I remember several of the places you named, Darren. We did not play at any of them other than the Inside Pub. We also played at the LaPaz restaurant at its old location in Fredercik. We played in the bar on the second floor and had to carry the sound system up the stairway on the outside of the building. Played there a bunch of times. I even have pictures from it!
Jake, I didn’t ever see Scotty Stoneman and didn’t even realize they lived in the area until years after Scotty was dead. Tom Gray knows more about the Stonemans when they were in the DC area.
Tim
From: dbeachleyband@gmail.com [mailto:dbeachleyband@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 7:49 AM
To: Jake Rumph; dcab-l@googlegroups.com; Tim Kruzic
Subject: Re: [dcab-l] RE: Please, humor me...
Out my way in Frederick area you had several places as well. The Airport Inn, The Inside Pub,The Hut,Crummys (and boy was it) Pete and Bennys. And that's just the ones I can remember playing at 10 and 11 years old. There was music every night of the week. A lot of memories of these places thanks to all of you for reminding me!! WOW
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
From: Jake Rumph <jake.rumph@gmail.com>
Sender: dcab-l@googlegroups.com
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 14:35:03 -0400
To: Tim Kruzic<tkruzic@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [dcab-l] RE: Please, humor me...
This is terrific stuff thanks for sharing. Also interested in anything anyone might have to say about seeing Scotty Stoneman in person.
Sent from my iPhone
On Jul 24, 2013, at 10:23 AM, "Tim Kruzic" <tkruzic@comcast.net> wrote:
I’ll answer your second question first. The community was probably smaller, but everybody came out and supported the music. It was a seven night a week kind of thing. To the best of my recollection, here’s what a typical week looked like for me (which could be amplified from others closer to the Northern VA and Baltimore scenes):
Monday: rotating local band at the Red Fox, Danny Kimball’s band at the Silo Inn in Olney, MD, most other bars had no music
Tuesday: Fast Flying Vestibule at the Red Fox, Coup de Grass at Charlie’s West Side in Annapolis, Don Reno & Bill Harrell at the Princess Garden Inn
Wednesday: Southbound (with the list’s own Terry Wittenberg on banjo) at the Red Fox, open mike at the Takoma Tap Room
Thursday: Seldom Scene at the Red Fox (and later the Birchmere), local bands at Eskimo Nell’s in NoVA
Friday and Saturday: Bigger name bands at the Cellar Door, Childe Herald, Birchmere, Red Fox, Charlie’s West Side, Partner’s II
Local bands played at many bars on various nights of the week. These places included: The Silver Fox (Gaithersburg, MD), DiGennaro’s (Laurel, MD), Eskimo Nell’s (Arlington?), O’Briens Pit Barbeque (College Park, MD), Zip’s (Beltsville, MD), O’Carrolls (Ballston, VA), Takoma Tap Room (Takoma Park, MD), Clyde’s Hideaway (Chillum, MD), and several others that Bill Foster mentioned.
The top tier of the local bands certainly was the Country Gentlemen, the Seldom Scene, and Cliff Waldron and the New Shades of Grass. The Johnson Mountain Boys joined that elite group after a short period as part of the local band scene. I must admit that I was blown away one night when the JMBs played at the Takoma Tap Room and they had an official fan club show up. Also, the Bluegrass Cardinals joined this elite group when they moved to College Park from California.
The next tier of bands included groups that were able to at the better venues, typically had recording products, and basically had their act together in professional way. These groups included:
Coup de Grass (Mike Dunkley, Larry Benade, Jack Cowardin, Britt Stenson, and Mike Shonback)
None of the Above (Dan Shipley, Joe Tangria, Alan Cohen, Dave Williams, and Bob White. Les McIntyre and Carol Nethery were original members)
Grass Menagerie (Akira Otsuka, Bob Williams, Clayton Hambrick, Danny [dobro player])
The next tier included the rest of us that were playing all of the other venues, doing the best we could with our bands to be professional, and participating in the bluegrass community. These groups included (with apologies to those I did now know of or inadvertently forgot):
Stars and Bars (Joe Zauner, Pete Salsbury, Jon Akin, Bill (?bass player) and later Missy Raines)
Foggy Bottom (Ray Hesson, Ray Schmitt, Danny Curtis, Brad Sams, [female vocalist?])
Overland Express (Lenny Whitehead, Terry Wittenberg, Mike Jenkins, Dave [guitar player], Mike Hartnett)
D&D Revue (Tim Kruzic, Jack Buckley, Ned MacKenzie, Brian Dorothy)
Patent Pending (Leigh Taylor, Jim Steptoe, et al)
New River Express (Bill Foster, Faith Coddington, Wayne Skidmore, Barney Gault)
Rock Creek (Moondi Klein, Dan Mazer, et al)
The Blades of Grass (Laurel Blades et al)
Ernie Bradley and Grassy Ridge
Ratgrass (Ratso, Danny Kimball, Fred Geiger, Johnny Castle, and Bobby Spates or Jeff Wisor)
Appalachian Reign (Tom Knowles, Nevin Lambert, Page Dupstadt, Dave [fiddle])
Brandy Station (Mike Kengla, female vocalist name?, et al)
Bob Kyle’s band (Bob Kyle, Carolyn Kellock, et al)
Jerry Gray’s band
In the 70s, the Baltimore bluegrass scene was not nearly as close to the DC scene. Windy Ridge (John O’Dell, Mike Munford, Bill Beeler, and Jon [bass player]), the Garris Brothers (Mike, George, and their dad), and Sweetwater (Caleb Linder, his sister, Frank Schoepf, Danny Curtis) were some of the key bands. I didn’t meet most of these folks until the early to mid 80s. I know these groups played at the Cub Hill Inn regularly, but I only got there a couple of times during its run.
Tom Gray made some great comments in his post. Being a part of the Seldom Scene, Tom was in the hero stratum back in the 70s and I did not get to know him until later. Tom really has some great recollections of the Washington area bluegrass scene that pre-dates my knowledge by about 10 years. I love to hear his stories about those days.
Howard Parker made a great point about WAMU. It provided the soundtrack for our bluegrass lives in the 70s and 80s. The bluegrass bulletin board would list all of the above bands. His band Too Far Gone with Scott Walker and others, came onto the scene later in the 80s, so I didn’t include them in the list above that was mostly bands from the late 70s/early 80s.
One other really important part of the bluegrass scene in the late 70s/early 80s was the private picking parties. It seemed that someone was having a picking party every weekend. Everybody in the bluegrass community went to the bars to support the bands and went to the picking parties. The biggest and most exciting picking party was hosted by Dave and Faith Coddington around October/November every years. It seemed like everybody who was anybody showed up for their parties. They had a big motor home and picking canopy at the Indian Springs festival that provided a central focus of the bluegrass community at the time. I had some blow out parties when I lived on a hundred acre farm just outside of Olney in 77-80. Dave and Chloe Bowen always had cool parties. I’m trying to figure out if nobody has picking parties any more, or if I’m just not cool enough anymore to get invited.
Matt, we had a lot of fun in the late 70s into the 80s.
Tim Kruzic
From: dcab-l@googlegroups.com [mailto:dcab-l@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Matt
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 8:11 AM
To: dcab-l@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [dcab-l] Please, humor me...
So, in a given week, how many BG bands would play in the area?
And in terms of numbers, was the community considerably larger, or did the a core of fans get out often to the different venues?
On Tuesday, July 23, 2013 6:53:00 AM UTC-4, STUART FOSTER wrote:I want to echo what Tim wrote. I too was pretty active in the 80's and early 90's both as a fan and as a performer, playing some of the same places that Tim did. I can add a few more: Ricky's Inn, O'Carroll's Seafood, Tiffany Tavern, Poor Roberts, JV Restaurant. These were mostly small local bars, none were ever 'packed' (except Tiffany's) .... I hung out a lot at the original Birchmere and their second location in Arlandria. Bill
On 7/22/2013 11:27 PM, Tim Kruzic wrote:
Matt,
That’s not any easy question. The Cellar Door charged what seemed to be a lot of money at the time, so you didn’t just go hang out there. Also, they often had two shows a night which required two cover charges if you wanted to see both. I, and most of my friends, only went there a few times a year when it was somebody you really wanted to see (like the David Grisman Quintet with Tony Rice!). I never went to the Shamrock, but some of my friends did. My impression of their stories was that it was more like a local bar (like the Friendly Inn) except that it was in DC.
The Red Fox was definitely more of a neighborhood bar with outstanding entertainment. The cover charge was relatively cheap ($2 or $3), and most people that went there more than a few times knew the owner (Walt Broderick) and the key barmaid (Martha, who married Danny Kimball). The nights that the Seldom Scene played were always packed. Other nights less packed, but sometimes packed when some out of town bands appeared. You could always find many of the local pickers hanging out to see who was playing.
The original Birchmere (the current location is actually their 3rd location) was a great hangout. Once the Seldom Scene moved from the Red Fox to the Birchmere, the Red Fox lost its reputation. At the same time, the Birchmere was bringing in bluegrass acts from outside the area (Boone Creek, the Cache Valley Drifters from California, the Knoxville Grass, JD Crowe and the New South). Most of those shows were well attended. The cover charges were higher at the Birchmere than the Red Fox, but it was worth it for the caliber of talent and entertainment.
The bottom line was that most of us went to other local bars with no cover charge and cheaper drinks (DiGennaro’s, Takoma Tap Room, Zip’s, Whitey’s, Charlie’s West Side in Annapolis, Pardner’s Too, the Silver Fox, Wally’s Crab Boat, The Silo Inn, etc.) most nights of the week and went to the Red Fox or the Birchmere when there was somebody that was special to see.
Changes to the drunk driving laws really changed the dynamics of the bluegrass bar scene…
Other thoughts or opinions from other folks who were part of the scene back then?
Tim Kruzic
From: dca...@googlegroups.com [mailto...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Matt
Sent: Monday, July 22, 2013 9:39 PM
To: dca...@googlegroups.com
Subject: [dcab-l] Please, humor me...
Most would contend that the 70's was the apex of the performance opportunities for local bands. I've heard of the Red Fox, have the 'Live at the Cellar Door' (in vinyl) heard of the Shamrock. Many others too, I'm sure.
Which one had the best crowds?
Just wondering...
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DCAB-L" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dcab-l+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to dcab-l@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/dcab-l.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dcab-l/00f301ce8879%2470c6f330%245254d990%24%40comcast.net.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DCAB-L" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dcab-l+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to dcab-l@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/dcab-l.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dcab-l/F2A265E9-00BC-4FFC-96F7-6F4EC23E2668%40gmail.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
0 comments:
Post a Comment