The Scene

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

Washington City Paper is compiling a “Best of D.C. 2010 Readers’ Poll”. Check it out under “Arts & Entertainment”. There are plenty of categories about music: Best Jazz/Blues Venue, Best Local Band, Best Local Hip-Hop Artist, Best Music Venue, Best Outdoor Venue, Best Place to See Local Music. It’ll be interesting to see the results. Share your opinions in the comments section.

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…)

Poor Man’s Lobster (Photo: Courtesy Mike DiBella)

Don’t miss Poor Man’s Lobster’s Cd Release Party this Saturday February 13th at Fat Tuesday’s in Fairfax, VA. The Fairfax-based quintet has been jamming together for three years and has finally put together an album that’s sure to be funky. Poor Man’s Lobster is one of the few original bands in the northern Virginia area worth checking-out. I’ve jammed to their music several times at Fat Tuesday’s and have never been disappointed. Hopefully if they know how to push the album right, they can expand their territory – it would be a good thing for the DC area and Mid-Atlantic region to get more funky jam bands playing at the bars. It’s only $5 to get-in so don’t miss this show.

Charlie Hunter is bringing his unique guitar style back to Jammin’ Java this Saturday, January 30th at 9:30pm. He’s out touring to promote his new album “Gentlemen, I Neglected To Inform You, You Will Not Be Getting Paid“.  This time around Hunter will be playing with Eric Kalb on Drums and Curtis Fowlkes on Trombone. If you’ve never seen or heard of Charlie Hunter before, he’s best known for playing guitar and bass at the same time – it’s a really unique style and he’s funky as hell. Check this show out! Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door, but make sure you get tickets before they sell-out.

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.

Ethnic Detour is an instrumental trio that got started as a Quartet in the Spring of 2003 at the Virginia Tech International Street Fair. While the group’s three core musicians (Gjergji Theka, Cameron McLaughlin and David Arditi) focused on other projects, they continually came back to play the VT International Street Fair each Spring. This is a video of Nato Jenkins at the International Street Fair in 2005 when Ethnic Detour began to focus on original music. Browse the videos from that show that are also posted on YouTube, also check-out more of Gjergji’s videos while you are there.

One great show to check-out this New Year’s Eve will be True Sound at Awful Arthur’s in Blacksburg, VA. This is the best way to celebrate the New Year for all the Hokie fans out there that could not make it to Atlanta for the Chick-Fil-A Bowl. What better place to watch the bowl? Watch them game then jam to some great music. The show will start with opening All Kinds of Gravity at 10pm. True Sound will hit at about 11pm. Tickets are $6 for 21+ and $10 for 18-21.

Still looking for a way to celebrate the New Year and the new decade? There are quite a few options in the greater Washington, DC area for the music lovers. So say good-bye to Aught-Nine and ring in the new year’s by getting your ears ringing with music. A list of some of the events going on New Year’s Eve in Washington, DC, Virginia and Maryland after the jump. (more…)

Every few years the stars align and Halloween falls on a Saturday – if it were up to me, I would make Halloween the last Friday or Saturday of October, but for some reason it must be October 31st. The only thing better could be Halloween on a Saturday with a Full Moon (we miss that by two days), but the weekend should be fun anyway. When Halloween falls on a weekday there is always some confusion – should you be a die-hard reveler and celebrate on Halloween? or the weekend before? or the weekend after? These questions are answered when it falls on the weekend and since it falls on a Saturday be ready to party Friday and Saturday nights. There are plenty of Halloween shows going on around Washington, DC this weekend be sure to catch them all. Check-out the schedule after the jump.

(more…)