Conductor John Eliot Gardiner has a reputation of being difficult to work with. His penchant for demeaning musicians cost him at least one job offer, director of the U.K.’s Opera North, when the orchestra flatly refused to play for him. This partly explains how one of the most prolific conductors of our time—he’s recorded more [...]
It's Monday night in Southeast D.C., and you can hear the music halfway down the block. It's a raucous yet cohesive sound—a mixture of rock-n-roll and R&B, dashed with a little hip-hop and funk.
Step inside the single-family home, and the source of the noise becomes clear: Black Alley is in the midst of a two-hour rehearsal, [...]
Mmm....Cake: TBD's Sarah Godfrey goes behind the scenes at Buzz Bakery for story of Chuck Brown's birthday cake. The Godfather of Go-Go celebrated his 75th birthday Sunday night with a concert at the 9:30 Club and a custom birthday cake designed by the Arlington bakery. Head pastry chef Tiffany MacIsaac, who also makes 9:30's ubiquitous [...]
Inside the White Cube: WaPo's Sunday arts sections profiles local big-deal art collectors Daniel and Mirella Levinas, whose Georgetown mansion contains tons of important contemporary works (León Ferrari, Matthew Barney) and even some local ones, like Dan Steinhilber. Various local gallerists and curators praise the couple's keen eye, but Modern Art Notes blogger Tyler Green calls [...]
The inimitable Chuck Brown will headline this year's D.C. Statehood event on the West Capitol Lawn next Thursday.
Sponsored by the ACLU of the Nation's Capital, the third annual event will be part speak-out, part concert. Information tables will be out by 12 p.m.; between 4 and 6 p.m., members of the public are invited to [...]
It’s a Tuesday night at LIV nightclub on U Street NW, and Mambo Sauce vocalist Black Boo has broken into a reggae-tinged Waka Flocka Flame mash-up. The crowd is feeling it, but standing on stage, Demont “Peekaso” Pinder is facing the other way.
In one hand he holds an iPad, displaying the worn face of Miles [...]
Sy Smith cut her teeth on the local go-go scene before setting out on her own. She traces her social and musical influences to a baptist church on Minnesota Avenue, and her live performances have drawn the likes of Prince and Raphael Saadiq, among others.
But now, the D.C. native has literally gone Hollywood, as she [...]
Over at TBD, Sarah Godfrey points out that a handful of D.C.-area acts netted Grammy nominations last night: Chuck Brown in the Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals category for his Jill Scott collab "Love"; Raheem DeVaughn's The Love & War Masterpeace for Best R&B Album; and Mary Chapin Carpenter's The Age Of Miracles [...]
And do it via the handy tip form that's now sitting on the Arts Desk sidebar!
I asked some peeps in my Gchat for examples:
"I'm hearing that Ian Svenonius' show got picked up by Lifetime!"
"Philippa Hughes and Ron Moten are teaming up for a series of gallery parties featuring music by go-go acts that supported Fenty!"
"CHUCK [...]
If I worked downtown, I know where I'd spend my lunchbreak this week, and where I'd be Friday at the end of the workday: The Woodrow Wilson Plaza summer lunchtime concert series is closing out with four midday concerts of classic D.C. R&B, and then on Friday it's offering the godfather of go-go, Chuck Brown, [...]
