Wow, so my last post was not exactly 'peace on earth', was it? Sorry.
So, it's probably a good thing that I am out of my element and on holiday. As I commented to Mr. Scott McKnight last week, my immediate family hails from other parts, so I feel a bit left out of the loop. Missing The Grandsons and Last Train Home at the Kennedy Center, and the Hootenanny and Roots All Stars at Iota. You wold have thought I'd had time to post my thoughts about the Americana Motel 2 show, it's been a month!
I'll be back for New Year's and hopefully have a more regular schedule when it comes to posting.
There are so many great things going on this New Years, The Grandsons and Ruthie at the Masonic Temple in Arlington. I still can't believe the Iguana's are playing at The State-how nice of them. I will be at my first Iota New Year's bash. I am very pleased with their promise of hoppin' john on New Year's Day. I have never tried ye olde wives tale that says eating black-eyed peas on the 1st will give you luck in the following year. I am not surprised it's this year that I'll eat them or that Iota has something to do with bringing me luck. Have a seriously wonderful New Year's Eve and as I always say, Love & Luck-what else is there?
Thursday, December 26, 2002
Tuesday, December 10, 2002
OK, another digression. Other people's talk is cheap, so I can't resist, did you read Joe Heim's rant on people who talk during shows?. Isn't it funny how ideas seem to spontaneously generate? Just to show you where I stand, if groupiegirl ever produces merch-one will be a t-shirt that says something like "I paid for the show, so you should shut the hell up!" E-mail him at joe.heim@washingtonpost.com if you have a truly royal story.
I wonder if any of the chatty-mc-chatterson-losers will respond and defend their right to be pain's in the ass? About a year ago, I remember some other Wash-Post commenter that wanted to address screamers/woo-hoo'ers at shows. Now, I am a staunch defender of the woohoo, those of you who know who I am even associate me with the woohoo, I think. I even, on occassion, indulge in a Sinatra style scream or an "oh yeah" if the mood warrants it. So, I realize that I am viewed by some other people in the audience as a "pain in the ass". But I'll tell you what, my new favorite phrase is "Enthusiasm Is Free". Like little babies who scream because they are happy or engaged in something like touching a puppy for the first time-that is what screaming at shows is all about. It's short and sweet, It makes me happy, and in most cases, it makes the band happy. I mean, why do you think people perform live? To hear themselves? No, it's to share something with their audience, get emotions off their chest. And don't forget living the rock & roll fantasy-where people swoon and scream and know all the words to songs you wrote. Yeah, there are exceptions, we are not little babies, we can exercise poise and judgement ideally-no yelling woo-hoo during quiet love ballads or songs about death and other contemplative matters, and don't say things to the other audience members like "What is WRONG with you people? Why aren't you dancing (or yelling?)"
Which gets to the crux of the matter-be nice, or you shouldn't be there at all. Be interested, or you shouldn't be there at all. If you are falling down drunk, you should not have been there in the first place.
I wonder if any of the chatty-mc-chatterson-losers will respond and defend their right to be pain's in the ass? About a year ago, I remember some other Wash-Post commenter that wanted to address screamers/woo-hoo'ers at shows. Now, I am a staunch defender of the woohoo, those of you who know who I am even associate me with the woohoo, I think. I even, on occassion, indulge in a Sinatra style scream or an "oh yeah" if the mood warrants it. So, I realize that I am viewed by some other people in the audience as a "pain in the ass". But I'll tell you what, my new favorite phrase is "Enthusiasm Is Free". Like little babies who scream because they are happy or engaged in something like touching a puppy for the first time-that is what screaming at shows is all about. It's short and sweet, It makes me happy, and in most cases, it makes the band happy. I mean, why do you think people perform live? To hear themselves? No, it's to share something with their audience, get emotions off their chest. And don't forget living the rock & roll fantasy-where people swoon and scream and know all the words to songs you wrote. Yeah, there are exceptions, we are not little babies, we can exercise poise and judgement ideally-no yelling woo-hoo during quiet love ballads or songs about death and other contemplative matters, and don't say things to the other audience members like "What is WRONG with you people? Why aren't you dancing (or yelling?)"
Which gets to the crux of the matter-be nice, or you shouldn't be there at all. Be interested, or you shouldn't be there at all. If you are falling down drunk, you should not have been there in the first place.
Tuesday, December 03, 2002
I've had converations with many glancing many of the topics covered in this lecture, including economics, art, ecology, and my somewhat similar experience of Las Vegas. May you use it for GOOD and not evil. It's a timely reminder of why I started groupiegirldc, it's about being part of a community and giving something back that means more than money or merch.
Wednesday, November 27, 2002
The Great Americana Holiday
Thanksgiving in the nations capital, this will be my ninth. What is there to be thankful for this year? That I now have to go through two security checks daily to get to my day job? That metro has again put up signs by the escalators that say ‘stand’ to the right? That poison gas detectors always seem to be at the metro station that I am at? That there are now short range defense missiles at area military bases pointed at the National Mall, because threat levels are so high? Hmmm.
Well no. I am not thankful for any of the above, but after thirteen years in DC I am beginning to realize that if you are going to become a native, you need to be able to roll with change and fear of it. I think this often leads outsiders to mistake a wicked and self deprecating sense of humor for DC’er’s bashing their own hometown. I was struck by this fact after falling over in hysterics upon hearing the last track on a locally produced CD called Americana Motel. This CD came out about November 2001. The song is by Karl Straub and is called “Don’t Take Advice”. It doesn’t address DC specifically, but it so purely exhibits a lack of sacredness for the obvious, the best arsenal of us “self-dep” types, I just had to mention the song.
Americana Motel was the brainchild, or lovechild, or both of Peter Fox, a long time area music maven, who recently relocated to CA. He hasn’t left his commitment to the metro areas musicians though, a minimum of 50 musicians appear on the CD. My understanding is that the CD resulted from hours of 'home' studio recording and contains 18 different songs by 18 different area bands and many of the songs and all of the bands are homegrown originals. Along with Straub there are songs written by Eric Brace, Scott McKnight, Kevin Johnson and others. These original songs flirt with classic rock and pop as much as the proverbial Americana genre. The go-to web site, www.americanamotel.net, intelligently gets all the alt-country/roots/no-depression monikers out of the way, refers to itself as “the whatever-you-want-to-call-it scene”. This music doesn’t try to sound like Americana or de-construct Americana, and with 50 musicians working on this thing it could sound like a mother-load of Jam-bands, but it doesn’t.
Just about every single musician that was on the CD performed at the 2001 Americana Motel CD release that was at the Birchmere. I was at that show in 2001. Seeing and hearing these artists work hard for an art they love gave me a reason to traipse all around the metro area this past year to hear a huge variety of songsters. This is an accomplishment, because prior to this I was a DC-ite who would not venture into "the 'burbs" if you paid me. Yet for all that time, and I hate the thought of it, "the 'burbs" was incubating all these great bands. So now I go to "the 'burbs", and today is an anniversary that I am happy to be celebrating. The Americana Motel 2 show is up to bat at The Birchmere tonite, deep in the heart of "The 'burbs". (I'm done now, I won't say it again.) I found inspiration in my own back yard in vibrant, smart, witty, accessible music that is connected to a history that was here before Bush or Clinton or Bush and promises to stick through what ever is to come.
I joke, but it's true, seeing the Americana Motel CD release at the Birchmere in 2001 pretty much changed my life. It gave me a reason to go to shows, meet musicians and enjoy myself knowing that there are people who still work hard for an art they love. This Washington, DC scene is so vibrant, Americana Motel goes a long way in documenting a small and happy part of it that will be growing and changing in the years to come. Many of the bands playing have been together for more than a decade and many of the individuals are full time working musicians WITHOUT record contracts. These are serious folks who play honestly, more for emotion and energy than trying to sound like Americana, deconstruct Americana or make Americana hip again.
So I will return invigorated by whatever happens at Americana Motel 2 and I hope to introduce some of the other people that I have helped turn into raving groupies for the local music who want to try their hand a dishing these bands. Thanks for a great year.....
Thanksgiving in the nations capital, this will be my ninth. What is there to be thankful for this year? That I now have to go through two security checks daily to get to my day job? That metro has again put up signs by the escalators that say ‘stand’ to the right? That poison gas detectors always seem to be at the metro station that I am at? That there are now short range defense missiles at area military bases pointed at the National Mall, because threat levels are so high? Hmmm.
Well no. I am not thankful for any of the above, but after thirteen years in DC I am beginning to realize that if you are going to become a native, you need to be able to roll with change and fear of it. I think this often leads outsiders to mistake a wicked and self deprecating sense of humor for DC’er’s bashing their own hometown. I was struck by this fact after falling over in hysterics upon hearing the last track on a locally produced CD called Americana Motel. This CD came out about November 2001. The song is by Karl Straub and is called “Don’t Take Advice”. It doesn’t address DC specifically, but it so purely exhibits a lack of sacredness for the obvious, the best arsenal of us “self-dep” types, I just had to mention the song.
Americana Motel was the brainchild, or lovechild, or both of Peter Fox, a long time area music maven, who recently relocated to CA. He hasn’t left his commitment to the metro areas musicians though, a minimum of 50 musicians appear on the CD. My understanding is that the CD resulted from hours of 'home' studio recording and contains 18 different songs by 18 different area bands and many of the songs and all of the bands are homegrown originals. Along with Straub there are songs written by Eric Brace, Scott McKnight, Kevin Johnson and others. These original songs flirt with classic rock and pop as much as the proverbial Americana genre. The go-to web site, www.americanamotel.net, intelligently gets all the alt-country/roots/no-depression monikers out of the way, refers to itself as “the whatever-you-want-to-call-it scene”. This music doesn’t try to sound like Americana or de-construct Americana, and with 50 musicians working on this thing it could sound like a mother-load of Jam-bands, but it doesn’t.
Just about every single musician that was on the CD performed at the 2001 Americana Motel CD release that was at the Birchmere. I was at that show in 2001. Seeing and hearing these artists work hard for an art they love gave me a reason to traipse all around the metro area this past year to hear a huge variety of songsters. This is an accomplishment, because prior to this I was a DC-ite who would not venture into "the 'burbs" if you paid me. Yet for all that time, and I hate the thought of it, "the 'burbs" was incubating all these great bands. So now I go to "the 'burbs", and today is an anniversary that I am happy to be celebrating. The Americana Motel 2 show is up to bat at The Birchmere tonite, deep in the heart of "The 'burbs". (I'm done now, I won't say it again.) I found inspiration in my own back yard in vibrant, smart, witty, accessible music that is connected to a history that was here before Bush or Clinton or Bush and promises to stick through what ever is to come.
I joke, but it's true, seeing the Americana Motel CD release at the Birchmere in 2001 pretty much changed my life. It gave me a reason to go to shows, meet musicians and enjoy myself knowing that there are people who still work hard for an art they love. This Washington, DC scene is so vibrant, Americana Motel goes a long way in documenting a small and happy part of it that will be growing and changing in the years to come. Many of the bands playing have been together for more than a decade and many of the individuals are full time working musicians WITHOUT record contracts. These are serious folks who play honestly, more for emotion and energy than trying to sound like Americana, deconstruct Americana or make Americana hip again.
So I will return invigorated by whatever happens at Americana Motel 2 and I hope to introduce some of the other people that I have helped turn into raving groupies for the local music who want to try their hand a dishing these bands. Thanks for a great year.....
Tuesday, November 26, 2002
Well, Last Train Home is out of the gate and they have their first Barns performance under their belts. It was really nice to have everyone there-and by everyone I mean-Bill Williams, Scott McKnight and Alan Brace. I find it really hard to imagine Last Train Home LIVE with out that triumverate.
One of the first things that attracted me to this band was having heard them on Americana Motel. I found the Joe Triplet song that they did on that recording ripe and dripping with harmonies that I had not heard on any recording done in my lifetime. A musician friend of mine that has played in pick-up bands around DC do 20+ years would speak of the elusiveness of intensly layered harmonies found in early-country and bluegrass music. According to him, you randomly assemble a group of male musicians, and no matter how talented they are, they can't harmonize. Their egos and large musical knowledge get in the way. They sing to hear themselves, they don't mean to, it just happens. Well LTH has males, and egos and large musical knowledges-they manage, not all the time, but more often than not to have 4+ voices, 3+ guitars (plus Steel and Mandolin) and rhythm all going to the same place-harmony. A prodigeous accomplishment, if ever there was one.
I hypothetically suppose that this is one of the reasons that a number of men seem to unequivocally fall in love with this band and Eric Brace's charismatic lead. it also does not hurt that the band doesn't shy away from covering and rearranging songs like Bill Monroe's "Walls of Time", Buck Owen's "Heartbreak Mountain" or Dave Alvin's "So Long, Baby Goodbye". The first time "Walls of Time" crossed my ears in a live show, I almost passed out. What a joy. This masterpiece of lyrics is on my all time favorite songs list-I'd heard it on late night WAMU bluegrass by Monroe himself and thought myself possibly alone in being touched by this song so deeply. The passion that LTH sets up in their arrangement, often due to the overwhelming intensity and of Lee Wilhoit's singing, left no doubt in my mind that my favorite song would live on. They bought Lee up on stage at The Barns and I got to dance like my 'name was carved upon the tombstone'.
The Barns 'general admission dance' is a nice set up. You have the option of sitting concert style in the balcony, like The State Theater or hitting the boards, standing style right up by the stage. There is a bar in a separate room and while the LTH show was sold out the place didn't feel packed.
I guess one of the other highlights of the night was hearing 'Sugar' a cover that they've been doing since before their first CD came out. They've been working the song long enough to have made it into a mystery novel by local author George Pelacanos called "Shame the Devil". Eric delighted in reading George's prescient prose where the band The Silos opens for Last Train Home. Well perhaps this was because The Silos did open up for Last Train Home at The Barns. What fun. I wonder if there was a private detective in the audience who went home and had steamy sex? Go to their Websiteif you want to see what I am talking about. So apparently The Silos will open for LTH at IOTA on the 21st of December. Go see this. They were great, I heard the Silos bassist say, like 10 times, to myself and others, "we held back 'cause it's like, The Barns". They were pretty damn intense, so I am pretty damn sorry I will miss that IOTA show. Spottiswoode and his Enemies will open the LTH IOTA show on Friday the 20th. Spottiswoode can also be pretty freakin intense when provoked and I will be there for them, so I will just have to make due.
One of the first things that attracted me to this band was having heard them on Americana Motel. I found the Joe Triplet song that they did on that recording ripe and dripping with harmonies that I had not heard on any recording done in my lifetime. A musician friend of mine that has played in pick-up bands around DC do 20+ years would speak of the elusiveness of intensly layered harmonies found in early-country and bluegrass music. According to him, you randomly assemble a group of male musicians, and no matter how talented they are, they can't harmonize. Their egos and large musical knowledge get in the way. They sing to hear themselves, they don't mean to, it just happens. Well LTH has males, and egos and large musical knowledges-they manage, not all the time, but more often than not to have 4+ voices, 3+ guitars (plus Steel and Mandolin) and rhythm all going to the same place-harmony. A prodigeous accomplishment, if ever there was one.
I hypothetically suppose that this is one of the reasons that a number of men seem to unequivocally fall in love with this band and Eric Brace's charismatic lead. it also does not hurt that the band doesn't shy away from covering and rearranging songs like Bill Monroe's "Walls of Time", Buck Owen's "Heartbreak Mountain" or Dave Alvin's "So Long, Baby Goodbye". The first time "Walls of Time" crossed my ears in a live show, I almost passed out. What a joy. This masterpiece of lyrics is on my all time favorite songs list-I'd heard it on late night WAMU bluegrass by Monroe himself and thought myself possibly alone in being touched by this song so deeply. The passion that LTH sets up in their arrangement, often due to the overwhelming intensity and of Lee Wilhoit's singing, left no doubt in my mind that my favorite song would live on. They bought Lee up on stage at The Barns and I got to dance like my 'name was carved upon the tombstone'.
The Barns 'general admission dance' is a nice set up. You have the option of sitting concert style in the balcony, like The State Theater or hitting the boards, standing style right up by the stage. There is a bar in a separate room and while the LTH show was sold out the place didn't feel packed.
I guess one of the other highlights of the night was hearing 'Sugar' a cover that they've been doing since before their first CD came out. They've been working the song long enough to have made it into a mystery novel by local author George Pelacanos called "Shame the Devil". Eric delighted in reading George's prescient prose where the band The Silos opens for Last Train Home. Well perhaps this was because The Silos did open up for Last Train Home at The Barns. What fun. I wonder if there was a private detective in the audience who went home and had steamy sex? Go to their Websiteif you want to see what I am talking about. So apparently The Silos will open for LTH at IOTA on the 21st of December. Go see this. They were great, I heard the Silos bassist say, like 10 times, to myself and others, "we held back 'cause it's like, The Barns". They were pretty damn intense, so I am pretty damn sorry I will miss that IOTA show. Spottiswoode and his Enemies will open the LTH IOTA show on Friday the 20th. Spottiswoode can also be pretty freakin intense when provoked and I will be there for them, so I will just have to make due.
Thursday, November 21, 2002
Ok, I'm going to attempt to write aboout some music, really fast. Again, I apologize to Last Train Home for not writing about the music. Eric wore these buckskin colored leather pants to a show at Iota last month and I still can't think straight-just kidding. Honestly, I have been sickeningly busy pimping my work at this
Art-Show. I forgot what it was like to be 'a working artist'. Feels good.
So last weekend I treated myself to a nite of combos-solo.
The first stop was American Legion Post 8 over in Southeast for a self-titled CD release for The Dustbowlers. The drummer has been my neighbor for years-so you know what a pleasure to hear him accompanied by vocals and melody. The Dustbowlers are a 3 piece outfit, Mike on drums and percussion, another Mike on bass and double bass and backup (a natural combo for bands I like) and Tim on stringed things (guitars) and lyrics. So listening to Tims song's, I'm struck at the Californ-I-A-ness of the lyrics and his delivery. I seriously have not heard that sound around here in like 5 years, and then I was only hearing it because of another musician friend, who rode into town with his real name and out of town on the psuedonym Sri Baba Marley Jones-that you may remember, he played the songwriters circle, Galaxy Hut, and a few other gigs. So, what is this Californ-I-A sound? Think of Woodie Guthrie's annunciation of electric-I-T on Coulmbia River. Appropriatley enough, the first trak on The Dustbowlers is called "Hey Hey Woodie Guthrie", which is as much about the lonesome sound as the master himself. Another stand out happened to be 'Tailfins', a lonesome metaphor where a visit to 'The Cadillac Ranch" in Texas (you know the place where an artist has buried a bunch of heyday Cadillac's noses in the ground) spurs thoughts of finding your identity before your sell-by date. This song's like a dirge and paints such a clear picture of this unique American monument that it makes me squint in the Texas sun.
Anyway, it's apparent that these guys have been playing music for along time and I hope to see them getting gigs around town and mixing it up with the Virgin-E sound and song writing. Tim's got the lead singer speak down, already pegging Mike and Mike as the 'Beatnik Cowboys" at this homey CD release
To completely 'fess, had to bust out of the The Dustbowlers shindig to hit Staccato and see Cowlick Lucy and the newly formed Karl Straub Combo play together. I arrived at Staccato well into the advertised 1st set of Cowlick Lucy (a band I've already talked about) to find Mr. Straub sitting in with them on guitar. Very, very good move. The strenght of Karl's guitar playing added new force to Cowlick, especially to "Sheep in Wool's Clothing". The "VU" sounding songs "Downtown" and "Breakdown" totally turned this audience on at Staccato. They were captive, and I may note, not totally made up of musicians. Predominently-yes, totally no. I was quite pleased to be approached twice by people that struck up conversations with me about how great they thought the band and the club were when they saw me writing and singing along. Staccato's 'sound improvements' to shut the neighbors up who complain of sound leaking out, have in fact improved the sound inside tremendously. I got there too late to be in the front, but sitting all the way at the back upstairs bar, where I could not see a lick, the sound was clear and crisp. Take into account, the place is smaller than Velvet Lounge, but Staccato's really got something.
As does Karl Straub. This Combo is a new outting for Straub. He played for years with an outfit called the Graverobbers, fronted by him and his song writing. Right now 'The Combo' or this band is getting comfortable with new songs and Karl classics. I admit to not having heard the Graverobbers many times, though I'm a huge devotee of their CD's. The Combo fits it name as the new players in the band seem to hail from more high end lounge oriented rock music, less garage band/folk. I look forward to these guys developing too. Also kudos for Cowlick Lucy's Paula & Vivian singing those high note girl back up vocals to Karl's bubblegum ballad "Shonen Knife". When I listen to it on CD I always here those girl voices in my head, and like anyone, gotta love it when fantasy meets with reality.
Ok, hope that whet your whistle. It's going to be a busy week. I hope to give you some bite on the LTH Wolftrap extravaganza. Then the day before Thanksgiving, the mother of all shows, Americana Motel 2 at The Birchmere. The one year anniversary of the show that changed my life, brought me back into the live music scene, continues to inspire me, and has introduced me to all kinds of lovely people and experiences.
If you want more pre-show information on any of this I suggest you check out groupiegirldc on yahoo groups and look at the calender and links. Thanks-talk to you later.
Art-Show. I forgot what it was like to be 'a working artist'. Feels good.
So last weekend I treated myself to a nite of combos-solo.
The first stop was American Legion Post 8 over in Southeast for a self-titled CD release for The Dustbowlers. The drummer has been my neighbor for years-so you know what a pleasure to hear him accompanied by vocals and melody. The Dustbowlers are a 3 piece outfit, Mike on drums and percussion, another Mike on bass and double bass and backup (a natural combo for bands I like) and Tim on stringed things (guitars) and lyrics. So listening to Tims song's, I'm struck at the Californ-I-A-ness of the lyrics and his delivery. I seriously have not heard that sound around here in like 5 years, and then I was only hearing it because of another musician friend, who rode into town with his real name and out of town on the psuedonym Sri Baba Marley Jones-that you may remember, he played the songwriters circle, Galaxy Hut, and a few other gigs. So, what is this Californ-I-A sound? Think of Woodie Guthrie's annunciation of electric-I-T on Coulmbia River. Appropriatley enough, the first trak on The Dustbowlers is called "Hey Hey Woodie Guthrie", which is as much about the lonesome sound as the master himself. Another stand out happened to be 'Tailfins', a lonesome metaphor where a visit to 'The Cadillac Ranch" in Texas (you know the place where an artist has buried a bunch of heyday Cadillac's noses in the ground) spurs thoughts of finding your identity before your sell-by date. This song's like a dirge and paints such a clear picture of this unique American monument that it makes me squint in the Texas sun.
Anyway, it's apparent that these guys have been playing music for along time and I hope to see them getting gigs around town and mixing it up with the Virgin-E sound and song writing. Tim's got the lead singer speak down, already pegging Mike and Mike as the 'Beatnik Cowboys" at this homey CD release
To completely 'fess, had to bust out of the The Dustbowlers shindig to hit Staccato and see Cowlick Lucy and the newly formed Karl Straub Combo play together. I arrived at Staccato well into the advertised 1st set of Cowlick Lucy (a band I've already talked about) to find Mr. Straub sitting in with them on guitar. Very, very good move. The strenght of Karl's guitar playing added new force to Cowlick, especially to "Sheep in Wool's Clothing". The "VU" sounding songs "Downtown" and "Breakdown" totally turned this audience on at Staccato. They were captive, and I may note, not totally made up of musicians. Predominently-yes, totally no. I was quite pleased to be approached twice by people that struck up conversations with me about how great they thought the band and the club were when they saw me writing and singing along. Staccato's 'sound improvements' to shut the neighbors up who complain of sound leaking out, have in fact improved the sound inside tremendously. I got there too late to be in the front, but sitting all the way at the back upstairs bar, where I could not see a lick, the sound was clear and crisp. Take into account, the place is smaller than Velvet Lounge, but Staccato's really got something.
As does Karl Straub. This Combo is a new outting for Straub. He played for years with an outfit called the Graverobbers, fronted by him and his song writing. Right now 'The Combo' or this band is getting comfortable with new songs and Karl classics. I admit to not having heard the Graverobbers many times, though I'm a huge devotee of their CD's. The Combo fits it name as the new players in the band seem to hail from more high end lounge oriented rock music, less garage band/folk. I look forward to these guys developing too. Also kudos for Cowlick Lucy's Paula & Vivian singing those high note girl back up vocals to Karl's bubblegum ballad "Shonen Knife". When I listen to it on CD I always here those girl voices in my head, and like anyone, gotta love it when fantasy meets with reality.
Ok, hope that whet your whistle. It's going to be a busy week. I hope to give you some bite on the LTH Wolftrap extravaganza. Then the day before Thanksgiving, the mother of all shows, Americana Motel 2 at The Birchmere. The one year anniversary of the show that changed my life, brought me back into the live music scene, continues to inspire me, and has introduced me to all kinds of lovely people and experiences.
If you want more pre-show information on any of this I suggest you check out groupiegirldc on yahoo groups and look at the calender and links. Thanks-talk to you later.
Wednesday, November 20, 2002
OK, the Yahoo groups thing is pretty much up and running. It's called groupiegirldc, big surprise. I am hoping for big things for it, though I know statistics about the internet point against such things. The sharing a calender and the ability to use it to find links to shows, venues, tickets, bands, seems like it will helpful to a lot of my friends-did you just read that there's a whole page to collect links on-watch out. Or here's another for instance, a friend told me last weekend that she had a Loretta Lynn ticket that went to waste. Next time, she can stick in on the yahoo groups/groupiegirldc-that sweetie of a ticket would not have gone to waste. Consider becoming a part of the yahoo group-I am very receptive to suggestions to help make sure more people go to see live and local music.
Once again, I am sorry about the delay in posting my take on the shows I've been to, and I owe a super-sincere apology to Last Train Home. I got caught up in the Nashvillyness of the night: the lights, the elevated stage, 3 bands, black rhinestones. That moment at 'The State' has passed and I can't write about, sorry. So much fluff and not enough talk about music-the best I can say right now is that I would still love Last Train Home if they played naked in a crack house, what better endorsment could you have? There is a great Last Train Home show coming up this Saturday at the Barns of Wolftrap. Their first outing there and it is sold out. If you missed out, I will try to give out the scoop on what you missed. If you've never heard them stay tuned and tell you why I like their music.
Once again, I am sorry about the delay in posting my take on the shows I've been to, and I owe a super-sincere apology to Last Train Home. I got caught up in the Nashvillyness of the night: the lights, the elevated stage, 3 bands, black rhinestones. That moment at 'The State' has passed and I can't write about, sorry. So much fluff and not enough talk about music-the best I can say right now is that I would still love Last Train Home if they played naked in a crack house, what better endorsment could you have? There is a great Last Train Home show coming up this Saturday at the Barns of Wolftrap. Their first outing there and it is sold out. If you missed out, I will try to give out the scoop on what you missed. If you've never heard them stay tuned and tell you why I like their music.
Monday, November 18, 2002
Why did no one I know tell me that Yahoo groups had a calender? Luckily a curious patron of Staccato suggested it to me. This "administrative" garbage is what I have spent most of my time doing when not out "in the field", instead of writing up the music I have been seeing. Still, I hope to have a Yahoo group with calenders and surveys soon! I also hope to have some blab about 11/16/02, this past Saturday "combo" nite for groupiegirl.
Saturday, November 09, 2002
OK, well here's another digression, BUT VERY VERY IMPORTANT! It comes to me via Chris Connoly of the Velvet Lounge. The following text is off his mailing list
"coming soon: new DC laws and regulations governing restaraunts and music.
velvet is above the fray with a tavern license and a parking waiver, but
current laws would close almost every other small venue in town. the new laws
are a big improvement, but not enough of an improvement that some hard
working venue owners would not wind up getting their places shut down. of
particular concern, it has been recommended that the 45% food sales
requirement be lowered, but only to 40% or $1,500 per seat of capacity per
year. it needs to lowered further or many places will be closed.
please come testify on dec 4 (location tba, ask the liquor board) that people
who support nightlife are the majority and the liquor board and the council
should protect their interests against the small minority of citizens who
routinely protest all liquor licenses and aspire to control the city's
commerical corridors as if they were their own living rooms rather than vital
public resources. oddly, despite a couple handfuls of the same protestors
coming in over and over constantly repeating the refrain 1,000s of nightlife
consumers are bothering me, the council and the board seem to forget this is
a democractic society and there are 1,000s of us that like to go out at
night, even if the sidewalks get crowded and even if a couple 100 people
would rather we stayed home. if you work at a restaraunt please encourage
the owner to contact me (Chris at the Velvet Lounge)
regarding the new laws and regulations and our trade association: dc licensed
beverage association."
Thank you Chris. I hope posting this here helps. And remember consumers DECEMBER 4 - TESTIFY that small business and LEGITIMATE business at night is RIGHT and good for a city!!!!! AMEN
"coming soon: new DC laws and regulations governing restaraunts and music.
velvet is above the fray with a tavern license and a parking waiver, but
current laws would close almost every other small venue in town. the new laws
are a big improvement, but not enough of an improvement that some hard
working venue owners would not wind up getting their places shut down. of
particular concern, it has been recommended that the 45% food sales
requirement be lowered, but only to 40% or $1,500 per seat of capacity per
year. it needs to lowered further or many places will be closed.
please come testify on dec 4 (location tba, ask the liquor board) that people
who support nightlife are the majority and the liquor board and the council
should protect their interests against the small minority of citizens who
routinely protest all liquor licenses and aspire to control the city's
commerical corridors as if they were their own living rooms rather than vital
public resources. oddly, despite a couple handfuls of the same protestors
coming in over and over constantly repeating the refrain 1,000s of nightlife
consumers are bothering me, the council and the board seem to forget this is
a democractic society and there are 1,000s of us that like to go out at
night, even if the sidewalks get crowded and even if a couple 100 people
would rather we stayed home. if you work at a restaraunt please encourage
the owner to contact me (Chris at the Velvet Lounge)
regarding the new laws and regulations and our trade association: dc licensed
beverage association."
Thank you Chris. I hope posting this here helps. And remember consumers DECEMBER 4 - TESTIFY that small business and LEGITIMATE business at night is RIGHT and good for a city!!!!! AMEN
Tuesday, November 05, 2002
Hi groupie friends-thanks for checking in. I hope to post soon. It will be like going 0-60 mph, as I attempt to make some mention of all the shows I saw in the past month. I hope to post some content from another groupiegirl who was out there seeing shows in the month of October while I spent all my odd hours in helping set up 'remembering pleasure' a curated visual art exhibition at Art-O-Matic (located on the 2nd floor in a space called Cheverly 8 {tell your friends}) that includes a sexy sculpture by me. Seriously check out my club of the month link-its ART-O-MATIC I am talking about. They have some really really good bands on the schedule. I mean a very real schedule of competitive bands-BANDS EVERY DAY the building in open. If Art-O-Matic keeps this up it will be like a biennial winter version of Ft. Reno.
Thank you to the musicians that have talked to me about reading this journal, it is really appreciated, only wish I could do more and pay less, oh well. You may note I have been playing technically with this page. I am functional in technology, but it's not my strong point. Does anyone know of a free web based personal calender that I could set up as a link on the groupiegirldc page? Please contact me if you do. bye!
Thank you to the musicians that have talked to me about reading this journal, it is really appreciated, only wish I could do more and pay less, oh well. You may note I have been playing technically with this page. I am functional in technology, but it's not my strong point. Does anyone know of a free web based personal calender that I could set up as a link on the groupiegirldc page? Please contact me if you do. bye!
Monday, October 14, 2002
Better late than never, here's a bit o' writin' from another groupiegirl, you might call her the "ultimate groupie girl"
LTH, Jr. at Velvet Lounge
Well, Eric's "solo" act was short, a mere nine songs, but very sweet. I
kept a set list for y'all, so here's some details. First, Eric was
accompanied by Kevin Cordt on trumpet and backing vocals. It was awfully
nice to hear Kevin's lovely voice, which sounds really nice with
Eric's--they should really let Kevin sing more. Jim Gray was on acoustic
bass guitar--an instrument I don't think I've ever seen before. He sounded
fantastic, you could really hear the bass lines with it just being the
three of them up there. Eric played the hell out of his acoustic
guitar, I think he's been doing some practicing and its paying off, he
sounded great. However what was above and beyond the greatest moment of the
evening--Eric yodeled! It was on the song Tonight (which I was hearing for
the second time that evening, Karl performed it earlier at Visions). It was
a lovely version of the song, not their usual raucous rendition, it
actually sounded a lot more like the original GraveRobber's version than it
usual does when LTH performs it, and then Eric ended it with yodeling
(Kevin also did some whistling). I almost fell out my seat.
They opened with the new song, I Still Like You, which I like more and more
every time I hear it. Its a great song. Then Tonight, then the song about
Harlin County and the lovers who have to run away from the girl's no-good
father who doesn't want them to be together. Don't know what this one's
called but I've been calling it See What Love Can Do in my head, which is a
line in the song somewhere. That was was followed by a simply gorgeous
Angelina, Kevin's singing and trumpet were definitely the standouts. Eric
then asked for requests and played mine, Shenandoah, which was lovely. Eric
seemed a little surprised by this request, but played it anyway. Then they
did My Sally, Finally, and my second request of the evening, Last Train
Home. They encored with Sugar. A short but really really lovely performance
by all counts.
LTH, Jr. at Velvet Lounge
Well, Eric's "solo" act was short, a mere nine songs, but very sweet. I
kept a set list for y'all, so here's some details. First, Eric was
accompanied by Kevin Cordt on trumpet and backing vocals. It was awfully
nice to hear Kevin's lovely voice, which sounds really nice with
Eric's--they should really let Kevin sing more. Jim Gray was on acoustic
bass guitar--an instrument I don't think I've ever seen before. He sounded
fantastic, you could really hear the bass lines with it just being the
three of them up there. Eric played the hell out of his acoustic
guitar, I think he's been doing some practicing and its paying off, he
sounded great. However what was above and beyond the greatest moment of the
evening--Eric yodeled! It was on the song Tonight (which I was hearing for
the second time that evening, Karl performed it earlier at Visions). It was
a lovely version of the song, not their usual raucous rendition, it
actually sounded a lot more like the original GraveRobber's version than it
usual does when LTH performs it, and then Eric ended it with yodeling
(Kevin also did some whistling). I almost fell out my seat.
They opened with the new song, I Still Like You, which I like more and more
every time I hear it. Its a great song. Then Tonight, then the song about
Harlin County and the lovers who have to run away from the girl's no-good
father who doesn't want them to be together. Don't know what this one's
called but I've been calling it See What Love Can Do in my head, which is a
line in the song somewhere. That was was followed by a simply gorgeous
Angelina, Kevin's singing and trumpet were definitely the standouts. Eric
then asked for requests and played mine, Shenandoah, which was lovely. Eric
seemed a little surprised by this request, but played it anyway. Then they
did My Sally, Finally, and my second request of the evening, Last Train
Home. They encored with Sugar. A short but really really lovely performance
by all counts.
Monday, October 07, 2002
ahhhhhhh. Going to a show at The State Theater out by the East Falls Church Metro is kind of like going on a vacation in the amount of time it takes to go to a dinner party. The show that Last Train Home put on this past Fri., 10/4, heightened that feeling even more. Going out there in the dark, it's all highways and byways and an old time theater look made out of brand-y new blue board, like vacation destination Branson, which I have seen, or possibly 'new' Nashville, which I have not-just on a smaller, much, much, much smaller and friendlier and less disneyfied scale.
The clean and cavernous interior of The State, the good sound system and the rolling-stone-pyrotechnics-on a radio-shak-budget pump up the performance of any band that gets on the stage. Now in the case of Last Train Home that has been performing around DC since 1997, I am pondering that this past weekend's show (their first headliner at The State) let's us local's glimpse what life will be like with the band on a four foot high stage instead of a two foot tall one. You'll get no complaint from me-they've got it in them. Performing regularly with seven to TWELVE musicians you could say there is collectively already 180 + years of performance experience under the bright lights. Frontman Eric Brace's new tailored, embroidered, and black and white rhinestone accesorized suit could count for 80 years of showmanship by itself. Lesson, it never hurts to sparkle!
Now what about the music?.....stay tuned
The clean and cavernous interior of The State, the good sound system and the rolling-stone-pyrotechnics-on a radio-shak-budget pump up the performance of any band that gets on the stage. Now in the case of Last Train Home that has been performing around DC since 1997, I am pondering that this past weekend's show (their first headliner at The State) let's us local's glimpse what life will be like with the band on a four foot high stage instead of a two foot tall one. You'll get no complaint from me-they've got it in them. Performing regularly with seven to TWELVE musicians you could say there is collectively already 180 + years of performance experience under the bright lights. Frontman Eric Brace's new tailored, embroidered, and black and white rhinestone accesorized suit could count for 80 years of showmanship by itself. Lesson, it never hurts to sparkle!
Now what about the music?.....stay tuned
Saturday, September 28, 2002
Well, here's another reason you always have to stick to seeing your favorites at their regular gigs. Moe Nelson showed up at Visions to play with The Grandsons. Upright, Harmonica, vocals, and Ukelele, that's right-he didn't play the little thing nearly enough, but it's the thought that counts. I wish they sold energy de' Moe in the form of a pill or tonic. You can also see him play with the Hula Monsters if you need a fix.
I got to hear the Spottiswoode song "let's hide away from the sun" twice this week. Cowlick Lucy did it on Wednesday, then The Grandsons on Friday. The song smacks of Spottiswoode, but I think both Cowlick and the Grandsons are going to make something of it. There are some really beautiful vocal runs in it that probably would not be as effective with Spotty's voice.
Cowlick Lucy did really strike me, thank you ladies. Let's see after thinking about it, I'd have to say it struck in 3 ways. 1) Choice of Material-aside from their own writing, doing VU covers and Straub covers and laying down a loungier sound was A-OK. But this issue of materiel is a superficial smak the biggies were 2) Their original songs-twisted girl lyrics, yahoo. They've managed to write lovely analogous narrative lyrics, like "Heading for a Breakdown" and "Sheep in Wool's Clothing", twisted lyrics in the great spirit of "Chewing Gum" by the Carters, you want to laugh and cry at the same time. 3) I love that thay are a 'new' band 'young' band whatever you want to call it-I really relish seeing people on a stage working out performance issues. Those musicians that I know have schooled me in the reality that it's no easy thing to get up there and be coordianted enough to sing, play and instrument and perform. Alot of bands/performers will go through whole careers with only doing the first two. What is the performance aspect. Well its working the audience, making eye contact, being comfortable and relaxed on stage and making the audience believe what you are saying. I'm going to go out on a limb here, but it was the rawness of the voices of the two singers in Cowlick Lucy, an edge of real feeling in the delivery of the lyrics that struck me the most-is it the ellusive Patsy Cline/Billie Holiday factor? While now they are new to the stage and may get off-tempo or off-key-that will go away with practice and performance. If they get comfortable and adept at being on stage and keep delivering songs with emotion in their voices-Cowlick Lucy will be a dangerous and beuatiful band.
I hope my 3rd point makes sense and comes off in the right tone, because I think it's one of the most important things in music, or maybe it's better to say it's the communication of emotion that separates being an artist from simply being a musician.
I got to hear the Spottiswoode song "let's hide away from the sun" twice this week. Cowlick Lucy did it on Wednesday, then The Grandsons on Friday. The song smacks of Spottiswoode, but I think both Cowlick and the Grandsons are going to make something of it. There are some really beautiful vocal runs in it that probably would not be as effective with Spotty's voice.
Cowlick Lucy did really strike me, thank you ladies. Let's see after thinking about it, I'd have to say it struck in 3 ways. 1) Choice of Material-aside from their own writing, doing VU covers and Straub covers and laying down a loungier sound was A-OK. But this issue of materiel is a superficial smak the biggies were 2) Their original songs-twisted girl lyrics, yahoo. They've managed to write lovely analogous narrative lyrics, like "Heading for a Breakdown" and "Sheep in Wool's Clothing", twisted lyrics in the great spirit of "Chewing Gum" by the Carters, you want to laugh and cry at the same time. 3) I love that thay are a 'new' band 'young' band whatever you want to call it-I really relish seeing people on a stage working out performance issues. Those musicians that I know have schooled me in the reality that it's no easy thing to get up there and be coordianted enough to sing, play and instrument and perform. Alot of bands/performers will go through whole careers with only doing the first two. What is the performance aspect. Well its working the audience, making eye contact, being comfortable and relaxed on stage and making the audience believe what you are saying. I'm going to go out on a limb here, but it was the rawness of the voices of the two singers in Cowlick Lucy, an edge of real feeling in the delivery of the lyrics that struck me the most-is it the ellusive Patsy Cline/Billie Holiday factor? While now they are new to the stage and may get off-tempo or off-key-that will go away with practice and performance. If they get comfortable and adept at being on stage and keep delivering songs with emotion in their voices-Cowlick Lucy will be a dangerous and beuatiful band.
I hope my 3rd point makes sense and comes off in the right tone, because I think it's one of the most important things in music, or maybe it's better to say it's the communication of emotion that separates being an artist from simply being a musician.
Thursday, September 26, 2002
So what did I see in the month of September?
9/5 Measles, Mumps, Rubella at the Black Cat, DC
9/6 Q and not U at the Black Cat, DC
9/7 The Grandsons at the Bop & Bowl in VA
9/25 Cowlick Lucy and Little Pink at Velvet Lounge, DC
What's on-board for October?
10/4 Last Train Home a The State Theater, VA (wonder if there will be an opener?)
10/11 Jen Toomy at the Velvet Lounge, DC (incidentally with Eric Brace opening solo, a little sonwriters circle-esque like the olden days)
10/17 Canyon CD release at Velvet Lounge, DC (this should be a freak show - even on a thursday they are a bitchin band)
10/18 &/or 10/19 Last Train Home at IOTA, VA
10/21 Billy Bragg at the 9:30, DC not local, but yay, I'm going to the show
and last and most exciting
10/26 Spottiswoode and His Enemies opening for a purported Karl Straub Combo at IOTA, VA and not a moment too soon, Go Karl!
I'll sneak on this Novembery one, 'cause I know about it
11/8 Spottiswoode & his Enemies at Velvet Lounge, DC (I will always consider them local, even though now half the members live here and half in NYC )
9/5 Measles, Mumps, Rubella at the Black Cat, DC
9/6 Q and not U at the Black Cat, DC
9/7 The Grandsons at the Bop & Bowl in VA
9/25 Cowlick Lucy and Little Pink at Velvet Lounge, DC
What's on-board for October?
10/4 Last Train Home a The State Theater, VA (wonder if there will be an opener?)
10/11 Jen Toomy at the Velvet Lounge, DC (incidentally with Eric Brace opening solo, a little sonwriters circle-esque like the olden days)
10/17 Canyon CD release at Velvet Lounge, DC (this should be a freak show - even on a thursday they are a bitchin band)
10/18 &/or 10/19 Last Train Home at IOTA, VA
10/21 Billy Bragg at the 9:30, DC not local, but yay, I'm going to the show
and last and most exciting
10/26 Spottiswoode and His Enemies opening for a purported Karl Straub Combo at IOTA, VA and not a moment too soon, Go Karl!
I'll sneak on this Novembery one, 'cause I know about it
11/8 Spottiswoode & his Enemies at Velvet Lounge, DC (I will always consider them local, even though now half the members live here and half in NYC )
I have been having to play catch up a little bit learning about the Punk, Go-Go and Jazz scenes here in DC, being a bit of and alt-country/retro-vintage girl myself. When you start catching onto the history, it blows your mind. No that I am doing this blog thing online, I am incorrigible about looking up information. The Punk scene has been remarkably well documented. Just type Fugazi in a search engine and you will eventually hit a music site (I am thinking of the ALL MUSIC GUIDE the IMDB of music, that I can't seem to link to right now) it completely deconstructs Discord records and the DC scene leading up to and continuing after Fugazi. Now the same is SOOOOOOOO not true with Jazz and Go-Go and even the Country scene. There are sites beginning to form, trying to do this for Go-Go FunkMasterJ's or MikeMcNasty and there are others, but there is still a lot of construction and gathering of information going on. Jeez, and while most of the contemporary DC roots rock bands have their own web sites, as far as I know there is no place that links into the Country/Bluegrass Music history that is so big around here. I havn't had time to look up Jazz web links yet. These are gargantuan areas and props to anyone wo attempts to do the interdisciplanary explaining and recording.
Oi, I ask all you nice people to look at this journal and go to see LIVE MUSIC, then I disappear for a month. Well it just seems like it-I was going to see LIVE MUSIC, I just didn't have any time to write about it.
To finish up where I left off regarding the live show that went with "the pocket" premiere, what was so great about these three bands on stage at one time? Well first of all, when ever anyone puts more than 4 instruments on a stage at once I go nuts. Lots of different sounds, yum. Meeting this prerequisite is a given with Go-Go bands, easily there is a drum set, conga set, multiple keyboards, electric bass, horns, and additional percussion with 2-5 vocalists for any and all of them. This would also be the fisrt full set I'd ever have seen by Q and not U. So I felt like there was a pretty even ground. When I heard Uncalled 4 and their 5 vocailists I was reminded that in '92-'94 I did go to more than a couple of Go-Go shows, probably at Takoma Park Station. If I remember these 'soul-styling' vocals were just starting to slip in to go-go more and more. Wasn't too keen on it then, but hey if you wait long enough you never know what will happen. Uncalled 4 blends the more traditional; go-go lyricists with both female and male vocal harmony parts-that do not have the 'canned-music-boyz-2-men" sound that bugged me back inthe day. The performance given on stage is as polished as the music.
so as Uncalled 4's massive amount of equipment was broken down, watching the 3 members of Q and not U set up could only be called odd. Three little white boys with their drums and guitars setting up to play their antidiestablishmentarianismal 'music'. Or with less facitiousness, a three piece Punk band was going to go on after a twelve member all black funk band. While my mind knew it made sense for Q and not U to be on the stage, it looked weird.
Q made no apologies, opening up the set with the longest, loudest coordinated screaming I HAVE HEARD IN A LONG TIME followed by similar antics on the guitars. So having psychologically filled the stage with ALL THIS SOUND in the first minute and a half-they would subtely in the course of this first song lock into a rhythm, not quite the piston-like rhythm of so many other punk bands, but a rhythm like a wave that crested and troughed, not unlike the Funk Music that inspired Go-Go, get it? You may note too that although there are only 3 people in this band there are often 5-6 instruments being played, as the drummer will strike the drums with a maraca or other percussive piece and one of the guitarists will occasionally play the harmonium while playing guitar, so Q and not U, too, meets my 4 instuments=yummy sound protocol. Right before closing the set, before the last song, one of the vocalists from Uncalled 4 would step out on the stage and ask Q and not U's drummer to lock into a beat. (the Citypaper's promised shared set of Qand not U and Uncalled 4 would be delivered, but it was a song, not a set) He would then say something about there being a first time for everything, he had been asked to sit in with a Punk band that likes Go-Go, and one would know what that would sound like. So he laid down a rap alongside a freeform punk jazz funk offering from Q and not U. The rap was sincere, made up pretty much around the movie and the performances that night, so a little sappy considering the normal repertiore of Punk and Go-Go bands, so it was strage yet sucessful, at least from the perspective of an audience member at a one time outing in a historic theater featuring a documentary film and 3 kick ass bands.
The last band to go on Little Benny and the Go-Go All-Stars was totally old-school, no matching shirts and shoes on all the members, no dance moves or contemporary listening vocal harmonies, but intense call and response lyrical weaving between 2 singers, the congas and the cowbell. This is supremely dancable Go-Go and it is hardly possible to stop dancing once you get up. Benny has been at it since almost the beginning. He's had this band since 1985 and was in Rare Essence before that-I hope he keeps it up.
To finish up where I left off regarding the live show that went with "the pocket" premiere, what was so great about these three bands on stage at one time? Well first of all, when ever anyone puts more than 4 instruments on a stage at once I go nuts. Lots of different sounds, yum. Meeting this prerequisite is a given with Go-Go bands, easily there is a drum set, conga set, multiple keyboards, electric bass, horns, and additional percussion with 2-5 vocalists for any and all of them. This would also be the fisrt full set I'd ever have seen by Q and not U. So I felt like there was a pretty even ground. When I heard Uncalled 4 and their 5 vocailists I was reminded that in '92-'94 I did go to more than a couple of Go-Go shows, probably at Takoma Park Station. If I remember these 'soul-styling' vocals were just starting to slip in to go-go more and more. Wasn't too keen on it then, but hey if you wait long enough you never know what will happen. Uncalled 4 blends the more traditional; go-go lyricists with both female and male vocal harmony parts-that do not have the 'canned-music-boyz-2-men" sound that bugged me back inthe day. The performance given on stage is as polished as the music.
so as Uncalled 4's massive amount of equipment was broken down, watching the 3 members of Q and not U set up could only be called odd. Three little white boys with their drums and guitars setting up to play their antidiestablishmentarianismal 'music'. Or with less facitiousness, a three piece Punk band was going to go on after a twelve member all black funk band. While my mind knew it made sense for Q and not U to be on the stage, it looked weird.
Q made no apologies, opening up the set with the longest, loudest coordinated screaming I HAVE HEARD IN A LONG TIME followed by similar antics on the guitars. So having psychologically filled the stage with ALL THIS SOUND in the first minute and a half-they would subtely in the course of this first song lock into a rhythm, not quite the piston-like rhythm of so many other punk bands, but a rhythm like a wave that crested and troughed, not unlike the Funk Music that inspired Go-Go, get it? You may note too that although there are only 3 people in this band there are often 5-6 instruments being played, as the drummer will strike the drums with a maraca or other percussive piece and one of the guitarists will occasionally play the harmonium while playing guitar, so Q and not U, too, meets my 4 instuments=yummy sound protocol. Right before closing the set, before the last song, one of the vocalists from Uncalled 4 would step out on the stage and ask Q and not U's drummer to lock into a beat. (the Citypaper's promised shared set of Qand not U and Uncalled 4 would be delivered, but it was a song, not a set) He would then say something about there being a first time for everything, he had been asked to sit in with a Punk band that likes Go-Go, and one would know what that would sound like. So he laid down a rap alongside a freeform punk jazz funk offering from Q and not U. The rap was sincere, made up pretty much around the movie and the performances that night, so a little sappy considering the normal repertiore of Punk and Go-Go bands, so it was strage yet sucessful, at least from the perspective of an audience member at a one time outing in a historic theater featuring a documentary film and 3 kick ass bands.
The last band to go on Little Benny and the Go-Go All-Stars was totally old-school, no matching shirts and shoes on all the members, no dance moves or contemporary listening vocal harmonies, but intense call and response lyrical weaving between 2 singers, the congas and the cowbell. This is supremely dancable Go-Go and it is hardly possible to stop dancing once you get up. Benny has been at it since almost the beginning. He's had this band since 1985 and was in Rare Essence before that-I hope he keeps it up.
Thursday, September 05, 2002
OK, here it goes, I think some of you may be waiting for my take on the evening I saw "The Pocket". My interest was piqued when I saw it featured in the "Artifacts" column of the Washington, DC City Paper by Sarah Godfrey, page 54, the August 30, 2002 issue. I was especially amazed when I saw in print that "Q and not U", a DC, a 'Discord' Punk band was going to do a 'set' with Go-Go band "Uncalled 4". This show would have to deliver something LIVE that I had never seen or heard of before, and people, that is the point of LIVE MUSIC. It has the power to deliver the unexpected, but it is rare that the 'unexpected' is promised in advance, such as this.
The evening started with the film and so will I. Let me say that this is film is probably something that should have been done 10 years ago, but hey, there was much less independant, do-it-yourself spirit back then. In fact there's a whole other film to be made out of the fact that the Go-Go and Punk personalities that are featured in The Pocket, were part of the first wave of DIY'ers that were fed up with Reagan's DC. However, I was a child back then, so it will take another expert to make that film. As for the here and now, The Pocket, it's important, but it has problems which makes me fear it will have to be done again in another 10 years. (sigh) I said I would not be critical, but this film has technical problems that make it a real challenge to watch. I am talking about bad lighting to no lighting, wind on the mics to sound drop outs, music video montagesthat go on for tooooooo long next to public television type, talking-head interviews. This film needs to be edited again. Yet, the information presented in the film is good and the whole package does the legwork, documenting all the way from pre-1978 Chuck Brown's "Busting Loose" to Brown's recent induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and having the foresight a (and excuse my french-balls) to pair the film's premiere with the three LIVE BANDS. I just fear that the techinical problems will keep the film from getting through the festival system so it can play to a more general audience that does not know about Go-Go and has the most inspiration to gain from the topic.
Lastly, so I don't seem like a total woose, I will quote Sarah Godfrey, quoting the film's co-directors "[Nicholas] Shumaker says he and [Michael] Cahill 'Concluded the best way to talk about race was to do it silently.'" I concur, The Pocket's got this bit down; it silently SCREAMS out about race in politics and the music industry and Shumaker and Cahill effectively use the film SHOW rather than TELL. They visit Go-Go clubs, old-school and new, include local (and incredibily recent) news footage about club's being shut down, and in one case, brilliantly edit an interview with Fugazi's Ian MacKaye, where he commendably refuses to back down regarding music and violence. Again, the City Paper quotes co-director Shumaker regarding his interview with MacKaye, saying "That's then it really struck me that despite the racial homogeneity of the scene, Go-Go has pretty much afected every musician who's lived in DC."
Well, I certainly agree with that, which is just one of the reasons I went to this show. I was feeling pretty even-handed about the LIVE part of the show. I had heard of all of the bands, yet I don't think I had ever seen any of the band's LIVE.
Personally, anytime I see more than five instruments on a stage, I go nuts. It create's a 'wall of sound' that is an experience in and of it self . It is a 'handshake guarantee' that the band is tight, you can't put that many people on a stage and have everyone messing up or doing different things. To sound good the players have to be good, no matter the type of music. I had been to a mere handful of Go-Go shows at the end of my college days inthe early '90's, and was looking forward to a no miss show and a trip down memory lane. (At the Moment I have run out of time, though. I will be highlighting the music of The Uncalled 4 Band, Q and not U and Little Benny & The GO-GO Allstars soon.)
The evening started with the film and so will I. Let me say that this is film is probably something that should have been done 10 years ago, but hey, there was much less independant, do-it-yourself spirit back then. In fact there's a whole other film to be made out of the fact that the Go-Go and Punk personalities that are featured in The Pocket, were part of the first wave of DIY'ers that were fed up with Reagan's DC. However, I was a child back then, so it will take another expert to make that film. As for the here and now, The Pocket, it's important, but it has problems which makes me fear it will have to be done again in another 10 years. (sigh) I said I would not be critical, but this film has technical problems that make it a real challenge to watch. I am talking about bad lighting to no lighting, wind on the mics to sound drop outs, music video montagesthat go on for tooooooo long next to public television type, talking-head interviews. This film needs to be edited again. Yet, the information presented in the film is good and the whole package does the legwork, documenting all the way from pre-1978 Chuck Brown's "Busting Loose" to Brown's recent induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, and having the foresight a (and excuse my french-balls) to pair the film's premiere with the three LIVE BANDS. I just fear that the techinical problems will keep the film from getting through the festival system so it can play to a more general audience that does not know about Go-Go and has the most inspiration to gain from the topic.
Lastly, so I don't seem like a total woose, I will quote Sarah Godfrey, quoting the film's co-directors "[Nicholas] Shumaker says he and [Michael] Cahill 'Concluded the best way to talk about race was to do it silently.'" I concur, The Pocket's got this bit down; it silently SCREAMS out about race in politics and the music industry and Shumaker and Cahill effectively use the film SHOW rather than TELL. They visit Go-Go clubs, old-school and new, include local (and incredibily recent) news footage about club's being shut down, and in one case, brilliantly edit an interview with Fugazi's Ian MacKaye, where he commendably refuses to back down regarding music and violence. Again, the City Paper quotes co-director Shumaker regarding his interview with MacKaye, saying "That's then it really struck me that despite the racial homogeneity of the scene, Go-Go has pretty much afected every musician who's lived in DC."
Well, I certainly agree with that, which is just one of the reasons I went to this show. I was feeling pretty even-handed about the LIVE part of the show. I had heard of all of the bands, yet I don't think I had ever seen any of the band's LIVE.
Personally, anytime I see more than five instruments on a stage, I go nuts. It create's a 'wall of sound' that is an experience in and of it self . It is a 'handshake guarantee' that the band is tight, you can't put that many people on a stage and have everyone messing up or doing different things. To sound good the players have to be good, no matter the type of music. I had been to a mere handful of Go-Go shows at the end of my college days inthe early '90's, and was looking forward to a no miss show and a trip down memory lane. (At the Moment I have run out of time, though. I will be highlighting the music of The Uncalled 4 Band, Q and not U and Little Benny & The GO-GO Allstars soon.)
Sunday, September 01, 2002
Although I have lived here for about 12 years, somehow every long holiday weekend I forget, the non-natives leave. What should be a packed bar or nite club is never so much so on any one of the 4-6 'Monday' holiday weekends. That said, having adopted DC more than a decade ago myself, I reveled in the local this weekend, only to transcend it and realize it still continues to suprise and impress me.
Fist off, the Friday, August 30, 2002. Washington Post REVIEW-ed The Grandsons: Live at the Barns, The Legendary Wolf Trap Recordings, Volume One, The Grandsons latest recording. I did not get to read the review until Saturday, yet to quote the review's author, Mike Joyce, The Grandsons have "a flair for often keeping the crowd guessing and dancing at the same time." This reminds me why it is the LIVE component of local music that keeps me coming back.
So, on the surface the band seemed to start off just relaxing into the Visions set, saving energy for the IOTA show that nght. After a bunch of quieter, woeful, semi-acoustic cowboy songs, played in deference to those patrons in the theater, Alan set down a real vamp on "Long Gone Lonsome Blues." I've often thought that Alan has one of the most versatile voices in the area. He's a cowboy crooner who can also convincingly belt out a gospel-like dirge. The hear him playing around with 'the vamp' only strenghtens my opinion. [Perhaps I should mention, that one of the eccentricities of music at Visions, is that the band or DJ is positioned so they have to watch a film on the large videe screen at the end of the bar. This Friday was an all John Water's offering, it could have been a one time thing of the VAMP, enriching the CAMP.]
At this happy hour, my friend J. pegged what makes The Grandsons repertoire of cover songs more than the "novelties" and "vintage" that Joyce touched on in The Post. She coined it "A Grandson's Trifecta". After her request of "Audubon Zoo, a New Orlean's style march, the band followed it with the 1920's "If Youse A Viper", a reminder of where and what Jazz: America's Music, grew up from. The beautiful thing, is that The Gransdson's rarely use a set list so the "Trifecta", with all the excitement of a horse race, was completd with saxophonist, Chris Watling's original composition "Zulu Queen", found on 1994's It's Hip to Flip with the Grandsons...". Zulu Queen is like being pursued by a Jame's Bond villan at Carnivale it's so strong and suspenseful, that to IOTA, I had to go.
Now, apparently, I go to IOTA alot, because before the show had a chance to start, while I an not a muscian or a techie, I immeadiately noticed IOTA's new sound system. So while I don't know what it is or how it works, I can say, dang, it sounds good, and I am very glad I got to hear the The Grandsons christen it.
About midway through the first set at IOTA a familiar face, who knows I am always at the Vision's Happy Hour asked, "so is it the same set?" which gives me a great lead in to tell you "NO, it wasn't." The first set at IOTA had almost no repeat songs. Alan lost the vamp, and for the paying public carressed a whole different bunch of music with gorgeous tremolo vocals. Steve Sachs, upright player, would stand where John Young, who had played upright and electric bass at Visions had earlier, but what a different sort of pleasure it was to watch Sachs and druumer Matt Sedgley work a smooth bop-lounge rhythm over the course of the evening.
On the break, I was treated to a new fan looking fo rthe CD with Alan's yet unrecorded "Party With The Rich", a testement to local life and the fact that rarely are artist's paid their due and will always be on the outside. While this song is a relative newborn in Alan's 15+ years of songwriting, lines like "I don't care what my friends at Greenpeace say/the rich are just as right as a rainy day" or "the postman brings a hand addressed note/'Repondez Vous' it says to Foxhall Road" capture the trickle-down survival instict it takes to just make do in this town. I did not have to be born in DC to grasp the full meaning and enjoyment of these lyrics.
While a very tired band would close the night appropriately with version of "Rock Around the Clock", the second to last song "Is Anybody Going To San Antone?" was my request from earlier at Visions, fulfilled before the night closed. So sad a song with so much flavor (and an accordian) would make anyone happy, local or not.
As it turns out, I would not go to IOTA to see Canyon on Saturday, August 31, 2002 , They will play there again I am sure, or at least I hope so. Instead, I would do something unusual, lay down $30.00 to see a movie premiere and three bands at the Lincoln Theatre on U Street. The film was "The Pocket: the DC Go-Go Movement" and the bands The Uncalled 4 Band, Q and not U, and Little Benny & the Go-Go All-Stars. This was a complex evening, both theoretically and personally, but isn't it funny that sometimes when you are looking for an opening, it's actually closure that you find. It may take me a while to write something about this six hour oddessy-of-a-show, so stay tuned.
P.S. my apologies, as it may also take me a while to put in links, but you're smart, find them yourself.
Fist off, the Friday, August 30, 2002. Washington Post REVIEW-ed The Grandsons: Live at the Barns, The Legendary Wolf Trap Recordings, Volume One, The Grandsons latest recording. I did not get to read the review until Saturday, yet to quote the review's author, Mike Joyce, The Grandsons have "a flair for often keeping the crowd guessing and dancing at the same time." This reminds me why it is the LIVE component of local music that keeps me coming back.
So, on the surface the band seemed to start off just relaxing into the Visions set, saving energy for the IOTA show that nght. After a bunch of quieter, woeful, semi-acoustic cowboy songs, played in deference to those patrons in the theater, Alan set down a real vamp on "Long Gone Lonsome Blues." I've often thought that Alan has one of the most versatile voices in the area. He's a cowboy crooner who can also convincingly belt out a gospel-like dirge. The hear him playing around with 'the vamp' only strenghtens my opinion. [Perhaps I should mention, that one of the eccentricities of music at Visions, is that the band or DJ is positioned so they have to watch a film on the large videe screen at the end of the bar. This Friday was an all John Water's offering, it could have been a one time thing of the VAMP, enriching the CAMP.]
At this happy hour, my friend J. pegged what makes The Grandsons repertoire of cover songs more than the "novelties" and "vintage" that Joyce touched on in The Post. She coined it "A Grandson's Trifecta". After her request of "Audubon Zoo, a New Orlean's style march, the band followed it with the 1920's "If Youse A Viper", a reminder of where and what Jazz: America's Music, grew up from. The beautiful thing, is that The Gransdson's rarely use a set list so the "Trifecta", with all the excitement of a horse race, was completd with saxophonist, Chris Watling's original composition "Zulu Queen", found on 1994's It's Hip to Flip with the Grandsons...". Zulu Queen is like being pursued by a Jame's Bond villan at Carnivale it's so strong and suspenseful, that to IOTA, I had to go.
Now, apparently, I go to IOTA alot, because before the show had a chance to start, while I an not a muscian or a techie, I immeadiately noticed IOTA's new sound system. So while I don't know what it is or how it works, I can say, dang, it sounds good, and I am very glad I got to hear the The Grandsons christen it.
About midway through the first set at IOTA a familiar face, who knows I am always at the Vision's Happy Hour asked, "so is it the same set?" which gives me a great lead in to tell you "NO, it wasn't." The first set at IOTA had almost no repeat songs. Alan lost the vamp, and for the paying public carressed a whole different bunch of music with gorgeous tremolo vocals. Steve Sachs, upright player, would stand where John Young, who had played upright and electric bass at Visions had earlier, but what a different sort of pleasure it was to watch Sachs and druumer Matt Sedgley work a smooth bop-lounge rhythm over the course of the evening.
On the break, I was treated to a new fan looking fo rthe CD with Alan's yet unrecorded "Party With The Rich", a testement to local life and the fact that rarely are artist's paid their due and will always be on the outside. While this song is a relative newborn in Alan's 15+ years of songwriting, lines like "I don't care what my friends at Greenpeace say/the rich are just as right as a rainy day" or "the postman brings a hand addressed note/'Repondez Vous' it says to Foxhall Road" capture the trickle-down survival instict it takes to just make do in this town. I did not have to be born in DC to grasp the full meaning and enjoyment of these lyrics.
While a very tired band would close the night appropriately with version of "Rock Around the Clock", the second to last song "Is Anybody Going To San Antone?" was my request from earlier at Visions, fulfilled before the night closed. So sad a song with so much flavor (and an accordian) would make anyone happy, local or not.
As it turns out, I would not go to IOTA to see Canyon on Saturday, August 31, 2002 , They will play there again I am sure, or at least I hope so. Instead, I would do something unusual, lay down $30.00 to see a movie premiere and three bands at the Lincoln Theatre on U Street. The film was "The Pocket: the DC Go-Go Movement" and the bands The Uncalled 4 Band, Q and not U, and Little Benny & the Go-Go All-Stars. This was a complex evening, both theoretically and personally, but isn't it funny that sometimes when you are looking for an opening, it's actually closure that you find. It may take me a while to write something about this six hour oddessy-of-a-show, so stay tuned.
P.S. my apologies, as it may also take me a while to put in links, but you're smart, find them yourself.
Friday, August 30, 2002
Girl-Woman-Man-Boy anyone can be a groupiegirl. Check out the listserve connected to the chronicles of my music compulsion, to see live and local music, in the Washington, DC Metro area. While a lot of the shows I attend will be Americana/Alt-Country/Roots Rock-or what ever you want to call it, you will also find forays into other Rock Music, some Pop, Punk and other solo-songwriter performers. Find out about venues and bands, new and old, in the DC Metro area from the audiences perspective, for that's all groupiegirl is, a glorified audience member, not a musician or critic. All you need to do to become a groupiegirl is:
#1 - LISTEN and people I can't stress this enough, step one is the most overlooked.
#2 - If you like what you heard, support the talent. Sure buy their stuff, go to their shows, but did you ever think of, hmmm, contacting LOCAL radio stations and requesting their stuff? I'm sure there are other ideas out there.
#3 - Subscribe to the listserve groupiegirls-subscribe@topica.com.
I hope to pass on my enthusiasm about the inspiring group of artists that are in our own back yard and I hope to continue my education in the rich music history that is still growing day by day in this region.
Rock On DC!
#1 - LISTEN and people I can't stress this enough, step one is the most overlooked.
#2 - If you like what you heard, support the talent. Sure buy their stuff, go to their shows, but did you ever think of, hmmm, contacting LOCAL radio stations and requesting their stuff? I'm sure there are other ideas out there.
#3 - Subscribe to the listserve groupiegirls-subscribe@topica.com.
I hope to pass on my enthusiasm about the inspiring group of artists that are in our own back yard and I hope to continue my education in the rich music history that is still growing day by day in this region.
Rock On DC!
Wednesday, August 28, 2002
So here is the first show I will be working on, a "The Grandsons" double-header on Friday, September 30, 2002. The first show is from approximately 5:30 PM to 7:30-8:00 PM at Visions Lounge Cafe and Movie Theatre. The second show starts at about 9:30 PM at "IOTA". I wonder if Eric or John will be on bass, or some other second stringed thing?
Now that I look at the IOTA schedule, I just may check out "CANYON", the next day, Saturday, August 31, 2002. It think it will be the first time they headline IOTA on a weekend, I wonder how many people will show up. They are a pretty new band, I wonder if they have enough material for two sets?
Now that I look at the IOTA schedule, I just may check out "CANYON", the next day, Saturday, August 31, 2002. It think it will be the first time they headline IOTA on a weekend, I wonder how many people will show up. They are a pretty new band, I wonder if they have enough material for two sets?
Tuesday, August 27, 2002
Monday, August 26, 2002
Why am I doing this? At 21 years old, most of the LIVE MUSIC I had seen was chamber music. Kind of strange, now that I think about it, but no doubt it informed my ear and showed me how emotionally and intellectually moving MUSIC could be. Way back in 1992, I was introduced to "The Grandsons"
(formerly Of The Pioneers, seriously litigation was threatened and they had to truncate their name.) The Grandsons had hooked me with their dirge-like gospel-like arrangement of the song "Sixteen Tons" by Merle Travis and a fairly traditional version of a song that my Gramms had on Victrola that she would croon to me when I was upset, 'Cool Water' by the "Sons of the Pioneers".
At that time, I would not have thought it possible that there were people my age arranging these CLASSIC SONGS, had I not heard it with my own ears. Based on these two tunes, "The Grandsons" became "My Band"' and 'Chief Ike's Mambo Room' in Adams Morgan, Washington, DC, '"My Bar".
The Grandsons, made up of John Danforth, Rick Jordan, Alan MacEwan, and Chris Watling at this point, played a regular gig at the "Mambo Room" for years, in fact it probably was four years. What began as a nostagic infatuation with two songs, has grew into a do it yourself music education. Still, while The Grandsons openers and guests play with them, I pretty much never was adventerous enough to go see these other musicians and their bands.
It was not until 2001 that I realized the error of my ways. In 2001, The Grandsons, Now made up of originals Mac Ewan and Watling, drummer, Matt Sedgely and one other piece from a revolving cast, often either 'Bassists': John Young, Eric Bowers or Steve Sachs, picked up a new semi regular gig at Visions Lounge Cafe and Movie Theatre in Dupont Circle Washington, DC.
One Friday evening they sold me a CD that changed my life, or is starting to anyway. It's "Americana Motel" and was produced by Peter Fox (who correct me if I am wrong, is also partially responsible for giving Washington, DC the institution of the Burrito Brothers restaurant). Now if you looked at that link you will see 18 traks, by 18 different 'bands', but as I have finally heard a number of the participants say when plugging the CD at their live gigs 'It's more of a COLLABORATION, than a compilation'. Well even from the outer circle, I can tell you it's also a history lesson, personal memoir and a promise for more great music in the future of the DC metro area.
There was a CD release show at The Birchmere in November of 2001, where just about everyone that made it on the recording performed LIVE.
Since that show I have been determined to support live and local music. In keeping up, I have realized it is not just about Americana, Alt-Country, Roots or what-ever you want to call it, although that is where a grand portion of my time and expendable money goes. In keeping this blog I hope to tell you about the Pop, Rock, and Punk shows I go to as well. This scene is so vibrant, if I don't start keeping track of what and where I am listening to, something may slip thru the cracks. Just ask a musician around here, just because you are a 'certain kind of band', it's o reason not to respect and shout out to the other ahrd working talent in this city, past and present.
If there is some fine point I am missing, or have have spun the facts or spoke out of line email me: groupiegirls@topica.com. If there is a band or musician that does not seem to be on my radar and IS WORTH MY WHILE look up and subscribe to the list-serve groupiegirls-subscribe@topica.com, share with everyone. Say your piece either way.
(formerly Of The Pioneers, seriously litigation was threatened and they had to truncate their name.) The Grandsons had hooked me with their dirge-like gospel-like arrangement of the song "Sixteen Tons" by Merle Travis and a fairly traditional version of a song that my Gramms had on Victrola that she would croon to me when I was upset, 'Cool Water' by the "Sons of the Pioneers".
At that time, I would not have thought it possible that there were people my age arranging these CLASSIC SONGS, had I not heard it with my own ears. Based on these two tunes, "The Grandsons" became "My Band"' and 'Chief Ike's Mambo Room' in Adams Morgan, Washington, DC, '"My Bar".
The Grandsons, made up of John Danforth, Rick Jordan, Alan MacEwan, and Chris Watling at this point, played a regular gig at the "Mambo Room" for years, in fact it probably was four years. What began as a nostagic infatuation with two songs, has grew into a do it yourself music education. Still, while The Grandsons openers and guests play with them, I pretty much never was adventerous enough to go see these other musicians and their bands.
It was not until 2001 that I realized the error of my ways. In 2001, The Grandsons, Now made up of originals Mac Ewan and Watling, drummer, Matt Sedgely and one other piece from a revolving cast, often either 'Bassists': John Young, Eric Bowers or Steve Sachs, picked up a new semi regular gig at Visions Lounge Cafe and Movie Theatre in Dupont Circle Washington, DC.
One Friday evening they sold me a CD that changed my life, or is starting to anyway. It's "Americana Motel" and was produced by Peter Fox (who correct me if I am wrong, is also partially responsible for giving Washington, DC the institution of the Burrito Brothers restaurant). Now if you looked at that link you will see 18 traks, by 18 different 'bands', but as I have finally heard a number of the participants say when plugging the CD at their live gigs 'It's more of a COLLABORATION, than a compilation'. Well even from the outer circle, I can tell you it's also a history lesson, personal memoir and a promise for more great music in the future of the DC metro area.
There was a CD release show at The Birchmere in November of 2001, where just about everyone that made it on the recording performed LIVE.
Since that show I have been determined to support live and local music. In keeping up, I have realized it is not just about Americana, Alt-Country, Roots or what-ever you want to call it, although that is where a grand portion of my time and expendable money goes. In keeping this blog I hope to tell you about the Pop, Rock, and Punk shows I go to as well. This scene is so vibrant, if I don't start keeping track of what and where I am listening to, something may slip thru the cracks. Just ask a musician around here, just because you are a 'certain kind of band', it's o reason not to respect and shout out to the other ahrd working talent in this city, past and present.
If there is some fine point I am missing, or have have spun the facts or spoke out of line email me: groupiegirls@topica.com. If there is a band or musician that does not seem to be on my radar and IS WORTH MY WHILE look up and subscribe to the list-serve groupiegirls-subscribe@topica.com, share with everyone. Say your piece either way.
At the suggestion of my housemate (who is in a band at the moment) I will start recording highlights of all the LIVE MUSIC performances I go to see. November of 2002 will mark the one year anniversary of the birth of my Washington, DC metro area LIVE MUSIC compulsion. I have no doubt this blog is a great idea, for it: a) will make me keep stock of the bands and venues I see, which will be particularly helpful in the future as I approach doing the business plan for 'the club' , b) will hopefully serve as a reference for those people I know in bands, so they can check out my take on the vibe of new venues and perhaps get some unadultarated criticism about their own bands, c) will hopefully attract new converts to the DC Metro area LIVE Music scene, d) will serve as a website where I can direct the enthusiastic people I meet at bars who end up treating a band or bar like a 'one horse town', rarely venturing to new venues or ONLY coming to see 'their band' and 'their bar'.