Podcast
Creative Legends of the DMV
Hosted by Evan Taff/Fat Nave · EN
The DC area known as the DMV has had some wildly creative people born or developed their creativity in the area. From Emmylou Harris to Fugazi or from Link Wray to Logic and Wale. Eduardo Sanchez developing and changing the horror genre with The Blair Witch Project. The birthplace of comedy legend Dave Chappelle and many others that have contributed to a constant legacy of creative people coming out of the DMV. You will hear interviews with artists and creative people from the area and about stories of how songs and groups came to be, cautionary tales of incredibly innovative and talented musicians you may or may not have heard of, as well as stories about venues and screenwriters and filmmakers and creative people getting their ideas for their works and/or growing up in the area and have that being a direct influence on their creativity.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Jim Morrison: Poet
Apr 15, 202400:34:52Tap to summarizeThe legendary poet and singer Jim Morrison from the seminal 60s rock group The Doors is on the table to discuss. Centered around the poetry of James Douglas Morrison rather than his superstardom and rebellious ways, Evan reveals various tidbits of the young Morrison's time as a teenager in Alexandria, VA sowing his roots to be a legend of the DMV.Born in Melbourne, Florida December 8th, 1943, Jim Morison was a flash of lightening with deep words to share about the mystery of the human condition. Believing himself or presenting his mystique as a mix of ancient Native American shamanism with music and words, it amplified the music of Ray Manzarek, Robbie Krueger, and John Densmore. Their music and their live shows took things into theatrical and mythological realms with Jim leading the journey on a ride that on the surface and within its times was psychedelic but as time has gone on, it has proven to be a deeply reflective account of someone on the periphery of genius given his literary acumen that had been organic and obsessive ever since he was a pre teen. Eventually, the Morrison family found themselves back in Alexandria in 1959 for a longer stint after a short one when Jim was just a boy. These years proved formative and expressive for the young mind of Jim Morrison as he formed some friendships that while not lasting, revealed some confidences and some mysterious ideas about his future.With a shout out to local author DMV Mark Opsasnick for many stories about Jim in this episode, writer of The Lizard King Was Here and Orange Brick in Warm Sun and many other books about the DMV music scene, Evan highlights the poetry and some essences of poetry in general through the arc of the short life of Jim Morrison.
Transcribe →Chip Py: Eye of the Go-Go
Jun 23, 202200:39:41Tap to summarizeCreative Legends of the DMV returns after a slight break with Episode 11 all about local DMV photographer Chip Py!Chip grew up in Bethesda where he shadowed his dad who was a news reporter. It led to a love of photography that soon crossed with an equal love of music. Chip garnered more and more experience as he grew up in the area composing all kinds of pictures in all kinds of environments. As the 21st century loomed, Chip found there was one DC element he was unfamiliar with. He had heard a bit of Chuck Brown and some go go but was not fully involved and invested and that is eventually exactly what he became. After attending some shows and getting acquainted with the scene, Chip found himself being the personal photographer to Chuck Brown and the ever evolving DC Go Go scene. This led to image after image that was a reflection of the scene at the time and that no other photographer was on hand and close enough to document.This resulted in Chip's current book, DC Go Go. A first hand account of the evolution of the DC go go scene and a rich history of the bands and people involved beyond Chuck Brown. It is also a great look at DMV and DC history written and accounted for by someone who was in the center of it with his camera as it happened.Check out and order a copy of DC Go Go and look at more of Chip's work at www.ChipPyPhotographer.com
Transcribe →The Godfather: Chuck Brown
Apr 12, 202200:32:47Tap to summarizeThe undisputed creator and godfather of Go Go music AND an instrumental force in the music behind some legendary old school hip hop, Chuck Brown (1936-2012) was a kind soul who left us with some great music.He started in the 1960s playing in local groups before landing on a talented array of musicians that would become The Soul Searchers. The Soul Searchers were behind some charting hits of the early 1970s before they became Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers. In 1978, that outfit scored a #1 smash in Bustin' Loose. That enabled Chuck to keep going into the 80s where his constant touring kept him afloat and his constant search for inspiration led him to explore jazz and blues melodies and combine them with his own musical stylings into "The Go Go Swing" which reimagined the likes of Duke Ellington and Johnny Mercer into a synthesis of new percussive sound that impressed people within the music industry and audiences worldwide.Chuck would go on to mentor and discover DMV phenom Eva Cassidy and leave a trail of influence within his Go Go sound having been the main influence to bands like Rare Essence, E.U., and The Junk Yard Band. Bands that, like The Chuck Brown Band themselves, continue to carry the torch and tradition of this legendary DMV sound created by a man like no other.
Transcribe →Tim Buckley: Jeff Buckley
Mar 25, 202200:43:03Tap to summarizeTim Buckley (1947-1975) was a folk singer and avant-garde musician. Born in Washington, D.C. and then uprooted to New York and then finally southern California where by the time he was a teenager, he was already involved in the music scene there creating bands and meeting people that would give him career opportunities. Opportunities he used to explore his multi octave voice against acoustic backgrounds that were lush, playful but not at all commercially accessible. He eventually developed his own cult following and by now, some of his songs have been covered by many musicians. A bit all over the place musically and never really getting a foothold within the music industry, he kept releasing material but his own personal journey and battle with drugs overtook everything when he died at the age of 27 from an overdose of heroin.One legendary thing that Tim Buckley did was meet Mary Guibert. Together, they created the body to host one of the most soulful voices of the 20th century. Jeff Buckley (1966-1997) also had a multi octave range vocally but was imbued with a sharper focus when it came to his songs and his music. Raised Scott Moorhead in Southern California, he changed it back to his natural given name after his father died. In 1974, Tim Buckley had a gig that Mary spotted and decided to take Jeff. They sat right in front. Enamored, Jeff saw his future and heard it his dad's voice. This was only their first meeting since Tim disconnected from Mary when he discovered she was pregnant in 1966. Jeff and Tim would get to spend some quality time shortly afterward that could have proved to be a momentous turnaround of connection for the both of them, but it was not to be. Tim Buckley was dead shortly afterward. The time was enough to set Jeff off on his musical journey. He was obviously inspired to follow in his father's footsteps musically but within a much deeper and ethereal sonic soundscape. His debut album "Grace" has been called by many reputable critics and aficionados as one of the best debuts of all time and one of the songs on the album, his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", has been called one of the best covers of all time. Unlike his father, he was limited to a small output of studio material though a lot of live recordings and old demos exist and are accessible on all music apps. This is all we have from him due to his own tragic and premature death at the age of 30. At the end of May in 1997, he drowned in the Mississippi River getting caught in a boat's wake after wandering in spontaneously fully clothed.Evan draws some connections between father and son including their rather scant DMV affiliations. They are enough to make them Episode 9 of Creative Legends of the DMV.
Transcribe →Roberta Flack: Quiet Storm
Mar 15, 202200:31:49Tap to summarizeRoberta Flack is a tour de force singer, musician and composer best known for her hits "Killing Me Softly With His Song", "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", and her soulful duets with Donny Hathaway (The Closer I Get To You, Where is The Love?) and others. Quiet Storm is the name of her third album but they are also two words that give a great introduction to the legend that she is and that she has become.Before she came into national prominence, she was 15 and one of the youngest ever to be enrolled at Howard University. Hailing from North Carolina where she learned to sing and play piano going to church, she came to the DMV wide eyed musically and ready to go. She was a trailblazer at Howard helping conduct the choir and changing her major from piano to voice. A change that would start her career and down a road of singing like no one else had heard. Slow and in a unique, emotive drawing fashion that inspired her from her classical music training.After giving piano lessons to various people and youngsters in the DMV, Roberta started a nightly residency at Mr. Henry's in SE Washington. People from all over came to hear Roberta sing and it was not long before she was creating a storm of her own that sent her into the 70s as one of the most sought after female performers around.Listen to Evan honor Roberta Flack and her soulful music catalog by talking at length about her history in the DMV and what was in the air during some of her recordings and during the times she came into prominence.
Transcribe →Steve Jenkins: Master of Persistence
Mar 5, 202200:45:08Tap to summarizeSteve Jenkins is a professional bass player who has been playing bass and involved in music for over 25 years. He started in Montgomery County, MD where he grew up affected by the sounds of Kiss, Gap Band, and Parliament Funkadelic. Those grooves would start his journey into more progressive ones he found in jazz. All of this led him to the famed Berklee College of Music where he formulated relationships and an education that launched him into a career playing with all kinds of established musicians.After spending some time in the DMV post college playing in many bands (including the very popular local group The Mary Ann Redmond Band) and at various venues in the area, Steve went back to Boston and then to New York City where he released his solo debut "Mad Science" in the early 2000s. Steve then went on to play with all kinds of players in the NYC music scene at the time. Gigs and experiences that led him to his next release "Steve Jenkins and the Coaxial Flutter", furthering his fusion of metal and jazz and rock into one otherworldly sound.For the past several years, Steve has been living in Los Angeles and participating in jam sessions, studio sessions as a hired gun, and creating massive content daily just doing his thing on his social media accounts which you should most definitely follow if you are a fan of funk and bass and experimental music! LISTEN to Steve chat with Evan about how he got involved in playing the bass and his time in the DMV. You can always see what he is up to and listen to his stuff at www.stevejenkinsbass.com
Transcribe →The Tapestry of Don Zientera
Feb 25, 202200:33:00Tap to summarizeDon Zientera is a veteran, an artist, a musician and if that was not enough for one person and one life, that is not even the things he is known for.Don runs Inner Ear Studios in Arlington, VA and was an instrumental player in the DC punk scene in the late 1970s and all through the 80s when energy and message took the stage over just about everything else. Don's talents in recording and sound engineering, which were initially just a hobby to his own music making and artistic endeavors, put him in a prime position to help a wave of youth in the area making undeniably powerful music within the local DC music scene. Music that would carry many of them into national prominence and worldwide success.He has produced, mentored and help create some of the most memorable music within the DC punk scene with his tight association with Dischord records and some might say the whole punk scene at large. Don was kind enough to talk with Evan about his journey to the DMV and how he ended up here and how he ended up a revered sound engineer and sought after producer without trying. A true legend of the DMV,
Transcribe →Eva Cassidy: Lightning in a Bottle
Feb 18, 202200:31:10Tap to summarizeEva Cassidy (1963-1996) was an accomplished singer and musician who had a soprano unlike any other. Beyond Billie Holiday, she could be the most unique female singer to ever have been born in and/or crossed through the area. Eva had the voice of an angel but her career and trajectory was cut short due to a bout with cancer that took her life at the young age of 33. In the five short years Eva played in and around the area with her band, she impressed The Godfather of Go Go and accomplished national musician and legend of the DMV himself, Mr. Chuck Brown. Chuck and Eva collaborated on The Other Side, a terrific album of standards Mr. Brown arranged and the two perform to great heights. This started Eva's journey as an interpreter of standards and a chanteuse who could take a song and completely make it her own even if the song had been sung before and interpreted many times over. She was a local legend of her own right up to the end, playing four sets for 3$ at long gone Bethesda billiard bar Shoots, the year before she died. In this fifth episode of Creative Legends of the DMV, Evan introduces you and/or inspires you to remember the great angelic voice of Eva Cassidy.
Transcribe →Knowledge is Hip Hop
Feb 14, 202200:35:09Tap to summarizeThe DMV has and continues to see a lot of creative wordsmiths and poets take their experiences and set them to rock or jazz influences beats and express themselves through rhyme. In the 80s, the late Biz Markie put DMV in the hip hop spotlight playing lots of college bars in the areas with his late 80s gem "Just A Friend". Since, hip culture has evolved into various forms within itself paralleling the technology and the shifts within the cultural dynamics it expresses itself through. Logic, from Gaithersburg, MD, used hip hop as forum to bring attention to teenage suicide and Wale, also from Gaithersburg, has had major success with his career paving the way for other hip hip artists to follow suit. Knowledge has been on his own trail of rhyme and verse since the 2000s growing up influenced by 2Pac and rock and roll. His influences have created a fusion of sounds that fans not only from the DMV, but from all over the northeast, are finding irresistible and adding to their playlists to listen to again and again. He chats with Evan live for the first one on one interview on Creative Legends of the DMV.
Transcribe →Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton: Telemasters
Feb 10, 202200:31:43Tap to summarizeBoth Roy Buchanan (1939-1988) and Danny Gatton (1945-1994) were masters of their instrument and stellar representatives of musical legends of the DMV. Roy ended up in Reston, VA after being born in Arkansas and Gatton was a lifelong resident of Maryland. They took their talent of guitar, particularly the Fender Telecaster, and love of music and fused it into something that was truly otherworldly. Danny Gatton took jazz, rock, blues, rockabilly, and not only mastered all the essential elements of those genres, but fused them into a sound that had not been heard before. He was named one of the greatest "unknown" guitarists in the late 80s and his speed and dexterity on the Telecaster was hard to complete with. Roy Buchanan crossed paths with Dale Hawkins before he was 20 cutting the lead on Hawkins' timeless cover of My Babe in the late 1950s. That set him off on a path singularly focused on all the edgy elements of playing the blues. He went so deep that he turned down a offer from the Stones after Brian Wilson died. Their first offer. He said no thanks. Jimi Hendrix went and saw Buchanan at a DC bar with his off time when he had a stint at the Ambassador in DC in the late 1960s. This was who Jimi was digging. These two guitars greats obviously went beyond their influence on people who may have caught them at stints and jams in the DMV. Their influence was felt by guitar players and music lovers around the world.
Transcribe →