Scene Stealers
Even in D.C.'s rowdy punk underground, Bad Brains broke all the rules.
Cover Story
Washington's '70s punk scene was hardly as large or significant as New York's or London's, but all three have one thing in common: Exactly when they began is a matter of interpretation. Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital, the new book by Mark Andersen and Washington City Paper arts critic Mark Jenkins, opens in 1976, the year that such bands as the Slickee Boys, the Look, and the Controls debuted. Members of the latter two groups soon allied to found the Urban Verbs, the first area punk (aka New Wave) outfit to sign a major-label contract. The earliest D.C. punk band to make a national impact, however, came out of an entirely different world from the Verbs' college-and-arts-space circuit. These edited excerpts from Dance of Days recount the beginnings of Bad Brains, the quartet that brought D.C. punk up to speed, thus shaping the style that was to become known as hardcore.
"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve--with PMA." --Napoleon Hill, Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude
By mid-1976, Washington had the makings of a punk-rock scene focused on the Keg, a now-demolished Glover Park bar; the campuses of Georgetown and American Universities; and the former's radio station, WGTB-FM. It wasn't until 1978, however, that punk crossed the Anacostia River into the city's easternmost precincts. It was carried there by two black teenagers, Sid McCray and Darryl Jenifer.... Continued 
Issue of Mar. 23 - 29, 2001
News and Features
- Scene Stealers
Cover Story - Route Bout
The City - Power Down
The City - Who's Watching the Henhouse?
The Mail - Scatter Shot
The Mail - Comparative Literature
The Mail - Fitting Tribute
The Mail - Influence Peddling
The Mail - Songs in the Key of Life
The Mail - Cash Cows?
The Mail - Words and Deeds
The Mail - Bowled Over
The Mail - Wild Wild West
The Mail
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City Desk
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Film Review
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Music Review - Jazz Ahead
Music Review - The Grande Tour
InDC
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- The Importance of Being Ernestine
Theater Review
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- Poetic Injustice
Arts - All Belongs to You
Gallery Review - Vision Quest
Artifacts - Beginner's Luck
Artifacts
City Lights
This week's best in Arts and Entertainment.
- Les Murray
City Lights - Joseph Hallinan
City Lights - Aeros
City Lights - Environmental Film Festival
City Lights - For the Boys (and Girls): The Army-Navy Screen Magazine
City Lights - Split Lip Rayfield
City Lights - The Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra
City Lights - From Ozzie & Harriet to Homer & Marge: American Families in the Media
City Lights - Eyes of the Rainbow
City Lights - Multiple Maniacs
City Lights - Asa Gordon
City Lights - Michael Jackson
City Lights - Don Shula
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