We’re on a roll here with these photos, especially with ones of the White House. Here’s one of a concert given by the United States Marine Corps Band on the South Lawn. The photo was taken on July 16th, 1921. Now, here’s a photo of a more contemporary concert on the White House South Lawn. This is a view of ... Read More »
James Brown performed ”Say It Loud – I’m Black And I’m Proud“ at Richard Nixon’s 1969 inauguration. Wait. What? Believe it. The Godfather of Soul chose that particular song to celebrate the Republican president’s transition to power. Confusingly, James Brown actually backed Democrat Hubert H. Humphrey during the 1968 campaign. But when the victorious Nixon team called and offered him the inauguration gig, ... Read More »
About 5,500 weekends ago, Washingtonians woke up and lazily flipped through their newspapers. It was Sunday, November, 11, 1906 and something bold and new was described for the first time in The Post: New Portmanteau Words. Have you received any invitations to “brunch”? [...] “Brunch” is the latest Park Lane for a midday refection that includes breakfast and lunch. And ... Read More »
Before “Watergate” became synonymous with a group of buildings and a scandal, it was the name applied to something else. And it’s something that most of us are very familiar with, especially if you’re an avid runner who heads down to the Lincoln Memorial, on the Potomac side. There are a series of steps between the Lincoln Memorial and the ... Read More »
Rolling Stone just broke the sad news that Bee Gees co-founder Robin Gibb died today, succumbing to cancer. In the late 70s, the Bee Gees were on top of the world, owning the music industry. The Washington Post wrote an article about the group coming to Washington for a performance in 1979. They played the Capital Centre on Sunday, September ... Read More »
After The Dead and The Police, I’m on a little bit of a concert kick and this one is pretty sweet. Janis Joplin played Merriweather back in 1969, three weeks before the defining moment of the decade: Woodstock. That’s pretty cool. The Washington Post wrote a review and the guy that wrote it was Carl Bernstein … yep, as in ... Read More »
I had heard that Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland (aka, The Police) had played in Adams Morgan and wanted to do a little research into that. Unfortunately, they weren’t a huge band when they played here in 1979, so there was very little on their arrival here. After all, they had only been around for a little over two ... Read More »
I don’t know if you’re a fan of the Dead. I am. Let’s add another concert post on top of Hendrix, the Doors, U2 and Chuck Berry. In their heyday, they passed through down in the fall of 1972 to play a free show at AU in front of about 10,000. It was sponsored by the student government (does this ... Read More »
Check this out! If you were a student at the University of Maryland back in 1973 — maybe some of you were? — you could attend this sick concert with Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis and Bruce Springsteen. Okay, so Jerry Lee Lewis has as slightly dubious past, but the dude is pretty incredible at piano. Read More »
I suspect you’re checking out the blog this morning thinking, hmm … something looks different. Well, I spent the bulk of my posting time this past weekend cleaning up the new design of the site. The posts might be a little thinner this week as a result, but I think the new look is better. I hope you agree. Also, ... Read More »
Yep, that’s right. Paul (aka, Bono), Adam, Larry and David (aka, The Edge) rocked the nation’s capital in the early 80s. The Irish supergroup was less super back then, playing small (much smaller) venues like The Bayou in Georgetown and The Ontario Theater in Adams Morgan. How incredible would that be? I’m sure someone reading this went to one of ... Read More »
This one’s a good one from YouTube and it’s a little more contemporary, but given the artist in the video, I find this significant and musically historical. Stevie Ray Vaughan himself, was live in the nation’s capital on December 27th, 1983. The venue was a place called the Wax Museum at 4th and E St. NW. Side note … he ... Read More »
The Washington Hilton was a happenin’ place to see live music apparently, with Hendrix also playing there in ’68. Thanksgiving was the following Thursday, so I imagine a large number of kids were home from college, and what better way to take a break than watch Morrison, Manzarek, Densmore and Krieger? Read More »
Wow, this one is gold. Jimi Hendrix played the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Ave. NW — the same one where Hinkley shot Reagan in 1981. That’s right, the guitar god himself played to 4,000 fans in the hotel’s international ballroom on March 10th, 1968, accompanied by his bandmates, Noel Redding (drums) and Mitch Mitchell (bass). This one might be cooler ... Read More »
This is seriously awesome. The Internet is just amazing. This is a video from February 11th, 1964. It is the first live concert the Beatles played in the U.S. and it was right here in our city. They had only just arrived in New York City on the 7th and played for a live audience of about 700 people on ... Read More »
Ghosts of DC The lost and untold history of Washington