Why Gentrify?!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khA5zJYZrYw]

5/23

The Sketches, a local pop-rock band, will perform at the 9:30 Club with Honey Chuck and the Dreamscape Project. Cost is $12. Recognize our city in the above video?

5/24

The Urban Verbs, a new wave band from DC will perform at the 9:30 Club on Saturday with Martin Royle at 6 pm. Cost is $20.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tebluTKKTAQ]

KRS-One, the revered hip-hop legend, will perform at the Black Cat at 9 pm on Saturday with Kokayi.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWa4UpajKTc&feature=related]

5/25

Kuku, a Nigerian acoustic guitarist and singer with a U Street open-mic following, will perform at Bohemian Caverns on Sunday at 7 pm. Cost is $10.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow-Xz-fOhH4&feature=related]

There’re a whole lot of concerts going on!

5/16 (tonight)

DeVotchka, the four-piece multi-instrumental that blends Eastern European sounds with rock, will perform at the 9:30 Club with Basia Bulat at 9 pm. Cost is $15.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj6SO_yKMe8]

Los Campesinos!, the Welsh seven-piece indie pop-rock band, will perform at the Black Cat with the Aquarium and Pash at 9 pm. Cost is $12.

5/17 (Saturday)

Junior League, will bring its bluegrass, country, and folk music to the Black Cat at 9 pm. Cost is $10.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXB_vOB0emI&feature=related]

The Speaks, a local five-member rock band with fame in Asia, will be play at the 9:30 Club with Monako and Dreaming of Eden at 6 pm. Cost is $12.

5/18 (Sunday)

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQw4PevmCws]

Alice Smith, the R&B, soul, jazz, etc. chanteuse with a powerful voice and some DC roots, will perform at the 9:30 Club at 7:30 pm with Res. Cost is $18.

Bishop Allen, the indie rock band from Brooklyn will perform at 8 pm at the Black Cat with the War on Drugs and Deleted Scenes. Cost is $12.

Yo Majesty, a female hip-hop crew known for its electro-rap jams, will perform at DC9 at 9 pm with Innerpartysystem. Cost is $12.

I’m posting this a couple days earlier than I normally would, as this should be pretty popular. Drummer ?uestlove (Questlove) from the Roots will be returning to DC to be DJ ?uestlove at Liv on Thursday with group emcee Black Thought. ?uestlove was here not too long ago at Bohemian Caverns to showcase his deejaying skillz, but it was pretty rainy apparently and that might have kept some people home (isn’t it going to rain again this Thursday? Don’t let that stop you!). Looks like you should RSVP to save some dinero.

The Do Over
A Rising Down Listening Experience
w/DJ Questlove :: Hosted by Black Thought

Thursday, May 15
Liv
2001 11th St NW
Doors @ 9pm
18+
$10 w/RSVP | $15 without
RSVP: www.questthought.eventbrite.com

DJ Questlove spinning

Black Thought on the mic

An intimate experience f/ their newest project Rising Down

Also featuring the heralded Sound of the City band & DJ Two Tone who will be celebrating his born day. “You’re not ready!”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZmgZN1umsM]

Ramble Jon “RJ” Krohn, better known as hip hop producer/artist RJD2, will bring his interesting blend of instrumentals, drum beats, rock, soul, hip hop, and voice sampling to the 9:30 Club tonight at 9 pm. He will be joined by Happy Chichester. Cost is $20. Should be a cool show!

Author Event : Felicia Pride will sign and discuss “The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop’s Greatest Songs”

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM (Busboys & Poets, Langston Room) - Author Felicia Pride will sign and discuss “The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-Hop’s Greatest Songs”.

In this book of life lessons culled from hip-hop culture, author Felicia Pride examines a wide range of hip-hop songs and artists, interpreting life through their lenses. Growing up with hip-hop, Pride has come to realize the way it shaped how she thinks, writes, and reacts, making her the person she is today. By incorporating her own experiences and reflections with the rapper’s message, she focuses on the positive, motivational influence hip-hop has on its audience. (more…)

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp6866n-Ci0&feature=related]

?uestlove (Questlove) might be a Grammy-winning producer and performer known worldwide for his work with his band the Roots, along with D’Angelo, Jay-Z and now even Al Green, but when he takes to the turntables he’d prefer to be able to cut out the wattage of his star power and just make you dance. The obsessive musicologist has long used spinning tunes as an additional creative outlet, so despite the gawking that often accompanies his massively afro-ed presence, there should be no parking on the dance floor during his DJ set at Liv tonight. Taking the first leg of the night, EZ Street is also someone who likes to shed the assumptions that go along with his day job to get lost in the music while DJing. As a beloved radio host on WKYS 93.9 FM, he traffics in all of the mainstream content of that station, but in the mix he gets to dig into his deeper and more varied tastes.– Rhome Anderson (April 2008) Washington Post

9 p.m. Sunday, April 20
Bohemian Caverns
2003 11th St. NW
Cost is $15

DJ Rekha is a London-born musician who has imported her own blend of contemporary bhangra music to the United States since the early 1990s. Her first album, DJ Rekha Presents Basement Bhangra, released in October 2007 on Koch Records, fuses the South Asian genre of bhangra music with international hip-hop and drum beats. DJ Rekha is a DJ, producer, curator, and activist, and has been credited with pioneering bhangra music in North America.

9 p.m. Saturday, April 19
Black Cat
1811 14th St. NW
Cost is $13

Soulful hip-hop producer and one half of the group Foreign Exchange. With Kay, Panacea and Muhsinah. Nicolay launched the Foreign Exchange project with Phonte from Little Brother and then a solo album entitled “Here.” Nicolay’s most recent project continues in the nuanced hip-hop soul vein in the form of a collaboration with Texan rapper Kay. Their album “TIME:LINE” is a rich and thoughtful collection of future soul meets hip-hop tunes. The duo headlines the Black Cat tonight, and they’ll be preceded by a pair of musically similar spirits, Washington’s own Muhsinah and Panacea.– Rhome Anderson (April 2008) Washington Post

9 p.m. Friday, April 18
Black Cat
1811 14th St. NW
Cost is $15

At tonight’s Laced party at Cue Bar you can experience one performer doing live simultaneous mash-ups of sights and sounds culled from classic hip-hop records, ’80s pop, B-movies, and horror flicks. If that ends up not being compelling, you can play some Wii on a projector screen.

– Rhome Anderson (Nov. 2007) Washington Post

7 p.m. Thursday, April 17

Cue Bar
1115 U St. NW

The D.C. Office of the Mayor and the Humanities Council of Washington, DC host a panel discussion highlighting the disconnect between the “Hip-Hop” and “Civil Rights” generations featuring Professor Griff of Public Enemy.

Both agencies mark “D.C. Emancipation Day” with a forum to address the ever- growing inter-generational and cultural divide.

Washington, D.C. — Monday, April 14 from 12:00-2:00pm, the Humanities Council of Washington, DC in conjunction with the D.C. Mayor’s Office of the Secretary, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on the eve of D.C. Emancipation Day, will host a panel discussion concerning the ever-growing divide between the “Civil Rights” generation and the “Hip-Hop” generation. The resounding question being asked is: Does the Hip-Hop generation of today, have a lack of understanding and/or respect for the Civil Rights generation of yesterday, and how will this disconnect affect the global generation of tomorrow?

Featured Panelists:

The event will be highlighted by a performance from noted Hip-Hop Activist/Artist Bomani “D-Mite” Armah, who ignited a firestorm of controversy for his now infamous socio-political music video Read-A-Book; which was denounced by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, featured on CNN News, and featured on BET’s “106 and Park”; Kavon Shah also known as Professor Griff (Member of Public Enemy), Ted Loza, Director of Fiesta D.C.; Author and Scholar on race and equity in education Sheryl Denbo, President of The Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium; and D.C. Councilmember, Kwame Brown. Other invited panelists include former D.C. Mayor, and current councilmember Marion Barry, and noted civil rights activist, and former member of Congress Walter E. Fauntroy. The discussion will be moderated by university lecturer, former Director of D.C. Consumer Regulatory Affairs, and Humanities Council Chairman, Don G. Murray.

WHAT: Washington, D.C. Emancipation Day 2008

“Conversations on Great Streets” Panel Discussion

WHEN: April 14, 2008

TIME: NOON - 2pm

WHERE: Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library

901 G Street NW , Washington , D.C.

About The Humanities Council of Washington , DC :

The Humanities Council of Washington, DC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit aiming to build bridges between multiple and diverse Washington D.C. neighborhoods to affirm and enliven the human spirit, promote cross-cultural understanding, enrich the quality of life, foster intellectual stimulation, and to transform lives through the power of the humanities. Visit www.wdchumanities.org