DC Area Nightlife, Entertainment and Recreation
MARIA “JPEG” IZAURRALDE’S VALENTINE TO THE EIGHTEENTH STREET LOUNGE When the world-renowned Eighteenth Street Lounge opened in 1995, “it felt like we were putting all of our chips on one number,” says Thievery Corporation’s Eric Hilton in his foreword to ESL: The Photo Book. Little did the young co-founders – Hilton, Farid Nouri and Yama… read more »
Born in Arlington to Salvadorean parents who met in the US, Gonzalez grew up listening to his dad’s rock (Eagles, Aerosmith) and his mom’s Spanish music (merengue, cumbia). While attending Centreville High, his younger brother Javier started deejaying hip-hop. When Roberto got hooked on electronic dance music at the legendary Zei Club in DC, he… read more »
A 24-hour party has arrived for DC’s 24 hour party-people: Area 955 on WPGC’s HD2, DC’s first all dance music radio channel. The brainchild of WPGC’s program director Jason Kidd, Area 955 is a commercial-free international blend of pop and hip-hop flavored trance and house dance tracks. Kidd interned at Baltimore’s B104 WBSB-FM (Z104.3) as… read more »
“Always smooth,” says house scene veteran Charles Gore about the set he just danced to by Thomas Blondet at the Eighteenth Street Lounge. Gore has followed Blondet since the days of Club Red because “He’s one of those guys who does it just right.” “I always knew Tom was going to make it because he… read more »
U Street Music Hall is thick with vibes: sensual, soulful, playful, energetic. The Red Fridays crowd — young through middle-aged, racially and sexually diverse house heads — exudes unbridled joy in the eclectic disco-flavored groove emanating from a gyrating disc jockey with surfer dude hair. Fans bump fists with DJ Chris Burns and he grins… read more »
Only one medical student in the world can boast over five million YouTube plays for a remix. That distinction belongs to Nishant Parikh, better known as NumberNin6, whose 2008 re-envisioning of The Prodigy’s “Breathe” is an international dubstep phenomenon. On Tap tracked down NumberNin6 (pronounced “Number Nine”) in Richmond, where he defies the laws of… read more »
May 2011 Issue – 2010 Winner of Beatport’s Top Track and Top Tech House Track Awards “I don’t think anyone expected it,” marvels Kaveh Soroush – the DC half of deejay/producer duo Pleasurekraft – of their quirky elastic-hooked track “Tarantula” winning Beatport’s awards not only for 2010 Top Tech House Track but also Top Track… read more »
Ramiro, a Pisces, is a water sign, but there’s fire in his Latin blood.Born near Santiago, Chile on March 13, 1977 and left on a doorstep, baby Ramiro met his adoptive parents, the Gills of Silver Spring, who’d flown down amidst civil war, when he was five. They’d planned to call him Bobby but he… read more »
Imagine the Northern Lights as music and you might have a sense of the Röyksopp experience. Röyksopp (Norwegian for puffball mushroom) magic on this tour in support of their third and fourth albums “Junior” (2009) and “Senior” (2010) features a Gothic backdrop, rolling fog, spectral lasers, strobe lights, fanciful costumes and props, with Svein Berge… read more »
Javier Miranda is intense – passionate – speaking about Empresarios’ debut album “Sabor Tropical” (tropical flavor). Listen to his hands cast rhythmic spells on his congas and it becomes clear that his true language is music. “It’s who I am, “says Miranda at One World Studios in DC, after an energetic four-hour band rehearsal. “If… read more »
