Washington City Paper: Contents for Jan. 17

The D.C. Blues Implosion
It's last rites for the blues at the New Vegas Lounge.

Cover Story

In the name of St. Cecilia, holy patroness of music, may those who deny the terrifying power of your heavenly art be condemned to an eternity of open-mike nights at the New Vegas Lounge.

Let them hear the pathetic whine of despair from an off-key harmonica blown by a gangly college kid who displays all the rhythm of a Motorola pager.

Let them endure the interplay between his classmates on guitar and bass, as they struggle through a "blues" version of "Little Drummer Boy."

Let them listen to a long-suffering lawyer shriek and shimmy and solo, as he provides irrefutable proof that for some people, a day job is where it begins and ends.

"The more you drink, the better we sound," the evening's host, a drummer named Bigfoot, tells the sparse audience that has straggled into the Vegas.

If only that were true. No amount of booze could work such a spell. Not even a professional musician like Bigfoot—always outnumbered, even in a trio—can salvage such a maddening racket. And St. Cecilia save the customers trapped in their seats when Bigfoot takes a breather and his own advice, heading to the bar to bum a Jack Daniel's.

That's precisely what has happened now, and Bigfoot smiles perversely at the shipwreck of sound he has abandoned on the stage.... Continued

Issue of Jan. 17 - 23, 1997

News and Features

The D.C. Blues Implosion
It's last rites for the blues at the New Vegas Lounge.
Cover Story By Eddie Dean
Crimes Against Children
Children of Homicide Victims Get Scrooged by D.C. Cops
The City By Julie Wakefield
Putting the Watchdog Out to Pasture
After 20 years of investigating, overseeing, and damning the D.C. school bureaucracy, Jim Ford is finally getting his comeuppance. It's a sad day for District schoolkids.
The City By John Cloud
Circling the Wagons
Logan Circle ANC Supports Affordable Housing—As Long as It's Not in Its Back Yard
The City By Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Table of Contempts
The Mail By D.C. Jones
Fainter Praise
The Mail By Bob Monahan
Re-Pulsed
The Mail By Robyn Johnson-Ross
What Isn't Shown
The Mail By M. Grigonis
Ignoreland
The Mail By Joe McKenna
Disapproval Rating
The Mail By Keith Lowery
Feudal System
The Mail By James Coleman
Making a Stink
The Mail By Lisa Berger
Witness Protection Program?
The Mail By Bernard J. Sussman

Columns

Where There's Smoke, There's "Fore!"
Cheap Seats By Dave McKenna
Fare Game
City Desk By Elissa Silverman
Barry's UDC Political Football
Loose Lips By Ken Cummins
Comprehensive Coverage
Paper Trail By David Carr

Eats

Adams Morgan Meltdown
Young & Hungry By Brett Anderson

Movies

Dance: 10, Plot: 3
Film Review By Arion Berger
Lady Killer
Film Review By Mark Jenkins

Music

Prince Still Reigns
Music Review By Deborah Rouse and Holly Bass
Rubber Soul
Music Review By Rickey Wright
The Moray Eel Eats the Space Needle
Music Review By Cathy Alter
New Maps of Hell
Music Review By Christopher Porter
An Evening of Acoustic Music
Music Review By Sean Daly

Theater

Arts and Events

From Her to Eternity
Art Review By Glenn Dixon
From the Gut
Smithsonian Chamber Players Artistic Director Kenneth Slowik Strings Along a Fascinatin' Rhythm
Arts By Christopher Porter
Questions Without Answers
Books By Sean Daly
Songs From a Blue Guitarist
Artifacts By Christopher Porter
The Egg Man
Artifacts By Sean Daly
Positively Definite
Artifacts By Jim Dorsch
Verve JazzFest
Artifacts By Christopher Porter
BR5-49
Artifacts By Brett Anderson
HIV and AIDS: Considerations for the 21st Century
Artifacts By John Cloud
The Symbolist Prints of Edvard Munch
Artifacts By Glenn Dixon
The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
Artifacts By Mark Jenkins
Recent Films From Germany
Artifacts By Mark Jenkins