Dumbek's Random Stuff

Before:





After:


It's a Christmas Miracle!

The "Washington Social Christmas" show was a blast. I've seen Washington Social Club about 20 times now and their set was among the best I've seen. They opened with a cover of The Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want To Fight Tonight)" and never let up. Olivia totally rocked her Xmas cape. The festival arrangement worked well, with Caverns playing between bands. Pay attention to them. They're good. A dc-all-star "Fairytale of New York" was in there somewhere. Nice.

Thanks to Bob, Rich, Nick and Amber for letting us stay in the club following the show, while they setup for Blowoff. We weren't looking forward to hanging outside in the 40-degree rain for an hour while they made the switch. Blowoff was terrific. I guess because of the weather and the holidays, the crowd was a bit smaller. Fine by me. I hate it when it's jam-packed. Lots of room to move around and very easy to find all of my friends, who were out in abundance. Even bear-santa was there. We got to stay to the very end for a change, which was a treat. A very late breakfast got us back to our room at about 6am. I couldn't do that every month, but it was a great night.

Work decided to give us off on 12/24, so I get a 4-day weekend. woohoo!

Staying local for Xmas. Dinger and I are combining our families for the day, as usual. It makes for a long day, but it's just one day. No traveling. No overnight stays. Hopefully less drama than at Thanksgiving. We're hoping to wind-down the evening with friends.


This is my new favorite Xmas cd. How can you not love a Christmas song that directly addresses hipsters? Gotta love Rufus and Pancake Mountain.

We got a tree on Wednesday. We went to decorate it last night and remembered that we threw our lights out last year. Oops. Dinger's off to buy new lights today. We almost didn't get a tree at all, but changed our minds at the last minute. Having the tree just changes the whole mood of the holidays.

It looks like I'm the only one at work today. I'm literally the only person in our suite. Slackers.

Upcoming shows...hmm... Patti Smith next week. The Slickees return to Baltimore. Editors in January. Tickets for Bob's show in March went on sale earlier this week. That'll be a fun one. Another double-header with Bob playing an early gig, followed by Blowoff the same night. Yowza. I should start resting now.

There's a great local bands show next month at 9:30:

"30 Years Over DC"
feat. 9353, Ottley, The Howling Mad, Rambling Shadows, Rustbuckit, The New Standard
1/12/08

Old-school DC goodness. The "30 Years Over DC" heading is a play on one of the earliest DC punk compilations - ":30 Over DC" which features the Slickee Boys, White Boy, 1/2 Japanese, Nurses and a bunch of others. Many thanks to Henry Rollins for finally getting this released on cd. Go buy it. While you're there, pick up his Trouble Funk release. It'll change your life. And while I'm at it, here's a plug for the awesome "30 Under DC" website. More info about early DC punk records than you ever needed to know.

hmmm.....that's it for now. Someone just walked in. I should at least pretend to work now.

So I get to do two of my favorite things tonight.

2 of my favorite local bands (along with a slew of other folks sitting in) are playing a big Xmas show at the 9:30 Club tonight. It's "A Washington Social Christmas", featuring Washington Social Club (duh), The Dance Party, Jukebox the Ghost, Caverns, members of Exit Clov, Laura from Georgie James and who knows who else. Guaranteed to be a blast.

Immediately following this show, they're going to clear the club and open the doors for the Xmas version of Blowoff. Hopefully, with Town opening down the street the crowd will be slightly smaller. Either way, it sounds like everyone I know is gonna be there, so fun will be had by all.

Unfortunately, it's also doubling as a going-away party for our favorite DC bartender, as he and is bf are moving up to the Arctic Circle to pursue bigger and better things. Stay warm boys.

Between the multiple events and crappy weather, Dinger and I decided to just stay in town for the night. (Thanks, Priceline). We may actually stay at Blowoff until the very end for once. From what I understand, that's when it gets crazy. We'll see.


Speaking of Mr. Mould, you can download his new single here. Listen. Rock. It looks like he's playing 9:30 on 3/15. I think the presale is over, but tix will probably go on sale soon enough.

I spend way too much time at the 9:30 Club.

42

Dammit people - I count on you to keep me informed about things like this.

Mills, fresh from recording with R.E.M., began the night's musical performance, which took place in a tented backyard patio with a makeshift stage. Along with drummer Matt Tebo and trumpeter Kevin Cordt, both local musicians, as well as FMC Executive Director Jenny Toomey on backing vocals, Mills played an acoustic, four-song set. Beginning with R.E.M.'s "Wendell Gee", he went on to play The Troggs' "Love Is All Around Us", and his own composition, "Gift of the Fathers", written in honor of baseball legend Roberto Clemente. An experienced showman who recognized that the song's namesake was but 20 minutes away, Mills closed his set with R.E.M.'s "Don't Go Back to Rockville".

Mike Mills plays f-cking "Wendell Gee" in DC and I miss it. With Jenny Toomey on backup vocals? Swoon.

Dammit.

My ticket karma continues...

Dinger's out of town, so on a whim I decided to check out Dark Star Orchestra at 9:30 last night. I checked on tickets before work and it wasn't sold out, so I figured I'd save the service charges and pick up a ticket at the door. By the time I got home from work and checked again, it was sold-out. Dammit.

I decided to head down anyway. I rationalized it by picking up tickets for a couple of upcoming shows (Washington Social Club and Patti Smith), telling myself I'd just see what the ticket situation was. Maybe the cold weather would keep people away and I'd be able to find a ticket somehow. No such luck. There were at least a dozen people walking around begging for tickets. Dammit.

I was about to leave when I ran into a friend of mine who told me to keep looking - he found a ticket for face value after a few minutes of asking people. It seemed that everyone was looking for a free ticket, and if you had money it shouldn't be too hard to find one. hmm...what the hell...I'm already here. I'm willing to pay face value. I hold my finger in the air for about 15 minutes - nothing. Dammit.

So out of nowhere some dude walks up and stands right in front of me - way too close. I'm like ...what a dick... Then I realize it's f--king Tucker Carlson. I'm not too surprised, since we ran into him the last time we saw DSO. I wasn't really expecting that though. Slightly annoyed/amused, I just kind of chuckled to myself. That's when this guy who was with Tucker tapped me on the shoulder. I figured I just got busted rolling my eyes at him or letting my disdain show through. I turn and look at the guy and he just slips a ticket in my hand and says "Have a good night". Slightly shocked, I reply "Are you serious? I can pay you for it. I'm not looking for a freebie." He just waves me off and heads on his way. I found him inside later and offered to by him a drink, but he said no. Many thanks to you, sir. Greatly appreciated. So my ticket karma is still intact, but now I need to pay it back. I'll need to figure out a way to do that.

The show itself was nice. 8/18/89 Greek Theater - Berkeley, CA. I wasn't at that one, but I was at tons of shows in 89, so it hit home with me pretty nicely. Any show with "Iko Iko" is ok by me.

I'm debating going back for more tonight. Not sold out yet. We'll see. I'll buy my ticket earlier this time. I definitely need to make it to Remington's tonight to see Mr. Bartender's final stand. He's leaving us for chillier climates soon. :-(