Another music video has surfaced from the trenches within the Go-Go Community in regards to the 2010 DC Mayoral Campaigne.  In this particular music video, entitled “Fenty Win”, the Junkyard Band performs and the Rickity Raw One Stinky Dink and Backyard’s Big G ’syce’ a little flavor onto it.

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Former Rare Essence keyboardist Benny “SCOTTY” Haskel gets in the zone in preparation for the upcoming Rare Essence 30 Year Reunion.

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In response to Anwan “Big G” Glover’s press conference held on Sunday, August 29, regarding his release from DC based Radio One urban radio station 93.9 WKYS, KYS has released an audio statement.

CLICK AUDIO CONSOLE BELOW TO HEAR THE WKYS RESPONSE:

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The career of Charles “Shorty Corleone” Garris can only be described with one word- Multidimentional. Many artists of today can do one thing well and maybe half of another thing partially well. This well rounded and level headed young man has it all. With one hand in writing and producing, one hand in the politics of the DC mayoral race, one foot in South East, DC, where he was raised and one foot in elevating the ambitions of the underserved youth of the DC area, the question is where is Charles “Shorty Corleone” Garris’ heart? Actually, Garris’ heart is in all of the above.

Continuously moving non-stop to manage and complete all of his various projects, Garris sat down for an interview in the middle of his busy schedule just before dashing off to complete a commercial for DC Mayoral hopeful Vincent Gray, then attending a birthday celebration for the Godfather of Go-Go, Chuck Brown, only to leave after that for a quick trip to New York to work on another project.

(READ ENTIRE ARTICLE HERE)

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Below is video footage from the of Anwan “Big G” Glover’s press conference regarding his release from Radio One’s 93.9 WKYS radio station.  As stated in the clip, Big G says that he was told by the station on Friday, August 30, that he would be indefinitely suspended because of his support to Adrian Fenty in the upcoming Mayoral race… due to Vincent Grays complaint to the station that he was not receiving radio play.
Video production by WingsWorld.

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Smoking Aces crankin live from the MyPlace sports bar, “Loose My Mind”.
Video production by WingsWorld

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BIG G TO CONDUCTION PRESS CONFERENCE:
Where – The Big Chair: 2101 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, SE, Washington, D.C., Sunday, August 29, 2010, Time TBD by close of business today.

In a time where we all agree unemployment among African American males is unacceptably high, Vince Gray candidate for Mayor has quietly asked for Anwan “Big G” Glover to be fired.

Anwan “Big G” Glover will be joined by Mayor Fenty and other leaders from the Go-Go community to inform the public of this and other unjust actions. In addition, the Go-Go community will also announce their endorsement of Mayor Fenty.

Mr. Glover is a radio personality on WKYS, an actor on two HBO series, The Wire and Treme, as well as NBC’s series, Law & Order.  He is a D.C. icon for his lead role in the beloved Go-Go band, Backyard Band.  Over the last three months, Mr. Glover has been one of many Go-Go personalities to exercise their First Amendment Right to cut commercials on behalf of Mayor Fenty.  Though Mr. Glover has never discussed his endorsement of Mayor Fenty on his WKYS radio show, he has recorded commercials outside of his radio show to educate and emphasize the mayor’s many accomplishments throughout his term.

Now that the D.C. mayoral race is tight, Mr. Glover was informed that mayoral candidate Vince Gray called WKYS and asked for Mr. Glover to be fired from his show if he continued to support Mayor Fenty.  Mr. Glover received this ultimatum, and expressed his adamant support of Mayor Fenty.  As a result, he was released from his position on Friday, August 27, 2010.  Mr. Glover is astonished that on the eve of the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, in which he called for racial equality and protection of our inalienable rights, that his First Amendment Right were violated and he was subsequently the target of retaliation.  At the press conference Mr. Glover will discuss the contradictions of this action taken against him.

At a recent show where Mr. Glover was performing he was verbally threatened  by Vince Gray’s son, Carlos Gray for endorsing Mayor Fenty and now Mr. Glover is unemployed.  His vicious political tactics speak to Vince Gray’s true leadership, character and integrity.   As our community strives to “reclaim the dream” we risk being stuck in an era that quietly destroys hope.

For more information, contact Ronald Moten of Otherside Media at theothersidemedia@yahoo.com

Wali aka Big Wax featuring Weensey of Backyard Band & KC of Junkyard Band.
“Don’t Leave Us Fenty”

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I believe this was actually around 1982 at the Atlas Theatre on H st NE. D.C. It’s Redds on guitar and vocals, Shack on trumpet and vocals(who created the phrase “When you walk in the door and you come to Go-Go… ya say what? Hello! Hello! Hello!) Kevin Miller ‘KO’ on Sax, Lonell Tabs on Trumpet, CJ (Redds cousin) on Sax, Vincent Tabbs on Bass guitar, Leon Thurston on Fender Rhodes keys, Artie Cambell on String synth, Danny Peete on Congos and myself, Dwayne Lee on drums. [check out clip below]

Yes.  This is when Go-Go was played at a faster tempo and was mostly all original created music, grooves, vamps, chants and sing-a-longs with call and responses.

Around ‘82-’83 the very young Junk Yard Band use to open for us regularly at the Altlanic Skating Rink, and if you listen closely at the 2:00min mark of this song called ‘Bop Gun’, you will hear where they ‘borrowed’ the drum and congo beat for one of their biggest and most popular songs “Sardines and Pork and Beans.”

At the very end of this song you’ll also hear us go into one of our other songs called “Funk ya Body, Redds”.  That particular beat has been used numerous times later on by other Go-Go bands, to include Experience Unlimited’s “Shake It Like A White Girl”, Little Benny and the Masters” Go-Go version of “Thong Song”, and a few others.

Redds was once a member of Rare Essence in their early days before going solo with his group Redds and the Boyz. He was the Funkiest guitarist I had ever heard and is still one of my biggest influences on the guitar, which I now play with Faycez U Know and GODISHEUS.

This line up of musicians (and still close friends to this day), pretty much all left the group around the same time due to outside Sharks trying to take advantage of mostly all teenagers at the time who were gaining a big buzz in the city and interest from Major Record Labels and movie studios, which by the way a movie “Good To Go” (or Short Fuse, as it was later called on video) loosely based on Redds and the Boys members, was was filmed a year or two after we had all left the group and were replaced by older more expereinced local musicians.

Go-Go music and Rap/Hip-Hop were fastly growing.  Street popular kissing cousins at the time the labels and even movie producers started to take notice of this new phenomenom, however Go-Go never really gain the notoriety as its cousin and did not fully materialize into what Hip-Hop has become so far.  Stay tuned!

These were the fun days.  Just a little background education for anyone interested.

Peace,
D.Lee?

Maiesha Rashad of Maiesha & The Hiphuggers takes us on a brief history of the band that started the Grown & Sexy circuit.

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In the following clip, Go-Go Legend James “Jas” Funk answers a few brief quetions regarding his history with Rare Essence, as well as the upcoming Rare Essence Reunion taking place on September 11, 2010.
[Click Here For More Information]

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By Andrea Jill Greenleigh

The definition of the adjective “genius” is associated with the achieving of unprecedented insight. The noun “genius” is a level of aptitude, capability, or achievement that exceeds the accomplishment of almost any other person in the same field. Thomas Sayers Ellis, whose aura exudes artistic elements of his hometown of Washington, DC, is indeed a lyrical as well as a visual genius. The recent release of his second book of poetry, Skin, Inc.: Identity Repair Poems (Graywolf Press, September 2010), cements the fact that he is truly one of the most gifted poets of his generation.

(Continue Reading Here…)

SEE SOME OF THOMAS SAYERS ELLIS’S PICTURES HERE

FINALLY!!  From the moment I first seen Y’anna Crawley “Yanni” hit the stage many years ago at the Takoma Station, I had always hoped that more than just the DMV would be able to get the blessings of hearing the woman’s soulful, yet soothing vocals.  And within the times and moments of the Takoma Station, through the 94th Aerosquadron, and through the Amazon, we in the DMV got to watch her florish even more… whether it was via Lissen Band, Suttle Thoughts or Heaven Sent.  The last time that I personally got to see her sing was at Little Benny Funeral, and by the time she was through, there was not a dry eye in the Convention Center!

Last year, the world finally got the chance to be witnesses of what we have been proclaiming from the jump, when Yanni took the crown on BET’s Sunday’s Best 2.  And now in just a few more days, the world will FINALLY get the opportunity to carry Yannie around with “The Promise.”  Vicious!!

Listen below to the track “You’re Still God”

ALSO LISTEN BELOW TO PARTS 1 & 2 OF AN INTERVIEW THAT YANNI DID WITH THE TMOTT RADIO SHOW BEFORE HER APPEARENCES ON BET’S SUNDAY BEST 2

Yanni Interview PART 1:

Yanni Interview PART 2:

Peaceaholics founder Ron Moten held a press conference on Thursday, July 15, right outside City Paper’s office, to protest D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray’s description of Moten as a “Crony” of Mayor Adrian Fenty’s.  It ran about 20 minutes.  Here are the highlights.

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In the clip below, Moten attempts to get an explanation from D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray for calling him a “Crony”…  following him through the building and into a parking garage after Gray finishes an interview on WPFW-FM on Thursday, July 15.

By Aaron Morrissey

DCist - Adam Rosenberg recently visited the District’s Department of Motor Vehicles website to change his address. He was impressed with the online upgrades that the DMV had made over the last year — even though the document which the DMV required to verify his new address, a Word file that anyone could have slapped together, was hardly foolproof. But Rosenberg wasn’t out to dupe anyone. He let it slide and chalked it up to the cost of doing things online as opposed to waiting in the sometimes interminable lines at one of the DMV’s service centers.

Yesterday, Rosenberg got a package in the mail, which he thought was his shiny new driver’s license. But the license inside belonged to someone else.

“I’m sitting here looking at this letter that has all my information, and somebody else’s identification,” said Rosenberg. “Someone just carelessly sent me someone else’s [license].”

Fortunately for that individual, Rosenberg isn’t looking to assume anyone’s identity, and he called the DMV to report the issue. After sitting through an automated service that “didn’t go anywhere for about half an hour,” he was transferred to a customer service representative, who immediately transferred him to the office of the Director; the person who answered the phone gave Rosenberg two options: he could mail back the license, or come to one of the DMV’s brick-and-mortar locations to rectify the issue.

“They didn’t seem to understand how huge of a problem this could be,” Rosenberg said. “The way [the representative] was talking with me was like I was trying to pay a parking ticket. It wasn’t really resonating that this is someone’s driver’s license.”

Rosenberg’s concerns about that lax authentication step have now intensified. If it was possible to have somebody else’s license sent to him in the mail, who’s to say that a more malicious person wouldn’t be able to go to the DMV website, plug in some false information and obtain a driver’s license in someone else’s name?

“There are a number of security holes,” said Rosenberg, who works for a software developer. “All you need to mess around with this is a little bit of someone’s Social Security number. Because of the lack of verification, I could clearly mess around with someone’s identification,” he added.

Obviously, sending someone the wrong driver’s license is an enormous mistake — and for all we know, perhaps just an honest misunderstanding. (Both the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Executive Office of the Mayor have yet to respond to DCist’s requests for comment on this story.) But the fact that the individual who was sent the wrong license has to take action to rectify the situation or risk sending someone else’s license via snail mail is another issue altogether. Rosenberg said that if he had time today or tomorrow, he’d try to get to the DMV and take care of it — though he expressed a desire to try and connect with the woman whose license he has in his possession.

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(Jeff Martin // www.jeffreydmartin.com)

DCist.com: This was no piano recital. The energy outside the 9:30 Club on Saturday morning made that clear. As the crowd grew down the block waiting for the doors to open, some of the bands and camp counselors were gathered at the rear entrance, standing on the back of a U-Haul truck, posing for pictures and filing inside in pure rock-and-roll style. This was also unlike any summer camp most of us have ever dreamed of.

“Have your I.D.’s ready,” a 9:30 staffer announced at the door. “This is a regular show.”

As the house quickly filled with the friends and families of the 71 girls ready to get down and rock out, the energy was undeniable. Posters hanging from the balcony provided a pep-rally atmosphere and a reminder of air-guitar solos, hair-dryer microphones on bedroom rugs, and dreams of one day playing on the same stage as our rock heroes.

The girls were nervous, excited, naturals, out of their element, and a little stage-struck, many never having touched their instruments just a week before. With the guidance and inspiration of the Girls Rock! DC camp counselors, eleven bands and three DJ crews formed, wrote, and arranged their own original songs while learning to play their instruments in the space of just one week. Individual talents were highlighted as the group dynamics were showcased. The stage was no place for competition between bandmates, and fellow bands offered support and encouragement from the crowd.

As a final thank-you, everyone gathered together on stage for the camp theme song. Glitter and flowers fell from faces and hands onto lace-up Chucks and pink tulle, and electric smiles gleamed from every single face on stage.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE & SEE ALL THE IMAGES HERE

In the ol school spirit of a preperation for a good ol fashion ass whooping “Go-Go Style”, DJ Rico’s GMZ catches the beginning stages of what could possibly end up being the biggest stage battle this side of the new millinium to date.  Watch below as Stomp Dogg (of NEG), Big Youngin (of JYB), DJ Big John, and others talk that talk, and see if you get just a little “syced” for the excitement.  Hell… even Big Butch chimed in with an evil grin!

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John Henrehan
john.henrehan@foxtv.com

CAPITOL HEIGHTS, Md. – At first, retired carpenter Robert Earl Robinson thought a tree had fallen onto his house on West Mill Avenue in Capitol Heights. It happened just after 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.

But the boom Mr. Robinson heard was not a tree. It was a car that smashed through the brick front wall of his house. Most of the car wound up in two occupied bedrooms in the lower level of the house.

“I run outside, and I heard my nephew saying, Uncle Earl, Uncle Earl, get me out of here,” said Robinson. His nephew couldn’t get out of the room downstairs. The car had him trapped.

The nephew, Robert Anderson, had gone to bed just two minutes earlier. “The whole room exploded,” explained Anderson. “The room turned to brick ash and drywall dust. It was everywhere. And, the next thing I know, I was in a cloud.”

Roberts’ cousin, Ronald Robinson, was in the adjoining bedroom. He, too, was injured by the flying debris. “Stuff just started dropping down on top of me,” said Ronald Robinson, gesturing to the bandage wrapped around his head at Washington Hospital Center. He also suffered cuts on his left arm and a knee injury.

Neighborhood witnesses said two males from the car got out of the vehicle and left. A young woman got out of the vehicle but returned to poke her head into the broken house. “Then somebody’s head came in behind the car and said ‘Hey Mister, Hey Mister, can you get my purse!’ And I’m just sitting there in amazement, naked, going ‘Can I get your purse?” said Anderson.

Firefighters extricated the two cousins within a few minutes.

Witnesses said police rounded up all three people from the car for questioning. No arrests have been made, but Prince Georges County Police say the accident is under active investigation.

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DC Mayor Adrian Fenty promises to “listen better” if he’s elected to another term. The embattled incumbent made the comment during a televised debate on TBD, formerly News Channel 8. “We know that we’ve got to change some things in the next term. I talked about making sure that we’re communicating better, that we’re listening better,” he said. Fenty is spending a lot of money as he tries to hold on to his job. He spent nearly two-million-dollars in June and July, mostly on TV spots. Four of his ads appeared in commercial breaks during the debate. Even with the advertising blitz, Fenty is still lagging in the polls. DC’s Democratic primary is September 14th.