For this week's issue, I reported a lengthy oral history of the annual concert series at Fort Reno in Tenleytown. This summer's shows conclude tonight with sets from The Evens and Laughing Man.

For years, Fort Reno regulars have circulated rumors of a ban against go-go (and even hip-hop) at Fort Reno. Certainly, no one seems to recall seeing a go-go band play there. Some believe officials feared go-go bands would bring violent crowds to the park, much like the violent crowds that attended early hardcore shows. A few interviewees weighed in on the subject.

Carleton Ingram, 38, booked Fort Reno 1996-1999, played in The Better Automatic: That ban happened before we took over, or that was the rumor. I didn’t know any go-go bands, but we would’ve given anybody a shot. That’s always the stuff that was more rumor than reality. We had one ska band that was an issue...but even the one problem we had only started there and rolled into the Metro. In the eight years we booked, we only had one problem.

Mike Kanin, 34, booked Fort Reno in the late ’90s, played in The Better Automatic, The No-Gos, Trooper, Black Eyes: I remember when we were booking, we weren’t allowed to book go-go bands. There were legitimate concerns about violence from the cops.

Amanda MacKaye, 41, books Fort Reno, played in The Routineers, Desiderata: [A go-go ban has] always been something that's been heard, but I can't find any paper documentation of it. I'm certainly not opposed to booking go-go. I started testing the water by putting Head-Roc and different hip-hop groups on bills to see if anyone would say anything. I certainly have had my own collection of go-go music to be played between bands. The best I can tell is it was a rumor that got cemented as to what it was, but I have not found any evidence of it. There’s certainly nothing in the permit about that. I mean, you can't do anything inflammatory, like you can't yell fire in a crowded room.

To that end, I will say that I don't get any requests from go-go bands. It’s entirely possible that it's not their scene. Only the sound guy gets paid, and many bands after the fact set up shows and donate the money to Fort Reno. Not everybody who's in a professional band can afford to play for free.

Natasha Stovall, 40, booked Fort Reno in the early ’90s: When I was there, I really wanted to have a go-go show. I wanted to book something like the legendary funk/punk show when Minor Threat played with Trouble Funk. I was definitely interested in having more black bands, but the issue that came up was money. Go-go bands are professional bands, and there are a lot of people in that band. They don’t play for free.

I had this dream of booking Fugazi and this go-go band, I think it was Trouble Funk—it was either Rare Essence or Trouble Funk. I managed to get in touch with their manager...We had a budget then, and I think I had like $500. I could’ve paid them. Then the idea was like we couldn’t pay more than $500, so I said "Look, Ian, I’ll give them $500, and you can play for free since you’re already playing for free." He said, “Why would we play for free if they’re not playing for free?” I mean, it was Fugazi’s home turf.

Ian MacKaye, 49, played in Teen Idles, Minor Threat, Fugazi; plays in The Evens: Starting around 1989, Fugazi never took money for local shows and in fact paid for the P.A. and other production costs for a number of the free outdoor gigs (including augmenting the sound at fort reno shows). We definitely were not inclined to pay other bands to open for us.

Paul Strauss, 47, D.C. shadow senator and former chair of the Neighborhood Planning Council: I don't think [there were any conflicts with go-go bands]. If anything, if there was a complaint it was that we were pretty open. Bands that wanted to get booked could get booked. If there was a neighborhood garage band, they could get booked. I don't remember having a policy against booking anyone. If anything, I asked myself from time to time, "Who let these guys on stage?"

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

Lineup: Trouble Funk, the Evens, Ted Leo, Bob Mould, the Psychedelic Furs, Marti Jones and Don Dixon, the Pietasters, Tiny Desk Unit, the Fleshtones, the Slickee Boys, Clutch, Justin Jones, and Tommy Keene.

[W]hen I was a rough kid my mom sent me to stay in DC, I stayed in Oxon Hill with my brother... Man, Rare Essence, Chuck Brown, that was my thing. I used to go to a lot of the go-go shows at The Armory and when they used to have it at the Cap Center I’d be there. That’s really where I got a lot of call and response from. I was a DJ and I did call and response, but I never [knew] how to apply it on a record. So when I did spend my time up there, I would go to these shows and I would see Chuck Brown up there and Rare Essence and I would see the battles. Because back then, they would be battling and shit, they would be getting down, it’d be like battle of the bands. So I heard that and I kind of applied a lot of that into me as an artist. Keeping the party started, coming up with different call and responses. I learned a lot from go-go music.

This is not an uncommon sentiment. I've dedicated a large chunk of my life to phone conversations with old school Southern hip-hop artists and it's surprising how many of them, often tipped off by a 202 area code, start reminiscing about go-go music and whatever tenuous connections led them to it in the '80s. New Orleans bounce godfather DJ Jimi mentioned discovering the genre while living in P.G. County, Geto Boys DJ Ready Red (a N.J. transplant who had his biggest impact in Houston) used to cop go-go 12-inches through an uncle in Silver Spring. (Another short term Geto Boy, Big Mike, once reminisced on "jamming that Trouble Funk" at New Orleans block parties with "Southern Thang.")

Quiet as kept, those early D.C. jams went big throughout the South. While not technically being hip-hop, go-go was in a sense one of the earliest branches of "regional rap" to pop up. And in a lot of ways it provided the blueprint for what would the South would turn into an international industry in the years that followed—the heavy call-and-response factor that Luke mentions, the local specificity of it all, the aspect of black-owned labels. Echos of these trends could be heard throughout bounce, bass, and crunk music. And sure, similar things were happening in the early days of New York hip-hop as well, but that as that city began to move toward a more lyrical and cerebral focus, it was D.C.'s formula that helped keep the party going in the rest of the country. (And, in a bit of cyclical influence, the sound of current day southern rap can be heard in plenty of modern go-go.)

Here are a few explicit musical crossovers from the south:

Beatmaster Clay-D – "My Go-Go Beat" (Miami, 1988)

2 Live Crew & Trouble Funk – "The Bomb Has Dropped" (Miami, 1989)

DJ Jubilee – "Go-Go Bounce (Remix)" (New Orleans, 1996)

Here's a strange example of Go-Go resonance for today. A chunk of the score to Super Nintendo's hover car classic F-Zero bears a striking resemblance to the lead melody from Trouble Funk's 1982 classic "Let's Get Small." Was Japan cranking Trouble like that? Did composers Yumiko Kameya and Naoto Ishida import a hold of a subtitled copy of Good To Go? Or is this merely a coincidence? You be the judge, after the jump.

• The Footprint in Hip Hop Tour: Method Man & Red Man, Ghostface Killah, Duo Live. 9:30 club. $35. All ages.
• Sophia Bass, Ruthi & the Tracers. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.
• Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers, Lil’ Ed & the Blues Imperials. Birchmere. $25.
• Head Automatica, Cubic Zirconia. Black Cat. $15. All ages.
• Carol Bui Butterflies, Impossible Hair, US. Comet Ping Pong. All ages.
• The Mass Shivers, The Alphabet, Hello Babies, Greenland, Wild Fictions. D.C. Mini Gallery. $5. All ages.
• Abigail Williams, Goatwhore,  Daath, Abysmal Dawn, Success Will Write Apocalypse Across the Sky, Fallen Martyr, Nightmare Ritual. Jaxx. $12/$15. All ages.
• The Winter Sounds, Go Home Robot, Achtung Panda. The Red & The Black. $8. +21.
• Bob Dylan. Ripken Stadium. Call for price.
• Bonjour Ganesh!, Ghost Light, The Mean Ideas. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10. All ages.
• Project Natale (Fri. & Sat. shows). Twins Jazz. $15.
• Sunsets with a Soundtrack: The U.S. Army Ceremonial Band. West Steps U.S. Capitol. Free.
• Girl Loves Distortion, Trophy Wife, Three Lexington Arrows, Fangs Out. Velvet Lounge. $8. +21.
• National Symphony Orchestra: “The Wizard of Oz.” Filene Center at Wolf Trap. $20–$48.

Saturday

• Trouble Funk 30th Anniversary Reunion Tribute to Dyke, w/ The Art of Junk, Da Mixx Band. 9:30 club. $20. All ages.
• Andy Paxon Band, Rose Between Thorns. Bangkok Blues. Call for price.
• Dave Alvin & the Guilty Women. Birchmere. $25.
• Extra Golden, Black & Tan Fantasy Band. Black Cat. $12. All ages.
• Bluebrain, Alfonso Bravo. Comet Ping Pong. All ages.
• Buster Brown & the Get Down. Dogfishhead Alehouse. Call for price.
• 2009 Capital Hip Hop Soul Fest. Marvin Gaye Park. Call for prices.
• Pants Velour, The Escape Artist, Reemstarr, Flex Matthews. The Red & The Black. $8. +21.
• The Mighty Heard, Baad Ingrish, Ndelible. Rock and Roll Hotel. $10. All ages.
• Satisfaction: A Tribute to The Rolling Stones. The State Theatre. $16.
• Nunchucks, 7 Door Sedan, We The They, DJ sets by Kingpin Soundsystem. Velvet Lounge. $8. +21.
• National Symphony Orchestra: “The Music of John Williams.” Filene Center at Wolf Trap. $20–$75.

Sunday

• Eric Weinberg & the Morrison Brothers. Birchmere. $35.
• Crystal Stilts, The Ladybug Transistor, Cotton Candy. Black Cat Backstage. $10. All ages.
• So Many Dynamos, Cast Spells, Detox Retox. DC9. $8. +18.
• Born Empty, Deville. The Red & The Black. $6. +21.
• Black Moth Super Rainbow, Dan Friel. Rock and Roll Hotel. $15. All ages.
• Sugarplums, Microwave Background. Velvet Lounge. $8. +18.
• Gordon Lightfoot. Filene Center at Wolf Trap. $22–$40.

Photo of Michael O'Neill, of The Ladybug Transistor, via MySpace.