Vortex with author's traveling companion

Washington City Paper: What’s your name?
Luca Vortex: Luca Vortex.

That’s not your real name. That’s a punk name.
That is how everybody knows me.

How old are you?
33.

Are you familiar with go-go music?

Go-go like a dancer?
[Your correspondent and his traveling companion, both Washingtonians, attempt to explain go-go music to LV. Chuck Brown, Rare Essence, and the Junkyard Band are mentioned. Your correspondent asks his companion to remind him what the Junkyard Band's biggest hit is. His companion reminds him: "Sardines." They sing "Sardines" for LV.]
Is the Junkyard Band something with Nick Cave?

No…it’s like…it’s hard to explain…it’s native to Washington…and African-American…these guys cover popular R&B hits, but with a different beat…
They revisit the songs?

Yes, they revisit them…funkily…
That sounds good. I do not know it. I want to know it.

What do you think about when you think about Washington?
The flag.

What do you envision when you think about the city?
I think about something big…something mysterious.

Mysterious?
Like there are big buildings. And mysterious things hidden inside them.

I guess Washington is mysterious.
Does Lincoln have something to do with Washington?

Yes. [Your correspondent and his traveling companion explain the Lincoln Memorial.]
OK….Is the goal of this article to bring more Europeans to Washington?

No.

[Author's note: After the conclusion of this interview, your correspondent's traveling companion deemed Luca Vortex "cute."]

Ask anyone in the industry about go-go music and they’ll tell you the same thing: it plays exclusively to the the greater DC area. This new series is an attempt to refute that claim by presenting hard evidence of Go-Go’s influence throughout the music world. It’d be hypocritical to complain about biting since most of the great bands are essentially cover bands, but it’s still worth noting that there is sometimes a two way street of influence.

First up is Jay-Z, a little known Brooklyn rapper who is probably best known for collaborating with the group Original Flavor and carrying Big Daddy Kane’s weed. But for his 1999 single, the Rockwilder produced “Do It Again” (video above), Jay swiped the hour by hour after-the-hook up chorus and concept from Rare Essence’s DC favorite “Overnight Scenario.” It may seem no sweat off RE’s back to have such a small fries rapper borrowing their ideas, but Jay-Z actually managed to turn “Do It Again” into a minor hit. I think it was one of his only ones.

There was some talk of a lawsuit a few years after the fact, but the outcome was never announced. It doesn’t seem like there would be much in the way of legal recourse, though. I don’t imagine this Jay-Z character has very deep pockets anyway. Though he did happen to drop a new album yesterday. It’s a low profile affair and has almost completely overlooked by the media thus far.

In eight years of DC flea market and junk store hopping I’ve encountered all sorts of strangeness from jars of urine to bongs made from the skulls of monkeys (I am not even making this up) but as far as local muscial ephemera goes nothing can really top this this confusing pen drawing of Rare Essence’s Go-Go Mickey. Clipped from the “thank you’s” page of a 1993 Bishop Mcnamara yearbook young Damon Lowry depicts the heralded conga drummer as some sort of freakishly muscular and slightly sweaty Polo clad Mickey Mouse. I have no idea why this was at all relevant to a high school yearbook but it’s pretty incredible none the less. After the jump is some footage of the actual Go-Go Mickey backing up Backyard.

Yesterday marked the twentieth anniversary of rapper Fat Rodney’s tragic murder. Frequently heralded as one of most memorable emcees to ever rock the Go-Gos, Rodney’s life was taken from him at just 21 years old in 1989. Over at my site, Cocaineblunts.com, I spoke with Rare Essence’s Andre “Whiteboy” Johnson about Rodney and his legacy:

“When he walked into the room he lit the room up. There are a couple of other guys who had done it before, but I don’t think anybody [did] it to the extent that Rodney had done it. So as he walked through the door, everybody was yelling his chant. “What you gonna do, Fat Rodney?!” We lost a huge talent. And we lost a good friend because Rodney sat around with us for hours, just joking and talking and everything. DC lost a huge talent. Rodney was a great guy, personally. And he was a real good rapper, very observant. The fact that he’s rapping and he spots some girl in the crowd with a red shirt on, he’ll incorporate her into the rap. Spot the guy with the blue jacket on, he brings him into it. All of that is what made Rodney the legend that he is.”

Click here for the full interview.

Flyer courtesy of TMOTTGOGO.com

It seems Rare Essence is returning to U Street.

In the ‘90s and early ’00s, RE’s weekly gig at Club U, inside the Frank D. Reeves Municipal Center, was one of the hottest events on the U Street corridor. The band’s run at the club ended in 2005, following the stabbing death of 31-year-old club patron Terrence Brown.

The District’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board decided Brown’s death was the last straw in in a string on incidents at the nightclub, and yanked the spot’s liquor license indefinitely, which led to its demise. As a result, the Wickedest Band Alive left U Street, becoming part of a huge nightlife flight that eventually made way for an Alero, a Quiznos, and a bunch of condos.

Essence’s return to 14th and U is being billed as the Club U reunion, but it’s actually happening at The Republic, which is pretty much right across the street from the Reeves Center. Close enough.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

9:00pm – 2:00am

The Republic

1355 U Street, NW

$25