Week 0: Hello!
Elliot D -
Hello everyone!
My name is Elliot D, I am, as you might expect, a senior at BASIS Washington DC. Ever since I started listening to heavy metal, music has dominated my life. Since then I’ve picked up the guitar and a little bit of bass; most importantly, I’ve picked up an insatiable hunger for knowledge about all things music. This project represents an opportunity for me to take that knowledge, along with a healthy dose of cultural analysis, to talk about DC’s incredible and historically significant music scene.
DC has a dense history with music. Those who live in the area will know the importance and staying power of the gogo scene, and jazz greats like Duke Ellington that came out of the area. More relevant to my project, punks will know legends like Ian MacKaye, Henry Rollins, and Bad Brains, figureheads of hardcore punk’s rise in the early 80s. Following the momentum brought by this initial explosion, DC became a center for the DIY (Do It Yourself) ethos spawning Independent labels like Dischord records and hosting a breadth of venues to showcase the experimental music coming out of the city.
For this project, I will be interning at Rhizome, a community art space and DIY venue in DC, doing anything from soundcheck to ticketing to administrative work. My time there will bring me, and hopefully all of you, a better understanding on the internal aspects of DIY art and music, what drives it, and what limits it. As one of the few remaining house venues in the area, Rhizome is a bastion of community backed creativity amidst a city of rising prices and spreading gentrification.
I’m so excited to update this blog, and for the sake of fun, I’ll be leaving an album recommendation(usually relevant) in every blog post! This week’s is Who Let the Dogs Out by Lambrini Girls. No specific reason other than it’s the best!
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