This blog may be of limited interest to the average Pencil Storm reader, but I felt like writing it, so here goes. I was born in Washington, D.C. I grew up in Alexandria, VA and I spent my youth immersing myself in the underground music scene of the late 1970’s and early 80’s. I especially liked going to see local punk bands and have always followed what is going on in D.C. It occurred to me that some cool bits of trivia exist that I bet a lot of people don’t know. Here are five stories of no real importance, just fun facts, if you will.
1. The Slickee Boys place second in the MTV Basement Tapes Contest
Does anyone remember when MTV actually played music? For a few years, they had what they called the “Basement Tapes” contest in which unknown bands would make their own video and send it in. The best ones would get some airplay on the station, and one would win a recording contract. At least I think that’s what they won. Anyway, The Slickee Boys will always be one of the greatest bands in D.C. history as far as I’m concerned. Their recorded output isn’t fantastic, but their live shows were unparalleled. They made a goofy video for a somewhat silly but catchy song called “When I Go to the Beach.” It won second place.
The Slickee Boys’ Basement Tape / “When I Go to the Beach”
2. Black Flag blown away by Henry Garfield (now Rollins)
I’m proud to say that I was at this show. Black Flag came to D.C. to play the old 9:30 club with some of our local hardcore bands on the bill as openers. One of those bands was S.O.A. (State of Alert) which was fronted by Henry Garfield. Henry is an intense human being, and he put on an intense display that evening. Black Flag was impressed. A few months later, Henry quit his job at the Haagen-Dazs Ice Cream store in Georgetown and went out to California where he ended up fronting Black Flag, taking over the vocals from Dez Cadena, who moved to guitar. Oh yeah, and Henry changed his last name to Rollins. There are a bunch of variations on this story and how Henry ended up in Black Flag, but I know this part of the story is true. The legend that he got on the Black Flag bus that night and never came back is not true.
The only release by S.O.A. It’s my copy of Dischord release #2, first pressing, worth a small fortune…
3. Hardcore riot on New Year’s Eve!
This New Year’s Eve show, scheduled for December 31, 1984, is one that many D.C. hardcore (HarD.C.ore) fans remember well. The show, as evidenced by the gig flyer below, was to take place at the Wilson Center, where shows were frequently held. All bands were local except Reagan Youth, and maybe Sacrilege. I drove to the Wilson Center with my girlfriend and no one was there. We figured the show was cancelled, but as we were leaving, someone appeared and told us the show had moved to the Key Theater in Georgetown. That’s an odd place for a hardcore show, but off we went. As we drove down Wisconsin Avenue toward the theater, we saw a lot of commotion. A guy everyone called “One-eye Bruce” was walking up the street, visibly bleeding. Someone hurled a cinderblock through a plate glass window. There was a crowd in front of the theater and as we slowed down and rolled down the window to see what was happening, someone told us that there was a stabbing. We opted not to park the car and decided on Alfred Hitchcock movies at home to ring in the new year. I know at least some of the bands played, but I don’t know which ones.
Infamous New Years Eve Show
4. Brian Baker flirts with fame, multiple times
Brian Baker is my favorite guitar player (see this blog: TV Party Tonight! Ladies & Gentlemen, On Guitar: Brian Baker - by JCE — Pencil Storm (squarespace.com)). He started out playing in Minor Threat but has been in a million bands since then, including Dag Nasty, Junkyard, Bad Religion, Foxhall Stacks, and Fake Names to name a few. When Brian took his main gig, which is playing guitar in Bad Religion, he did so only after passing up an offer to go on tour with REM on their Monster tour. Brian also played much of the guitar on the underrated Troublizing by Ric Ocasek (of The Cars). He appeared on the Conan O’Brien and Jon Stewart shows as part of Ocasek’s band. And finally, Brian, at just twelve years old, won a backstage pass to a Santana concert. After picking up a guitar and impressing the roadies, they sent him out on stage for the encore song with a live guitar in hand to play alongside Carlos Santana and the rest of his band on “Black Magic Woman.”
The Conan O’Brien Show, 1997, Brian Baker on the left
5. United States Senator watches a hardcore show at the 9:30 Club
One of the best bands in the D.C. hardcore scene was called Marginal Man. The band featured two guitarists, one of which was a guy named Kenny Inouye. Kenny’s father was Representative, Senator Daniel Inouye (R.I.P.), a Democrat from Hawaii. Senator Inouye also was awarded a Medal of Honor. Representative Inouye was known to have attended at least one Marginal Man show at the original 9:30 Club at 930 F Street, NW back in the day.
JCE, or John to his friends, was born in 1963 in the Nation’s Capital. He grew up in the VA suburbs of D.C. His earliest musical memories are tied to a transistor radio with a single earphone that he carried everywhere listening to AM radio. At this point he still listens to a steady diet of punk, power pop, metal (Faster Pussycat=Yes, Megadeath=No), alt country and anything that has plenty of good guitar and drums. Oh, and he has an ever-growing collection of about 150 vintage skateboards.