Mark on the Dance of Days

"The first thing to say is that I knew about the D.C. punk scene long before I came here. I grew up in one of the most rural and economically depressed areas in Montana and punk gave me the awareness of possibilities outside of what I knew. I am very proud of where I come from and I learned a lot there, but at the time, it felt like hell to me. Punk music, starting with the New York scene and Patti Smith and then the London scene with Sex Pistols and The Clash, gave me a reason to live. These were young people, more or less my age, creating this angry music that was ultimately so full of life. They were not waiting for change, they were going to make it themselves. 

"Punk music helped me go to college. College was not one of those things that everybody did where I grew up. It was extremely optional. I wanted to study things that I believed in and become an activist. I wanted to change the world. That is why D.C. grabbed me. When I left college, I was very career oriented and came to Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. It was a pipeline into the establishment, for the better or worse. 

"I was from a small town, so coming here was very overwhelming. I had never seen homelessness or racial segregation, and it just tore my heart apart. My crisis became even more profound when I went to Central America in 1985. The poverty there was at a whole new level and there was an ongoing war where the U.S. was not playing a positive role. At school, I was being trained to be a mid-level functionary in this system that was supporting these policies. I knew that I could not go forward in the direction I had just spent tens of thousands of dollars for school. At the time, the only thing that made sense to me was the D.C. punk scene. It was about doing things yourself and having a positive mental attitude. So for the second time, punk rock revolutionized my life. 

"It was at that time that I thought that someone needed to write a book about the punk music scene here. It was an incredible story that mattered a lot to me. I get New York and London, but D.C. as a punk rock center, it seemed so unexpected. I wanted to share the story of how this happened. I started doing research in 1986 and the finished product came out in 2001. The D.C. punk scene and its continuing influence around the world is an astonishing an inspirational story. 

"Punk music is a chapter of D.C. that many people don't know about, but more people should. People think that this is a buttoned-up town where we only import culture. There is a part of that stereotype that is true, but D.C. played a huge role in punk and rock music and exporting a positive mental approach towards living and tackling problems to everyone who could hear our music. For people who don't like punk music, that is cool, but you should try and embrace the spirit. This is a city built out of big dreams and D.C. punk is just another amazing representation of that."

Mark Andersen is the author of Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital. He is also involved with We Are Family, which is a senior citizen support network.

David and John on Coming into the City

David - "I'm 17. I live in Montgomery Country, Maryland, but hang out in D.C. all of the time. As a kid, I came in with my parents to see the museums and stuff. When I got older, I started coming into the city on my own to hang out. I am a hip-hop dancer and play guitar in a rock band, so I perform here a lot. Coming from the suburbs, I really like spending time here because of the diversity of people and things to do. Sometimes I wish that I lived here. Even though it is kind of dirty in some places, that adds to the character. 

"There is so much going on here and I like that you can walk or take the metro everywhere. I think that social development and interaction is really important for kids, so the city is a great place to learn how to deal with all kinds of people. In the suburbs, it's not really like that. It is nice and clean, but a lot of the people there are kind of the same. When I am older, I would love to live in the city with my family. The only issue is making enough money to send my kids to good schools."

John - "I'm 18. I love the suburbs and don't think that I could survive living in the city. I like the open spaces and that everything is so accessible. I come in a lot to dance and hang out, but I like going back home at the end of the day. City kids always seem like they have more stuff to do, but they are all cramped up in apartments. Us suburban kids have more space, but we stay at home a lot and play video games because we can't walk anywhere. I am definitely going to raise my kids in the suburbs. It is really safe there and nothing bad can pretty much happens." 

David, left, and John, right, are members of the Ajnin Precizion dance crew. 

Maxcine on the Michael Jackson House

"The first time I heard Michael Jackson was when Thriller came out. When I first saw the video, I was scared of him as I was just a child. But the more I saw Michael Jackson, I got mesmerized by him and his music. I couldn't believe that this kind of person existed. I bought every CD of his and have seen every performance of his on television. His music captures you and you just can't get enough of it. I never did try to dress like him, but you may catch me doing the moonwalk every once in a while. 

"I was in my sister's room when we learned that he died. I didn't believe it at first. I thought someone was playing a cruel joke on all of us. I just broke down and couldn't stop crying. How could this be? He had kids and a family and so much more to give the world. When he died, I felt like a part of me was gone, too. I wanted to do my part to honor his life and share his legacy with the city 

"I started by putting a picture of him on a chair in my yard. After that, my Mom and sister pitched in and started buying more things to add to the memorial. Other people started contributing as well, and now our house and yard is a shrine to him. People know us as the Michael Jackson house. We want to do our part for the city to keep his memory alive and let everyone know that D.C. loved him and his music. My mother and I are out here playing his music 24/7. We ask that people who come by the house to admire the memorial, dance like him or do something to pay tribute and keep his memory alive. 

"The one thing that I want people to know about Michael Jackson is that whatever you read about him, that was not him. He was the kind of person who would do anything and everything for everyone. For the media to paint him as a child molester is just wrong. His song Childhood says, 'Before you judge me, try hard to get to know me.' He wanted people to get to know him. I want people to know him as a kind and genuine good hearted person. I want D.C. and the world to know the true Michael Jackson." 

The Michael Jackson House is located at 922 8th Street Northeast. Watch Joy, Maxcine's eight year old nephew, dance like Michael in front of the house here.

Natalie on Loving Who We Are

"I was born in Saint Mary, Jamaica. I spent most of my life traveling between Jamaica and the U.S., as my Dad lives in New Jersey. Please, no Jersey jokes. My husband works for the United Nations and our first post was in New York, but we lived in New Jersey. In 2008, we were posted to Washington. 

"I do community relations at the embassy. I work with Jamaicans in the D.C. metro area on things like how to give back to Jamaica and I organize our social events. The Jamaican community in D.C. is different than the Jamaican communities in New York and New Jersey. New York and New Jersey Jamaicans acts as though they own the entire United States. In D.C., the Jamaicans are a little calmer and quieter. The environment has influenced them. Because D.C. is more of a policy oriented place, the Jamaicans have evolved with the culture. In D.C., you find that Jamaicans are very organized and want to give back, which is consistent with Jamaicans across the United States. 

"There is a strong relationship between our two countries, especially because of the significant Jamaican immigration to the United States, specifically in the late 70's. Every Jamaican that you meet has at least three or four relatives in the U.S. There are speculations that there are more Jamaicans living outside of Jamaica than in Jamaica. A large number of those are in the U.S. We think that New York alone has one million Jamaicans. As much as Jamaicans here are happy to be Americans, they don't want to let go of the fact that they are Jamaicans. 

"We have a saying that within three weeks of arriving in the U.S., every Jamaican can tell you where to find salt fish and all of the things that we love to cook. Even when you move to the U.S., you still want that part of home. Jamaicans want what they are used to. There is a comedian named Russell Peters who says that you never see a Jamaican wanting to be anyone else, but you see other nationalities trying to be Jamaicans in the way they dress and speak. We just love who we are. 

"For a number of years, all we were known for was reggae music, Bob Marley and our food, but now we have the fastest man, Usain Bolt, and woman, Shelly-Ann Fraser, on earth. At the Embassy, we are working to increase people's understanding of Jamaica. We are a small island of 2.7 million people, but have a large influence. Many people think that everyone in Jamaica lives in poverty. We are so much more. Look at academics. If there are Jamaicans at a school or university, you bet they are going to be on the honor roll. A lot of these students go on to be lawyers and doctors. 

"I have enjoyed my time in Washington, This is one of those cities where you need to live in life. It is a serious place, but there is lots of stuff to do and great night life. It is also a great place to raise their kids. Being in D.C. makes me appreciate Jamaica more. Here, you feel like you are consistently on a treadmill. In Jamaica, we use the term, 'You lyme,' which means to relax and hang out with your friends. Here, you need to make plans two weeks in advance. In Jamaica, people call and say, 'Nat, open the gate. I am five minutes from your house.' In the Jamaican community here, people still do that with each other, but realize they can't always do that with non-Jamaicans. Being a diplomat, we have to take on more of the formality in our work. 

"After this posting, we will likely be posted somewhere in Africa. One of the advantages of the foreign service is seeing the world. I would love to live on most of the continents, but I am an island girl at heart." 

Natalie Campbell-Rodriques is the Community Relations Attache at the Embassy of Jamaica.

Lonnie on Letting People See Your Greatness

“I love music. I just play music wherever I go and am always carrying an instrument around with me. Today, I got a harmonica, which some people call a mouth organ or harp. I would love to take a piano around, but I can't fit that in my pocket. See, music is healthy for you. I play gospel music, which is good for running the evil spiritsfrom you. I ain't trying to impress nobody when I play on the street, this is just how I am. I don't like to hear all of the negative talking out here, so I prefer to play my music while I am walking on the street. People stop me all of the time and some even give me money. I never ask for it, though. I just play out of love. That is God's honest truth. 

"Whenever I see a mother or father, I stop to tell them to teach their kids to play an instrument. Music helps children be smart in school. It does something to both sides of your brain and will help make your child an A student. Every one of us has so much good stuff inside. You got a gold mine, a diamond mine, and all other kinds of mines down there inside of you. God gives everyone something special. For me, it is music. I know he gave you something, too. 

"I tell you, the graveyard is the richest place in the world. People take with them all kinds of things that they could have done during life: a business they could have done or something to elevate humanity. Don't let your talent die with you. Let people see your greatness."

Chuck on Being the Godfather of Go-Go

"Go-go is a groove, man. It is a mixture of Latin percussion, jazz, blues, and African call and response. To me, it has also always had a spiritual vibe because the roots of go-go came from a church that my Mom used to take me to as a kid. At our church, people used to jump and shout, just like they do now when they are listening to go-go. 

"D.C. is where go-go got started. I always say that D.C. is my hall of fame. I was raised in all four corners of this city. When I was a kid, we used to live in a little shack by the railroad tracks. I used to beat on a rock to the beat of the train going by. Everyone in my family could sing, but my Mom could outsing anyone. We used to sing at church together, and she took me around to sing at house parties. We would pass around a hat to make some money. Then, I started shining shoes around town. One time, I shined Louis Armstrong's shoes outside of the Howard Theater. Back then, I would make $2 or $3 in a day, as shoe shines only cost a dime. I remember he gave me a whole dollar tip. I will never forget that. I told myself that one day I would play at the Howard Theater. 

"I left home and school at 13. I had all kinds of jobs and got into a bit of trouble. I spent my share of time behind bars, and then I did an eight-year stint at Lorton Reformatory. I had been to several other jails before, but all those experiences taught me was how not to go to those same jails no more. When I went to Lorton, it changed my whole life. That was over 50 years ago, and I ain't never been to jail since. I am proud of me for that. To me, Lorton was college. There, I got a high-school diploma, learned a trade, and learned the guitar. In Lorton, I paid a young man five packs of cigarettes to make me a guitar in the wood-working shop. I watched some of the cats there play, but pretty much taught myself the guitar. At Lorton, chow time and showtime used to both be at 5 p.m. on Saturdays. After about six months of practicing, I made it onto the show. When word got out that I was playing, they had to change the chow time to 7:30 p.m. because no one was at the mess hall when I was playing. That let me know that I could put on a show.

"When I got out, I used to play in a group called Los Latinos and the Earls of Rhythm. In 1966, I started my own band, Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers. I liked to keep the music going in between songs, so there was not a break. See, the music just goes and goes. I mixed up the Top 40 with a lot of the Latin percussion and the call-and-response. At the time, they had go-go clubs and go-go girls, but no go-go music, so I decided to call it go-go. When they heard my music, people started coming out of their clothes and moving the tables and chairs out of the place, so there was more room to dance. The music really caught on in 1976. After that, we put out a tune called Bustin Loose. That was our biggest hit. In 1979, we were on Soul Train, which meant that go-go had arrived. Then, some of the other bands started catching on, like Rare Essence, Trouble Funk, and the Junkyard Band. 

"Still, when I get on the stage, I become enraged and forget about my age. A lot of people ask me when I am going to retire. I say, 'Come on, I still got the fire, the desire, and I am getting hired. Ain't no need to retire.' People call me the Godfather of Go-Go. I didn't give myself that name; it was the fans and the DJs. They made it all happen and I appreciate it. Looking back, I still would have been happy had go-go just been popular in D.C. I didn't expect it to go anywhere, but it went all over the world. I will always be grateful to D.C. for that -- and for my family. You got a lot of love in D.C. I found my first wife here. We stayed married for 27 years. I then got remarried and have been with my second wife for 25 years. Both of them were great. I am the one that wasn't so great, but I am cool now because I am too old to be anything else. Now, I have four kids. I lost one son in an automobile accident 20 years ago. We have five grandkids and another grandkid on the way. I really feel lucky. 

"Last thing I gotta say is that for all of you who want to be on your feet dancing for hours, you need to go to a go-go."

Shahid on the Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency

"I was born in England and my family moved to rural Missouri when I was two. We lived there until I was ten and then moved to the suburbs. I went off to Chicago for college at 16 and stayed there for ten years. I spent a lot of my time there down-and-out. My parents lost their house. I had to leave school and couldn’t really hold down a job or an apartment. That time in my life was very disempowering. Starting law school was the first time I really felt hyper-empowered. It’s an amazing transformation to go from feeling like a passive observer to being an active participant in the world around you. 

"After law school in California, I moved to D.C. in 2003. I’d been organizing anti-war resistance on the west coast and wanted to take it east to D.C. I came here with a fancy-shmancy law firm job and immediately began organizing street demonstrations. I felt like there was a lot of possibility here professionally, but what rooted me here was the artistic community. Once I got exposed to the local counter culture, I really developed a sense of hope about this city. A lot of people come here from all over the world, inspired to work on all kinds of different causes. If any place reflects a collective action dilemma, it is those of us in the “non-profit industrial complex”: we’re all zoomed in on our respective issues, so a movement uniting those causes gets ignored.

“For me, art has been a way to pull people out of that insularity and draw them together. After co-founding some artist collectives on the west coast, at Stanford in 2002 and then SF in 2003, we started the DC Guerrilla Poetry Insurgency in Dupont Circle in September 2003 as a way to bring people together. It’s political theater and an arena for people to speak their visions creatively. What we do is sort of like spam marketing: we are going to bring issues to you, whether about troop deaths or climate change, whether you want to hear it or not. Maybe you won’t listen to a talking head, or read a paper, but you’ll listen to perspective if there’s a beat behind it or if it’s poetic. 

"At our events, we see the full range of responses, from right-wing types who heckle us, to people who stand thoughtfully and listen. My favorite interaction is when someone walking by randomly grows moved to take the mic and share something on their mind, or pick up a drum and play. We want to collapse the distinction between audience and participant, which is maybe the biggest lesson I took away from my years at Burning Man. Sometimes, a few of us guerrilla poets take the Poetry Insurgency on the METRO, spitting revolutionary rhymes or doing call-and-response chants. You see different attitudes on different train lines: on the blue and orange lines heading into Virginia, people are usually very cold and just try to ignore you. On the red line, you have a 50/50 split, where some people will engage you and others will look away. But the green line rocks! We’ve even been asked not to leave the train – it’s amazing.

"People say that 'the antidote to despair is action,' and that seeing the momentum of a social movement can inspire more energy. Art gives a chance to get back to the basic principles that get lost a lot of the time in policy discussions. I think that what drives people to this town is not the minutiae, but the grand vision that they carry with them from whenever they came. It’s important for people, especially here in our seat of government, to recognize the opportunities we each have as individuals to speak our minds and get back to that vision."

See some of Shahid's poetry here.

Dan on Seeing Washington from a Piano Bench

“I was born in Buffalo, New York in 1935. Of course, I’ve been lying about my age and telling people that I am 38…Celsius. Those were some tough times. We're talking the Depression, now. My father had a job pumping gas. He used to wear a leather bow tie to work. Can you imagine that? I tell you, he was just lucky to have a job. To have babies during that time when you didn’t know what you were getting into was a big deal. But we laughed a lot and played music as a way to keep things positive in our family. One of my father's great passions was the piano and now me and my brother are pianists.

"My parents would have their friends come over and we would perform for them. If we were naughty, they would send us to bed without applause. Even now, we still put on the same act. It hasn’t changed at all. I got my break when we moved to Miami. At the time, the coaxial cable had not come down from New York, so the only way you could get television programs was by mailing them on kinescope from the studios. So, Florida was always a week behind in television. That gave a great break to kids who had a lot of moxie to be local entertainers. At the time, I had my own radio and TV shows and a column in the paper. I even played in Miami Beach at the famous Sagamore Lounge of the Sagamore Hotel. Get this, we would do punch lines in Yiddish and we didn’t know what we were saying. Then, I got a national commercial for cigarettes, which was a huge deal. I look back now and that was crazy, as cigarettes killed everyone in my family. 

"I always thought that I was going to be an actor. Music was very easy to me, so I didn’t respect it. I moved to D.C. to go to Catholic University and stayed for many years after as an actor. We were doing a scene from Henry IV, Part 1 at the Mayflower Hotel the same night the French singer Edtih Piaf was performing at the hotel. Her piano player didn’t show up, so they asked us if anyone knew how to play French music. Of course in show business, when anyone asks you if you do something, you say. 'Yes!' That was how I got my start at the Mayflower Hotel back in the Eisenhower Administration. That’s how long I’ve been here. 

"People call the Mayflower Washington’s second best address after 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. All of the President’s have stayed here. We have all of the Inaugural galas. There is a lot of history here. Listen to this true story, the hotel used to have a strolling fiddle player named Julian Altman. He got sick at 85 and on his deathbed, he tells his wife, 'This fiddle is pretty important.' Turns out it was a Stradivarius that had been stolen out of a dressing room of Carnegie Hall. I don’t think he stole it, but it's an amazing story.

"Now, I work at lunch at the Prime Rib and evenings at the Mayflower.  Both places get the same kind of  lobbyist and Congressmen crowd. You can always tell the difference when they’re at dinner because the lobbyists picks up the check. When I play, I look at people and think about what was popular when they were 18. That is the key. I also get a lot of requests. Guys usually want As Time Goes by from Casablanca. Women always like Memory from Cats. Late in the evening, after people have had a few, they usually come and sit on the bench with me, crying about how they wish they had practiced piano when they were little. I tell you, I've really seen a lot from this bench."

Catch Dan Ruskin playing lunch daily at the Prime Rib (2020 K St. NW) and in the evenings at the Mayflower Hotel  (1127 Connecticut Ave. NW.)  Listen to one of his original tracks here.

Jen on Being Miss District of Columbia

"I grew up on Long Island. I wanted to be a music major in college and got a scholarship to go to the Hartt School in Hartford. I accepted and about a week later, I was hysterically crying and told my Mom that I would hate Hartford. Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to move to D.C. So, I switched and came to D.C. That one decision has completely changed my entire life.

"I watched Miss America when I was little with my sisters, but never thought about actually competing. I had all of these stereotypes of pageant girls. I was the type of girl who would never wear make up, never go the gym, and never do my hair. I ended up getting into the pageant world because my voice teacher here was the voice teacher of a former Miss D.C. She got an email asking if she had any students who would be interested in auditioning. She came to me one day and said, ‘I decided that this year you are going to be Miss D.C. and then be Miss America!’ I just laughed.

"She kept bugging me and I eventually went to the audition and made the Top 15. It actually turned out to be pretty fun. I got on stage and sang a song, O Mio Babbino Caro, and walked around in a swimsuit and an evening gown and got paid. Plus, the other girls were nothing like I expected. They worked on the Hill or were in college. One girl was even trying to get into the FBI. Many states are very 'pageanty', but not D.C. The girls here are all really smart and professionally driven.

"The experience also taught me some of the beauty tricks for pageant girls. You glue your bathing suit to your butt, so you don’t get a wedgie when you’re on stage. We all bronze our abs and legs to make them look more defined. You also put hemorrhoid cream under your eyes and on your legs the night before, so that it sucks in all of the moisture and makes you more defined. Some girls even wear Vaseline on their teeth to help their smile.

"I ended up competing three years in a row. This year, I came to Miss D.C. to win and go to Miss America. It was my senior year of college and all of my friends were applying for jobs. They asked me where I was applying and I said, 'I am not applying for jobs because I am going to win Miss. D.C.' I just knew it. Walking out on stage at the final crowning, I said to myself, I am not going to make that face and start crying. That is the first thing that I did when they called my name. I can’t believe that I did that. I am still so angry at myself.

"Everything changed after winning Miss D.C. and getting Top 10 at Miss America. I got to meet President Obama. I get to go to all of these fun events. I got to sing the national anthem at a Caps and Nationals game. I am working to promote my platforms of recycling and education all around the city. I mean, who does that? One thing, though, is that as much as I want to be myself as Miss D.C., people have certain expectations of what a pageant girl should be. I try and work to balance my life as Jen Corey and Miss D,C. to have a little of each in both. My friends make fun of me for being in full make up all of the time, but my biggest fear is to introduce myself as Miss D.C. and someone says, ‘Really?’ I still have my friend’s houses where I can go to as a refuge and I am still the sweetheart of one of the fraternities at American. I can go over there with my sweatpants and drink a beer, eat a whole pizza, watch the Superbowl, and just be Jen."

Learn more about Miss District of Columbia here. Hear Jen's rap song "Dream Without Boundaries" with Kokayi here.

Maestro Berard on the DC Youth Orchestra

"I grew up in a house where my Dad was a phenomenal music freak. He had a massive record collection and music was always on at home. My first instrument was voice. I was lucky enough to attend a choir school in New York and was a soprano soloist at a very young age. After that, I studied piano and violin, and played rock guitar in a band. I entered the New England Conservatory of Music as a composition student. I went through a creative crisis in my second year, as I was more interested in studying the music of the masters than in composing my own. That's what drew me into analysis and theory and, ultimately, conducting. 

"I first came to D.C. in 2004 to be the Director of Orchestral Activities and conductor of the American University Symphony Orchestra. The Dean of Academic Affairs at American called my attention to the DC Youth Orchestra. It so happened that the DC Youth Orchestra was looking for a conductor for their top orchestra. I applied. Now, here I am. This is my first experience working with kids this young, but it's been a nice adjustment. They're very serious about what they're doing. 

"We have over 600 students from 4 1/2 to 21 years old. The orchestra is diverse geographically, and we have kids of all ethnicities, races and religions. It's a rainbow organization. The mission of this organization is that we turn no one away. The student has to have interest and a sense of responsibility. We do the rest. We even provide instruments if they can't afford them. The DC Youth Orchestra is a twelve-level program. Every year, we start with a petting zoo of kids who are all two feet tall. They pick an instrument that speaks to them and, usually, they stick with it. We have a lot of kids who are lifers. They come in early and stick with it all the way through high school. This program becomes a very meaningful and essential part of their lives. 

"We can boast that 100 percent of our students graduate from high school and most of them go to college. Some even go on to the great musical conservatories. One of the things we take great pride in is the values our students learn by being exposed to the great musical idea, rehearsing as an ensemble, and taking responsibility for themselves. All of these things serve them well in life. There are a number of studies which demonstrate that kids who grow up doing music really wind up excelling in life. Music teaches fundamental values that apply across all disciplines." 

Learn more about the DC Youth Orchestra here. See more of my photos of the DC Youth Orchestra here. 

Carl and Seshat on Kids as Therapy

Carl – “My name is Carl. Some call me Kokayi. I’m a native Washingtonian who was born and raised mainly in Southwest D.C., and partially in Mannheim, Germany. I’ve been to over 35 countries, all without being in the military, taught hip-hop clinics at prestigious universities, worked with the State Department doing cultural exchanges with my band, had two major label record deals in a foreign country, got nominated for a Grammy in 2009 — all while remaining in relative obscurity. I still work on music, but have a full-time job, mostly because I became a realist about my love affair with music and the realities of the modern music business.

“I’m a parent to two hilarious kids who are my therapy. I never thought that I’d be able to have kids. It was my biggest fear throughout my early 20’s. I feel blessed to be able to spend my time on this rock with them, watching them grow and seeing them prosper into great adults. Until I met my wife, I had very little belief in stable relationships. I wanted one, but didn’t believe they could exist for me. She helped redirect my life’s course and is my best: friend, critic, motivator, source of truth, and publicist, and is the one I’ve entrusted with my heart, fears and insecurities, all of which I know she would never harm intentionally.”

Seshat – “I was a small-town, country girl from the Eastern Shore. I graduated from a university in rural Pennsylvania and threw myself into an unknown city to live and intern at one of the largest homeless shelters on the East Coast. I created programs for the women residents, taught GED classes and worked the women’s floor. To say it was a life-changing experience is to put it mildly. Now, I’m a mama, wife, writer and playwright residing in Northeast D.C. I have a love for Ward 7. Our neighbors are friendly and look out for one another. We love walking. Our house is charming, which is a classy word for small. I hate that our only sit-down restaurant is Denny’s, though I know that the new H Street Trolley will change all of that.

“My husband and I met when I was hired by his band mate to be a publicist for their hip-hop band. We became good friends out of sharing our stories of unrequited love and failed relationships. We got married in Malcolm X Park on August 26th, 2000. My husband is my best friend. I believe being best friends has allowed our marriage to survive so far. We can tell each other everything and anything. I believe that, in a marriage, you have to agree to disagree. We go through it like anyone else because we’re both very strong-willed. But we usually get over our disagreements quickly. We both have a sick sense of humor and believe that our kids are the best entertainment in the world. My daughter, Phina, is a natural debater, music snob, public defender, bookworm and girly girl. My son, Dahvi, is a block-builder, architect, designer, mini-paleontologist, and stand-up comedian, and espouses random facts. People have come to us over time wondering how we are raising kids in such an expensive city with sucky schools. There’s no manual for this. Our parenting skills straddle somewhere between the traditional and ‘how-about-we-do-this’ approach. This is what works for us:

1) Teach our kids to always tell the truth.

2) Teach our kids not to be afraid of their own people.

3) Teach our kids to stick up for themselves.

4) No TV during the week and little on the weekends.

5) Put our kids into a great, diverse charter school that challenges them and makes them think about their place in the world. 6) Take them to every free, age-appropriate educational and cultural event we can.

“For the most part, my kids are pretty good kids. I believe my kids have some edge living in the city, yet they remain kids. They’re still sensitive, innocent and inquisitive. They also get to go visit my parents in the country a couple of times a year, which balances it out. Personally, I can live either in a city or the country. I can’t do the suburbs. We are planning to purchase a property this year. It’s not easy in this land of overpriced, big-on-features but, small-on-space condos. We’re going to make it work somehow. Laughing helps.”

Wale on Sneakers and Hip-Hop

"D.C. has influenced a lot of my music. The call and response, the drums, the beats, basically all of my tracks are directly impacted by D.C. It is important to incorporate your hometown in Hip-Hop because it is such a regional sport. I love D.C, man. I was born in Northwest. I moved to Maryland at ten years old and have been moving back and forth ever since. Some of the most influential things for me here have been the shoes and the music, especially Go-Go. 

"Shoes have always been a part of my life. I used to work at a sneaker store up in Price George's Plaza. That was kind of when the sneaker culture jumped off in connection to Hip-Hop. Working at the store, I had the inside plug and always got shoes a week early. I even remember skipping school to get the Air Jordan Space Jams. I used to save my money to get the latest sneaks. It has always been a part of the culture out here. This has always been a big shoe city. I think that being a trendsetter with sneakers really helped me with Hip-Hop because people would check out my sneaks and my style. 

"With Hip-Hop, I still remember going to certain places to buy mixtapes when I was little. I used to look up to all of those rappers and now I am on their level. It's humbling. I feel like I've come a long way, but still got a long way to go. You know, I'm just a regular dude. I don't want to portray no images like I'm a street dude or nothing like that. I'm far from that. I'm just a guy who wears his feelings on his sleeve and I'm proud of it. I let my music reflect that."

Learn more about Wale and listen to his music here. 

 

Josh on the Little Pieces of the Puzzle

“I was technically born in D.C., at Sibley Hospital, but I grew up in Kensington, Maryland and have lived there all my life. While Maryland is home, D.C. is home, too. D.C. has always been a big part of my life. As a kid, I came down to the museums. As I got older, I started going to the 9:30 Club, in the old location at 930 F Street Northwest, to see shows. My first show at the club was Shudder to Think. I don’t know exactly when it was, but probably sometime in high school. My sister was dating a guy who took us down to the show. From then on, I went to shows at 9:30 whenever I could. This was a really unique place. I had been to see the 80’s and early 90’s hair bands at Merriweather Post Pavilion and the Cap Center, but this place was simply hundreds of sweaty, dirty people going crazy. It was a nice change of pace and there was something about it that just spoke to me. I knew that when I was old enough, I wanted to get a job here.

“When I started at the University of Maryland, my parents gave me a hard time about getting a job. In the student newspaper, there was an ad looking for campus security staff with the words ‘size or experience a plus.’ I had no experience whatsoever, but I went in and got hired because I was big. I’ve always been bigger than everyone else. When you are the biggest guy around, you can either be a bully or go in the opposite direction and develop a slow fuse. I made a conscious decision as a young person to not abuse my size. Hurting someone is the last thing that I want to do. It turned out this was a good mindset for this work. Remember, we are not bouncers, we are door staff here.

“Just before I turned 21, I was coming down to 9:30 for shows all of the time and started talking to everyone. I made a good of impressions on people. I helped break up a couple of fights when I wasn’t even working. One time, I had my septum jewelry ripped out and was bleeding all over the bathroom and wouldn’t let anyone else clean it up. I went and asked for more paper towels so I could clean it up myself. That stuck in their heads. I was technically hired before I turned 21, but I think that’s just because they wanted to shut me up so I would stop asking them for a job! Three days after my 21st birthday, I worked my first show. That was over 12 years ago.

“This place is a family and we have a lot of love for each other. This is the antithesis of a chain. The 9:30 Club is in the walls and the stage, it’s in the people who work here and those who come to listen to the music. It’s a unique environment built on 30 years of history. There is no way to replicate that. After 12 years, I am honored to be able to work here and help people have a good time. If I see people leaving happy, that is a reward for me. It’s a little thing, but if you make one person’s night a little bit better then maybe the next day they go and do something great. It is the little pieces of the puzzle that all add up to something cool. I think that is what this place is all about.

“You know, this city is so divisive with politics, race, sexuality, and religion. All of that goes away when people come in here and the lights go down and the music comes up. Everyone has a good time together. That’s what this city is about, that togetherness with the goal of having a good time. Maybe the next day everything goes back to how it was, but for those few hours in the house that I help take care of, we create a spot where something amazing happens every night. That is pretty cool.

“One last thing, I always tell people that if they want to talk to me, just come and say, ‘Hi.’ A lot of the time, people see me here and get intimidated, but I am not going to bite your head off. Don’t be afraid to come up and say hi to me or the other people here. We are people, too.”

The 9:30 Club is located at 815 V Street NW.

Dr. Blues on the New Vegas Lounge

“I was a young man when I came to D.C. in 1949. I first worked as a stone setter at the Washington National Cathedral. After a number of years, I decided to go into business. In 1967, I ran a grocery store at 14th and Belmont. Then, the riots happened in 1968 and I bought this place shortly after that. I have been in this location ever since. The New Vegas Lounge has gone through some changes. It was a restaurant, then it was a strip joint, and then I turned it into a rhythm-and-blues club, but it has always been family-owned. I used to go to Las Vegas a lot, so that’s how I got the name.

“Before the riots, there was a car parts place, drugstore, liquor store, and plumbing store on this block. After the riots, everyone moved out. I was here for about ten years with almost no other businesses on this block. I shared the block with a lot of vacant lots and street people. I went through a lot then. It was tough. But, I stayed open because the guys who let me have this place, two brothers from Detroit, told me to hold on and pay them when I could get the money. So, I stuck around and waited out the bad weather. And things started turning around with time.

“To me, the most interesting thing about this place is its position in history. This place started as a family business and became a national legacy. The New Vegas Lounge is known throughout the world for its music. It has become a point of heritage for this city. When you look at how many things transitioned around this place because of the riots and reconstruction of the neighborhood, this place remained. The New Vegas Lounge also gives you a view into musical history. I have seen everyone from James Brown, B.B. King, Wilson Pickett, Stevie Wonder, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, War, and Teddy Pendergrass play here. You name ‘em, they’ve been here. This is the spot where people performing in other places around town would just walk in to say hello to Dr. Blues and get up on stage for a few minutes and play. Some of the most famous musicians have played to audiences of only 15 people.

“I am an entertainer, too, and have been singing for a long time. I learned to sing coming up in the church. I sing some of my own songs and then I sing the classics. I know how to sing most anything. I picked up the name Dr. Blues along the way and that name has since been made famous. I’ve played overseas and around this country. You name the place and I’ve been there. I even had a contract in Las Vegas for this past New Year, but I couldn’t go because I had to entertain my people here in D.C. This place means so much to me. Everybody likes this place. You will never hear a bad word about the New Vegas Lounge. If someone gets out of line, people will say, ‘Hey, don’t mess with the New Vegas Lounge. This is our home.’

“Going forward, we will remain a family-owned rhythm-and-blues club. We have been in business for forty years. In that time the whole city changed. Big changes, you know what I mean? It’s good. Someone needed to finally come to this neighborhood with some money after the riots to make some changes. You know, I don’t get a lot of the clients that I had 20-30 years ago, but we get lots of new people and still play the music that people like to hear.”

You can hear Dr. Blues and the Out of Town Blues Band playing at the New Vegas Lounge at 1415 P Street NW.

Christylez on Rising Through Education

"I've been in D.C. all my life, man. I grew up on the South Side, in the Southeast quadrant. I moved to Northwest two years ago. It is a whole 'nother world over here. I tell you, it's dope living over here. The thing that makes Northwest so nice is that there is more diversity here than on the South Side. You run into Embassy people and there are more outlets to express yourself creatively. And don't get me started on the public transportation! I spent all day waiting for buses over there. Stuff stops running at times and there is no Circulator or express route near where I grew up.

"Even though I am here, I spent a lot of my time going back to the South Side. I want to bring what I learn here back there. I taught creative writing in the schools for four years on the South Side. It was dope. I'm happy I didn't have to teach formal writing because that would have been hell. I mean, I got to mix hip-hop into creative writing and use other cultural references to make it easier for kids to open up and talk about their own lives. I think that an unstructured forum is the best way to get kids talking about their lives. For me, writing and hip hop is all about bridging gaps. See, I could connect to these kids who were in similar situations to me coming up. Over time, some of the variables in the equation change, but it is the same old story of growing up in the ghetto. You always got to watch your back and do your best to rise through education.

"A lot of people don't realize that on the South Side there is going to be more crime because that it is where most of the low income housing options are. So, when you bring all these poor people together, you end up creating ghettos just like the ghettos in Nazi Germany. In this case, these are economic ghettos where people who can't afford housing are all rounded up together. Come on, you can't just put all of these people together and have them eliminate each other. I mean, if they don't kill each other then the lack of healthy food options will. I mean, Murry's Steak House, you ain't gonna never see one of those in Tenleytown or Georgetown. Only poor areas get Murry's as they are the worst freaking grocery stores. The food is, nah man, it's all genetically modified stuff and just bad for you. As you look around at a lot of these people, their health is declining and they all suffer the same health issues over time. Education is the thing that will break us out of these cycles."

Christylez is a progressive hip-hop artist. Check out his work here.

Biz on Letting People Know about DC Hip Hop

“Hip hop in DC, you know what I’m saying, is at a crazy point. The Nation’s Capital still has yet to blow up on the scene. So, basically, there are a few undergound artists in the area and they are about to, you know, break out. I can feel DC is going to be the next major city to get on the map.

“DC hip hop comes a lot from Go Go, people like Backyard, Rare Essence, Chuck Brown, and what we grew up listening to. From my generation, I’m 24 right now, that is Tupac, Nas, Ghostface Killer, Outkast, people from all over the place, especially New York and down south. We right here in the middle so we get influences from everywhere…and it’s the Nation’s Capital so we speak for America because rappers around here have a national perspective on shit. Nationals, you see that on my hat? You know what I'm saying?

“Right now, besides my group Suspects, I basically listen to artists around the area that I know. I respect their craft and respect their talent so I’m fucking with Flex Mathews, I think he is one of the best battle rappers in DC, my man Ardamus, people like XO, Rock Mikey, and everything coming out of El Nino, Fuego, and Target Squad. There are definitely a lot of people who are making noise on the underground. The whole fucking world will pick up on DC if things are promoted the right way.

"You see, I am an artist, but at the same time my name is Biz and I handle my business and promote a few parties in the area that you may fuck with. I am trying to let people know what direction we headed with DC hip hop.”

Take a video walking tour of DC hip hop here.

Spencer on Old Time Rock 'N Roll at The Saloun

"I am a drummer for The Unforgiven. We've been playing old time rock 'n roll at The Saloun for the past five years. Things there haven’t changed that much. We get a good college crowd...and a lot of pretty ladies. We also get a lot of international people. We love to play what people from all around the world love, including The Stones and The Beatles. The music crosses all barriers for people from ages 15 to 70.

“You know, I’m a DC native. I think that DC is a great place to call home, but I don’t really think there is a music scene here these days. The charts are all Go Go and rap, I’d like to hear some good new melodies. I started losing interest in the mid-1980s. The music we play is the stuff we grew up with, the stuff we love to play.

"DC has always been a political town, so you had to get out of DC to do anything musically. There are a few artists that made it, but I don’t really think there is much going on here these days. Years ago, M St. used to be the Mecca for live music. Now, it 's all DJs and karaoke. The Saloun is one of the last places that’s left.

"The kids today, they want to hear a great melody and sing their favorite songs, but there’s not a whole lot to sing because there aren’t bands playing in DC anymore. But, I am an optimist...or better said, a realist...I mean it’s been so bad here for so long, it can only get better, right?”

Check out this great resource for information on live music in and around DC. And, read more stories about DC's music scene from Slim and Asyhia and Wo Wo and Eric and Maddie.

Siblings Asyhia and Wo Wo on Hearing Go Go For The First Time

Asyhia - "First time I heard Go Go...man, my favorite song was Overnight Scenario. Heard It outside, someone was playing it out the car radio. People were dancing. It was the first Go Go I went to, first band I ever seen – forgot the band, but it was Overnight Scenario. Last show I saw was TCB, TOB, all of the them. Saw them at the Show Place."

Wo Wo - "And Go Go Music. The first time I heard Go Go music…I love Go Go music...it’s the best. The emotion and all that, the crowd, the movement it gets you hyped and stuff like that. Yes, that’s the best thing that ever happened to me in DC. I heard Backyard Band, it's called The Thong Song. That’s the first song I ever heard. That’s my favorite song. Want me to sing it?"

Listen to Go Go and find out about upcoming shows here. Also, you may know the Backyard Band's singer Anwan Glover as Slim Charles from The Wire.

Slim on The Howard Theater

"I been going to the Howard Theater since the late 70's. We’d always go to Chuck Brown and all that. Howard Theater, that’s a legend man! Why don’t you all open it up again so can go up in there and party now? That’s what we looked forward to from Friday til Saturday or holidays. We always looked forward to that spot right there…Rare Essence, Trouble Funk, Chuck Brown. But, Chuck ain’t play there too much, he was too big for them. But, then my mother told me about going there when she was coming up. She used to go and see Sam Cooke and James Brown.

"First show I went to see was so cold, the pipes froze then busted on us. They pulled us out, we didn’t get our money back. They didn’t tell us what was wrong at the time, just told us to get out. That’s all it was man. They had a security guard, Officer Robertson, that was his name. Yeah, he pulled us out. He was head of security, used to beat people up. He took you out, took your money and took your drugs if you had any. That was the first show I went to." 

Learn more about the Howard Theater's restoration here.