Videographer Rob Parsell hosted a screening for the trailer of his forthcoming documentary about famed Bad Brains–singer H.R. last night at DC9, but didn't know until late that he would be joined by a special guest: old Human Rights himself. The documentary, which is still in production, covers the story of H.R. (and by extension, his legendary hardcore fusion band Bad Brains) from 1984 'til the present. more ›

D.C. has been the homebase for its share of musical luminaries. Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, and Bad Brains come to mind for their efforts in their respective genres. Right in this mix should be the man called the “Godfather of Go-Go,” Chuck Brown. For non-native Washingtonians, go-go is likely foreign and only experienced during the urban radio stations’ “go-go hours” or Brown’s D.C. Lottery commercials. However, go-go is D.C.’s music, Chuck Brown is D.C.’s musician,... more ›

New music is often created through the collision of hitherto disparate styles. Immigrating to the U.S. from Ukraine in the 1990s, Eugene Hutz (pictured), the driving force behind Gogol Bordello, grew up on his native music but also caught the tail end of the American hardcore scene, most notably D.C. legends Bad Brains and Fugazi. Hutz does not recognize any disparities between the two. "I see the punk and hardcore scene as an anthropological study.... more ›

When we saw the words "Bad Brains" and "Leonard Nimoy" in the same sentence, our minds flew immediately to visions of a Golden Throats style reading of the inspired freneticism of the 'Brains' "Pay to Cum", done all "If I Had a Hammer" style. Well, we were only half right, but this mashup of the original song with an H.R. Pufnstuf LSD trip of a video featuring Nimoy (which many of you might have already seen on Boing Boing) and what can only be described as the Vulcanette dancers is just as much a slice of hardcore heaven as our original imaginings. more ›

Ahhh, summer music festivals. As any music blog reader could tell you, as soon as the ground starts to thaw, they're all the indie kids can talk about. Last year we were all lathered up about getting a mega-fest of our very own (or at least, within reasonable stomping-ground distance). Several DCists embarked upon Pimlico and were pleased to report that the festival was wonderfully organized, accomodating, really well done and... that it just plain rocked. more ›

FRIDAY: >>Do you like Hall and Oates and Haddaway? Who doesn't? The Black Cat is hosting Crap, a dance night of bad music on purpose. We advise loosening your Macarena muscles and preparing your ears for "singers" like Don Johnson, Eddie Murphy, and Bruce Willis. 10 pm, free. SATURDAY: >>There are more art openings than we can shake a sculpture at today, so check out our Arts Agenda for a rundown. >>Anything called "Underwear Party"... more ›

"The District Sleeps Alone Tonight," by the Postal Service. more ›

So, here's the story so far: yesterday we posted about a campaign to name Lincoln Ross' "Come to Washington" the official anthem of the District. Many commenters chimed in with other options, and it was suggested that we take a vote. So we did (current results are above). And then other people kept chiming in. Here, then, is what we're going to do. Below are additional suggestions that have been made. We're going to... more ›

In case you missed your previous chances to check out native DC filmmakers Tarik Dahir and Jeff Gaul’s documentary “930 F Street” in the past couple of months, 9:30 Club is serving up one more opportunity to get your 1980s DC nostalgia on tonight, and admission is free (as we mentioned in the Weekend Picks post). How rad. See, back in the 80s, 9:30 Club lived over on F street, and bands like Minor Threat,... more ›