Heez, Thursday, 13 August 2020 15:06 (four years ago) link
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/12/arts/music/black-fire-records.html
― Heez, Thursday, 13 August 2020 15:07 (four years ago) link
Yes, it’s on Spotify. Some is too jazz fusion, but a lot is more than that.
Nitpicking- The NY Times article doesn’t mention that label owner Jimmy Gray went from being a DJ on WHUR in early 70s to being a WPFW DJ later in ‘70s
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 18 August 2020 03:25 (four years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/local-opinions/go-go-is-dcs-official-soundtrack-it-deserves-equitable-funding/2020/08/13/c6af908c-dbea-11ea-8051-d5f887d73381_story.html
Charles Stephenson, who managed EU, ran DC Commission on the Arts and co-wrote go-go book , has an editorial re the need for go-go funding ( that links to my DC Line article reference to 3 million for go-go)
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 18 August 2020 03:30 (four years ago) link
https://www.washingtonian.com/2020/08/21/how-joe-englert-changed-the-dc-bar-scene/
Owner of many DC clubs Joe Englert died from complications from surgery at 59. Sad. I liked many of Joe Englert’s places. He deserves credit for his imaginative approach. But the Wtop and Washingtonian coverage also led me to think about it from different angles. I called Eddie Jones to find the name of an H street NE club where I once saw Eddie perform that Joe later bought and turned into Argonaut ( 2005 to 2017 I think). It was called Ledbetter’s. Eddie said when he was young his father sang there also.
isn’t it also significant ( and unmentioned in wtop and Washingtonian articles) that he was a white guy, with access to bank loans, coming into what was once a majority black city and was buying property & transforming it into places largely geared to white rock and pop listeners? I get that it’s complex but I think only State of the Union had rap and dance, right? I get that he did what he knew and did it well though.
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 22 August 2020 02:39 (four years ago) link
Chuck Brown Day concert tonight 8 to 10 pm on YouTube, Facebook, and DC Public Acess
Fort Dupont Park concerts online through September start tonight too
Sunday there’s a go-go protest against the Postmaster near his home in Kalorama . Kalorama Park meet up at 7 pm
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 22 August 2020 21:15 (four years ago) link
Is DC band Flasher still together? Saw on Instagram that guitarist Taylor Mulitz is moving to LA.
Kate Greer from Priests moved there a little while ago
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 22 August 2020 21:17 (four years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/08/24/scott-van-pelt-sportscenter-dc/
ESPN new theme by Troublefunk at request of Scott Van Pelt
More tv news: Malik Dope drummer isn’t in quarterfinals on America’s Got Talent tonight
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 25 August 2020 20:59 (four years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/joe-englerts-quirky-bars-revitalized-dc-nightlife--and-a-neighborhood-too/2020/08/25/8ec918cc-e60e-11ea-97e0-94d2e46e759b_story.html
This obituary at least acknowledges what was there in various neighborhoods in addition to focusing on what Joe Englert brought in
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 26 August 2020 13:42 (four years ago) link
X-post - Oops autocorrect. Malik Dope WAS on America’s Got Talent quarterfinals on NBC last night. I once did a best of Dc piece on him shortly after he cut back his stints out on Gallery Place
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 26 August 2020 13:45 (four years ago) link
https://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/arts/article/21143323/city-lights-dive-into-model-homes-deep-discography-or-watch-black-journal-online
Experimental duo Model Homes have released 18 plus efforts since 2018. Often sped up or edited rap vocals with noisy synth
― curmudgeon, Friday, 28 August 2020 14:46 (four years ago) link
There’s a bouncebeat go-go thing on the national mall today with TCB & 2 others , around 3 pm
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 30 August 2020 14:17 (four years ago) link
https://www.admoday.com/history-culture/
Music panel at 2 Sunday plus history of “Admo” activism on another one & a Latino activism one too
Crush Funk Brass playing
― curmudgeon, Friday, 11 September 2020 14:25 (four years ago) link
https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/admas-sons-of-ethiopia?fbclid=IwAR0hS_x4YAs9D_JSPjkPNJyj5O5fxU8Yaks4-SJhzzxR_4g1YFn25gRSCHI
Admas and DC Ethiopian music
― curmudgeon, Friday, 11 September 2020 14:27 (four years ago) link
Dc go-go bands have been doing gigs in indoor Va clubs that are supposedly complying with Covid rules, as well as outdoors gigs in far from dc exurbs in Md & Va. Birchmere & state theatre have had rock bands. A Latin dance club in Tyson’s appears to be open. I am not going to any of these . Doesn’t feel safe to me
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 12 September 2020 14:35 (four years ago) link
Black Cat club 27th anniversary gig is on Youtube on September 18 w/ Algiers, Ted Leo, Mike Watt, and David Combs
Rare Essence anniversary gig also online Saturday the 19th plus the debut of new single with guest Snoop Dogg
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 16 September 2020 02:48 (four years ago) link
Apparently the new movie Residue on Netflix directed by M Gerima, son of director Haile Gerima who owns Sankofa Books in DC, has a Moechella scene amongst the DC gentrification.
Speaking of sorta, Yaddiya is doing a voters registration outdoor gig with TOB tonight downtown
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 22 September 2020 18:22 (four years ago) link
I wish I had gone to DC jazz guitarist Bill Harris' club , The Pigfoot, which was on Rhode Island Ave NE in the early to mid 80s. Guitarists Danny Gatton and Joel Harrison both learned a bit from him. He was also in rnb band the Clovers. This 1987 picnic he held looks like it was great also: Among those scheduled to perform, in besides Harris, are Charlie Byrd, Shirley Horn, Nap Turner, Milton Smith, Archie Edwards, Harmonica Phil Wiggins, Charlie Sayles, Bo Diddley Jr. and former Ellingtonian Jimmy McPhail.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/1987/09/06/pigfoot-picnics-and-all-that-jazz/a1642978-3b58-49f3-9e13-0d43ea8b13db/
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 27 September 2020 22:05 (four years ago) link
Yaddiya keeps doing go-go protests with TOB and /or CCB playing on the back of a flatbed truck. CCB did a 7 am one as close as they could get to Mitch Mcconnell's house.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 28 September 2020 03:22 (four years ago) link
RIP U Street Music Hall.
https://dcist.com/story/20/10/05/u-street-music-hall-closing-permanently-covid19/
― Infanta Terrible (j.lu), Monday, 5 October 2020 17:56 (three years ago) link
Saw that bad news. Neither the Mayor nor City Council want to dip into DC’s rainy day fund to provide pandemic relief, so everyone has to wait for federal relief that may never come.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 5 October 2020 18:05 (three years ago) link
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2020/10/05/u-street-music-hall-closes/
specific details here in this article :
For the last few months, the club has sold T-shirts to raise money to pay employees, and hosted live-streamed DJ sets that asked viewers to tip DJs or make donations to an employee relief fund. (“The live streams were great,” Eastman says. “They did not pay for themselves.”) The club received a Paycheck Protection Program loan, but the scattershot approach couldn’t replace revenue from events, and rent went unpaid for several months. Meanwhile, Eastman has been involved in what he describes as a long-running legal battle over the terms of the club’s lease. In the end, the combination was fatal. “The senseless litigation with our landlord, along with [covid-19], were the cause of us vacating the space,” Eastman says. “We had four years left on our lease. If it wasn’t for covid, we would have been there for at least four more years.”
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 6 October 2020 03:49 (three years ago) link
In 2010 B*ian took some of us into UHall to check it out
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 6 October 2020 03:51 (three years ago) link
Oops I mean “I Died” took us there.
In other news:
Merawi Gerima , @Gerima_Gang the Director of acclaimed film Residue ( & son of Director/ store owner Haile G) will be talking go- go and DC and politics and movies w/ Moechella go-go activist @Yaddiya on Washington Informer’s Bridge TV at 12 noon today
― curmudgeon, Friday, 9 October 2020 15:13 (three years ago) link
Check out this official trailer for Fat Boy: The Billy Stewart Story. See the documentary, brought to you in part by the HumantiesDC DC DOCS grant, when it premieres on @whuttv this Saturday, October 24 at 9pm. pic.twitter.com/xFStIEOHfY— HumanitiesDC (@HumanitiesDC) October 22, 2020
Documentary on late DC soul singer Billy Stewart premieres Saturday night 9 pm online and on WHUT Howard U public tv
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 24 October 2020 04:54 (three years ago) link
Making my way through the DC rap, electro, R’n’b, punk, & experimental acts that I haven’t heard before on this Chris Richards zine list that got posted in UK magazine/ site The Wire. https://t.co/m69afQEXfe— Steve Kiviat (@SteveKiviat) October 21, 2020
Chris Richards dave dc rap, electro, metal, hardcore, R’n’b, experimental
Or you can listen to new artsy pop Beauty Pill single
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 24 October 2020 05:01 (three years ago) link
Profoundly stoked @thewiremagazine asked me to contribute to the charts page of their latest issueMy “DEBUSSY RINGTONE 15” chart = quartimes wildstyles coming out of the DMV (of course)Do something nice for yourself and subscribe to the Wire today! https://t.co/A76El4i1Ok pic.twitter.com/per1AnHgX1— Chris _ _ Richards (@Chris__Richards) October 13, 2020
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 24 October 2020 05:04 (three years ago) link
https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/444703/local-go-go-artists-put-out-music-to-reflect-this-fraught-moment/
TCB, Wanted Band, Pure Elegance BLM songs
― curmudgeon, Saturday, 24 October 2020 05:07 (three years ago) link
https://thedcline.org/2020/10/26/i-am-not-giving-up-u-street-club-owner-perseveres-through-commercial-personal-loss/
Aman Ayoubi, owner of Tropicalia and Local 16 just lost his dad to Covid-19, and Tropicalia was robbed. Plus no money from DC and Mitch McConnell
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 27 October 2020 00:42 (three years ago) link
https://linktr.ee/savedcvenues
Save DC venues events today in front of Wilson Building all day and at 6 in some neighborhoods. Trying to persuade Mayor and City Council to help.
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 27 October 2020 15:01 (three years ago) link
Help by passing a bill with $ I mean
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 27 October 2020 15:02 (three years ago) link
https://washingtoncitypaper.com/article/501345/city-lights-jam-to-kino-musicas-ep-ifaan/
Kino Musica are a strong DC band led by 2 Ethiopians ( one who grew up in Texas)
― curmudgeon, Friday, 6 November 2020 15:03 (three years ago) link
There was a Moechella bouncebeat gogo thing early Saturday at McPherson Square with TOB and CCB & Eleanor Holmes Norton spoke. Another one with TOB later in the day in SE. The go-go flatbed truck also briefly made it to BLM Plaza where thousands were there .
I heard WPFW DJ Lance Reynolds say he was going to be spinning music from 3 to 7 on Sunday At BLM plaza
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 8 November 2020 03:41 (three years ago) link
Too many DC , DMV, Baltimore rappers for an old guy like me with limited time to keep up on. Writers Chris Richards and Lawrence Burney are trying though
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 10 November 2020 19:40 (three years ago) link
Rip Andrew White dc based , Hu grad saxophone player who transcribed Coltrane solos, played dc space, toured with Stevie Wonder . And wrote wild books
― curmudgeon, Friday, 13 November 2020 04:34 (three years ago) link
RIP to a devoted jazz fan who also listened to Youssou N’Dour and other artists he discovered on his own or via me—my Dad who died suddenly Saturday November 21 after a heart attack at 90. Dad hung out at jazz clubs in NYC in the late 40s & 50s before moving down here with my Mom and family. We saw music together and talked about and I am so sad he’s gone.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?n=victor-kiviat&pid=197155285&fhid=2205
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 26 November 2020 04:09 (three years ago) link
I’m really sorry, curmudgeon.
― sound of scampo talk to me (El Tomboto), Thursday, 26 November 2020 04:21 (three years ago) link
:(my condolences
― yes m!ch!gan - the feeling's forever (morrisp), Thursday, 26 November 2020 04:57 (three years ago) link
Sounds like a cool dude, curm. Very sorry for you and your family
― Heez, Thursday, 26 November 2020 13:07 (three years ago) link
Condolences, curmudgeon
― gabbnebulous (Ye Mad Puffin), Thursday, 26 November 2020 15:22 (three years ago) link