Know Your Music: DC Go-Go

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Today we’re talking DC go-go. That’s go-go, a type of funk music from Washington, D.C. No, it has nothing really to do with go-go dancers. It’s a type of funk that has a distinctive syncopated rhythm due to the use of congas, bongos, timbales and cow bells. There’s also a lot of call and response vocals that get the crowd involved. This is a very live concert-oriented genre of music. It started off as as sort of funky, disco-y style and has evolved into D.C.’s local hardcore alternative to rap.

From what I hear, people get buck wild at go-go shows. I don’t claim to be a go-go music but I did go to the University of Murrrland and lived in PG County (what what) for a while. So enough of me trying to describe it all here. Enjoy the choons:


“Bustin’ Loose” by Chuck Brown
Chuck Brown is the godfather of the go-go and “Bustin’ Loose” is probably its seminal hit. This song is such a guaranteed dance floor jam. If you wear that jacket, people will LISTEN TO YOU. Also, last I heard Chuck B. still plays a lot of concerts so if you live in D.C., you should go see him.


“Drop the Bomb” by Trouble Funk
Trouble Funk is go-go’s first brief flirtation with mainstream pop success.


“Pump Me Up” by Trouble Funk
This tune has been sampled a bunch of times.


“Da Butt” by Experience Unlimited
This song was a pretty big hit in the 80s. This is the pinnacle of pop-friendly go-go music.


“Sardines” by Junkyard Band
Sardines used to be considered poor people food, but now you can just claim that you’re into sustainable aquaculture.


“20 Minute Workout” by DJ Kool
DJ Kool is also the guy that made “Let Me Clear My Throat” back in like 96, but I think this track is way more go-go-y.


“Overnight Scenario” by Rare Essence
OK. Now we’re listening to the new school down-and-dirty go-go music that gets played on the radio in D.C. Everything good happens at 3 in the morning at the pancake house. Also, go-go began absolutely terrifying white people sometime around the late 80s and to this day has a reputation for people getting shot up at shows.


“Thug Passion” by Backyard Band
BYB was really popular back in the late 90s when I lived there. I remember all the cooks at the restaurant I worked at (Phillips, holla) playing this stuff.


“Welcome to D.C.” by Mambo Sauce
Here’s a more pop-oriented go-go track from about three years ago.

Let the siege begin!

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In honor of Frolic Friday, let us commenters adopt a siege mentality to The Site Which Shall Not Be Named.  No pageviews, even out of idle curiousity.  Perhaps one post in crosstalk inviting dissenters here. 

The interesting gentleman pictured above is Ralf Moeller, who pursued a career in bodybuilding until his stature brought him to the silver screen as a friend to Russell Crowe’s Gladiator.   He also was in The Scorpion King, the tv version of Conan The Barbarian, and has worked on several techno / trance albums.  This makes him similar to Crasstalk – an amalgam of multiple talents and hotness, big but still nimble, and if his sword ever needs polishing, there will be no shortage of volunteers.

I am serious about depriving Gawker of our company.  They don’t deserve it.  The site went to shite, as my Irish friends would say, and while I feel bad for Richard and Brian, both of them will land on their feet.  But since Denton has chosen to take his business in this direction (which is his right), he should not get the benefit of our scintillating wit and he certainly shouldn’t get money for our pageviews.

Open Thread: Morning Edition

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Top o’ the morning, Crasstalkers. Here’s some reading for you:

Question of the morning:

What should Crasstalk’s first Photo Phriday theme be? Continue reading →

Oh, the irony!

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It would seem that the new layout from Facebook for pages (including our brand spanking new FB page) does not include a link for people to actually see the people who ‘like’ the page.  As you can see in this article:  http://www.pcworld.com/article/219339/facebooks_new_pages_a_handson_tour.html

I’ve been poking around and sent some inquiries about this, but it seems we are foiled by a site redesign once again.  Do we want to wait this out or ditch it and start a ‘group’ instead of a ‘page’?   I’ve belonged to ‘groups’ and they tend to be a little more exclusive and if we want to use this for marketing that would be weird.  What we could do is keep this and also start a group that would be for known commenters only where we could see each other.  How does that sound?  That may appeal to us elite ghetto peasants, right?

Fucking site redesigns.

Music Documentary: The Decline of Western Civilization:III

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Whoa dude! This is part III of the legendary documentary series on the L.A. music scene. It never got a commercial release and is really hard to find. Part I was on punk rock circa ’79, part II on hair bands circa ’88, part III deals with the gutterpunk scene circa ’97.

I remember going to Hollywood during high school and seeing these guys scare the tourists. One of the girls works (works!) at a clothing shop on Melrose (she’s the kinda-cute girl) but I’m guessing most of these guys are dead or in prison or something. Its shocking and kind of sad, but still a very good documentary.

The rumor was that Penelope Spheeris bowed to pressure from civic leaders and didn’t release this commercially. It would have come out during the whole Rampart scandal, and it would have painted a very negative image of the city. We used to give these guys money and offer them rides to Covenant House (homeless shelter for kids) and wonder why they never took us up on the offer.

When I was sixteen I guess it was kind of secretly appealing to think that someone could just drop out, quit it all, and live with nothing but their wits and some raggedy clothes, maybe have a 40 to look forward to at night.

After watching the doc and learning that most of these kids were horribly abused and drunk 99% of the time, I feel sorry for them. $5 isn’t a lot of money to you or me, but its a fortune to them. Maybe I’m just a sucker, but I think I’ll always give these kinds of people a couple bucks. Anyway, here’s the doc, its pretty good, just lower the volume when the bands are playing and watch it as high-brow social commentary.

The Decline Of The Western Civilization: Part 3 – Gutter Punk (1998) Musidocs.com from documentaries on Veehd.

Snark Off: Banned Substances

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Commissioner Bud Selig has just announced that Charlie Sheen is now an illegal substance under MLB regulations.  Players will be randomly be tested for exposure to Charlie Sheen.

Charlie Sheen (middle) with (from left to right) MLB players, Coco Crisp, Eric Davis, Brandon Watson and Milton Bradley.

Join the Ministry of Propaganda

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Attention fellow patriots: Crasstalk needs you. It is time to spread the word to the masses about the glorious Crasstalk Revolution.

I think we want to start first by collecting the refugees from the Gawker media meltdown. We need to spread the word on all the sites and try to find those who have yet to migrate. Got an I09 or Dead Spin account? Pimp us out. Notice one of your fave commenters isn’t here? Try to hit them up to join us.

So far we have a twitter and a fancy new FaceBook (thanks BBK). We can also be Stumbled Upon thanks to Muppet Baby. However I am sure we can think of a few more ways to spread the word.

First, we need a nice logo. Anyone got a flair for design? I can also open us a YouTube if we want to make some videos, which could be fun.

Anyway, I am opening this post to see who can help, and what kinds of ideas other people have for getting the word out.

Together we can win the Internet.

UPDATE: So I think we got some good ideas. I will open a YouTube and a Drop Box over the weekend. Let’s keep getting the word out in the Gawkerverse so our friends can find us. I will post a new thread to check in over the weekend. I also just want to say thanks to all of you guys, this has been a lot of fun for me. Please email crasstalk at gmail dot com if you have questions and/or suggestions.

Night, nite.

The Hard Life of a Software Masochist

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Do you like pain and suffering?  Do you hate the way Microsoft Office’s menus look since the “ribbon” interface was introduced?  Would you like to go back to a simpler time?  Would you like a free as in beer and free as in freedom alternative?
If you answered yes to all of these questions then today is a great day for you.  OpenOffice.org 3.3 was just released.

We are all Untermeyer Fountain Sprites tonight.

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Does that look like a Gawker refugee camp to you?  I didn’t think so.  But if a brilliant German sculptor in 1910 sought to capture what Crasstalk is about to become, he would have produced this.

This is Untermeyer Fountain, in the North Garden at NYC’s Central Park.  With a slight pang about my beloved Bethesda Fountain’s tender feelings, I declare it to be my favorite fountain in the entire Park.

Like Crasstalk, it’s simple, elegant and uncluttered.  Like Crasstalk commenters, it’s joie de vivre incarnate.  And also like our beautiful commenting ladies and gents, they’re keeping it real. See? The ladies are dancing barefoot.  It’s almost as though that wonderful garden spun around a few times and generated this wonderful thing that makes you say “Wow!” every time you see it.  That’s what Crasstalk might become.

I am glad that so many of my fellow former Gawkers came over here. But this is no refugee camp.  It’s a big noisy party with a lot of truly intellectual, curious, decent-hearted people in it.  And in my head it looks like this fountain.

So glad you all came over.  So glad we can continue to do meetups, HumpDay posts, book reviews, wine commentary (Mom3, I’m looking at you.), mockery of the absurd, and most of all… the really joyous stuff that happens when a few smart people dance around an idea.

Now let’s turn up that water, crank up the music, and shake what our Mommas gave us.