03 November 2005

DC Space, 2005


I am a nostalgic beast, by nature: a personality-flaw that doubtless tests my wife's infinite patience. Nevertheless, upon arriving back home after some 14 years away, I had a shopping-list of Sacred Places to visit...to re-visit.

Somewhere amongst the top five places on the list was the site of DC Space: For me, it was a homey, comfortable spot for live music and artistic strangeness: too small to hold crowds for more popular bands, it seemed comfortable with the freaks of the underground. From the annual Noise Fest shows to the I AM EYE indie film gatherings, DC Space was a seeping well of creative ooze.

My first public performance was there, as part of Positive Force's radical poetry event: my bit involved spontaneous word association shouted over backing tapes of crying babies, howling wolves, smashing glass, etc... Later, as part of the noise-music trio Pythagoras, we played there with Lida Husik (pre-ShimmyDisk) and freaked out more than a few "medicated" members of the crowd. Tomas Squip (of Beefeater & Fidelity Jones fame) had photographed my (then) wife and I in the studio upstairs for the "State of the Union" compilation on Dischord Records... all great memories, all feeding into that Nostalgia Lobe for future milking.

Fast-forward to 2005. I had to see the remains, after all that time. I knew DC Space had closed long ago, but I didn't quite expect to see the ultimate symbol of the American Corporate Virus, sitting there, gloating at me... Starbucks?!?!? Sure, I've had my share of Venti Cafe Americanos, but my god, this is adding quite the insult to a nostalgic injury.

Perhaps there's a lesson here. There's always a lesson, isn't there?

5 comments:

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Anonymous said...

like you- i spent a ton of time at dc space, beginning in the late 70s. it was a place to hang- to spit out some horrible, nascent poetry-to drink waaaaaay too much, and to hear some fabulous art of all stripes... the fact that it is a starbucks says a lot about the (conscious or otherwise) priorities of this society. i try not to think about this, but when i pass the corner of 7th and e, i sigh ....

Quisp-Quake said...

Coming from one of the "medicated" members of the crowd that night, this picture is one of the saddest things I've ever seen...Ouch! So many amazing times at the Space...

Thanks for going there, so I don't have to...
qq

IntangibleArts said...

That was quite a night. From the moment the soundman fell asleep at the controls (!?!?!?!), it all went batshit crazy. I remember surging into a thoroughly nuts version of SUPERFREAK, with guitar, open-reel tape loops, fuzztone-distorted harmonica, and Evian bottles filled with chickpeas. Wacky stuff, that...

Anonymous said...

Why are we all reading this post two years after it was posted? Kind of strange! But sorry for your guys pain - DC Space must have been something special and to have it taken over by Starducks...