Washington City Paper: Contents for Mar. 23

Scene Stealers
Even in D.C.'s rowdy punk underground, Bad Brains broke all the rules.

Cover Story

Washington's '70s punk scene was hardly as large or significant as New York's or London's, but all three have one thing in common: Exactly when they began is a matter of interpretation. Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital, the new book by Mark Andersen and Washington City Paper arts critic Mark Jenkins, opens in 1976, the year that such bands as the Slickee Boys, the Look, and the Controls debuted. Members of the latter two groups soon allied to found the Urban Verbs, the first area punk (aka New Wave) outfit to sign a major-label contract. The earliest D.C. punk band to make a national impact, however, came out of an entirely different world from the Verbs' college-and-arts-space circuit. These edited excerpts from Dance of Days recount the beginnings of Bad Brains, the quartet that brought D.C. punk up to speed, thus shaping the style that was to become known as hardcore.

"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve--with PMA." --Napoleon Hill, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude

By mid-1976, Washington had the makings of a punk-rock scene focused on the Keg, a now-demolished Glover Park bar; the campuses of Georgetown and American Universities; and the former's radio station, WGTB-FM. It wasn't until 1978, however, that punk crossed the Anacostia River into the city's easternmost precincts. It was carried there by two black teenagers, Sid McCray and Darryl Jenifer.... Continued

Issue of Mar. 23 - 29, 2001

News and Features

Scene Stealers
Even in D.C.'s rowdy punk underground, Bad Brains broke all the rules.
Cover Story By Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins
Route Bout
Metro's N7 Express attracts riders whom transit officials want. So why kill the bus line?
The City By Mary Guiden
Power Down
The City By Richard Byrne
Who's Watching the Henhouse?
The Mail By Lee Jr.
Scatter Shot
The Mail By Hershal Shevade
Comparative Literature
The Mail By Dvora Lovinger
Fitting Tribute
The Mail By Robert J. Dewar
Influence Peddling
The Mail By Phil Kimball
Songs in the Key of Life
The Mail By Chris "Sky" Shaw
Cash Cows?
The Mail By Marya Annette McQuirter
Words and Deeds
The Mail By Jeff Evans
Bowled Over
The Mail By Jon Sands
Wild Wild West
The Mail By E.F. Beall

Columns

Reading. Rocking. Rasslin'?
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Watching Out For Numero Uno
Loose Lips By Jonetta Rose Barras
Stall of Confusion
City Desk By Laura Lang
Bark and Byte
City Desk By Richard Byrne

Eats

Movies

Keeping Up With the Love Joneses
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
Rude Awakening
Film Review By Joel E. Siegel
Exit Wounds
Film Review By Mark Jenkins
Heartbreakers
Film Review By Elissa Silverman

Music

Back to the Future
Music Review By Shannon Zimmerman
Jazz Ahead
Music Review By Brent Burton
The Grande Tour
InDC By Mark Jenkins

Theater

The Importance of Being Ernestine
Theater Review By Bob Mondello

Arts and Events

Poetic Injustice
Two D.C. performance poets thought they'd found the perfect venue for readings inside Silver Spring's City Place Mall. But the prosaic demands of the marketplace got them kicked out.
Arts By Annys Shin
All Belongs to You
Gallery Review By Glenn Dixon
Vision Quest
Artifacts By Dave Mann
Beginner's Luck
Artifacts By Margaret Foster