DC Music Salon organizer and moderator, Marc Eisenberg.It’s become a common tale. A person moves to the District for college or early in her professional career then falls in love with the District, realizing that there is so much more to our nation’s capital than politics and the federal government. D.C. becomes home and the city’s rich cultural history, as well as the creative energy that continues to thrive, becomes a source of inspiration and pride. Maybe that person even gets the three stars and two bars tattooed somewhere. Those of us who cover the local music scene for DCist have all caught this bug, as have many of our readers, and the DC Music Salon was created for people like us.
“If you agree with the idea that cities have peaks — 1920s Paris, ’50s New York City, ’60s San Francisco, etc. — I’d argue that D.C. is experiencing its peak right now,” said Marc Eisenberg, the Salon’s organizer. “Not that we don’t have massive problems, and the separation between the have and have-nots isn’t increasing at a disturbing rate, but I think this is a special time artistically and culturally in our city.”
The series came out of discussions Eisenberg would have with fellow “music geek buddies” over random recordings, films and books that they all encountered. After the Watha T. Daniel-Shaw Neighborhood Library was built, Eisenberg approached the manager who was enthusiastic about hosting the meeting in the new facility. The first DC Music Salon was held in October 2010 and was titled Go-Go: Not An Intro. Similar to all subsequent events, the inaugural gathering had a featured guest, Dr. Kip Lornell, co-author of The Beat: Go-Go’s Fusion of Funk and Hip-Hop, film/audio clips and an open discussion that Eisenberg moderated. Other topics that have been covered include a history of the Fort Reno concert series with chief booker Amanda MacKaye and a discussion of the storied venue, d.c. space.
“It was a no-brainer that we had to do a Salon about d.c. space, but as the time got close I really wasn’t sure how the evening was going to go,” Eisenberg said. “Anyway, that community — that scene — was incredible and a roomful of them showed up for the Salon that night and shared stories, lots of different types of artists telling great tales.”
As for the Salon’s organizer, you may not know of him, but you should be jealous of him. Last December, Eisenberg won the annual 9:30 Club raffle that gives him passes to every. single. show. that happens there this year. His love affair with the District started long ago, however, when he moved here in 1990 to attend George Washington University. He worked at Lisner Auditorium, which at the time — before the current 9:30 opened — would host up to 200 shows per year. Eisenberg worked at a series of start-ups after college and returned to his first love five years ago when a major career shift led to a position as Executive Director of the Washington Bach Consort.
“A great deal of my energy is fundraising, marketing, working with a board, etc.,” Eisenberg said. “I’ve been intentional to not do any of that with the DC Music Salon. All the energy is on programming.”
Though he is looking for volunteer help, relying on word of mouth has proven to be an effective strategy for the DC Music Salon. As many as 100 people attend the sessions, which happen a handful of times every year. The audiences include musicians, fans, newcomers and long time D.C. residents. The next event, DC Jazz, Deeper Than Duke, takes place tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Shaw Library. Respected local jazz critic Rusty Hassan will act as a guide. There will also be a screening of an excerpt from the documentary 7th & T, which contains footage from the golden years of U Street and Shaw, as well as the local musicians that were a part of that rich jazz community.
Future installments of the DC Music Salon include a June 11 sneak peek of Scott Crawford’s and Jim Saah’s documentary, Salad Days: Birth of Punk Rock in the Nation’s Capital. D.C. played a key role in popularizing Brazilian bossa nova in the U.S., and that will be the topic on October 8. The 2014 slate will conclude with another take on the local punk scene with a December 10 showing of Punk the Capital, a documentary by James Schneider that is a work-in-progress.
As Eisenberg said of these events, “Washington, D.C. has a musical heritage second to none — and our Salon celebrates it.”
Join the DC Music Salon Facebook group for more information on upcoming events.
