• Does the DC music scene suck? The Washington Post published a letter this weekend from Sean Roussy of Arlington with the headline The Rant: D.C. must face the music. We had some serious problems with the link to the article last night (it kept coming up as “Page Not Found”– seems to be working better now via this link), so we’re reprinting the whole thing here:
The Washington music scene is just awful. Do not get me wrong. There are many fine local bands across various genres in the District, and a plethora of legendary acts for audiophiles in 31 flavors. It is not the music; it is the scene. I specifically mean all of you. Including myself. The reason I know this is that it is something I see myself and that people and bands from other towns tell me, because I have seen many bands in many towns since I was sneaking out to punk matinees at the age of 13. I also watch tour schedules, and there are plenty of awesome acts that skip this town. This is the Imperial Capital. One would think that this would be an important place to showcase talent. However, time and again I end up driving to Baltimore, Richmond or Philadelphia for music. The reason is, simply, that people do not come out on school nights.
The District works too hard and rocks too little. The transient population of this town is comprised of 50 states worth of former safety patrol captains and class presidents who all came here to conquer, and the suburbs are littered with the descendants of a couple generations of their offspring. These are not the kids who made high school fun by hosting all-day jam sessions in their garages. These are the kids who were busy with their eagle Scout badges and their Key club, whatever that is. This particular population of Washington of which I write works too hard to close the club on a school night and show back up for work at 7 a.m. with three hours of sleep. They have their careers to think about and their brains to use. However, I would posit to all of the readers for whom I may have touched a nerve that the world might be a better place if the music scene of Washington visited the music of D.C. once in a while on a school night. Whether you work the hall or scream at the wall, music is the language of the soul. If the pinnacle of power cannot converse at that level, I am afraid the whole American experiment is in trouble.
• On May 1, 1972, Marvin Gaye had a homecoming performance of What’s Going On at the then-new Kennedy Center. To remember the event’s 40th anniversary, the Ken Cen is recreating the show– with John Legend, the National Symphony Orchestra Pops, and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings (the shows are sold out, by the way). Roger Catlin writes about the original show, that almost didn’t happen [Washington Post]. There’s also a cool map of DC sites with links to Marvin Gaye.
• What happens to old punk clubs when they vacate the building? Apparently they become J.Crew stores– or, at least, that’s what’s happening to the former 9:30 Club at 930 F St NW [Washington CityPaper].
• Interview: Valerie Paschall chats with Trophy Wife [DCist].
Yes, that was me at the Ozric Tentacles show last night at the State Theatre. They’re a psychedelic prog-rock band from England (who apparently live in California now….?) who are named after an imaginary breakfast cereal (other possibilities were Malcolm Segments, Desmond Whisps, and Gordon Lumps). I hadn’t seen them since 1995 when I reviewed their show for the Washington Post (you can read that review here). This time, they didn’t have anyone playing flute, and that was disappointing– the show was still good, but there’s only so much psychedelic keyboard/guitar noodling one can listen to before it all starts to sound like a stoner rave, and those flute melodies certainly used to add something. They played for about 2 1/2 hours, and there was a decent crowd– although not enough for them to open the balcony. I did take a photograph of the new balcony extension with my phone’s camera, and you can see that here.
On my way out, one of the State’s staff came up to me and said, “You have good taste in music!” I was a little confused by why he approached me specifically, but I guess most people don’t go to shows at the State Theatre in a full business suit.
• The Metallomusikum blog is doing a Countdown to Maryland DeathFest, with previews of every band performing. It’s a great primer (we’re a little late to catch on to it, but you can read the archives here). Recent bands: grindcore Nasum, thrashers Artillery, and noise/punk legends Unsane. There’s also an interview with Negru of Negura Bunget.
• Live video: Cathy Ponton King is joined by Jimmy Thackery for “I’m Just a Woman” at her CD Release Show at the State Theatre last Friday, 4/6.
Live Reviews
• Tons of press on the chickfactor anniversary shows this weekend at Artisphere: the Washington Post (Mark Jenkins) and Washington CityPaper. We’re betting that more press will surface in the next few days.
The big event this weekend is the chickfactor 20th anniversary show at Artisphere in Rosslyn. The shows are tonight and tomorrow night, and full information, including tickets, can be found here. Lots of press to round up on this event!
• The Washington CityPaper has a huge article on the zine chickfactor.
• Interview: Stephen M Deusner talks to Frankie Rose [Express], who’s performing tonight.
• Interview: David Malitz talks to Black Tambourine, who performs tomorrow night.
• Overview: The Vinyl District also recommends the show.
• Listen local: Jonathan L Fischer writes an excellent piece on whether being local makes something good (or worth listening to) [Washington CityPaper]. All the same, as someone who values a Washington whose cultural life is both distinct and worldly, I’m nervous about this sort of genre-agnostic focus on what area code artists happen to live in. Those who advocate for eating local make an environmental pitch that has to do with carbon footprints. Proponents of shopping local make an economic argument that has to do with the influence and labor practices of large corporations and the diversity of shopping opportunities. But in consuming culture, I’ve never felt “local” to be an inherent plus. Not exactly. What matters, or ought to matter, is whether something is interesting, forward-thinking, vibrant—and mostly importantly, good.
• Venue news: The Hamilton is no longer open 24 hours a day, reports DC.Eater.com. The Penn Quarter venue/restaurant will remain open until 1 AM on weekedays and 2 AM on weekends, with the bar open an hour later each day.
•: On musical instruments: Roland Flamini on the comparison between a Stradivarius and an instrument made by a modern violin makers [Washington Times]. When is a fiddle a violin? One day late last year, 17 experienced violinists gathered in a hotel room in Indianapolis to tackle the question. Each one in turn was blindfolded and played a few bars of Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto on six violins — two made by Antonio Stradivari, one by Bartolomeo Guarneri del Gesu and three by modern violin makers. The challenge was to distinguish the three old master violins. According to the results of the experiment published in the January issue of the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, only three of the 17 guessed right.
• On Monday, we pointed you to an article about Bruce Springsteen‘s use of a teleprompter in live performances [Washington Post]. E Street Band member Nils Lofgren has written a letter in response. [Springsteen] would show us the sign [with the name of a song request] and then immediately “frisbee” it down the stairs to the teleprompter crew to surf the net and find the lyrics while we all talked up a quick arrangement at his microphone, knowing he’d be counting it off in 20 seconds. Many of those audibles were Bruce songs unrehearsed or played in years or decades.
• We can’t think of a more terrible supergroup than the Sons of Beatles. No, we’re not joking; apparently the sons of the Fab Four might form a band. For now, though, you’ll have to settle for the equally terrible-sounding solo show of James McCartney at the Fillmore on 6/11.
• EP Review: Marcus J Moore on Martyn‘s Hello Darkness [Washington CityPaper]. Note that there’s an audio file embedded at that link, in case you’d like to take a listen.
• Substitutions: Wayne Brady steps up to host the Radio & Television Correspondents’ Association gala in June [Washington Post] after Louis C.K. dropped the gig when Greta Van Susteren threatened to boycott it. C.K. ended up in the Fox anchor’s crosshairs because of a vulgar 2010 Twitter rant in which he called Sarah Palin a word that we not only cannot repeat here but which is widely regarded as the worst thing you can call a woman. (He told The Wrap this week that he dropped out because “I wasn’t that excited about it” and “I didn’t want to cause them problems.”) As for his replacement? “Wayne Brady is as close to safe as you can get,” said Adam Frucci, editor of Splitsider, a blog devoted to comedy. “He’s pretty squeaky-clean.”
• Listen: local band Teething Veils has recorded a song called “Cobblestone” [Washington CityPaper]. {full disclosure: I’m scheduled to be singing on Teething Veils’ upcoming album.}
Last night, I was at local band Fuchida‘s first-ever show. The Black Cat’s tiny backstage was packed, which was particularly awesome: it was so great to see so many people out to support a local headliner– and a metal(ish) band at that!– especially at a venue that’s not pay-to-play, as so many of the area’s local metal-friendly venues are. I guess it’s no surprise that there were so many people there, since the members of Fuchida used to be in other bands (Tone, Bronze Age, and Blue Tip), and the group’s frontwoman often DJs at the Black Cat under the name DJ Lil’e. There were certainly a lot of instruments on stage– three(!) guitars and an eight-string(!) bass plus (of course) drums– which certainly created a voluminous sound. The group refers to itself as ‘New Wave of American Black War Metal’, and while it was certainly obvious that this was their first show, they sounded good, and I look forward to hearing more from them. Also, the Black Cat now has New Belgium’s black ale 1554 on tap, which is delicious.
The night before, I was at Empire (formerly Jaxx) in Springfield for A Sound of Thunder‘s CD release show. I’ve already gone on record that I like the album, Out of the Darkness [Washington Post] (you can check it out on Amazon). The female-fronted power metal group sounds great on record, and they bring a lot of energy to the stage– singer Nina Osegueda is a great frontwoman, running all over stage and getting the crowd revved up– but one of the best parts of their live show is guitarist Josh Schwartz, who’s just awesome to watch.
On Friday night, I went to a completely non-metal show: a cappella groups Cartoon Johnny, Euphonism and Vox Pop did a benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society at Williamsburg Middle School in Arlington. This is the second year I’ve been to this event (they’ve been doing it for 4 years), and it’s always a little surreal to be at a concert full of children– I’m really short, so it’s rare that I can see over the heads of the entire audience! Still, despite the chaos of the children (I never thought I’d see a mosh pit at an a cappella show, and yet the kids just go crazy right in front of the stage), the musicianship at this show was fantastic. Cartoon Johnny has just added a new member, Guye Turner (who is a teacher at Williamsburg Middle School), and this is the first time I’d seen the group perform a full set with him. They sounded fantastic– Guye gelled so well with the group, it’s hard to believe he’s only been singing with them for a few months. Can’t wait to see where they go from here. Euphonism were enjoyable as always, and I’ve become more and more impressed with Vox Pop every time I see them. CJ and Euphonism are both small groups (CJ has 6, Euph has 7), while Vox Pop is an 11-member group. Having once been an a cappella singer, I know the challenges of performing in a larger group– but Vox Pop sounded so good. They are by far, to my ears, the most cohesive and interesting large a cappella group in this area, and it’s always fun to see them perform.
Articles
• Bruce Springsteen doesn’t lip-synch, but he uses a teleprompter in concert [Washington Post]. Springsteen is such an exciting performer precisely because his art has always seemed to lack artifice. He is exuberant but also sincere, and he makes his fans believe it, too. His tunes aren’t just tunes; they’re mini-anthems of hope and possibility and unrealized dreams. They’re little musical novels. Which is why a teleprompter tampers, ever so slightly, with the spell Springsteen has cast for nearly 40 years. If he believes as deeply as we assume he does, why the need for a cheat sheet?
• Thought you were done with SXSW coverage? You were wrong. Chris Richards has a lengthy article on Robert Glasper and his performance in Austin [Washington Post]. The Robert Glasper Experiment is at the Warner Theatre tomorrow (4/3).
• Profile/interview: Megan Buerger on Kishi Bashi [Washington Post], performing with Of Montreal on Tuesday at the 9:30 Club.
• Joan Reinthaler on the University of Maryland’s School of Music’s “The Art of Argento” Festival, which celebrates the work of Dominick Argento [Washington Post].
