Photo by Darrow Montgomery

On Labor Day weekend last September, if you stepped outside of the new Korean restaurant or the swank Japanese kitchen at 5th and K streets NW and gazed across the way, you might have caught a scene that felt slightly out of place in shiny, revitalized Mount Vernon Square. Lanterns emerged from inky, overgrown foliage. Guitar squeals careened through the alley. A fire escape that looked like it could collapse any second led beer can-carrying revelers into a disheveled warehouse that appeared it was about to do the same.

But the cookout-cum-DIY show was just one night. The weatherbeaten, blue-and-white structure at 443 I St. NW may be a boho holdout from Mount Vernon Square’s rougher days, but “I don’t think a lot of people know that it’s not just a bunch of kids in the building getting drunk,” says Will Sharp, the 31-year-old creative director of the streetware company Durkl, which resides on Gold Leaf’s first floor.

For well over a decade, Gold Leaf’s 12 studios have housed legion creative types like Sharp. And while Gold Leaf attracted packed crowds and scattered media attention over the years as its art parties grew notorious, its more important legacy is simply as a cheap, spacious place for folks to do their work. “There are happy artists here over 50 that come in at night and paint,” says Sharp. “Artists, welders, sculptors, musicians, and jewelers all under one roof is kind of an oasis for someone like me.”

One of the most accomplished current residents is sculptor Gordon L. Kray, whose Pierre L’Enfant statue resides at Judiciary Square. Visual artists like Josh Cogan, whose studio has housed portrait shoots of Michele Bachmann and Wale, work nearby rehearsal rooms used by indie-rock bands Ra Ra Rasputin and U.S. Royalty. “There was this unspoken creative encouragement that was there the whole time; the moment you stepped into that door, you knew it was the place to be for creation,” says songwriter Ryan McLaughlin, whose folk-punk band Typefighter used the space for much of last year.

All of that will end, along with Gold Leaf’s current lease, on Jan. 31, when artists will have to pack up their supplies and gear. Rumors of the warehouse’s demise have circulated for years, but in 2011, Demers Real Estate, Inc. finally closed a deal with developer Equity Residential. Eventually, this incubator of whatever-goes will make way for much fancier digs, and Mount Vernon Square will be that much less weird.

“I used to look out behind my studio and there was an abandoned lot with abandoned cars,” says Nick Pimentel, a visual artist who worked at Gold Leaf for years. “At night you’d see cars light up, and people smoking crack, and prostitutes. It looked like fireflies with all the lights going on and off. Now you see a Safeway, Busboys & Poets, and a Chipotle.”

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Nick Pimentel photographs Guy Blakeslee of Entrance and Devendra Banhart at Gold Leaf. Photo courtesy Brendan Hynes.

Gold Leaf’s first indie-rock tenants were Trans Am, the synth-obsessed post-rock group known for their experiments in retro-futurism. Around 1997 or 1998, the trio went looking for a spot to build a recording studio, and came across 443 I Street. The well-known D.C. gallerist George Hemphill had lived and worked there in the ’80s and early ’90s, and Bill Adair’s Gold Leaf frame shop still occupied the bottom floor. “It was like the Trans Am workshop laboratory,” says drummer Sebastien Thomson. “It [was] kind of a dream come true—you wake up, ride your bike down to Chinatown, and you play with your bandmates all day.”

Not long after Trans Am moved in, Adair moved his shop to Dupont Circle, though the name Gold Leaf stuck. In 1998, sculptor Mike Abrams took over much of the site. “My inspiration was like, Andy Warhol had his space, and it’s inspiring to have artists working together,” he says. While working on his own art and teaching classes, Abrams built out the other studios and began subletting them to a diverse crowd of artists. “I could point to every room in the building and say this one’s a business, this one does video editing, this one’s a sculpture fabrication shop,” he says.

Pimentel was one of the first people to rent from Abrams. True to the dynamic nature of the space, Pimentel not only painted and silkscreened there, but also hosted shows. The Hosiery, as his chunk of Gold Leaf was called, put on off-the-grid concerts by indie-rock heavies like !!!, No Age, the Thievery Corporation side-project Dust Galaxy, and Devandra Banhart. That tradition continued when group Fffever moved in later in the 2000s. “They basically would practice, record, hang out, and throw events there,” says Sharp. “They did it all themselves, regardless of what people said to them about it being illegal or not being up to code. It was refreshing; they re-energized that place.” That part of the building later went to the fractured blues-rock trio Laughing Man, who began calling it Red Door. Some of the shows they booked over the last two years even took a turn for the almost-mainstream: A series of Jazz Loft performances eventually got a stamp of approval from the D.C. Jazz Festival.

“I tried to nurture the spot as much as I could with open door policies, and let people come and play music if they wanted to,” says Laughing Man’s Brandon Moses. “People could come in and rehearse if they wanted to. Bands could rent space for long or short periods of time or for free.”

If the vibes were mostly chill, that didn’t keep the authorities from getting suspicious. “Two 40-year-old dudes in leather jackets, gold chains, and crew cuts came in asking if there’s any alcohol sold in our space,” says Moses. If that wasn’t obvious enough, the two undercover officers then gave “the third degree to some kid who brought a beer from Safeway.” Of course, the hosts were only asking for donations and didn’t sell alcohol, so they never got into much trouble. “They basically came in, stood around, listened to a band, and left,” said Moses.

Of course, Gold Leaf saw plenty of wild moments. Aside from the occasional party that spilled into the street, Abrams recalls one well-lit evening when “I was cruising down the street and thought, ‘Oh cool, fireworks.’ Then I realized, ‘Wait, those are coming from the roof of I Street.’” He made his way there to find police circled around the building but unsure how to get in, exclaiming, “We need to talk to those guys!” But generally, Abrams says the police were kind. They might show up to a party, but they would rarely shut it down. “What they don’t know about is the afterparty,” Abrams says.

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This time, Gold Leaf is shutting down for real. Last May, Demers Real Estate brokered a sale of the space to Equity Residential, which plans to build apartments. Some bands, like Laughing Man, have already had to vacate. The lease for the rest of the building ends on Jan. 31, and in the meantime there are a number of farewell shows slated.

“I don’t think there is anything like it in D.C. It was a unique place, and was as fertile as the ground gets in a city like D.C., where there are more art bureaucrats than artists,” says Cogan. It certainly won’t be easy to replicate a situation like 443, and Pimentel doesn’t see a similar spot opening anytime soon. “I don’t see it being possible for a bunch of artists to find a big enough building in D.C. proper to do this...rent prices have gone up so much.”

Some of the musicians interviewed for this article said they were looking into new practice spaces in town; some of the artists talked about looking for space in the suburbs, perhaps in Hyattsville’s growing arts district. A few said they’re considering moving to towns like Philadelphia, where more mixed-use spaces exist.

That sort of warehouse-style workspace is rare in D.C., though. This week, another longtime artists warehouse, 52 O Street Studios, let some of its residents know they may have to vacate their live-work spaces later this year. (The owner is planning to build a hostel.) On H Street NE, a building of workspace backed by Thievery Corporation’s Eric Hilton only lasted a month or so last year.

There are new live-work spaces for artists in NoMa and Brookland, but they’re not that cheap, and come with narrow income requirements. Another new development in Brookland will include some artist studios, and Dangerously Delicious Pies, a shop on H Street NE, is converting some rooms into rehearsal spaces for bands. The market for cheap workspace is dynamic in D.C., but you could hardly call it abundant.

Not everyone is feeling bleak. “I don’t feel like it’s the end of the earth, I just feel like it’s a new beginning,” says Abrams. “What I’d really like to see is the developer currently doing I Street step up and say, ‘Hey, we’re taking over your old building, but we’re going to give you some space out of this because we can be helpful, and you can be helpful to us.’” His overtures to Gold Leaf’s new handlers haven’t been returned, however.

For his part, Moses isn’t too worried. After spending so much time at Gold Leaf over the past three years, he says, “That sense of community, that sense of having useful spaces that function for the purposes of artists, that’s gotten a hold on people enough that either separately or collectively, these types of collectives will get created.”

WAMU Gets In On the Gold Leaf Action: DCentric talks to D.C. band Laughing Man about the closure of Gold Leaf Studios, where the band pays "a couple hundred dollars" (per month, presumably) to practice in the space. All of that will disappear in January, when the studios will be shut down to make way for development. Moving out of the space is "really bad for the synergy of the creative process," says band member Luke Stewart. "It puts momentum on hold in terms of what we’re working on."

Goodbye, Quirky 14th Street: Borderstan reports that Pulp, the whimsical card and gift shop at 14th and S streets NW, will close November 23. The shop's owner, Ronald Henderson, died in 2009; the shop never found a new owner. With this news, it seems that the artsy phase of Mid City's gentrification has begun to transition into Phase Three: tapas totalitarianism. (Day-bed domination?) Pulp's demise is the latest in a string of other recent business closures in the area, including Mid-City Caffe, Playbill, Go Mama Go!, Miss Pixie's, and Irvine Contemporary.

Today on Arts Desk: This week's issue is out now. Keep your eyes on the boxes! Plus: more updates about Lincoln Theatre.

I arrived at 1337 H St. NE a few minutes late on Friday, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't get in. Spots to see Bluebrain's latest conceptual project, "Living House," filled up pretty soon after it was first announced. I apologized to the clipboard-wielding guardian at the door, and I was lucky enough to nab an extra spot in the next 15-minute time slot. After waiting with a few other visitors who were equally unsure of what to expect, we got the go-ahead to enter this newest arts space on H Street.

It was dark and foggy, much like a haunted house, and the greeter handed me a flashlight. The lens was covered in a greenish substance that softened and colored the beam, which helped retain the space's nebulous atmosphere. We could walk through any room we liked, as long as the door was open, the greeter told us. That's when the music started.

There were about 10 speakers placed throughout the two-story space, and they were all pumping electronic sounds. At times, it was the kind of music you might expect from Bluebrain. Local names like Laughing Man, Volta Bureau, AAA, and others contributed sound, but it was hard to discern any specific signature behind what was often simply odd sounds played at uneven intervals. The impressive element was, of course, that the speakers were all simultaneously playing slightly different interlocking parts of a larger piece. Consider The Flaming Lips' Zaireeka project with more elements to sync up, and without as many actual songs. (Or, perhaps, consider Bluebrain's previous boombox projects, which were conceptually similar to "Living House" but also, well, mobile.)

Walking through the exhibit was enticing enough, as it's always exciting to see what's in the next room of a strange, empty house, but the best perspective came from taking a break. A few chairs and couches were spread throughout the house, and lounging in one spot for a few minutes offered a more dissectable, 360-degree experience. In one minute, thuds traveled from room to room in quick succession, and in another, alternating notes hocketed throughout the house, like in a Dirty Projectors song. Ambiance came together and fell apart, punctuated by cerebral experiments ping-ponging through the air.

There were no grandiose revelations inside "Living House," no climactic epiphanies, but when the crowd filtered out, no one seemed disappointed. It was an uncommon moment of creative immersion. Every attendee was fully enveloped in the installation and had to reckon with the artistic ambitions behind it. Winning that kind of attention for something so odd on a Friday night is an achievement in itself, and it certainly left the crowd with something to talk about on the way to the pie shop next door.

Imaginative local duo Bluebrain is gearing up to host a benefit for the new artist space located at 1337 H Street NE.

The 7900 square-foot space, located between the H Street Country Club and Dangerously Delicious Pies, was formerly occupied by American West Indian Auto Body. The building is owned by none other than restaurant owner and Thievery Corporation member Eric Hilton, who will also open a bar/dining establishment in the space's basement. Adrian Parsons and Volta Bureau are among the artists who will inhabit the building's creative work space upstairs.

At the September 9th and 10th benefits, each of the venue's 11 rooms will be outfitted with speakers and subwoofers, all playing music by Ally Behnke, Forgetting, Laughing Man, AAA, and Volta Bureau. Bluebrain's Hays Holladay says that the event will take the form of  "an installation mixing sound and music, where sound moves with you through space." Bluebrain won't perform, but Holladay and brother/bandmate Ryan will be behind the board, so to speak, programming what's being called a "sound experience."

The benefit is "one of many openings for the space," says Holladay, who credits Parsons and Hilton with the venue's quick transformation.

Reservations for Bluebrain's "Living House" are now closed, but more information can be found on 1337 H Street's Tumblr account.

Correction: The original version of this post inaccurately said that Ally Behnke, Forgetting, Laughing Man, AAA, and Volta Bureau would perform at this show. It has been updated to reflect that these are not live performances.

Keep tweeting on the devil’s door and sooner or later, everyone’s going to answer. Within 20 minutes, 4,000-plus people texted Vevo to 67463 to secure a bid at Saturday’s after- hours Kanye West concert. Over 20,000 people registered online for the Fiat Fader Fort; the wristband-pickup line—winding around the East Austin campgrounds, pouring onto I-35—reflected the numbers, and the result was a three-hour dent in your day. Beauty Bar holds maybe 300 people, and at least that many credentialed conference attendees and fans spent midday outside, waiting for an indie rocker whose Wikipedia page lacks a picture.

Even the well-executed but under-the-radar DC Does Texas party at Lovejoy’s tapped its Dogfish kegs early. This sucked, because over the years festivalgoers have evolved into entitled party people—savagely prioritizing free drinks over art. Over kick-ass, folky punk rock.

“Hey what are y’all called, The Typewriters?”

“No, it’s Typefighter,” responded Typefighter singer Ryan McLaughlin. “You know like a typewriter, but more violent.”

The interrupting, gruffly posed question meant well. Its asker responded favorably to “Frank Sinatra,” the first song from the D.C. band’s solid new EP, which Typefighter was selling before its March 27 release party to help fund their 16-date DIY tour’s van problems.

“I don’t know why you’re laughing,” McLaughlin said. “We’re having terrible van problems.”

The band is touring with guitarist Brandon Moses, on loan from D.C.’s Laughing Man. Thing is, Typefighter's original guitarist was able to make it after all, and the pair spent the Lovejoy’s set rocking out on overlapping parts. It was enthusiastic and exciting. Two-year-old songs like “Ocean Floor” were skin tight and powerful.

Afterwards, Arts Desk  strolled down Red River to Club DeVille to see Tennis. Tennis is like an uninteresting Beach House with more attractive people; there was a distinct girl-group sound live that doesn’t translate on skimmed mp3s, and that’s unfortunate. Portland's Unknown Mortal Orchestra was next. It had braids, denim jackets, Ray-Bans, and beyond the pastiche a sludgy, nerdy, soulful sound.

Back at Lovejoy’s, The Caribbean began its week of gigs and tore into its well-received new album, Discontinued Perfume. A crew of veterans with wedding rings and graying hair, the band creates exemplary indie rock. Singer Michael Kentoff represented in an Alex Ovechkin tee, speaking low and awkwardly between numbers. “This next song is about collapsing a double life into a single life.”

Austin’s White Denim brought a decided home-field advantage to its gig at The Parish shortly after. Their product is a meeting of soul and garage punk, with lots of proggy jamming from two ax men. Friends and family cheered, and a terrible father stood at the front with his baby donning Drew Brees earphones. White Denim stuck to new stuff, presumably from upcoming May release D, but the crowd went wild when they dusted off “Shake Shake Shake.”

After a $20 cheeseburger and Miller Lite combo, it was time to herd into the MTVU Woodies. For a more savory experience, Arts Desk entered with a casting call ticket. This meant waiting in an adjacent parking lot for three hours, and eventually being herded onto the floor of the awards ceremony at the renovated Austin Music Hall. Arts Desk was with childhood friend Conor, who was wearing a red shirt and red bandana and looked like a Real World Road Rules Challenge castaway. He fit right into the laid-back Austin groove of the crowd; this became significant when two dudes and their sister offered Conor weed to cut. Turned out they are also Mexicans that were raised in South Austin.

The cutting proves costly as Arts Desk and Conor were herded into separate tribes; the friendly Mexicanos were the cutoff. The good news was that this morning, Arts Desk received a text from Conor, and he eventually made it home.

At the awards, Donald Glover told one good joke, Lil B staged a reverse award coup when Kanye West beat him (West was not in the house, so the moment lost something when B took the hardware from Pete Wentz). Loyalist Texans faced an existential crisis when asked to wave black and yellow towels during Wiz Khalifa’s runner-up Steelers anthem, “Black and Yellow.” The Foo Fighters opened the live telecast, and the most cynical of onlookers rejoiced seeing '90s guitarist Pat Smear back in the Foo fold. The Foo Fighters left immediately after. Aziz Ansari introduced Odd Future and the teenage collective failed to recreate its Fallon magic. Sleigh Bells was loud, bass-heavy, and wonderful. Their moment exploded when they were inexplicably joined by the Prairie View A&M drum line. H-Town in the house.

After the Woodies, Arts Desk checked off a pair of buzz hip-hoppers across town at the Mohawk. Mississippi’s Big K.R.I.T. jolted a crowd while an excellent, portly hype man attacked cadences. K.R.I.T. is a C+ lyricist, an A- producer, but an A songwriter, and sticky cuts like “Country Shit” and “Hometown Hero” rallied hands in the air. Smoke DZA and Curren$y joined him for memorable guest spots; a huge amount of white teenagers knew the words to “Moon and Stars.” Cyphi Da Prynce arrived jet-lagged and vanilla. Cyphi likewise performed his verse from My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy two songs into his set, and patrons filed out en masse immediately after. Entirely his bad, though it was a poetic way to conclude a day that was, for the most part, fuckin’ ridiculous.

Famous People Gossip: Arts Desk ran into Andrew W.K. at press registration; he’s a 2011 panelist. He was dressed like you’d expect. Jack White rocked a two-song set that included a Buddy Holly cover at noon on the corner of 4th and Colorado. He’s in town cheerleading his Third Man Records brand. Justin Vernon crashed the Jagjaguwar Showcase and performed in the early evening with his weird, ironic ‘80s soft rock band Gayngs. Arts Desk didn’t get into Duran Duran at Stubb’s either.

WaPo's David Malitz reviews the new Laughing Man record; here's our take from a few weeks back.

TBD's Maura Judkis rounds up statements from the Hirshhorn, the Catholic League, and ART+ re: the "Hide/Seek" controversy.

DCist and WaPo on Joshua Bell's short, impromptu performance for a small group of fans Wednesday, after snow cancelled his appearance at Strathmore.

On his blog, George Hunka has some interesting thoughts on Arena Stage's new Kogod Cradle and the notion of "birthing" new plays and parenting young playwrights.

Whatever you choose, the weekend will look and probably feel a lot like this:

The Best of Friday:

Cee-Lo Green. American University's Bender Arena. Call for more information. (202) 885-3267

Das Racist. Rock and Roll Hotel. SOLD OUT.

I may be woefully undereducated about rap music, but I'm not entirely sure whether I should trust a few Wesleyan-educated, Coogi-sweater-clad rappers to school me in what rap music looks like today. The post-colonial dream team Das Racist seems to know its stuff, and with hyper-referential, irreverent lyrics, it wants to make sure you do as well. From the group's 2010 Sit Down, Man mixtape, the song "hahahaha jk?"  taunts, "we're not joking, just joking, we are joking, just joking, we're not joking." It's an apt summation of Das Racist's mission to confuse, sanctify, maintain, and deliver.  Questioning if these guys are the real deal is likely, but they're having an awful fun time playing at the fact that they might be. With Ardamus and the Metaphysical, Fat Tony.

The directions are simple: First bring canned goods and whole grain cereals to benefit the punk-rock collective Positive Force and the senior services nonprofit We Are Family. Then you benefit from punk, pop, and rock stylings of Pulling Teeth, Magrudergrind, Give, and Hot Mess. $8/$10.  St. Stephen's Church. 6 p.m.

The Best of Saturday:

Socket Records Showcase: Hume. Skeletons. Buildings. Laughing Man. $12. 9 p.m. doors. Black Cat.

Last time around, faithful retro-soul crooner Eli "Paperboy" Reed squashed his competition, Mayer Hawthorne. He and his band brass-heavy boys, the True Loves, are back. With Spirit Kid and The Shifters. 8:30 doors. $14. Rock and Roll Hotel.

Urban Arias. $15. 7 p.m. & 9 p.m. Artisphere

The Best of Sunday:
Prince vs. Prince: The 10 Year Anniversary. $10/$12. 9 p.m. Black Cat.
Party like it's actually 1985, before Prince disbanded the Revolution and the world was awash in the harmonies of Purple Rain, when Dynasty wouldn't let Billy Dee Williams be great, and Quincy Jones produced super sessions that could change the world.

Funk 4 The Dream: Afrika Bambaataa. Asheru. Fort Knox Five. Jahsonic. Rex Riddem. Mustafa Akbar. $10. 9 p.m. show.U Street Music Hall.

The Rest of Friday:

Vocalist Akua Allrich. 9 p.m. and 11 p.m.  Friday and Saturday. Twins Jazz.
Justin Jones and The Driving Rain. With Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit. $15. 8 p.m. doors. 9:30 Club.
All Good Funk Alliance. Price set at door. 10 p.m. show. 18+. U Street Music Hall.
Musicband. Thee Lexington Arrows. Yell Country. The Bam Bams. $8. Comet Ping Pong.
Truth & Salvage Co. A Thousand Horses. Black Dog Prowl. $10. 9 p.m. show. Red Palace. 18+
The State Department. Vita Ruins. Loose Lips. $10. 9 p.m. show. Black Cat.Practically Einstein. With Zelos and Kindlewood. $10. 9 p.m. Iota Club. Quaman Fowler Quartet. $15/$20. 8:30 p.m. show. Friday and Saturday. Bohemian Caverns.
V0calist Julie Nixon. 8:30 p.m. $34. Friday and Saturday. Artisphere.

The Rest of Saturday:

Virginia Coalition. With Danni Rosner, School of Rock DC. $15. 6 p.m. show. 9:30 Club.
Chopteeth Big Afro Funk Band. 9: p.m. $15. Iota Club. Sleeper Agent Presents: Lo Fi Muay Thai Release Party. Ozker. Reemstar & Navi. $10. Comet Ping Pong.
BSO: Icarus at the Edge of Time. $14 – $88. 8 p.m. Strathmore.

The Rest of Sunday:

Reaction 2011: Susan Morabito. Guy Smith. $35. 10 p.m. show. 9:30 Club.
Eternal Summers. Maybe, Baby. Flourescent Scents. $8. 8:30 p.m. show. All ages. Red Palace.Jean-Paul Bourelly. $15. 7 p.m. show. Bohemian Caverns.

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In City Lights: Magrudergrind! Daniel Rasmussen! Eternal Summers! MLK on the big screen! Airplanes! Steve Harvey! Stripmall Ballads!

It draws from the label's regular roster as well as other locals, from True Womanhood to Hume to Les Rhinocéros to Macaw. Starting with a slow-burning, lo-fi folk ballad from Laughing Man and ending with a banger from The Cornel West Theory, the mix features nine tracks that pretty accurately displaythe wide stylistic range of the label: angular guitar pop to Afro-influenced backbeats to lush soundscapes of synths and drum machines. Check it out, for free, at Sockets' site.