News
‘Strangest time I’ve ever been in’: Music venues deal with the new normal
The Washington Post, Oct. 15, 2020 - "And while Fort Dupont’s summer concert series and the D.C. JazzFest went virtual, the wave of live-streamed concerts and acoustic bedroom sets that filled social media at the beginning of quarantine ebbed. Meanwhile, six months after the city shut down, government support has all but dried up. Some of the city’s most acclaimed venues, such as Twins Jazz and U Street Music Hall, have closed for good. " Continue reading.
Looking Back on the DC JazzFest 2020
Oct. 8, 2020 - WHEN AUTUMN LEAVES START TO FALL
"While we had hoped to present an in-person festival this year, the pandemic had other plans. Nonetheless, we overcame these challenges and were able to bring the joy of jazz to nearly 200,000 music lovers around the world including in France, Italy, Japan, Panama, Brazil, Canada, the UK, and Luxembourg.
In fact, the #2020DCJazzFest reached the third most viewers of any live streamed event in the world during the last week of September, according to Pollstar’s Weekly Live Stream Chart." Continue reading.
Live shows are the heart of jazz. With nightclubs silenced, musicians are keeping its spirit alive.
The Washington Post, Oct. 5, 2020 - “We’re just trying to keep it going, man,” Scott says. “Whatever we can do to keep the scene together.”
Among Scott and Myers’s initiatives is a twice-weekly Zoom call with stakeholders in the jazz community. “Those phone calls started to expand and involve a wide variety of people,” Scott says. “We had council members give us updates. We had health officials. We had a sergeant from the MPD give us an update on the laws behind live-streaming, performing outdoors, indoors, on private property. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee [D-Tex.] gave us an update on her end.” Continue reading.
U Street Music Hall shutting its doors
FOX5, Oct. 5, 2020 - U Street Music Hall is closing its doors permanently after 10 years as a staple in D.C.
“It is with tremendous sadness that we share with you today that U Street Music Hall is closing effective immediately,” the company announced on its website. Continue reading.
Music venues nationwide are pleading for financial support. Congress isn’t listening.
Metro Weekly, Oct. 1, 2020 - "...NIVA has been sounding the alarm about the need for federal assistance in order to keep music venues afloat while waiting out the pandemic... Such support might have helped the 18th Street Lounge and Twins Jazz hold on, but instead both celebrated, decades-old D.C. institutions recently announced that they have shut their doors for the final time." Continue reading.
DC Jazz Fest, Rosslyn Jazz Supper Club pair local restaurants and musicians
WTOPNews, Sept. 21, 2020 - The 30th annual Rosslyn Jazz Festival returns Wednesday to Wednesday, while the 16th annual D.C. Jazz Festival simultaneously returns Thursday through Monday. Continue reading.
Hilton Brothers to Close Seven Bars ‘for Foreseeable Future’ on Halloween
Washington City Paper, Sept. 5, 2020 - The brothers and nightlife impresarios behind many bars and restaurants stretching up 14th Street NW and down U Street NW will close seven establishments for the foreseeable future on Halloween. Continue reading.
Coalition of Music Advocates Launch Campaign To Pass DC Music Venue Relief Legislation
EIN Presswire, Sept. 3, 2020 - A coalition of DC musicians and music advocates launched a grassroots campaign this week to advocate for government relief of the city’s music venues. Continue reading.
Twins Jazz, the U Street Club that Grew Out of an Ethiopian Restaurant, Closes for Good
DC EATER, Aug. 27, 2020 - Twins Jazz club, the live music institution owned by Ethiopian-born sisters Kelly and Maze Tesfaye, announced today it will close after 33 years of business that includes iterations in Brightwood and on U Street NW. Continue reading.