"Godfather of Go-Go" Chuck Brown made a special appearance at an open meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus yesterday to lend some star power to the work of the musicFIRSTcoalition, which supports legislation that would force regular over the air terrestrial AM and FM radio stations to pay royalties to artists each time they play a song. The U.S. is apparently one of the only countries that doesn't require radio stations to pay to......

FRIDAY: >> Local comic book store Fantom Comics is celebrating the grand opening of their new Union Station store tonight with a party from 6 to 10:30 p.m. They'll be serving up free pizza on the early side and the comedy stylings of the Geek Comedy Tour during the second half of the night. There will also be a trivia contest with $500 gift certificates up for grabs. The party is inside the Union......

The Post's Marc Fisher alerted us to some exciting news on Wednesday: the possibility of Chuck Brown and Duke Ellington meeting in D.C. No, smelling salts aren't involved. Rather, Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham is proposing naming sections of T Street NW and 7th Street NW after the two local music legends in Shaw. The renaming would coincide with the expected reopening of the historic Howard Theatre in 2008, a place where both......

FRIDAY: >> Starting tonight, George Mason Stadium plays host to the region's annual D.C . College Cup. The soccer teams of George Washington, American, Howard, and George Mason will square off in two rounds of games. Though the tournament is conspicuously missing national powerhouses UMD and UVA, the event will still showcase some of the best young talent around. GW and AU kick off tonight's slate (5:00 p.m.), with Howard and GMU rounding the night......

D.C. has been the homebase for its share of musical luminaries. Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, and Bad Brains come to mind for their efforts in their respective genres. Right in this mix should be the man called the “Godfather of Go-Go,” Chuck Brown. For non-native Washingtonians, go-go is likely foreign and only experienced during the urban radio stations’ “go-go hours” or Brown’s D.C. Lottery commercials. However, go-go is D.C.’s music, Chuck Brown is D.C.’s musician,......

After only two days since the official start of the school year, the police have already been called to Southeast D.C.'s Ballou Senior High School. WUSA reports that a fight broke out in the school's cafeteria on Tuesday. No one was seriously injured, but the incident resulted in five arrests. It's just the latest problem for one of D.C.'s most chaotic schools. Back in 2003, you'll remember that Ballou was closed for more than......

Driving down I-81 in central Virginia earlier this year, we heard something we haven't heard in awhile: a radio station playing good music. This, and the announcement of "eco-station" 94.7 the Globe got us thinking: why doesn't D.C. have a good independent music station? Other big cities have great listener-supported music stations, like KEXP in Seattle and WFMU in New York, and many other cities have decent student-run college stations. But D.C. has neither. About......

FRIDAY: >> January at 9:30 Club tends to be a no man's land of lots of dark nights with the occassional local line-up thrown in for good measure. So we think it's great that Taint, DC9's weekly queer dance night for electro-indie goodness, and Black Cat's popular Bliss have ganged up to create INFAMY, a late-night dance fiesta featuring DJ Will Eastman and New York's DJ Bill Coleman, with special guest Daisy Spurs. Doors open......

DCist is, collectively, having one of those Fridays. You know, one of those Fridays when your boss dumps a bunch of work on your desk and wants it done before you leave for the weekend (the sweet, sweet weekend) and your Internet keeps crapping out so you can't even check your email. The weekend is quickly approaching and we haven't yet had time to scour the best of the city's offerings. But, we think......

Editor's Note: The Picks are a little lean this week, not because there isn't a ton of fun stuff to do but because we're operating on an "it's one of the last Fridays of the summer" frame of mind and can't muster the energy for more. Please tell us what you're up to this weekend in the comments, for the benefit of the group. FRIDAY: We'll be down at the ongoing opening festivities for Joe......

Despite (or maybe because of) their stadium issues, the Washington Nationals and their new owners are reopening RFK Stadium this weekend, introducing new concession stands and a food court and cleaning the place up a bit. There will also be fan festivals before the games and decent pre-game concerts, with U.S. Army bands playing on Friday, go-go legend Chuck Brown on Saturday, and Virginia's Pat McGee Band on Sunday. And the part we're most interested......

FRIDAY: >> Please Hammer, don't hurt 'em. Landmark R&B radio station WPGC celebrates 19 years of playing 18 jams in a row with a concert at the Verizon Center that features LL Cool J, MC Hammer, Chuck Brown, EU, Naughty By Nature, Bow Wow, MC Hammer and Lisa Lisa. Apparently Cult Jam had previous commitments. $45 - $70, 7 p.m. (Kyle Gustafson) >> You may have missed La Didone last weekend, but if you......

So, this morning we told you all about Lincoln Ross' potential District anthem. Now, as suggested in the comments, we're going to take a vote. Here are the nominees: "Come to Washington," by Lincoln Ross. "Chocolate City," by Parliament. "Washington, DC," by Magnetic Fields. "Washington, DC," by Johnny Cohen. "Rock Creek Park," The Blackbyrds. "Bustin' Loose," by Chuck Brown "DC Will Do That To You," by Smart Went Crazy. "DC Fight Song," by Federal City......

Monday: Halloween on a Monday is a bit of a let down. You've already donned your costume and bobbed your fill of apples, and all that's left is to egg a few motorcades and hit the discount candy bins at CVS. It's damned anticlimactic. Much like the two orchestral "Want" albums Rufus Wainwright put together after enticing us all with two strong opening efforts (on Dreamworks, natch; pays to be a legacy). Nevertheless, Rufus is......

Before delving into the week's picks, we want to point out a couple of hurricane benefits that are happening this week. This Thursday, come out and support musicians affected by hurricane Katrina. The State Theater in Falls Church hosts the Hell or High Water Benefit, featuring the legendary Chuck Brown. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door, with all proceeds benefitting the MusiCares Katrina Fund. 7 p.m. If you're feeling philanthropic as......

The first ever Duke Ellington Jazz Festival kicked off last night, and the District is all a buzz with what's in store for the weekend after what we've heard was a thrilling performance by the Dave Brubeck Quartet at the Lincoln Theatre. The rest of the schedule, put together by Dizzy Gillespie's former producer and manager Charles Fishman, looks to be equally goosebump inducing. We can't tell you how many e-mails and comments we've already......

What a weekend to be in Washington. No doubt we'll be seeing a whole lot of you around the Mall for one event or another this weekend. DCist would like to take this opportunity to recommend sunscreen with a high SPF. We just can't have all our readers looking like lobsters come Monday morning. Not a sexy look. FRIDAY: >> The D.C. music scene says farewell to Q and Not U tonight at Black Cat.......

For your buying pleasure this week, we have tickets recently on sale, tickets going on sale in the next few days, or just tickets that, in general, you need to be getting on. >> Who doesn't know of Chuck Brown, the godfather of D.C. go-go? You know him, you love him, and now you can party down with him at his official birthday bash at the 9:30 Club on August 27. Tickets are just $25;......

A new blog hopes to highlight local music. D.C. MP3, which launched this week, intendes to select one song each week from the Washington Post's MP3 website, which provides "Self-publishing by and for the Metro region's music community." The site make downloading the MP3s simple - no registration, just clicking a legal agreement not to sell the music. D.C. MP3's first selection is I IN TIME's "Sunset Strip," a well-executed if straight-forward rock number. Never......