Home Rule Mag.Zine Issue 4.

LESSONS IN THE POCKET: SHORTY CORLEONE ON MEMORY, MENTORSHIP, & THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF GOGO

JAZZ AND THE SEARCH FOR NEW SUNS

A PLUNKY SUMMER: 2025 BRINGS HOT NEW ALBUM

HR 25

Festival Summer & Fall 2025

HOME RULE Mag.zine Coming Back to Our Roots

Jazz & Go-go Edition

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HOME RULE ZINE SUMMER & FALL 2025

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & ART DIRECTOR St. Clair Castro-Wright Jr.

CREATIVE MANAGER & MANAGING EDITOR Briona Butler

PUBLISHER Home Rule Music Foundation

PRINTER Heritage Printing

ASSISTANT EDITORS Briona Butler, Jamari Tyree, Charvis Campbell

SPECIAL CONTRIBUTING WRITER Jackson Sinnenberg

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Briona Butler, Jamari Tyree, Phillip Kulubya, Kendall Bryant

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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04. Editor‘s Letter 05. 2025 Sponsors 06. 2025 Performers 08. Home Rule Music Festival Marks Year 4 with a New Generation, Rooted in Rhythm 14. The Go-Go Museum & Café’s Crankin Collection 18. RHYTHM TACTICS: A Go-Go Archive for Now Playlist 20. Lessons in the Pocket: Shorty Corleone on Memory, Mentorship, and the Transformative Power of Go-Go 28. Jazz and the Search for New Suns 34. Long Live Go-Go 36. A Plunky Summer 40. Don’t Mute DC Turns Up the Volume in 2025 46. CapitalBop at 15: Still ‘taking care of us’

© 2025 Home Rule All Rights Reserved, Unauthorized Duplication Without Prior Consent is Prohibited.

Summer & Fall 2025

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Letter From The Editor Even before we put out the very first issue of Home Rule Magazine in June 2022—timed to the inaugural Home Rule Music Festival—we knew this wasn’t going to be a one-and-done situation. The work felt too necessary. Telling D.C.’s music stories, documenting our vinyl culture, and spotlighting local creative voices wasn’t just something cool to do—it was a cultural responsibility. Especially in a city where gentrification tries to pave over memory, where venues disappear, and history gets forgotten in real time.

With every issue since, we’ve aimed to sharpen that mission, and this edition might be our most rooted one yet.

You’ll find threads of legacy and future throughout—from the stage to the page. Writer Jamari Tyree opens with a look at what year four of the festival means, with a new generation stepping into the spotlight. Our Youth Showcase isn’t just an opener—it’s a message: the rhythm is alive and well, and it’s already in good hands. Briona Butler delivers twice with her powerful interview with Shorty Corleone—on mentorship, memory, and the staying power of Go-Go— and with “Rhythm Tactics,” a playlist/archive made for this exact moment in time. Phillip Kulubya takes us inside the Go-Go Museum & Café’s Crankin Collection and gives us a ride through a Plunky summer, while Jackson Sinnenberg puts CapitalBop’s 15-year history into context as one of the city’s most vital incubators for boundary-pushing jazz.

This issue celebrates what Go-Go was and is—and what it continues to do for the people who grow up in its pocket.

It’s a genre, a heartbeat, and a spiritual language spoken only by those who’ve sweated it out at Mad Chef, Neon, The Black Hole, Cuzco’s, and Gee’s Nightclub. I was there. Nights with UCB, TCB, Fatal Attraction, Raw Image, and of course, Backyard Band—those were my rites of passage. If you know, you know.

Go-Go wasn’t born in a studio. It came out of the crowd, out of call-and-response, out of grit and syncopation and joy.

It grew from jazz and funk, morphed through hip-hop, and kept adapting. Like D.C. itself. And like all the music I love— whether we’re talking Pink Floyd, Cymande, Mort Garson, Sun Ra, Gato Barbieri, Carlos Santana, or any of the soulful, psychedelic, or off-kilter sounds I keep in rotation—Go-Go stands as a testament to freedom and movement. That’s what this magazine is too.

Elsewhere in the issue, Jamari returns with “Long Live Go-Go,” Kendall Bryant expands the scope with an exploration of Afrofuturist jazz in Jazz and the Search for New Suns, and Phillip closes out strong with “Don’t Mute DC Turns Up the Volume in 2025”—a reminder that this movement doesn’t end on stage or on wax. It lives wherever the people gather and play it loud.

There’s nothing passive about our music. There never was. And Home Rule—both the magazine and the festival—exists to turn it up, keep it documented, and pass it on.

So dig into this issue, spin something wild, and stay funky.

St.Clair Castro-Wright Jr. 04 04

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2025 PERFORMING AR BACKYARD BAND

NEW IMPRESSIONZ PLUNKY & THE ONENES IMANI GRACE-COOPER FARAFINA KAN ENSEMB JOANTZ: PRODUCER SHOWCASE

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@ ALETHIA TANNER PARK

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Home Rule Music Festival Marks Year 4 with a New Generation, Rooted in Rhythm

By Jamari Tyree

TOMORROW‘S SOUND HONORS YESTERDAY‘S SPIRIT AT THE 2025 HOME RULE MUSIC FESTIVAL THE BEAT OF CHOCOLATE CITY Music is a huge part of showcasing the roots of where we originate by creating a significant sound that only we as a people are aware of, sharing it with the world surrounding us, and embracing the legacy and culture that come with celebrating music. For the District of Columbia, Go-Go music is more than a sound—it’s the city’s pulse through generations.

Washington, D.C.’s “Chocolate City” moniker reflects its long-standing role as a Black cultural hub. With its infectious rhythms and call-and-response vocals, Go-Go music is inseparable from D.C.’s identity. While George Clinton popularized the nickname “Chocolate City,” it was Chuck Brown, the “Godfather of Go-Go,” who birthed the sound in the mid-1970s: an infectious blend of funk, jazz, Latin rhythms, and gospel. It is a sound you don’t just hear; you move with it.

At its core is the “pocket”—a hypnotic, percussive rhythm born of Black, southern church music and sustained by the crowd.

Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers built a groove meant to last beyond the night, keeping our people dancing until tomorrow came.

In this groove, “Chocolate City” became more than a name. It became an anthem—a city with Black mayors, a Black-majority council, and a 70% Black population. Go-Go captured our joy, our hustle, and our pride. It was the soundtrack of self-determination, a cultural claim on the city we made our own.

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Chuck Brown playing guitar on rooftop in Washington D.C. Photo Credit: www.windmeupchuck.com

LEGACY CARRIES: FROM CHUCK BROWN TO BACKYARD BAND Brown wasn’t alone. Rare Essence, Trouble Funk, Experience Unlimited (E.U.), and the Young Senators—these bands turned Go-Go into a movement. Songs like “Bustin’ Loose,” “Pump Me Up,” “Da Butt,” and “Overnight Scenario” became more than party anthems. They were declarations of identity and power, echoing through neighborhoods and across national stages like Spike Lee’s School Daze.

Go-Go wasn’t just a sound. It was—and still is—a “cultural ecosystem.” Dr. Natalie Hopkinson, curator of the Go-Go Museum & Café and author of Go-Go Live, explains: “Go-Go is a collection of Black businesses. It’s a huge industry in this area, especially at its height in the ‘80s.” It fueled an entire economy of musicians, managers, promoters, radio stations, and entrepreneurs.

Clothing brands like Madness, HOBO, All Day, and Shooters, for instance, created what we know today as the urbanwear industry. Streetwear rooted in sound, place, and perspective: “People here protected their businesses,” Dr. Hopkinson notes. “They weren’t interested in having it taken over by someone else.”

Each generation has brought something new to the beat. The ‘90s gave us Backyard Band and Northeast Groovers, who layered in gritty, hip-hop-infused styles. The bounce beat—introduced in the early 2000s—kept Go-Go evolving, keeping it alive in the hearts of younger audiences even as D.C. changed around us.

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Bel’a Dona Band Photo Credit: Folklife.si.edu

BLACK WOMEN: THE HEARTBEAT OF THE BEAT And let’s be clear: Black women have always been the heartbeat of Go-Go. “There’s not Go-Go without women,” says Dr. Hopkinson. From vocalists and instrumentalists to “Mom”-agers and promoters, women have shaped the scene. Annie Lee Mack managed Rare Essence. From Pleasure to Be’La Dona to Takesa “KK” Donaldson, their determination, love, courage, and talent keeps our legacy alive. Through innovation and her archival research, Dr. Hopkinson herself remains a purveyor of the rich and particular artistry and sites of memory at which the women of Go-Go culture abide. Despite being under-recognized, Black women were—and are—central to the sound that has shaped our way of life.

#DONTMUTEDC: WHEN RHYTHM BECAME RESISTANCE To be Black and from D.C. is to have our identity tested by racism, gentrification, policing, and cultural erasure. In 2019, when a MetroPCS store in Shaw was told to stop playing Go-Go from its loudspeakers, the community erupted. #DontMuteDC was born.

Bands took to truck beds and protest marches, transforming rhythm into resistance and joy into justice.

“The music came together to protect that business,” says Dr. Hopkinson, “but also pushed for broader policy change—education, health, and criminal justice. Go-Go artists gave voice to every aspect of life in Chocolate City, and policymakers were compelled to listen.”

In 2020, Go-Go was named the “official music” of Washington, D.C., a legislative nod to a truth we’ve always known. That February 19th was a win for the genre and for the soul of Chocolate City: a city defined not by proximity to political power but by allegiance to Black culture, autonomy, and creative legacy.

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ROOTED IN RHYTHM: THE FUTURE OF GO-GO

Crowd Celebrating at Moechella in 2019 Photo Credit: Akil Ransome / Courtesy of Long Live Go-Go

Today, Go-Go remains. It bridges the past, present, and future.

The 2025 Home Rule Music Festival proves this. Born from a commitment to keep D.C.’s Black musical legacy alive, the festival is an annual, multi-day celebration of music, art, food, and community joy.

Year 4 kicks off on June 13 with the festival’s first-ever youth showcase—“Rooted in Rhythm”—at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company. Young musicians from Girls Rock! DC, Let’s Go-Go Band, Soul of SEED, and the Washington Youth Choir take the stage, guided by Go-Go legend, now-radio personality, and Professional Mentor Charles “Shorty Corleone” Garris. “I think we’re heading in the right direction.”

Day 2, on June 21, moves the celebration to The Parks at Walter Reed in Takoma. In quintessential Home Rule fashion, the outdoor gathering pulses with vinyl vendors, local eats, vibrant apparel, Black art, and—of course—the living, breathing sound of GoGo. Here, past and future stand side-by-side. This summer, Backyard Band delivers the steady heartbeat of the culture, while New Impressionz electrifies the stage with a fresh spin on the classic pocket—preserving the tradition and reinventing it with every beat.

They’re joined by a dynamic lineup: the legendary saxophonist and funk visionary Plunky; soulful singer-songwriter Imani-Grace Cooper; the powerful percussion and movement of Farafina Kan Ensemble; and a curated Joantz Music Producer Showcase. Together, they honor the legacy, elevate the moment, and carry Go-Go’s spirit into tomorrow.

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The Go-Go Museum & Café’s Crankin’ Collection The museum utilizes new technology and its many supporters to celebrate Go-Go’s history By: Phillip Kulubya

On any Saturday afternoon, you’ll see people from all walks

members of the local music community.

of life stepping through the doors of the Go-Go Museum

By 2019, Moten began calling on friends, associates, and

& Café. Some visitors come from as far away as Califor-

fellow Washingtonians to contribute artifacts. “I really

nia, while others live just a short walk from the museum

didn’t have a lot of old memorabilia other than pictures,”

in Washington, D.C.’s Anacostia neighborhood. Since its

Moten said. “I wasn’t thinking to save it. I’ve moved so

opening on Feb. 19, 2025, the museum has welcomed stu-

many times—it’s hard to hold on to stuff.”

dents, musicians, and longtime Southeast D.C. residents.

Still, Moten donated several key artifacts of his own. Over

But what exactly draws so many to this new cultural hub?

the years, he’s worked closely with some of the genre’s

With 16 interactive exhibits and a growing archive of Go-

biggest names. Among the items he contributed is an

Go artifacts, the museum has quickly become a must-see

obituary program from the funeral of famed trumpet play-

for Go-Go fans and curious visitors alike.

er Anthony “Little Benny” Harley, who passed away in

Go-Go music—a percussion-heavy genre indigenous to

2010. Little Benny rose to fame with Rare Essence in the

D.C.—has echoed through the city’s airwaves and streets

1970s before founding Little Benny & the Masters in the

for decades. Yet, unlike other musical genres, it lacked a

’80s.

dedicated museum. That’s where founder and CEO Ronald

Moten also donated a DVD of the 2003 Go-Go Live Health

Moten came in. In 2009, the Go-Go promoter and activist

& Stop the Violence Concert, which he co-produced. The

announced plans for a Go-Go museum during a speech

concert included performances by rapper 50 Cent and

at the Go-Go Awards, an event he produced alongside

Go-Go bands like Backyard Band and TCB (Take Control

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Band). Both the program and DVD are displayed in a glass ey.” Chuck Brown—revered as the “Godfather of Go-Go”— case on the museum’s lower level.

created the genre in 1976.

In February 2020, the Maryland radio station WGPC 95.5 One of Wartofsky’s favorite items is a black button-down FM teamed up with Don’t Mute DC and the museum for a shirt that belonged to Brown, donated by Becky Marcus of telethon fundraiser.

Liaison Records.

Dr. Natalie Hopkinson, the museum’s chief curator, was deeply moved by the event’s community response. “It “I liked looking at that because it just reminded me of the seemed real,” Hopkinson said. “It wasn’t just some idea— way Chuck was and how he dressed,” Wartofsky said. “He somebody running their mouth. There was an outpouring always had charisma—this flair.” of people all day long, coming up and giving money. They Another standout artifact is DJ Kool’s varsity jacket, comalso started offering their artifacts and offering to donate.”

memorating his 1996 hit “Let Me Clear My Throat,” which

A longtime Go-Go advocate, Hopkinson has chronicled the went platinum in 2023. The jacket, donated by DJ Kool in genre as both a journalist and academic. Her 2012 book 2024, is a prized addition for Moten and Hopkinson.

Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate Since its opening, the museum has gained attention for its City traces the music’s roots and cultural legacy. Before innovative technology—including AI-powered holograms joining the museum, she also contributed artifacts to the of Anwan “Big G” Glover (Backyard Band) and Gregory D.C. Public Library’s Go-Go archive.

“Sugar Bear” Elliott (Experience Unlimited). Visitors can in-

“People have just been really great about wanting to donate teract with the holograms by asking them questions about their materials,” she said. “It’s all been very organic—rooted their careers and Go-Go’s evolution. The tech is powered in our personal connections and networks. From there, it’s by TimeLooper, a company specializing in immersive exjust grown.”

hibition design.

Journalist Alona Wartofsky, who has covered Go-Go since the 1980s, is among the many friends of the museum who’ve contributed to its collection. She donated a Rare Essence T-shirt from the ’80s that reads, “I’m an Inner City Groover,” a nod to the band’s nickname. She also shared a 1984 promotional shirt for Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers, created to promote their single “We Need Some Mon-

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"It has to be interactive. to engage young people. “We want to get young people We want to reach more into it,” he said. “It has to be interactive. We want to reach people. Not everybody more people. Not everybody has the patience to sit and has the patience to sit read.” and read.”

One of the most visited features is the Go-Go Meets HipBefore the museum opened, Moten emphasized the need

Hop exhibit, which plays jam sessions, D.C. rap tracks, and hits that sample Go-Go. A crowd favorite: Nelly’s 2002 chart-topper “Hot in Herre,” which samples Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers’ “Bustin’ Loose.”

Downstairs, touchscreen exhibits like the Go-Go Family Tree allow visitors to trace the genre’s history—from Chuck Brown’s founding to future-forward bands like youth group Pock3t.

Many musicians, creatives, and scholars contributed to the museum’s content, including Darryl Brooks, Boogie Proctor, Sugar Bear, Alona Wartofsky, Charles C. Stephenson Jr., and more.

Stephenson, an author and former manager of Experience Unlimited, is excited about what’s ahead. “I think whatever they do in the future is going to be forward-leaning,” he said. “It’s going to be creative. And they’re going to use technology to educate and to share the story of the music—which I applaud.”

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The Greg “Sugar Bear” Elliott AI-powered hologram and the Experience Unlimited exhibit at the Go-Go Museum & Café. Nov. 18, 2024.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sam Johnson III / SamJohnson3 Photography

MuMu Fresh @ NEXTfest 21 Photo Credit:Viva Ventura

Lessons in the Pocket: Shorty Corleone on Memory, Mentorship, and the Transformative Power of Go-Go Interview By: Briona Butler

Introducting Shorty Corleone Briona Butler:

how Crank Radio, and radio in

Don Campbell—WHUR’s Don from

Introduce yourself to the audi-

general, help keep Go-Go alive.

Ground Zero—was instrumental in getting us over to SiriusXM. He knew

ence. Tell us who and what you are SC:

what we were doing with the Go-

Crank Radio started during the pan-

Go broadcast at the phone store on

Shorty Corleone:

demic with myself and Rico Ander-

7th and Florida Avenue, and WHUR

I’m Shorty Corleone—artist, ambas-

son. While everything was shutting

caught wind of it.

sador, producer, Washingtonian, Go-

down, the #DontMuteDC movement

Go artist, and radio personality.

helped birth the idea.

to Go-Go.

The Rise of crank radio

We got the first call from SiriusXM in the fall—September or October—and another in December. They wanted episodes ready before the holiday

BB: What is Crank Radio? How did it

break, so by December 23–24, we were in production mode.

come to be, and how long have you been doing it?

Tell us a bit about the format and

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Shorty Corleone (On Right) Photo Credit: UNKNOWN

The wild part? I had just recovered my voice after a bad case of bronchitis. I literally couldn’t speak. My first time using my voice again wasn’t in front of 300 people at a GoGo show—it was for 30 million listeners on SiriusXM. That was major—not just for me, but for the culture.

Eventually, Rico’s schedule got packed with national projects, so I kept the show going. It evolved into Crank with Shorty Corleone. Two years ago, we got picked up on the terrestrial side of WHUR. Now we’re on FM, too.

Go-Go’s Global Future BB: What role does Crank Radio play in shaping the future of this genre for new listeners across the globe?

SC: We are going to be the leading contributor to Go-Go music worldwide.

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“My first time using my voice again wasn’t in front of 300 people at a Go-Go show—it was for 30 million listeners on SiriusXM.” Rare Essence and Go-Go’s Golden Era BB:

about fitting what the record needed.

As someone who helped shape Rare Essence’s sound, what memories stand out as defining mo-

At the time, I had just returned from a failed label deal in

ments—on stage or in the community—that captured

New York. I remember thinking, If I can’t make it in my

the spirit of D.C.?

own city, forget it. Then I got invited to a Rare Essence session. It wasn’t even a formal audition—just singing on a

SC:

few tracks. Those songs ended up becoming classics. The

When I joined, I brought a hip-hop melodic pattern into the

chemistry was real.

band. I had a background in classical and R&B vocals, but I loved hip-hop, so I blended those influences.

If you listen to tracks like “Work It,” “The Heart,” “Overnight Scenario,” “Body Snatchers,” and “Call My Name,” you can hear how I adjusted my style to elevate each song. It was

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On Band Chemistry and Personal Energy BB: How would you describe your energy within the band? Were you “the diplomat,” “the funniest,” “the most energetic”?

A Message to Emerging Artists

SC: I’ve been called “the diplomat” because of how I respond to people. Some even said I should run for mayor! [laughs] But honestly, I didn’t have a master plan. I just supported whatever was needed and stayed ready. I was the youngest in the band, so I learned from the system they had in place. It was fast-paced: come prepared, knock it out, and move on. I respected that.

I didn’t even realize I was adding something unique. I just brought my energy and did the work.

BB: What would you say to artists who feel like D.C. doesn’t have the infrastructure to uplift their work— and that they have to leave in order to succeed?

SC: It’s a big world out there. Home will always be home, but don’t limit yourself. Go out, get your “Walmart notches,” as I call them—those lessons from the road.

D.C. is a performance town. If you want to build your stage hours, it’s the perfect place. But if you’re trying to break into the music business, you might need to be closer to radio stations or music executives.

RIGHT: Rare Essence Band with Shorty Corleone Photo Credit: UNKNOWN

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The city’s evolving, though. I see D.C. becoming what folks always hoped it could be beyond politics. There are more opportunities now, but artists still need to explore.

Travel. Learn. Try. Fail. Repeat.

Lessons for the Next Generation BB: What lessons—musical, personal, or political—do you hope this generation carries forward?

SC:

Mentorship and Legacy BB: What does it mean to you to be mentoring young musicians right now? How did you start as a bandleader for Let’s Go-Go Band?

SC:

Education. Preparedness. Eagerness. Persistence. Seriousness.

I tell them: you are a business. And if someone spends their time to come see you perform, you owe them your best. Respect yourself and respect the moment. Carry yourself like you belong in the room—because you do.

You never know who’s in the room. I talk about that all the time. Conduct yourself with care, because someone’s always watching or listening.

I try to offer positive energy and meaningful feedback— and remind young people that 90% of the music they listen to has Go-Go influence. Once they understand that, they find their own lane within what we’ve built. Even the skeptics start nodding their heads like, “OK, let’s do this.”

This generation excites me. To be able to give back in this way is truly an honor.

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Reclaiming Space Through Go-Go BB: Go-Go has moved from erasure to national recognition. How do you see today’s youth reclaiming that space and rewriting the genre’s legacy?

Final Thoughts: The Power of Go-Go SC: We’re moving in the right direction. Social media helps—

BB:

the energy travels. And the music education programs in

What do you want the world to understand about the

schools are a game changer. These students are build-

power of Go-Go?

ing muscle memory. They’ll carry it with them into high school, college, and beyond.

SC:

That’s how Go-Go started—in jam sessions, in high

It’s a force. It’s coming. And it will always be a part of Amer-

schools, on street corners. That raw creativity is making

ican music history. But the best? The best is yet to come.

a comeback.

We just need to hold space for it. Play the beat. Spark the

Tune in!

excitement. The culture will do the rest.

You can listen to Crank Radio every Saturday and Sunday at 10 PM on SiriusXM HUR Voices (Channel 141) and Saturday nights at midnight on WHUR FM.

More stations to be announced in 2025. .

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Jazz and the Search for New Suns By: Kendall Bryant

“‘Good music they have here,’ he remarks, drumming the table with his fingertips.

Music! The great blobs of purple and red emotion have not touched him. He has only heard what I felt.”

Zora Neale Hurston, “How It Feels to Be Colored Me” (1928) (emphasis mine)

1

If the blues is best understood as a “way of life,” as

movement, and exploitation in factories and on planta-

James Baldwin suggests, so is its child, jazz. Like its moth-

tions. The blues and jazz are a part of a wider Black Ameri-

er, jazz is not merely a way of playing instruments or a

can tradition of “making a way out of no way,” or exercising

genre ripe for commodification. It is a means of moving

agency in the most impossible of conditions. But Baldwin

and dancing, storytelling, conversing, and being in the

says it best when he notes that the blues (and thus, jazz)

world with the knowledge that “there is no way not to suf-

come from “this ability to know that, all right, it’s a mess,

fer.”2

and you

Though jazz, as we know it today, spans cultures, we must never forget that the style was originally alchemized by the specific intergenerational struggle of Black Americans. Jazz and the art forms that came before it began as sites of resistance and togetherness for communities who endured the threat of lynching, laws that restricted their

28

can’t do anything about it... so, well, you have to do something about it.” 3 While they are branches on the same tree, jazz and 1 James Baldwin, “The Uses of the Blues” (1964) 2 Ibid.

the blues have their distinct characteristics. As a musical

vessel for Bessie Smith’s crooning about the flood that

style, the blues follows a standard form4. Without getting

washed her home away5, Ma Rainey’s indignant tale of

too deep into the weeds, it’s typically shaped around 12

running away from her home6, and Billie Holiday’s honest

bar segments with 3 chords that revolve around the 1st,

reflections about loving her man but being ready to leave

4th, and 5th notes of an 8-note scale. Additionally, the lyr-

him and his controlling ways7. The blues’ consistency as a

ics follow an AAB form where a phrase is repeated twice

musical style reflects its larger role as an anchor and a life

before a new one is introduced. This style was a capacious

raft in Black American life. It gave its people another gram-

Ma Rainey and her Georgia Jazz band in 1923 Photo Credit: Courtesy of Micheal Ochs

mar to speak and live by, catalyzing its own revolution with

feelings to both channel and evoke — jazz is one of our

shared language. Conversely, jazz is all about the making

best guideposts for the meaning of “innovation” itself.

of form through the breaking of form. It is a method for inventing new languages out of old ones in pursuit of the

Poet and music critic A.B. Spellman, a friend of many

most free way to express an idea. It is a poignant repre-

jazz musicians including John Coltrane and Miles Davis,

sentation of Octavia Butler’s point that, “There is nothing

lays it out very clearly in his interview with the podcast

new under the sun, but there are new suns.”8 In its un-

Poetry Off the Shelf:

quenchable quest to find new “suns” — concepts, chord progressions, instrumental arrangements, time signatures,

29

Jazz had historically developed with certain specific canons. You had the New Orleans canon, then you had the Stride canon, and the Swing canon. And you had the Bebop canon. And I think it was [Ezra Pound] who talked about everything being controlled by a sort of academy that had rules and laws about how art was to be made. And then you’d get a bunch of revolutionaries against that canon and they would eventually break it. Then the art would be very new and very exciting. And there’d be a lot of innovation going on all over. And that would eventually ossify into another canon and another academy and the cycle would start again. Because you’re gonna get some people who want to say, ‘No, no, I want to be freer than that.’9

And so jazz, as a musical form and mindset, is fueled by a revolutionary drive for liberated expression. It is at once a laboratory and a playground for the creation of nimble structures that can allow us to faithfully share and explore the labyrinths of our innermost worlds. If human freedom depends on “the restructuring of the mind” and “new modes of poetic action, new networks of analogy, new possibilities of expression”10 as author Paul Garon writes, jazz may be one of our greatest tools for its cultivation.

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AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - OCTOBER 27: singer Jeanne Lee performs live on stage at Meervaart in Amsterdam, Netherlands on October 27 1984 (photo by Frans Schellekens/Redferns)

I first felt the power of jazz music at the end of Shay-

by my self-consciousness, I could count on one hand the

la’s dance class, hearing the bouncing, delicate notes of

amount of times I passed a mirror without shedding a tear.

Duke Ellington’s piano in the beginning of “In a Senti-

But then there was Shayla, a tall, slender, copper-skinned

mental Mood” as it fell and rose like a sea of stars.

woman who must’ve been in her early to mid-twenties when she casually changed my life.

At the time, I was 10 years old and miserable with a body that bloomed much sooner than my peers. I

I came to her in a forest green leotard with brown tights

was tall and full breasted with a little more meat on my

a little lighter than my skin and two or three sports bras

bones than the others and tiger-stripe stretch marks to

layered tightly on my chest. With her warm spirit and kind

match. I had no time to understand the rapidly changing

eyes, she held my hand and showed me sanctuary in the

landscape of my body, only the feeling of greedy eyes

mirrors of the dance room in the Bowie Community Cen-

wandering my little curves and the fear they planted in

ter.

the pit of my stomach. Confused, afraid, and paralyzed 32

The room was dimly-lit, but I remember Jill Scott’s

In an unexplainable way, I found myself in the shape of

voice coloring every corner of the room golden as Shayla

the melody and all its moving parts: the saxophone’s gritty

shepherded us across the tan floors in joyful movement.

sweetness, the piano’s effervescent melancholy, and the

Me and the other girls, all of us earth-toned variations on

marriage of them falling over and under one another to

a theme, kicked our legs high up in front of us to show off

the hush of the drum. And from that moment on, jazz has

our battements like little Rockettes.

become the soundtrack of my own personal revolution. A vehicle for my pursuit of new suns.

And we conjured all of the grace and momentum we could muster to fly across the room with our grand jetés.

Then we all galloped to the barre and watched closely as Shayla showed us how to place our feet in first, second, third, and fourth positions. With every kick and plié, I felt my armor and despair dissolve. I became more than an

3 Ibid.

4 Understanding the 12 Bar Blues 5 Bessie Smith, “Backwater Blues 6 Ma Rainey, “Runaway Blues” 7 Billie Holiday, “I Love My Man” 8 Epigram from unreleased novel Trickster by Octavia Butler 9 Poetry off the Shelf podcast, “Where I Live” 10 Paul Garon, Blues and the Poetic Spirit (1975)

object for ogling. In Shayla’s class, my body was mine.

I remember feeling proud and weary by the time Shayla would turn on the cool down music and guide us through deep stretches. This is the moment when I first met Ellington and Coltrane. I didn’t know their names at the time, just the way each moving part of the song made everything make more sense. The song was very different from any of the early 2000s Pop and Neo-soul I was accustomed to hearing in the backseat of my mother’s truck, but it still sent shockwaves through me. With my eyes closed, letting myself get lost in the drama of every passing phrase, I felt my form and everything I thought I was slipping away.

33

A Plunky Summer Summer 2025 brings warm weather and a hot new album from Plunky By: Phillip Kulubya

Summer 2025 is set to be an exciting time for jazz saxophonist James “Plunky” Branch and his many adoring fans. The jazz legend’s summer schedule includes Plunky Day, the 2025 Home Rule Music Festival, and the release of Plunky & The Oneness of Juju’s new album, Made Through Ritual. Since founding the Afro-jazz group Plunky & The Oneness of Juju in 1971, the saxophonist has left a lasting imprint on the music world—as both a performer and a record label CEO.

The Richmond, Virginia native has built a global fan-

it and a tradition of honoring the original intent of those

base, thanks in large part to classics like 1977’s “Every Way

recordings,” Plunky said. “They put each one out with ex-

But Loose,” which found particular success in London.

tensive liner notes and the history of the label and the acts

Plunky is also the CEO of N.A.M.E. Brand Records, through

they included.” Strut Records will release Made Through

which he has released 30 albums.

Ritual on July 11, 2025. With this album, Plunky returns to

In 1975, Plunky co-founded the influential Black Fire

his jazz roots. Over the years, his sound has fused jazz

Records with the late DJ and producer Jimmy Gray. Based

with R&B, funk, and blues. Now, he offers something more

in Washington, D.C., the label became known for pivotal

elemental.

releases, including Plunky & The Oneness of Juju’s African Rhythms (1975). In 2019, Plunky licensed Black Fire’s catalog to London-based Strut Records to reissue the label’s archive and share its music with new generations.

“They were chosen to do this because they have a hab36

Plunky Live in Concert: Photo Credit: Unknown

mond as well, including DJ Punisha and Bee Boy$oul.

The album came together over six months in 2022.

Three years later, it will officially debut on Plunky Day, July 19. Established by the City of Richmond in 2024, Plunky Day honors his lifetime contributions to music. This year’s celebration includes a concert and ceremony at the Dogwood Dell Amphitheater—the day before Plunky’s 78th birthday. “It’s going to be a day of guests, local stars, blues artists, the poet laureate of the city, young R&B artists, and James “Plunky” Branch in London. April 2025. photo credit: Courtesy of Alexis Maryon/Strut Records

[Okyerema] Asante, in addition to Plunky & Oneness,” he said. “It’s going to be a grand affair. I just hope it can all fit

“Compared to my recent recordings—recent being

into a two-hour presentation on July 19.”

over the last 20 years—this is, in some ways, a throw-

Plunky Day isn’t his only summer show. On June 21,

back. If I had to characterize it, it is a jazz album,” he said.

Plunky & The Oneness of Juju will perform at the 2025

“Since African Rhythms in 1975, all of my albums have

Home Rule Music Festival, an annual celebration of Black

been eclectic. Many genres.” Plunky, who turns 78 in July,

music held at The Parks at Walter Reed in Washington,

collaborated on the album with a vibrant circle of young

D.C.

musicians and producers. “They keep me young.”

Plunky has cultivated a deep connection with the

Jamal Gray, son of Jimmy Gray, produced seven tracks

Home Rule Music and Film Preservation Foundation, the

on the album. Plunky was deeply inspired by the samples

nonprofit behind the festival. He was an executive produc-

and sonic textures Gray introduced during their creative

er of The Black Fire Documentary, which premiered on

process. “I put together those songs from the tracks that

PBS in 2022. He also enjoys working with Home Rule’s Ex-

Jamal and the other producers made and then created

ecutive Director, Charvis Campbell, who owns Home Rule

this album of material that comes off very much like van-

Records and co-produced the documentary. “He extends

guard jazz music,” he said. “Some of it feels like free jazz.

himself to preserving our history—both through music

Some of it is rhythmic, like Afro-jazz.”

and now film,” said Plunky. “He and I have collaborated on

Plunky’s son and longtime collaborator, Jamiah “Fire”

those projects and continue to collaborate. And I’m back

Branch, is also a featured producer. The elder Branch

now for the fourth festival. I’m excited to come work with

made a point of inviting emerging producers from Rich-

him again.”

38

James “Plunky” Branch in London. April 2025. photo credit: Courtesy of Alexis Maryon/Strut Records

39

Don’t Mute DC Turns Up the Volume in 2025 Don’t Mute DC starts a new chapter with the Go-Go Museum & Café By: Phillip Kulubya

40

On a warm Thursday night, the new Go-Go Museum &

outside for an hour without hearing Go-Go from some-

Café was packed to the brim as Backyard Band performed

body’s car—like every car that would drive by, they’d be

hit after hit for a crowd of ecstatic Go-Go fans. On that

playing Go-Go. And it just sort of felt like the culture was so

day, April 10, 2025, the museum was the site of a sold-out

energetic, and it was new, and it was exciting, and every-

and highly important event—the sixth anniversary of the

body loved it.” Many bands were made up of young people

#DontMuteDC movement. Go-Go Museum & Café found-

from different D.C. neighborhoods who often performed at

er and CEO Ronald Moten felt there was no better place to

all-ages shows. Moten remembers the excitement around

celebrate the movement and organization that made the

these youth-centered events.

museum a reality.

Prior to the Go-Go Museum & Café’s opening on Feb.

“That was the way we fell in love with Go-Go,” Moten

19, 2025, Go-Go music—a genre indigenous to Washing-

said. “You were exposed to it, not only in the house with

ton, D.C.—had been criminalized and silenced for decades.

your parents, but you got to get away from your parents

The versatile genre incorporates African percussion as

to go experience it with your friends.” Soon, Go-Go music

well as elements of Black music genres like R&B and funk.

was thriving on the radio and in D.C.’s clubs. But while it

Chuck Brown, the famed guitarist and leader of the band

reached new heights in the 1980s, the genre also faced

Chuck Brown & the Soul Searchers, invented Go-Go mu-

many obstacles—both then and beyond.

sic in 1976. Trouble Funk, led by bassist and vocalist Tony

In 1987, D.C. Councilmember Frank Smith Jr. introduced

“Big Tony” Fisher, was another trailblazing Go-Go band

and ultimately passed a bill that banned people under the

founded in the 1970s that helped shape the genre.

age of 18 from attending Go-Go dance halls late at night.

Smith believed the curfew was justified due to instances

After the release of Go-Go songs like Chuck Brown &

of youth violence that had taken place at Go-Go venues.

the Soul Searchers’ 1979 hit “Bustin’ Loose,” a number of talented Go-Go bands emerged on the scene. The 1980s

Over the years, the city’s repression of Go-Go music

brought bands like Junkyard Band and Mass Extension,

took even more harmful forms. According to a 2019 study

who quickly added to the genre’s sound and cultural rel-

by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, be-

evance. Alona Wartofsky, a freelance journalist who has

tween 2000 and 2013, more than 20,000 Black D.C. resi-

covered Go-Go for decades, has fond memories of this

dents were displaced due to gentrification. Unsurprisingly,

time. Wartofsky refers to the mid-1980s as “Go-Go’s golden age.” “Anywhere downtown, it’s just like you couldn’t be

LEFT: The Go-Go Museum & Café’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. Nov. 18, 2024.

Photo: Courtesy of Sam Johnson III/SamJohnson3 Photography

41

this shift affected how and where Go-Go music could be played in the city’s changing neighborhoods.

Moten echoed the sentiment. “It gave politicians a backbone. Normally what happens is politicians will stick

Tensions around the silencing of Go-Go music inten-

their neck out for their people, but then get chewed out

sified in April 2019, when the Metro PCS store in D.C.’s

in City Hall, as if it was a crime to help their own people.”

Shaw neighborhood stopped playing Go-Go music due to

The success of Don’t Mute DC paved the way for the

a noise complaint from the residents of a new condo. The

opening of the Go-Go Museum & Café. Moten, who had

store, located at 7th Street and Florida Avenue NW, had

been talking about the idea of a Go-Go museum since

played Go-Go for years. Longtime residents of Shaw were

2009, felt that 2019 was the perfect time to work toward

shocked that the store caved to the demands of its parent

making it a reality.

company, T-Mobile, and city officials.

On Feb. 19, 2020, Mayor Muriel Bowser signed the Go-

On April 7, 2019, activist Ronald Moten and journalist

Go Music of the District of Columbia Designation Act of

and author Dr. Natalie Hopkinson launched the #Dont-

2019, officially naming Go-Go as D.C.’s official music. The

MuteDC movement to restore Go-Go music at the Metro

bill, introduced by Councilmember McDuffie, also included

PCS store and preserve Go-Go culture amid D.C.’s ongo-

a plan to create a Go-Go museum to help preserve the

ing gentrification.

city’s musical legacy.

Moten, Hopkinson, and a host of supporters organized

Since its opening, the museum has hosted several

protests and rallies while amplifying the movement on

events that celebrate the genre’s past, present, and future.

social media. A Change.org petition associated with the

Junkyard Band and Backyard Band both performed at the

campaign ultimately garnered 80,115 signatures. T-Mobile

ribbon-cutting ceremony on Nov. 18, 2024. On March 27,

eventually agreed to bring Go-Go music back to the Metro

2025, the museum hosted the “First Ladies of Go-Go” con-

PCS storefront.

cert, featuring artists like Kimise “Songbird” Lee and J’TA

Hopkinson was grateful for the support of D.C. Coun-

performing for a multigenerational audience.

cilmembers like Robert White and Kenyan McDuffie. “They

While the Go-Go Museum & Café is now a key per-

were happy that we were speaking up, because it allowed

formance venue, many of the genre’s historic spaces have

them to be able to support us. Like usually in politics, the

closed. The historic Panorama Room and Howard Theatre

loudest, the squeakiest wheels get the oil. And thanks to

still stand, but iconic venues like Chapter 3 in Southeast

the amazing fans of Go-Go, we were able to make a lot of

D.C. and Cheriy’s in Southwest D.C. are no more.

noise. And it was almost immediate.”

One particularly significant venue that shuttered its doors was Celebrity Hall—also known as The Black Hole.

42

In the 1980s, Rare Essence regularly performed at this popular Georgia Avenue venue, which was among those targeted by the 1987 youth curfew bill.

Charles C. Stephenson Jr., an author and former manager of the Go-Go band Experience Unlimited, believes the curfew and other anti-Go-Go legislation directly contributed to the closing of these spaces. “The government leaders took the easy way out. They started to scapegoat these bands for being responsible for the negative activity that was happening in our community.”

Home Nightclub, 2004 Photo Courtesy: The Washingtonian

Despite the loss of venues, there is renewed excitement

of musicians and changemakers. “I’m proud to say that since the movement, there are young Go-Go bands now.

There are a lot of young people who engage in activism and understand the power and purpose that they have as young people—and have had throughout history. But we still got a long way to go. So, I’m just going to always be here as a mentor to do that.”

Little Benny & the Masters onstage in 1988.

Photo Courtesy: The Washingtonian, Credit: Thomas Sayers Ellis.

about Go-Go music and where it’s being played. THR0W Social, a tropical-themed venue founded in 2017, regularly features Go-Go performances. UCB (Uncalled 4 Band) and TOB (TakeOvaBand) were on its May 2025 schedule.

As the Go-Go Museum & Café continues its mission, Moten is passionate about mentoring the next generation 43

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CapitalBop at 15: Still ‘taking care of us’ By: Jackson Sinnenberg

Since the 1910s, when pianist Jelly Roll Morton ragged Italian opera arias – playing the classical in the new ragtime style – the driving ideal behind the music we call jazz has been to “make it new.”

So the same is for CapitalBop, the non-profit organi-

to begin highlighting the scene somehow. He started a

zation devoted to presenting, preserving and promoting

google calendar and website – capitalbop.com – to begin

jazz in the District of Columbia, which celebrates 15 years

listing jazz shows in the city.

of operation and service this September. (Disclosure: I have been a staffer for 10 of those 15 years).

At the same time, Stewart, a Mississippi-native who attended American University after Hurricane Katrina deci-

“In addition to giving people all the information they

mated his hometown, knew that there was a mismatch in

might need to hear the music, we also felt like there was

the kind of world class musicianship that could be seen in

a need to reinvigorate the way people were experiencing

the city and the number of ears hearing it. During his un-

the music,” CapitalBop co-founder and Editor-in-Chief

dergraduate years – Stewart told the Washington Post in

Giovanni Russonello told NPR’s Jazz Night in America in

2012 – he wandered into (now closed) Twins Jazz to see

2016.

veteran bop, fusion and free saxophonist Sonny Fortune.

Those two ideas were front of mind for Russonello and

“He was playing burning tempo [stuff ] and I had nev-

Co-Founder and Artistic Director Luke Stewart when the

er seen anybody do that. It blew my mind,” Stewart told

two got together after the Rosslyn Jazz Festival in 2010.

the Post. “And there were only five people in the room.”

Russonello was a lifelong Washingtonian just-returning from undergraduate years at Tufts University in Boston.

And even if people knew about the shows going on,

An aspiring pianist-turned aspiring journalist, he wanted

the more traditional dine and listen model for clubs and

46

restaurants hosting shows could be a turn off to people

site, reviewing local albums and live sets while also inter-

without those means. For Stewart, the jazz club had “for a

viewing and reviewing national figures like Larry Willis and

lot of younger people, somewhat oppressive conditions in

Sonny Rollins as they came to town. Photographer Paul

terms of the price, in terms of ‘you have to be 21’,” he told

Bothwell helped push the organization’s visual presence

NPR. “You have to really take a chance on your wallet.”

on web, social media and YouTube while volunteers Char-

Stewart and Russonello had met one night at Bossa over the summer of 2010 and reconnected at the Rosslyn

maine Nokuri and Jennifer White Torres helped build the website CapitalBop used until April 2025.

Jazz Festival. They both saw the potential to bolster each other’s vision. “Out of that... and starting to work with him

At the same time, they started presenting the contem-

[Luke]... came some broader ideas about cross-pollinating

porary scene in all of its evolutions both in person through

the scenes operating in DC — straight-ahead, avant-gar-

shows. They would host performances by local acts at Red

de, fusion, jazz/punk, etc. — by doing shows, videos, etc.,”

Door, an artist-run studio space near the convention cen-

Russonello told the HR Zine in an email. (Engaging in that

ter. When Red Door closed, shows moved to the Dunes

kind of work would also put Stewart and Russonello firmly

on 14th Street NW and then Union Arts, a now-shuttered

in a legacy of egalitarian and do-it-yourself ethos key to

multi-studio space for visual and performing artists.

D.C.’s hardcore punk scene starting with the Bad Brains in the late 1970s and crystalized by the band Fugazi. Fu-

Even in those early days, CapitalBop was thinking in

gazi insisted on all-ages shows and doing as much of their

terms of what artists wanted to present less what audienc-

tours as DIY as possible so as to keep ticket prices close

es might think they want to hear. It was at CB’s prompting,

to $5-7.)

in fact, that bassist Kris Funn – then known for traveling

During CapitalBop’s first five years, Stewart and Rus-

the world with Kenny Garrett and trumpeter Chief Xian

sonello were blogging the scene for the burgeoning web-

aTunde Adjuah – organized and performed his first show 47

as a bandleader with his group “Corner Store” (the group’s

The first night featured a trio of local trios and was

first album was CapitalBop’s #1 D.C. Jazz Album of 2016).

filmed for Jazz Night in America; the second was a dance

“So often you hear, ‘We saw you doing this, and that

party helmed by then-breaking out bassist and singer

got a big reaction, so why don’t you do a little bit of that?’,”

Thundercat; and finally, a salute to the 50th anniversary

drummer Dana J. Hawkins told the Post in 2018. “It’s not

of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musi-

even close to that with CapitalBop. It’s, ‘That’s what you

cians (AACM) featuring flautist Nicole Mitchell.

want to do? Come do it with us’.” While the main home

This writer joined CapitalBop in September of 2015,

for CapitalBop was places like Red Door or Union Arts,

having just graduated Georgetown University with a music

these other spaces became equally important as part of

degree and unsure how to make journalism a career. The

the “D.C. Jazz Loft” – as the monthly shows were branded.

organization was about to go through a major shake-up

The name was based off of the loft scene in late 1970s

as Russonnllo was moving to New York to start a job with

New York, when the then-contemporary incarnations of

the New York Times and Stewart was beginning to take

the avant-garde would play in musicians’ and artists’ loft

off nationally and internationally as a bassist of renowned. I

apartments in Manhattan (and were often the only place

took over much of the website, creating the monthly show

they could). [Saxophonist David Murray discussed his ex-

calendar and writing every review and conducting every

perience in the loft scene in the first issue of this zine]

interview I could. Through 2018, with Russonello docu-

“Every June when the DC Jazz Fest would roll around

menting New York’s jazz scene for the Times and Stewart

we did little fundraisers,” Russonello recalled. “The first few

increasingly called to tour, the presenting slowed to four

years via Kickstarter, and presented some bigger names

times a year, usually a double bill of an out-of-town head-

from out of town on double bills with local heavies at little

liner and local opener.

DIY venues, galleries, empty retail, spaces, etc.”

Following the 2018 D.C. Jazz Festival, CapitalBop reorganized with former intern Jamie Sandel taking the reigns

The festival eventually started handing CapitalBop a

as managing director – also the website would start pay-

grant to help facilitate those shows for the festival’s main

ing contributors for writings and interviews – all thanks to

programming weekends. That model, and the first era of

a grant from the Doris Duke Foundation. With Sandel as

CapitalBop, arguably reached a pinnacle in the summer of

the first full-time paid staffer in the organization’s history,

2015 when CapitalBop presented three high-profile shows

CapitalBop got back to regular presenting again for the

in a pipe-and-draped DIY jazz club in the Old Hecht Ware-

first time since Union Arts closed in the fall of 2016. And

house as part of that year’s D.C. Jazz Festival.

since that time, as the scene often has, the landscape had

48

changed quite a bit. Early into CapitalBop’s existence, the

Council’s perennial attempts to effectively outlaw ampli-

U Street mainstay Café Nema closed – as did the jazz

fied street performances. Jarenwattananon also suggest-

club HR-57. Bohemian Caverns had closed in the spring

ed the start of the “5 Picks” column to highlight more of

of 2016 in a major blow to the scene. Gentrification was

the calendar, which runs on the first of every month.

accelerating, snapping up many of the spaces CapitalBop

Things were building and then, well, the world ground

used to present at and used to give musicians a place to

to something close to a stand still in March 2020 with the

just play. So, CapitalBop partnered with a new bulwark

onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. CapitalBop pivoted the

of the scene – Rhizome – to relaunch the monthly D.C.

best it could: the calendar would now list livestreams mu-

jazz loft in Takoma Park. At the same time, the organiza-

sicians, venues and studios organized; the blog covered

tion sought to bolster the dwindling historic space for jazz

the lived experiences of musicians, venue operators and

on U Street. So, in August of 2018, CapitalBop launched

programmers; the website directed folks to resources

its Spotlight Residency at Local 16 – a now-shuttered,

best they could; and we would try to host livestreams best

multi-level lounge, Afghan restaurant and club at 16th and

we could; later Sandel would produce mini-documenta-

U. Trombonist and educator Reginald Cyntje was the first

ries on some of the venues that shuttered because of the

resident of the program, which had a simple premise: al-

pandemic like Twins and Alice’s Jazz and Cultural Society.

low D.C. musicians to present their music as they want in this dedicated space.

Post-pandemic, the organization went through more

“CapitalBop was community, it’s for us all,” musician

reshuffling. Sandel was in-demand as a photographer

and activist Alex Hamburger (also CapitalBop’s current

and videographer – and sometimes touring musician – so

managing director) told the HR Zine. “In the activist spac-

needed to step back from the reigns. The editorial output

es we say the phrase ‘we take care of us’ and I think that

had been 90% my byline since late 2015 and I was finally

CB has always embodied that for the D.C. jazz/creative

finding full-time work as a journalist in my day job. Capital-

music/Black [American] Music scene.”

Bop sought new energy in the form of executive director

In 2019, CapitalBop also hired Patrick Jarenwat-

Jeanette Berry, a vocalist and educator, who unfortunately

tananon, who had helmed NPR Music’s jazz coverage for

remained with the organization for only a few months. In

many years, as Managing Editor. Under Russonello and

many ways, the post-pandemic years for CapitalBop have

Jarenwattananon’s guidance, I also led the website into

been years of building. “The past three years have been

more hard news coverage of the scene, whether it was the

dedicated to building infrastructure and defining CB’s vi-

launch of a new series at a restaurant or covering the D.C.

sion while its co-founders and part-time staff juggle multi-

49

ple professions and priorities,” said Sara Donnelly. Donnel-

ably legal and constitutional actions impact every aspect

ly, a longtime activist and advocate for the music, has been

of life in the city and region. “At this time, the music com-

a CapitalBop board member for well over a decade and

munity and arts landscape at large are facing all of the

served as interim executive director for the last two years.

negativity that the current administration is causing. Most

On the web front, the addition of A.M. Wolfe as assistant

feel that all organizations are operating on shaky ground

then associate editor allowed the editorial team great-

due to funding cuts.” As the one overseeing the day-to-

er flexibility. The team also sought to follow through on

day helm, Hamburger thinks CapitalBop’s commitment to

a long-standing desire of having more people contribute

the community it is deeply intertwined with and serves –

to the site. That allowed for more contributions from the

and meeting its needs on multiple levels – will continue to

likes of Dr. Thomas Stanley, the celebrated Black American

propel its work forward. “I think CB has had many different

Music scholar and advocate, as well as Dr. Joshua Myers

roles throughout the years and it’s been very adaptable

of Howard University, who is now contributing editor and

to change with the changing times for this music and the

a leading voice of the coverage. Presenting-wise Capital-

city,” she explained. “I think the three pillars of our mission,

Bop has been taking deliberate steps in when and what

presenting, preserving and promoting, can be summed up

it produces such as artists with the Home Rule Festival

as supporting the past, present and future of this music.

or shows like the Matthew Shipp Trio and Mendoza-Hoff

“The opportunity to experiment, challenge our

Revels – which featured CapitalBop’s first partnership with

perceptions, teach the next generation and most

storied alt rock venue the Black Cat. In terms of the future,

importantly be together in community to uplift each

Russonello knows CapitalBop needs to make sure that

other are so vital,” she adds, “And CapitalBop has al-

music remains part of the conversation of D.C.’s identity

ways made a space for everyone to be a part of that.”

among ever-changing times. “D.C. has a whole different landscape and constitution these days,” he told HR Zine.

“The music needs to stay part of the conversation, for the benefit of our communities and especially young people.

We also need to foster resources and communities that remember the paths this music has traveled through D.C. history, ways of thinking and doing that it has opened up.”

Part of the concern from Donnelly’s perspective comes as the second Trump administration whirlwind of question-

50

Jackson Sinnenberg is the Editor at Large and Senior Correspondent for CapitalBop. While he interviewed CapitalBop leadership for this article, no one in executive or editorial leadership had any say in the writing or editing of this article.

Sinnenberg is also the Morning Edition producer for WAMU 88.5, D.C.’s NPR News station.

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