The Scene

MusicDetour.com’s commentary on music, performances, and the DC metro area music scene

Even though we are still surrounded by the material evidence of winter, Amanda MacKaye and the crew organizing the Fort Reno summer concert series are already accepting applications for the 2010 edition.  Send them your demos!  Contact info is here.

The Fort Reno series is a highlight of the summer for many DCists.  It is in everyone’s interest that the eclectic lineup be as strong as possible.  For bands, these shows offer great exposure to potential fans who might not happen to ever stumble across a given act at a club or on their MySpace.

Photo credit:  Ron Akins

98 Rock hosts a local music showcase every Monday at Bourbon Street.  Unfortunately, they advertise the branded affordability of the night — $4.98 cover, $.98 open bar for the first 98 minutes, and $.98 drink specials after that — better than they advertise the schedule of bands.  I cannot find a listing of this week’s bands anywhere.  Maybe that’s the point.  You’re supposed to come for the cheap drinks and hope to be pleasantly surpised.  However, my sources tell me that this Monday, 2/22, the best line-up of Baltimore garage bands in months will take the stage:  The Expotentials, Fishnet Stalkers, and Lazlo Lee & The Motherless Children.  It’s a good thing the brick walls of The Quarter are bare, since these bands would peel the paint right off of them.

This is a melancholy week for Baltimore-area music fans, as two important sites are about to become memories:  the Glen Burnie Record & Tape Traders location and Friends bar in Fells Point.  Record & Tape Traders, as the name indicates, has been an important independent music retailer in Maryland for decades.  A few years ago they closed down several store locations in Annapolis, Rehobeth, Dundalk, and elsewhere.  After Sunday’s in-store wake, their only remaining store will be in Towson.

February also marks the final month for Friends in Fells.  Although not a live music venue, Friends has served as an important meeting place where Baltimore musicians have worked as deejays and bartenders while others have been regular customers, talking shop over beers.  Known for its late-night happy hour, Friends has made a great night-ender for folks who have spent their evening elsewhere, including live shows.  I’ll be saying goodbye on Wednesday the 24th, when DJ King Gilbert Partridge will host his final “No Rest For The Wicked” garage, etc., set while Matt Naas of The Expotentials pours drinks for one last time.  If you hear about the theft of Friends’ jukebox, loaded with the most amazing library of rock CDs imaginable, I will have had nothing to do with it.

Punk vaudevillian accordion player and former The Hold Steady keybordist Franz Nicolay is sweeping through our area while touring in support of his new solo album, Major General and EP, St. Sabastian of the Short Stage. Franz will play at DC9 on Saturday and The Ottobar next Wednesday, and he will hit Charlottesville and Richmond in between. In addition to his solo work, he is part of an a capella group with the new 7″ World/Inferno Presents: Vox Inferne, a Brooklyn publisher is coming out with the first of a series of his fiction chapbooks entitled Complicated Gardening Techniques, and Franz has several more projects in the pipeline. Somehow, this busy guy took time to respond to a few questions we had for him. Read our interview with Franz Nicolay after the jump. (more…)

If you can’t make it to Mardi Gras and you live in the DC area, don’t worry, head to Fat Tuesday’s in Fairfax, VA. In DC, there is no better place to celebrate Fat Tuesday than Fat Tuesday’s. Located across the street from George Mason University, it’s sure to have its fair-share of wannabe Mardi Gras revelers. While there’s no replacement for New Orleans in mid-February, Fat Tuesday’s will have ten bands playing all day (starting at 3pm!) including:  (more…)

One of the best shows in the area this week will be The BreakUps‘ CD release party at The Black Cat’s intimate Backstage on Thursday.  Both live and on disc you can expect to hear great familiar old garage grooves in infectious new combinations.  In their own right, The Scotch Bonnets are an intriguing addition to our local scene that should complement The Breakups nicely as the opener.  For only $8, this will be a fun night at a bargain rate.

This Saturday don’t miss the funk while you celebrate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The Monster Band will be bringing it’s funky cover tunes to Whitlow’s on Wilson this Saturday, January 16th. The show should start around 10pm, but be sure to come early and enjoy Whitlow’s happy hour. It’s usually 5 bucks to get in to Whitlow’s, so it won’t break the bank.

Focusing mostly on new wave and songs that established the foundation of what we used to call alternative music, a new 80s cover band is about to hit the bars of Maryland.  The New Romance will play their first gig at Sonoma’s Bar in Columbia on Saturday.  They also have a couple of shows scheduled at The River Watch in Essex, including a New Year’s party.  Check out their demos on their site and you’ll agree they are a pretty rad addition to the Charm City scene.

On Tuesday, Girl In A Coma from San Antonio came through Baltimore with their touring partners Brooklyn’s Black Gold to play The Ottobar with three local bands.  The crowd was small but those who came out saw an amazing show.  Girl In A Coma are destined for big things.  I arrived too late for Caustic Casanova’s set and only caught parts of the sets by Mason Summers, Odd Girl Out, and Black Gold.  They all struck me as groups with legitimate rock chops who can put on a fun show but rely too much upon gimmicks to make that happen.  However, I was blown away by Girl In A Coma.  Find out why after the jump.  (more…)

Big In Japan have enjoyed a kind of residency at The Windup Space in Baltimore, playing every Sunday evening in August.  Instead of merely having another band open for them each week, they have invited their guests to collaborate with them on stage.  I cannot imagine how much extra practice this entails, and when one considers that these shows are free, the monetary rewards must be even more limited than they usually are for such bands.  These shows are rock for art’s sake, and I highly recommend that you check out the final show of this series on the 30th when they will be joined by Katrina of Celebration.  This past Sunday Big In Japan’s guests were The Expotentials.  Details of the best show I have seen in a very long time follow after the jump. (more…)