What's Your Problem? Helping D.C.'s arts scene talk through its many issues.
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Posted: October 29, 2008 - What's Your Problem?
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Posted: October 8, 2008
The Afflicted: Dan Amitai, Ivan Khilko, and Adrian Parsons, hosts of Beyond, a weekly dubstep happy hour in the Upstairs lounge above P Street NW restaurant Skewers.
Diagnosis: Dub what? Since launching Beyond last May, Amitai, Khilko, and Parsons have been figuring out how to promote an underground U.K. music genre here. “First, most people aren’t familiar with the music genre as a whole,” says Amitai. “Second, a lot of the people who hear it don’t necessarily like it.”
Symptoms: In a nightlife scene heavy on dance beats, building an audience for dubstep’s darker, minimalist sound has been a challenge. “A lot of people say that dubstep is a full-body experience,” says Amitai. “Unfortunately, you have to get some bodies in the door for them to figure that out.” First, though, Beyond had to kick some other bodies out. “On one of our first nights, our room was double-booked,” says Parsons. “We got in and said, ‘Great! There are some people here who are a little bit older, with wire-framed glasses,’” he says. “But they turned out to be a group of conspiracy-theory people from the 9/11-was-an-inside-job retaliation front.”
Treatment: “We try to start with some downtempo and trip-hop stuff that most people will already know, while dropping some of the more interesting music in between,” says Amitai. “When we do that, we find it’s much more manageable. And a lot of times, people end up liking the experimental stuff better.” Adds Parsons: “The $2 beers don’t hurt.”
Beyond is held Wednesdays from 6 to 11 p.m. at 1633 P St. NW. Writer’s block? Funding issues? Technical difficulties? Send your story to problem@washingtoncitypaper.com.
Jan. 25 - 31, 2008 (Vol. 28, #4)
Comments
10:03 am
Amanda, thank you for the write-up! See you soon. -Dan
12:29 pm
You state,
“But they turned out to be a group of conspiracy-theory people from the 9/11-was-an-inside-job retaliation front." Firstly, the official theory of what happened on 9/11 was a theory about 19 Arabs with box cutters directed by a man in a cave. Therefore ALL theories of what happened that day are conspiracy theories. You might not have realized you were putting down the people you describe as conspiracy theorists. Those who value the arts and music might consider that ridicule of those who think differently than you can come back against you from OTHER closed minded people.
It's also unfair to suggest the group favors retaliation. While I have my problems with the group you mention, they should not be accused of seeking retaliation, which would mean the government should jail them, possibly without trial. They just do public education.
For those willing to ask the hardest questions about the most central historical event of our time, I advise you to review the HUNDREDS of military, intelligence, law enforcement, architects, engineers, and academics listed at patriotsquestion911.com.
It's debatable whether citizens who lack the courage to examine the hardest questions about 911 deserve to live in a free country.
2:30 pm
Absolutely stunning, congratulations Ivan!
Edward Grad
Matte Painting Artist
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2850059/
4:33 pm
What's more shocking is the willingness of ordinary Americans to sit by while the really important issues languish on the sidelines.
America has seen themselves as a city on the hill, a perfect beacon that can shine on others, and this status is in real danger at this moment.
Anyone who considers themselves a patriot must read this article:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs07/columns/story?columnist=merrill,%20elizabeth&id=3206790
5:25 pm
Well Amanda Hess you've managed to square the circle. You finally wrote an article that's so by-the-numbers that it can't offend anyone. Anyone except 9/11 researchers. YOU, Amanda Hess, are as bad as the neo-cons, Halliburton, and Israeli fascists.
City Paper readers need some TRUTH:
http://www.wanttoknow.info/050908insidejob911
http://www.911sharethetruth.com/
http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/june2005/270605insidejob.htm
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/279827_conspiracy02ww.html
http://bushstole04.com/
7:00 pm
What's more shocking than that is static electricity. Bang.... Let that be a lesson to the rest of you nuts!!!
2:00 pm
You will never find the real killer
5:23 pm
Dubstep? More like DUBYA'S PROPAGANDA VENUE! I AM OUTRAGED AT AMANDA HESS' LIES!
WITNESS THE TRUTH:
www.nambla.org
5:23 pm
Dubstep? More like DUB-YA'S PROPAGANDA VENUE! I AM OUTRAGED AT AMANDA HESS' LIES!
WITNESS THE TRUTH:
www.nambla.org
5:26 pm
Dubstep? More like DUB-YA'S NEW WAY TO SPREAD HIS LIES! I am OUTRAGED at you, Amanda Hess- or should I call you INDIE JOSEF GOEBBELS?
WITNESS THE TRUTH, CITY PAPER READERS:
www.nambla.org
5:28 pm
oops, i hit reload too many times
8:48 pm
Beyond's minimalist sounds might have resonated infinitely more euphoniously had they minimalized them further by replacing with silence their gratuitous disparagements of people who did nothing to bother them and are wise enough to be more concerned about their losing all their civil liberties than they are.
1:30 pm
That's funny... the very problem that afflicts Dan Amitai and his friends about dubstep is the same one that plagues our group about 9/11. To borrow his quote:
"First, most people aren't familiar with [9/11 truth] as a whole," says Amitai. "Second, a lot of the people who hear it don't necessarily like it."
As for Adrian Parsons' dismissing us as "conspiracy-theory people from the 9/11-was-an-inside-job retaliation front," we could just as easily gripe that some fringe music freaks from the it's-not-my-problem/get-over-it crowd had interrupted OUR meeting. But we try not to engage in gratuitous insults.
Let's count our blessings that we're both around to complain. The thousands who were burned alive or crushed to death in the attacks on 9/11 might have a more important "problem" to address in this column.
Maybe CityPaper could show some moral courage and honor those victims by doing a story on the 9/11 truth movement. What's the problem?
11:44 am
Hay guys I heard 9/11 and came running, what's going on?
11:47 am
p.s. I will be guest DJing at Beyond on my way back from the campaign, be there! I plan on spinning minimal spending house.
11:52 am
I was going to spin this party until I found out that Beyond is part of the conspiracy to cover up 9/11!
it hapened, people! you can see it in old photographs
there used to be two towers, now there's just like one or something
Also, they serve middle eastern/mediteranian food there.
I'm sorry, but my refusal to rely of foreign oil extends to olive, grapeleaf and aniseed oils and I cannot stand by while our own languishing farms continue to eke out a meager existance.
For shame, "dan"
11:56 am
ADRIAN IS SPREADING LIES LIKE MY CREAMY SELF IS SPREAD ON MULTIGRAIN BREAD, MOST LIKELY WITH GRAPE JELLY.
12:00 pm
Call me silly, but the article simply stated that the party was double booked with a “a group of conspiracy-theory people from the 9/11-was-an-inside-job retaliation front.”
I didn't see a word of disparagment unless this group considers what they think to be disparaging of themselves. So you think 9/11 was an inside job. Cool. Whatever floats your boat.
Maybe people should stop and consider why they are being so defensive.
12:08 pm
You people think you know what's going on, but the fact that you're using the jingoist phrase "9/11" shows that you're already corrupted by the state. The event you are referring to is "September 11th". Way to commoditize tragedy you idiots ... real patriots should know better.
12:11 pm
Lex Luther did WTC
1:03 pm
well, "superman" it's obvious that you were complicit because you could have stopped it all.
perhaps the first tower would have fallen, but there's no way the second could have as well.
lex succeeded because you let him.
1:24 pm
Eric you are correct. Superman is trying to frame me.
1:41 pm
Oh no you didn't lex! don't even play, you know it was you. too bad you laced ground zero with kryptonite or i would have been able to foil you properly. I have my eye on you lex. protect your neck.
1:42 pm
STFU clark you don't even know!!
5:28 pm
protect your neck?
what's next, the Supes-tang Clan Ain't Nothing To Fuck With?
12:01 pm
zing!!!
p.s. LEX LUTHER 4 LIFE, SUPERMAN IS A JERK.