By Mark Finkenstaedt/TWP

This week you helped write Eric Brace's Nightwatch column.

The Post Weekend's nightlife columnist (right), who throws himself on the front lines of the bar-n'-music beat in the Washington, D.C. area, is writing a future column on your memories of local clubs that are now closed.

Today's chat ended at 3 p.m. Check out the transcript below. Until next time, you can e-mail him at nightwatch@washpost.com.

Washington: What is the first club in the area that you remember going to? is it still open?

Eric Brace: Hi gang, thanks for signing on...
the first club I went to in town? Hmmmmmmmm let's see.. that would have been around 1976 when I'd gotten my drivers licence...
I checked out the Red Fox Inn in Bethesda (long gone) to see the Seldom Scene, then follwed them out to the birchmere (two versions ago, off Four Mile Run)..
But right around the same time I'd say Columbia Station (now Mr Henry's in Adams Morgan), Mr henry's Tenley Circle (now..umm right next to Armands up there) and the Psychedelly in Behtesda (now, I think, the Cottonwood Cafe)..
Back then the bar band scene was great, w/ Nighthawks, Rents Due, yankee dollar, Skip Castro, the Allstars, and on and on..
lemme hear others answer the same question: What was your first DC club experience?

arlington, va: what about Roratonga Rodeo? what a great name... what did it mean?

Eric Brace: Roratonga Rodeo was named for a South Pacific island (actually Rarotonga, apparently)... it was one of the first nightspots on Wilson blvd in Arlington, started by Billy Stewart and Alice Despard. They split up, she changed that club's name to Galaxy Hut (still hopping), and he opened the Amdo Rodeo (where IOTA is now) then Bardo Rodeo... Bardo has moved its brewing operations out to Rappahannock County (to answer a question from several weeks back), but has kept the upstairs floor of the Bardo brewpub open on Wilson blvd

dc: 1976: after wandering the streets of georgtown in a stupor, i hear some of the most slinky, sensuous slide guitar wafting out of the Cellar Door. I wander in and there's Muddy Waters, in a jowl-shaking frenzy; he had his mojo working. it was like having audience with the pope!
S

Eric Brace: Ah, the old cellar Door, where Gram Parsons first heard Emmylou harris.. that old club sure had its luminous nights..

Alexandria, VA: I went to the old 9:30 right before it closed (until that time I was according to my parents, you too young to go). i went to see the toasters there... while you can't beat the unbelievable intimacy you get in such a set up (the band is RIGHT THERE), my friends and I ended up leaving early because that tiny little room was so hot that we couldn't breathe after a while. maybe i'm missing the whole point of punk, but i thought the old 9:30 was frankly pretty dangerous if the band was "up" at all... the new 9:30 has a lot more options for those of us who don't care to be in the mosh pit, has a lot more ventilation, has the cleanest toliets on earth and the best nachos!

Eric Brace: True that the new 9:30 is an excellent space to spend an evening..see a band, hang out, take a leak (hey, you can't say that about most clubs!).... but the old 9:30 will remain forever in memory as the groundbreaking club that it was. There's no way you can see bands of the caliber that were regularly booked at the old place in such an intimate setting these days.. those places just don't exist. and where can you find a place to match the smell that the old club had?

nyc: i recall bbq iguana...nothing there...bring a lawn chair & a cooler and have a great time seeing bands

Eric Brace: Yep, the bbq Iguana was in fact the club that alice and billy started in DC before taking it across the river to start Roratonga rodeo. The BBQ Iguana was at the corner of 14th and P about 10 years ago.. next to the New Vegas Lounge ... lots of noisy rock was made in that vast empty space (a former elevator repair shop).. There were licencing issues and thefts of equipment, so they closed up shop around '91..

Winchester, Va.:
My first club was one I mentioned in my note to you.

I had read about Roy Buchanan
being considered as a replacement Rolling Stone and
I went down to the Crossroads
in Bladensburg. He was playing with Danny Denver who
supposedly wrote 'High ON a Monuntain of Love' or had a
regional hit with it or some such thing. Roy stood in the
shadows with his back turned most of the night. I came to
find out later that he was
paranoid about other guitar players stealing his riffs.

Eric Brace: good one

Hyattsville, MD: It was the late 1980s and I was a poor graduate student and budding Cajun dancer. My companion and I would eagerly scan the newspaper for word of the monthly Cajun dance at the Twist & Shout. We lived for "Cajun weekend" at T & S.

In those days, we were carless and traveled by bicycle and Metro. We rented a car on "Cajun weekend" just so we could stay until the post-midnight end of the show and get home.

Eric Brace: Nice to have such passionate music/dance fans.... I still want to start a petition for Metro to open 'til 2 am on friday and saturday.. I wonder if they'd even consider it..

Washington, DC: If I were to go bar-hopping through the past I would be sure to include a stop at Club Soda. This was a modest little live music outlet where bands could let loose on the music they cut their top-40 teeth on. Although it was billed as "oldies" the msic leaned heavily toward rhythm and blues, Motown and classic soul....
the last time i checked it seemed trouble had come to scandal city, because the place had split into two separate clubs both of which had pool tables.. the only reminder of its former glory was the neon sign above the sidewalk in the front, an art-deco relic as timeless as the music that used to be played inside...

Eric Brace: I always wondered why Club Soda couldn't have been a major player... bad ownership, clearly..
But I've got lots of nice memories of seeing Danny Gatton playing down in that little basement room

Winchester Va: I was at that Muddy Waters show at the Cellar Door. Muddy was using a socket for a slide.

I also saw Buddy Guy there with Junior Wells. Buddy was wearing a red plaid suit and played a solo at zero volumne.
Just the sound from the strings and the semi acoustic guitar. The place was dead quiet. What a wonderful place to
see music.

I also saw Willie Dixon there
with Matt 'Guitar' Murphy from the BLues Brothers band, Lafayette Leake on piano,
Carey Bell on harp.

Eric Brace: Sounds like you spent a lot of time checking out the masters. You must ahve an amazing record collection. Vinyl, no doubt

arlington, va: anything new in the national "no depression" scene? blue mountain has been quiet for a while which i hope means something's forthcoming from them? any buzz on the golden smog tour?

Eric Brace: Golden Smog is supposed to have finally met their potential with this latest record. I'll bet they put on a fun live show.
Hmm Nat'l scene alt-country? yeah i like blue mountain alot.. robbie Fulks? locals like kevin johnson and Lee Wilhoit are pretty great. Don't know of any new acts the are blowing the lids off anything.. the gourds are cool, bad livers... cheri Knight.. Bap Kennedy...

DC: Hi Eric!
I know that you're a big Citizen Cope fan and I had heard that his record deal was being resurrected in some form (with another company??)
I haven't seen him around town lately so I thought I'd ask you if you knew what was up?

later,
Jim

Eric Brace: Cope (aka Clarence Greenwood) has a great record in the can, but capitol records dropped him when their pres was dropped and they cut their roster by 40% before releasing his debut..
He's been doing very low key stuff, popping into pollys, metro, galaxy hut... just to try out new stuff and keep busy.. I hear he's out in LA this week meeting with a couple of big label folks and recording a few more tracks.. Hopefully there'll be something released before the next millennium

Washington DC: The Bayou was packed on the night in October 1996 when Eva Cassidy performed in public for the last time. Billed as a tribute to the versatile singer, the concert was botha a fundraiser for the cancer patient's medical bills and an acutely sentimental farewell of a loving audience to one of its favorite performers.... Eva took the stage shortly after midnight, on a walker, wearling a goofy knit cap to cover the hair loss from her treatments....first she did an upbeat duet with her mentor Chuck Brown... then she launched into "What A Wonderful World." Everybody cried.

Eric Brace: that was possibly the most emotionally moving night in DC nightclub history

Washington, DC: I used to really enjoy going to the club Decades..... not that I have anything against Zones, but the lines there never seem as long as Decades' used to. The line always used to go all the way around the block, and once you got inside it was like being in a sauna with hundreds of people.

Eric Brace: While Zones is trying lots of different things (and pretty successfully, I'd say), it doesn't have the "gotta go there" buzz among the early 20-somethings who hit Decades to try to hook up.. Zones is trying to appeal to a broader crowd, so they're perhaps not as successful.. But also, part of it is that there are more places opening up for people to go to.. DC Nightlife is definitely at a strong high point right now, and choices are myriad

Winchester, Va: In the 70's The Childe Harold just off
Connecticut Ave. was another great place. Bruce SPringsteen and Emmylou played there. I saw Powerhouse with Tom Principato on guitar and the vocalist George Leh was
blind and could really belt it out in the manner of Wynonnie
Harris etc. He was in a Boston based bad called Swallow before that. Never have heard what became of him.

Eric Brace: I saw.heard George Leh a few times when I was up in boston in the early '80s and he TOTALLY rocked.. in fact they called him "Rockin' George Leh".. thanks for reminding me of him.. I'll have to try to find out about him. He would stand there, one leg stretched out behind the other as if in mid stride, with his barrel chest poking out, and his big dark glasses reflecting the stage lights.. grab the mike and just belt it out. wow.
He often had harp player Pierre Beauregard with him, who went back and forth btwn DC and boston I think, playing with the DC harmonica Orchestra (that Damien from the old HFS [now with RNR] founded) and with Powerhouse, then up in boston with the Cambridge Harmonica Orchestra.. what a scene..

Arlington, VA: I used to love to go to Jaimilito's which was a Spanish/Mexican restuarant at the harbor in Gerogetown. They had a fantastic salsa night/Euro scene every Sunday, i think. does this ring any bells? i don't know if and when it's gone....

Eric Brace: all I know is that the margarita's after work at Jaimalito's were, as they say, primo... it did close I believe... the crowds on fridays after work and on saturday night were unbelieveable.. quite the fun salsa/eurodance scene... too bad it's gone

wahington dc: eric-
i remember seeing Roy Buchanan and his band at, that time, named the "Snake Stretchers"
in the early 70's at a club called My Mothers Place; used to be on M Street near Conn. Ave. and 18th, as I recall.
Does anyone out there remember any other local or national bands that performed there??

Eric Brace: anyone? My Mother's Place is vaguely familiar, but I think I was mostly out of town those years..

arlington, va: big fan of the band graverobbers, but i haven't seen them around in quite a while. have you heard anything? are they going to play anytime soon?

Eric Brace: I know the graverobbers are in the studio working on a new record.. there's no gigs booked right now, but I think there's a graverobbers web site.. don't have the url but it may be www.graverobbers.com

Washington: Have you ever seen a prominent public figure at a club, that if exposed, would jepordize their career? If so, what did you see?

Eric Brace: well, now.. I can tell you, can I? Because then it would wreck their careers. But,yes i saw henry Hyde being spanked at Bound once.. HEY I"M KIDDING!! DON"T SUE ME !! THAT WAS A JOKE!!!!
I've seen actors and musicians and politicos just hanging out, but none of them was doing anything particularly heinous..

Winchester, Va: Yeah, I had a pretty good job and no wife so I bought records. I stopped buying vinyl a few years ago. I have about 3000 albums, couple hundred 8 tracks, few hundred singles... Now I'm up to 500 cd's, but that's beside the point of this chat. Hope I'm not talking too much.

Desperados across the street from the Cellar Door was also
a good one. I saw a real early versino of the Fabulous T-birds, Roomful of Blues,
Delbert McClinton, Stevie
Ray Vaughn. Also saw Steuart Smith there with RATSO way before he was playing with
all the big time folks.

Eric Brace: Yeah, I saw Steuart Smith a bunch of times.. I remember walking into Desperados one december night and seeing Cryin' Out loud for the first time... this skinny kid with long hair was doing stuff that other guitarists could only dream of doing.. He blew me away.. I saw him again playing with Root boy Slim and others.. glad he's getting his due in nashville, NYC and LA now..

Old Town, VA: All right Eric, we need to talk about this. The Bayou. They've got the band Everything on their list to close the club on New Year's Eve.... i don't have anything against the band, but couldn't they have done a lot better?!?! or maybe they could even have several bands play, too!!!

Eric Brace: You might have thought they'd get a bigger name.. but everything is getting HUGE now ("Hooch" is everywhere) and they are (more or less) a local band, so that's cool.... I hear rumors that there will be some "special guests" that night, so don't sell the folks at cellar door productions short.. they have clout and will surely have a couple of big names there... maybe along the lines of Dave Matthews or the boys from Hootie.. I'm just wild guessing here.. don't quote me

Alexandria, VA: I remember a place called Dylan's Cafe in Georgetown. They used to have pretty tasty burgers, pretty decent happy hours, and Vertical Horizon used to play there all the time. I know it had closed rather abruptly.... know what the story was there?

Eric Brace: Lots of bands that played Dylan's Cafe in g-town went on to be big enough to get signed and fill places like the Bayou (like Vertical horizon and that college/folk/jam/rock scene.. ) It went under for lack of money and middlin' management.. the music was good there while it lasted.

arlington: When I was in college in Charlottesville (about 1983), a bunch of us were crazy about a Nashville band called "The White Animals." They told us they were playing at the Bayou (on a school night, of course), so we packed into someone's car (actually, it was Hubert Humphrey's former Cadillac -- go figure!) and up we went. The show, frankly, is unmemorable. A few too many beers on the ride. I do remember the place was empty and the band was very happy to see some familiar, albeit drunken, faces.

Eric Brace: I saw the White Animals in Richmond once and loved their amazing cover of that tune.. umm what was it called... that weird tripped out tune from the '60s.. "see your face on the movie screen..Jimmy Dean (james Dean)"... they broke up after too much touring and the lead singer went to med school I think..
You've brought up a good point: Nightclub memories are often very cloudy, by definition. clear out those hangover cobwebs!

chevy chase, md: Two amazing shows at the old Nightclub 930 stand out for me: a triple bill featuring the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Faith No More and someone else I can't remember, and The Rollins Band back in their late 80's power-punk glory. New place is nice, but Old School was legendary.

Question: do you know of any comedy open-mike nights in the area?

Eric Brace: I was at that Peppers/Faith show and it rocked... I can't remember the third band either (see previous exchange). Too bad all the bands those folks influenced aren't half as good as those guys were back then....
As far as comedy open mikes...? Hmmm..there used to be a bunch of places that had nights like that... early '90s, there were 4 or 5.. now I can't think of any.. Anyone else out there know of any comedy open Mike nights..??

Rosslyn: Does anyone remember a cheesy dance club in Georgetown called Anastasia? Or am I revealing too much of my age? a lot of the freshman in my dorm at GTown could get in there NO PROBLEM..

Eric Brace: Hmmmm sounds like some law breaking was going on...
Anyone remember Anastasia?

richmond, VA: One hot summer night in 1972 my buddy Frank offered to take me out on the town for a belated birthday gift. He left me the choice of bars and bands to me. Knowning it would be a great show and thinking
he needed a little bluegrass education I decided we should head off to the Cellar Door for the Steve Goodman/Dillards show..... It proved a worthy effort. goodman was hysterical and the dillards kicked butt!

Eric Brace: the Cellar door certainly was the place for that kinda music back then...
Too bad it had to go.
Speaking of which, any of you who might know of Dick Cerri's Music Americana showcases, which he's been hosting at various clubs in MD VA & DC over the past 15 years.. they're folding up... one last concert showcase thingy at Bad Habits in arlington on wed. dec 16.

Portland, Oregon: Re: Graverobbers. I moved here in May, and was delighted to see the Oswald character on Drew Carey wearing a Graverobbers t-shirt a month or so ago. I think it was in an episode in which Drew played in a band. Did this stunning national exposure get any play in D.C.?

Eric Brace: It was a great great moment for washington rock, indeed.. and no (mea culpa)that moment when Drew wore the graverobbers T-shirt did not get any attention. I'll try to find out when that particular episode will be re-run, and make a mention of it then.

Arlington, VA: Everything is going to be the last band to play at the Bayou? This is what it's come down to? The idea of a band like Everything closing out a legendary venue like the Bayou is very anticlimatic, isn't it? Then again, with the exception of Trouble Funk, the 9:30 Club's last show was pretty heinous. Black Market Baby and Smart Went Crazy ... I realize it's New Year's Eve, but the Bayou really could have done better.

Oh, and is the crowd going to be able to dismantle the place like we did at the last 9:30 show?

Eric Brace: I will not go on record advocating the destruction of private property. but here's a fact: the building is not going to remain standing. It will fall to the wrecking ball. What would you want to take from there? Just curious...

Alexandria, VA: I don't know if this counts, but Georgetown used to have "The Pub," the on campus after-party-place-to-be... everyone used to go there, and the lines would always be 100 people long... there were always drunken students fighting with GU cops and people hooking up in the lounge at Leavey Center... occasionally they had on-campus bands play there... but they cracked down on alcohol and closed it... i heard they're supposed to being it back for one night pretty soon..

Eric Brace: I was in a band that played at the GU pub once.. good crowd.. noisy... I didn't see any "hooking up" in the lounge tho..

Bethesda, MD: If I'm not mistaken, The Apple Pie preceeded Desperados and had great music. I believe there was also a placed called the M Club somewhere around Connecticut & M (maybe it was actually My Mother's Place?). There was a band that regularly played Sh Na Na type oldies in the early - mid 70's.

Eric Brace: thanks

Winchester, Va.: RE Citizen Cope: I say him at the Black Cat not a real long time ago. My nephew was playing bass and did a lot of
the recordings in NYC with him. I like the Black Cat.
I'm a little far out of town and too old to stay up so late
and my question is why the heck do they start so late now? Cope didn't come on till
almost midnight if I remember

Eric Brace: Yeah, start times are such a problem... they've tried to start black Cat shows early, but people jsut didn't show up early enough, so bands would be playing to nearly empty rooms.. it's a problem though, for those who can't stay out late... Drop them a line telling them you'd like earlier show times.. Maybe a concerned clientele will make them react.

Washington, DC: Hey Eric, it's Daryl at the GRAMMYs. Any more info from folks on the club scene?

Eric Brace: Hey daryl! (this is Daryl Friedman, head of the DC chapter of the National Association of Recording Arts & Sciences).. Yeah, I'm picking all these folks brains about DC's musical past.. and I'm getting lots of responses by fax (202-334-5000) and e-mail (nightwatch@washpost.com)but we'd love more.. I'll let you know what we pull together.

TO ALL THE REST OF YOU: Once we pull together enough of these nighclub memories, NARAS & the Post might pull together a live discussion of the scene then and now.. I'll be sure to let you know..
Some of the clubs mentioned in responses I've gotten at the office include:
The Metronome Room, the Victory Room (those from the '40s)
The Kaorama ballroom, the dixie Ballroom, the Jungle Inn, run by Jelly Roll Morton, Klub Kavakos
Tramps ( a disco in 1975! run by Mike OHarro, who also ran my mothers Place)
Columbia Theater, Pour House Pub, and on and on..
please keep sending any more memories of closed down clubs (specific nights/incidents are best) to the above fax or e-mail.. snail mail is cool to : Nightwatch, Weekend, Washington post, 1150 15th St NW, wash, DC, 20071

Washington, DC: How about the old Ontario theater in Adams Morgan? I think they showed the punk documentary, the Decline and Fall of Western Civilization, followed by a Cramps show. At some point, audience members were clubbing each other with beer bottles. Also remember an Echo and the Bunnymen show there.....

Eric Brace: great great shows at the Ontario theater.. yes..I remember REM/Fleshtons/Tommy Keene that was for the ages.. and how come nobody's mentioned the Wax Museum..

Winchester, VA: Your article in todays Weekend about the sax player brought up a couple names I'd forgotten. The Famous, The Rocket Room around the bus station on New York Ave.
The Hayloft, Bennies Rebel Room and the Butterfly on 14th were all happening.

I was at My mothers place to see the Buchanan show and also saw Cherry Smash there. The club was at 18th and M I belive.

Eric Brace: glad you read it.. It's great to talk to guys who used to play the old rooms, Like Joe Stanley, and who are still playing.. more power to them..

arlington: I was at the GU pub when you played, Eric. You rocked!

Eric Brace: ahh those were the days.. Were you really??

Other joints.. the Crossroads, the Far Inn, Grant's Tomb, Friendship Station, the Gentry, Emergency, the Keg, the Rabbit's foot, the Hayloft, the Butterfly, ,, and what about alexandria.. were there any good clubs there?..

arlington: I saw Maria McKee give a great performance at The Bayou in the late 80's (and again at the G-Town chili cook-off on K street before she had to hop a flight to open for U2 at Giant Stadium!). I see that you'll be opening for her at the 9:30 club next week. Looking forward to it. How'd you line it up?

Eric Brace: Maria McKee has always been a fave, ever since her Lone Justice days.. and I actually drove past the Bayou one night she was there and didn't have the cash to get in.. maybe it was the show you're talking about.
She's touring solo right now (piano and guitar) and I am flattered to have been asked to play some of my acoustic stuff to open for her.. I'll be up there with my brother Alan, as the Brace Brothers. Ok enough self-promotion..

Eric Brace: As porky pig once said.. gbgbgbgbgbgthththththththtat's all folks. As this chat thing elvolves, I'd like to have a guest on here, typing response with me.. do you have any thoughts on who you'd like to hear from on this end, please send me an e-mail at nightwatch@washpost.com... the guest should be (preferably) someone in the local music / club scene...Lemme know.. thanks again.eric

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