D.C. Historic Review officials have approved Ellis Development’s plans to rehab the historic Howard Theater in Shaw. This is good news of course since the 98-year-old building served as the hub for black entertainers in the ’50s and ’60s and became a model for other theaters across the country. It was right up there with the Apollo in terms of status. It closed as a consistent entertainment venue in the early ’70s. It was ressurected briefly as a go-go venue. In recent years, it only came to life in the memories of old people and remember-when stories. (I spent a lot of time talking to Mingering Mike about the Howard).

So this is good news.

Courtney Love should already be on The Surreal Life by now. That’s the great tragedy. This is just farce: Apparently, Courtney Love’s new album will be “sponsored” by a tequila company and a tampon maker. The Guardian UK writes:

When [the album] does finally land, the album, Nobody’s Daughter, will be Courtney Love’s first release since 2004. “She will not make you wait another year or five,” her administrator emphasised. “The artwork is pretty much done [and] Courtney has 30 million dollars in sponsorships from a prominent feminine hygiene/menstrual company and a prominent tequila company.”

Love has yet to confirm how these sponsorships will manifest – a free bottle and tampon with every CD? – or whether the album will be a free download. In a blogpost this weekend, she hardly touched on the album at all – ranting instead about people who pretend to be her late husband, Kurt Cobain.

Love needs to just quit. Really.

Truth be told, this Page Six Magazine item that ran back in November probably isn’t going to forever alter your perceptions of DC social cliques. Billed as “An Insider’s Guide to Washington”, the article lumps the entire local population into NW-centric groups of journalists, lobbyists, politicos, and hipsters.

Nonetheless, it’s blowing my mind–if only a little bit–by placing a mug shot of The Points‘ drummer Cobruh in direct juxtaposition to a photo of Senator Ted Kennedy. On one side we have the second longest serving member of the senate and an respected member of the Democratic Party. On the other, we have man who once described the bruises that he and his band mate suffered after being choked-out by a Virginia Beach bouncer by saying “It looked like we had hickies all over our necks.” Yet the layout of this article suggests that these two powerful men are the beloved representatives of their respective social circles and thus should be perceived as equals.

Congratulations to The Points on their rapid ascent of the DC social ladder.

The DC Society of Art Rockers (that splash screen on their website will tell you instantly whether you’ll like what they do or not) in an arts education nonprofit that has been sponsoring and calendaring progressive rock events around the area since 2005 —everything ranging from uber-retro proggy-prog to more experimental out-rock. Yesterday they announced that they’ve received a grant from the Arts Council of Fairfax County. Which is great news, although when I investigated the Arts Council website, it turns out the grant is for a grand total of $360. In comparison, the Washington Balalaika Society’s grant? It’s for $30,000.

Still, there’s something to be said for getting your foot in the door.

DC-SOAR’s next show is local acoustic guitar trio Might Could at Bossa Bistro on December 5.

May we suggest that you nerd out i.e. scan the list of new LP arrivals at Red Onion after the jump. Not on the list but just as fine as anything out there–two new titles from hot vinyl-only label Mississippi Records. Red Onion’s got both (a gospel comp. and a reissue of an obscure punk band you’ve never heard of but should).

Read More “New Arrivals @ Red Onion” »

DCist is reporting that “Arlington Institution” Dr. Dremo’s is about to finally see the wrecking ball. The massive bar complex is getting razed to make way for…. more condos (ugh). The blog notes: “Demolition has finally begun. Most of the surrounding buildings are being taken down today, and one construction worker said he had been told they’d do the actual Dremo’s building sometime next week. So, Dremo’s fans, stroll by this week to take one long, last look.”

This past January, D.C. Foodies penned a tribute to the watering hole:

I fondly remember its parking lot as one of the best ground level locations to watch the July 4th fireworks over the Mall. It is this great view I fear which sealed the bar’s fate. After years of harassment from the Arlington County government and other local groups, the owners, the Stewart family, have finally had the land sold out from under them to real estate developers. This location will soon be home to 141 brand new luxury condos. To be fair, the closure may have been inevitable as the building is falling apart and has been doing so since the bar opened as Bardo Rodeo back in the early Nineties: but that’s the real charm of the place! Dr Dremo’s is one of the best examples of an endangered species in the DC area, the dive bar, and as such it will be greatly missed.

Read More “Dr. Dremo’s To Meet Wrecking Ball” »

D.C. production duo Thievery Corporation will become the latest high-profile independent act to experiment with online album distribution/promotion, as their latest full-length, Radio Retaliation, will be available to stream in its entirety via iLike and Facebook on Friday, Sept. 19th — four days before the official September 23rd release date. No stranger to political statements, Rob Garza and Eric Hilton’s move certainly comes with a message: While media consolidation/homogenization of the airwaves has made terrestrial radio anything but a healthy market for musicians, the Internet can provide a direct avenue between artist and audience, free from dilution.

The group’s outlet of choice, iLike, is advertised as “the Web’s leading social music discovery service,” and is currently one of the most successful applications for online networking giant, Facebook. Users will be allowed to stream the new record while viewing original videos of the duo explaining the album, elaborating their approach, getting out the message, etc.

The iLike debut will differ from other big-name distribution models like Radiohead’s “pay-what-you-want” download of In Rainbows last year, focusing instead on using online social networking as a promotional tool. Thievery Corporation’s announcement will attempt to capitalize on the Internet’s pre-release publicity potential, in a day and age when even hardened anti-piracy warriors like Metallica have come to terms with the inevitable album leak. Radio Retaliation’s launch will mark the first “worldwide listening party” event between iLike and Facebook, which tout 30 million and 100 million users worldwide, respectively.

Recorded in the District, Retaliation is the duo’s fifth studio full-length, to be released on their own Eighteenth Street Lounge Music. “Outernational” seems to be the phrase of choice to describe the duo’s globe-trotting sound — an eclectic amalgam of groove-infused influences that range from afrobeat to electronic. According to Garza, Retaliation will be similarly genre-encompassing, and not without overt political tones.

Fans can access the stream via Thievery Corporation’s iLike/Facebook page starting this Friday, September 19th, and will be available for exclusive preorder on iTunes until the official September 23rd release. In the meantime, you can check out a preview on their MySpace page.

While the recording industry is busy lamenting the death of their business model at the hands of the Internet, a number of local hip-hop artists have found a way turn this market threat into an opportunity. Free download mixtapes (which are neither mixed nor on tape, discuss…) have been catapulting artists such as Wale, Ra the MC, Marky, XO and others into the upper reaches of internets stardom. No more standing on U Street peddling burnt CDs, the free download is the new strategy to burst onto the scene and connect with a new generation of listeners. Its like the indy punk zine for D.C. hip-hop.

Judah, one of the producers behind Wale, Ra the MC, XO and others, summed it like this: “Who cares about the radio, we know that radio doesn’t make or break artists. With the internet, the fans gonna find you.” Here’s some free downloads worth finding:

Ra the MC – A Mixtape About Something. One of DCs finest female MCs shows the boys in the industry she doesn’t play!

Marky – The Drive Thru. Theres something about a 19 year old DC MC rocking over a Citizen Cope track that’s worth checking.

The DMV Mixtape – August 08. Get ready for September’s edition with this fresh installment of the monthly mixtape from the DMV Music Blog Cartel.

XO – The Takeover. We wrote this up a few months back – get a late pass!

Wale – 100 Miles and Running. This is like the OG of the DMV free mixtape ish!

This weekend, DJs from across the nation will be gathering in D.C. for the Million DJ March. The event will feature a panel discussion, a celebrity basketball game, and performances on and speakers on the National Mall. The organizers hope the event will help unify DJs to assert their rights in the entertainment industry. What they organizers lack in substance they make up for in lofty goals. I don’t even think there are a million DJs in America, but we will see how many turn out this weekend. Featured speakers/performers – KRS One, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Joell Ortiz, DJ Geometrix, Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz, DJ Kool and many many more.

Schedule and info is at the Million DJ March Blog

This morning I got a promo package in the mail–an album by a band called Colourmusic. This mailing was a nice, old-school gesture on the promo people’s part. It is rare getting an actual promo CD. So yeah, thanks Colourmusic! I celebrate your whimsical, vaguely psych-folk stylings! In fact, you can use that as a blurb on your CD. It would look like this:

“I celebrate your whimsical, vaguely psych-folk stylings!–Washington City Paper.”

Instead, Colourmusic chose to blurb from something with a little more gravitas–Wikipedia.

Wikipedia!

The blurb is sooooooo Lester Bangs meets Pitchfork: “They run some sort of hippie commune out there in rural Oklahoma. I heard they all had the same girlfriend.”

Should rock critics get mad? Or is this just a joke?