While most students were getting ready for the final football game of the season, I got out of rehearsals for our play, Baskerville at around 18:00. My ride was sitting there ready to take me to the metro. I was dropped at Rosslyn Station and took the train bound for New Carrollton all the way to Metro Center, where I transferred to a Glenmont-bound Red Line car. I was going to work the ticket booth at the house-turned-music venue known as Rhizome DC. Tonight’s show was a special one, the headlining band, Takaat (otherwise known as the backing band for Mdou Moctar) had members that came all the way from North Africa.
I could already tell it would be a packed show when I reached Rhizome at around 19:00, with an hour until the doors were set to open. I entered as everyone does, through the back and got situated. Another volunteer, Laura, had already set up the sound system and microphones so my help wasn’t needed there. I went to the kitchen, set my zines on the table for people to read, and started to boil a little water in the electric kettle for tea, while asking any of the musicians if they’d like some. Next, I let some people who thought the show would be at 19:00 buy their at-the-door tickets and marked their hands with smiley faces 🙂 Before the rest of the crowd got there, I helped Mikey and Ahmoudou from Takaat set up their merch table (although it almost instantly had to get shifted to conserve space). The show organizer, Ambrose, finally showed up as well, (we had met before at a record store) and we had a mini-chat about Mark Robinson and TeenBeat records (a Wakefield alumnus and his record label).
At around 20:00, people started funneling through the back door. Thus began my job of checking tickets and drawing smiley faces on hands. Some people I recognized were Stephen, Morgan, Chris Richards, Mike Kanin (from Black Eyes), Dug Birdzell (from a lot of bands), Jeff Barsky (from Bed Maker), Mdou Moctar (from Mdou Moctar), Anthony Pirog (also from a lot of bands), and brothers Kiyan and Teymour (from Red Sunflower). Anyways, enough nerding out, at this point, it was time to listen to the first band, COMM UNLIMITED. Being that there was a fridge between me and the band, I never got a good view of either band, but given the volume of each band, I had no trouble hearing them. COMM UNLIMITED was a pretty straightforward DC punk band, drawing on many local influences. By the time COMM UNLIMITED finished, it was pretty packed, most of my zines had found readers (yes!), and some of us went outside.
I can’t stress enough how GOOD Takaat was. From the first note to the last decay, they laid down groovy, Tuareg-inspired rock. The thumping heart of the band, Souleymane Ibrahim hits hard, yet also with precise microrhythms and tempo changes that tickle the brain. On the melodic side of things, Ahmoudou Madassane shreds guitar using scales from his native Niger, at some points, his soloing seems to become waves of sound instead of just notes. Mikey Coltun’s bass was the link, connecting the washes of sound and rhythm as well as providing extra grooviness.
During the middle of the set, Ambrose came back with vegan nachos from the nearby Busboys and Poets, which Ambrose, myself, and members of COMM UNLIMITED quickly devoured. I had a little chat with Anthony Pirog about music and future concerts. I had met him two times before, once playing with James Brandon Lewis and the Messthetics, and another time in a band called ZĀM. The music wound down after what seemed like only 15 minutes, although I know it was probably 45. I queued up for the merch table (the very same one I helped set up) and purchased a CD from Mikey for only $5. It was the only thing I could afford but it came with a wide range of artists on his label, Purplish.
I later took the nacho container to the trash, where I saw a rat, and also emptied the recycling. It had started raining as I said goodbye to everyone I could, and I caught a ride home. What a night!