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Hello, SCENEsters! Hear that? 🎸 Chuck Brown and E.U.’s “Da Butt” are playing on repeat in our headphones as we get ready for The Go-Go Museum & Café to officially open its doors to all.
D.C. is a go-go town and a museum town. So, a place to celebrate, preserve and share the music with new generation has been a long time coming. Take it straight from the museum’s curator and D.C. native Ron Moten, who first shared the idea in 2009 and is finally seeing it come to life. |
We’re delighted to pass the mic to Ron himself to mark the occasion. Below, he’ll share the story of how we got here, the must-see things at the museum and some of his favorite Anacostia spots to visit nearby.
Of course, this newsletter needs a soundtrack. 🎧 Check out our Spotify playlist to listen to Ron’s four essential go-go songs (they’re also listed in our Q&A at the bottom of this email. Don’t miss it). - Sophia and Tommy
P.S. Ron is our first-ever guest author, so be sure to give him a warm welcome by passing this newsletter along to your friends. Should we do this again? Slide into our DMs or email sophia.barnes@nbcuni.com to let us know.
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✨ If you're in a rush, here's a day-by-day list of things to do in the DMV this week and weekend. 🌡 Saturday and Sunday will bring some of the best weather of the week with highs in the 40s. Here’s your forecast.
👋 Looking for something to do tonight? How about NMWA Nights or history talks in Gainesville and Gaithersburg?
👟 For some exciting double Dutch and a dose of Black history, head to Jump DC's friendly tourney this weekend. 🎶 The World Pride Music Festival lineup has dropped and it’s stacked: J. Lo, Troye Sivan, Kim Petras, Paris Hilton, Rita Ora, Raye and many more. 🎞 Sad news: Landmark E Street Cinema is closing, a blow to anyone looking to watch independent films or late-night screenings of cult classics.
🎈 Cheap and family-friendly: Try Flurry Fest at The Yards, a Frog Frenzy science tour in Arlington or Josiah Henson Museum and Park’s Black History Month Family Day in North Bethesda.
🏡 Capital Remodel + Garden Show is among other highlights from our full list of things to do.
📖 4 Your Reading: Author Courtney Duke Foster talks about her new novel “Results Will Vary” and discovering yourself later in life with Jummy Olabanji. Watch here.
👌 If you feel solitude despite living in a big city like D.C., you’re (ironically) not alone. Here are a few ways to try something new if you want to take yourself out on a date.
🎭 Any laid-off or furloughed federal workers out there? Olney Theater company is offering free tickets to “Waitress.”
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🎶 Inside The Go-Go Museum and Café with Ron Moten
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The Go-Go Museum is an 8,000-square-foot museum founded by me, Ronald Moten, with the help of Dr. Natalie Hopkinson, chief curator of the American University Museum. The country’s first go-go museum has 16 exhibits – many of them interactive. Two hologram AI-powered exhibits feature Anwan Big G Glover and (internationally known artist!) Sugar Bear from EU whose hit “Da Butt” still has people sweating on any dance floor. |
The Go-Go Museum and Café |
The museum's lower level also has a sound stage for teaching youth about go-go, live band recording, and jam sessions, along with a recording studio. |
The icing on the cake is our rear garden theater space for live performances, special corporate and community events, and a café specializing in street foods created along the journey to America as diasporas moved from Africa, Mexico, Brazil and Cuba to D.C.
Angela Rose is the chef. She was a finalist on “Chopped: Spin It to Win It" and gets her culinary style from growing up in a Black and Mexican household. |
We are also creating a creative economy studies program. Students from Anacostia High School will be the first to participate in our curator and walking tour training.
We are a living museum. To watch youth walk in and not want to leave has made the challenge of my life all worth it. Seeing my 5-year-old son Zaire guide other children around in the museum and show them the interactive exhibits is the biggest reward a dad could have. |
I came up with this idea in 2009. After we helped spark the Don’t Mute DC Movement, I said, “Let's do it.”
Very few believed in me, but I want to thank Mayor Muriel Bowser who continues to support our culture and music, Council member Kenyan McDuffie who drafted the bill to make go-go our official music and Council member Robert White who drafted the bill that helped us get the building. Last but not least, thanks to my partners and the go-go community who supported us from day one with our first fundraiser five years ago, the WPGC FM telethon. |
Essential details
⌚ The Go-Go Museum is open to the general public on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Group tours are available on other days. To get in touch, email info@gogomuseumcafe.com. 💲 Admission is free for D.C. residents (but donations are welcome) and $15 for everyone else. |
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We make junk disappear. All you need to do is point. |
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Ron's 4 essential go-go tracks |
Listen to all four tracks on our Spotify playlist.
🎧 “Bustin' Loose” by Chuck Brown: This classic go-go anthem is a must-listen. It’s got that signature groove and infectious beat that defines go-go music.
🎧 “Sexy Lady” by UCB (Uncalled 4 Band): A hit for the grown and sexy that never gets old
🎧 “Da Butt” by E.U. (Experience Unlimited): A high-energy track that’s perfect for getting into the go-go vibe.
🎧 “Drop the Bomb” by Trouble Funk: The most sampled band in the history of go-go. |
🎤 Ron's Open Mic: Make a day of it in Anacostia |
We are working together to create an Anacostia Renaissance. Besides The Go-Go Museum & Cafe, D.C. has helped the revival of what we are calling Downtown Anacostia with more than 10 new unique businesses including restaurants, art spaces and Grounded, a plant store with a focus on holistic healing and health.
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Kitchen Savages, DCity Smokehouse, Busboys and Poets, Sapodilla’s and Mama's Pizza Kitchen are a few of my picks. |
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JumpDC & Floyd's Double Dutch is Black History Competition Sat., 9 a.m., Sojourner Truth Public Charter School in Southeast, $12 for spectators 🔗 Details
Jump into exciting competition, team camaraderie and Black heritage as The Scene favorites Jump DC host a friendly tournament at Soujourner Truth Charter School in Northeast.
“It's a way for us to be creative and a way for us to express ourselves,” coach Sharde Perry said. “It’s an integral part of our Black American history.”
This weekend’s competition also features a team coming from Africa. Ticket sales support Jump DC and their effort to get to world championships. Jump DC joined us in the studio for a preview of Saturday’s tourney. |
Free pick Garage Racing National Championships Sat., races from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., National Landing (201 12th Street S., G4 Parking Level) 🔗 Details In the words of Freddie Mercury, “Get on your bikes and ride!”
“America’s only underground bike racing event” is a day of wacky races inside an Arlington parking garage with plenty of twists and turns like giveaways and costumes.
Cheer on cyclists from the side while snacking and sipping refreshments from Acme Pies, Good Company Doughnuts and Port City Brewing Co.
It’s free to watch, and you’ll be able to catch races every 50 minutes or so leading up to the Anything Goes grand finale at 6:20 p.m.
Want to ride? Sign up here by Friday. It might just be the most fun you ever have in a parking garage. |
Free pick Flurry Fest at The Yards
Sat., 1-4 p.m., The Yards in Southeast D.C.
🔗 Details If you were disappointed that this week’s possible snowstorm amounted to… almost nothing… then you can get your snowflake fix at this festival in The Yards Park. Snowy activities like snow throw, bubble hockey and photo ops await, alongside giveaways, glitter tattoos, crafts and more. You know we love a Polar Plunge (especially one benefiting Special Olympics!), and Flurry Fest has one! Plungers will be diving into chilly waters to benefit Special Olympics DC. |
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King Face, 8 p.m. Friday, Black Cat, $20
Founded in D.C.’s ‘80s “salad days,” this hard core quartet also owes a debt to the hair metal of the era. While inactive more often than active in the decades since, the band has recorded new material in recent years. Messthetics – a marriage of Fugazi’s rhythm section (drummer Brendan Canty and bassist Joe Lally) and versatile guitarist Anthony Pirog (jazz to punk and anything in between) – and Bed Maker – formed a few years ago by veteran D.C. musicians – open the show. Details.
Folsom Prison Experience, 6:30 p.m. Friday, Lincoln Theatre, $35-$70
Well, this sounds really cool if they pull it off. It promises the immersive experience of being an inmate at Johnny Cash’s legendary 1968 jailhouse concert recording. Tickets.
Poison Ruin, 9 p.m. Sunday, Comet Ping Pong, $26.78
Philly quartet puts Middle Ages imagery to dense – often exhilarating – punk rock. Not uncommon for heavy metal but relatively unique for punk. Details. |
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World Pride Music Fest lineup revealed 🙌
Jennifer Lopez, Troye Sivan, RuPaul and social media influencer Trisha Paytas are some of the more than 30 artists set to perform in D.C. this June for the World Pride Music Festival.
🏳🌈 The two-day festival featuring three stages of music will celebrate the DMV and global LGBTQIA+ communities at the Festival Grounds at RFK Campus on June 6 and 7.
Other artists scheduled to perform include Galantis, Grimes, Kim Petras, Paris Hilton, SOFI TUKKER, Rita Ora, Raye, Tinashe and Coco & Breezy. Zedd will perform a special closing set. |
Tickets to the weekend music festival cost $209. You can sign up for the waitlist on the festival's website to get access to ticket sales on Thursday. The general sale is set to begin Friday. It's happening on the biggest weekend of the Capital Pride celebrations.
Capital Pride is still set to bring back its free festival and concert that draws big crowds to Pennsylvania Avenue and downtown D.C. every year. The WorldPride Street Festival is scheduled for June 7-8, and we'll share info on the lineup when we hear details.
The WorldPride LGBTQIA+ pride parade is scheduled for June 7. |
This week's Scene Setter
Q&A with Ron Moten |
How did the Go-Go Museum and Cafe move from idea to opening? I spoke about the need for the Go-Go Museum to be in the universe at the 2009 Go-Go Awards at the Washington Convention Center in front of 4,000 fans.
Construction started in 2021, and Natalie Hopkinson helped me curate many stories and history into a museum that celebrates the history and culture of go-go music.
Next year, we will celebrate 50 years of go-go and 250 years of American and Black History with a story told uniquely in our digital interactive timeline.
What’s the go-go scene like these days? How is the genre growing?
Since the Don’t Mute DC movement, the go-go scene has exploded at government events, Commanders games and even the Capital One Arena and Kennedy Center. There are even young bands, some starting in local schools again. What do you hope people take away after a visit from the Go-Go Museum and Cafe?
People will understand why go-go is the heartbeat of the nation’s capital is and how it continues to be the voice of the people.
Just like if you go to New Orleans, it’s the brass bands. In Tennessee, it’s country music. New York has hip-hop. In D.C., it’s go-go. |
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| About Tommy and Sophia
Tommy McFLY (@TommyMcFLY) brings you the best things to do around Washington as a News4 correspondent. A millennial Gemini husband and dog dad originally from Scranton, Tommy celebrates the things that bring our town together.
Sophia Barnes (@barnessophiag) started writing for NBC Washington and The Scene in 2016, covering everything from museum openings to protests to quirky animal stories. She’s an American University alum who loves good food and live music — say hi if you see her around the DMV. |
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