Marble Bar Redux returns to SoWeBo 2013

Mark Harp returns in spirit to SoWeBo Fest

I'm really looking forward to this year's Memorial Weekend highlight, the 30th annual SoWeBohemian Arts & Music Festival (aka the SoWeBo Arts & Music Festival or, simply, The SoWeBo Fest) on Sunday May 26. Mainly because not only will the "Marble Bar Redux" stage at the corner of Arlington and Lombard once again feature musical blasts from the past that I actually remember (The Beatoes, The Motor Morons, Thee Katatonix), but this year will also feature The Mark Harp All-Stars paying homage (which sounds way too serious!) to - and having fun with (that sounds much better!) - the music of The Big Man himself, our dearly departed friend and musical-genius-mentor Mark Linthicum (aka "Mark Harp," "Harpo," "Corky Neidermayer" and "The King of Peru"), who left this mortal coil well before his time on Christmas Eve of 2004. Geesh, former Null Set/Cabal and Black Pete frontman - and longtime Harp collaborator - Bill Dawson (aka "Bil Dawson" back in the day) is coming all the way up from Jacksonville, Florida for this shindig, so that tells you something about what a big deal the Big Man was, and continues to be to those discerning music lovers in B-more who "get it."

Listen to Null Set (Bill Dawson, Mark Harp, John Chreist, Lou Frisino) play their theme song.

Beatoes fans should get there early, as the Too-Ugly-for-MTV boys will take the stage at High Noon.

The Beatoes kick-start Marble Bar Redux at Noon.

 Watch The Beatoes guest appearance on The Scott & Gary Show.

Thee Katatonix will bring their Beltway Beat to Shake Shake the masses at 5 p.m., followed by Mongolian Glow at 6 p.m., The Motor Morons at 6:30 p.m., and The Mark Harp All-Stars (with a Cecil B. DeMille-worthy "cast of thousands") at 7 p.m. This incarnation of the All-Stars playing the Mark Harp back catalog will include Ben Watson (lead guitar), David Zidek (bass), Chris "Batworth" Ciattei (drums), Beefalo Bob Friedman (keyboards), Robyn Webb (rhythm guitar), Ceil Strakna (vocals), Cindy Borchardt (vocals), Valerie Favazza (vocals) and special guest appearances by Chris Dennestaedt (The Beatoes, Casio Cats, Poverty & Spit), David Wilcox (Chelsea Graveyard, Pooba, The Alcoholics) and, of course, the aforementioned Bil(l) Dawson.

Big thanks to Robyn Webb for orchestrating the Mark Harp All-Stars project; Robyn also MC'ed the Marble Bar Redux stage line-up last year. Returning to manage the line-up this year is none other than iconic Motor Moron and Pleasant Liver singer Fred Collins, who co-managed Marble Bar Redux 2012 with fellow Motor Moron Sam Fitzsimmons. (As they say in horse breeding parlance, those are studs with really good bloodlines for this racing card.) Like just about everybody associated with the Marble Bar line-up, Robyn and Fred once played with Mark Harp.

Watch a clip of Fred manically performing "Big Headed Baby" with the Pleasant Livers at the 2012 SoWeBo Festival, below:


I would be remiss if I did not post Scott Kecken's short film "SoWeBohemian," a video time capsule of the sights and sounds of SoWeBo festivals past - including cameos of a young, svelte Scott Huffines...

Svelte Scott says, "SoWeBo is an excuse to drink!"

 ...and the non-facial parts of Tom Warner's body that won't break a camera lens (look for a below-the-neck shot of him holding a Zim Zowie flyer in his Robin the Boy Wonder t-shirt!).



And finally, as we count down the days to the "Marble Bar Redux Redux," enjoy this field report from last year's festivities, "Marble Bar Redux," posted by yours truly. Hope to see you all out there Sunday! - Tom Warner

 ***

Marble Bar Redux @ SoWeBo Festival by Tom Warner (Accelerated Decrepitude, May 29, 2012)
 

"I had a great time at the Sowebo festival yesterday! The Redux stage proved that it doesn't matter how old you are, you can still rock out! I got there just in time for the Pleasant Livers, and then watched Thee Katatonix, Motor Morons and Ben Watson's World Media War and everyone was fantastic. So good to see so many of you there!"
- Amy Linthicum, Girl Reporter (via Facebook post)

As usual, Amy Linthicum says best what I can only flail at with my forked tongue. But my tongue must flail, so here goes...Yes, SoWeBohemian Festival 2012 was a blast - and a true blast from the past for those 80's Punk/New Wave relics like us who still fondly remember the Marble Bar (which closed its doors in 1985), the Galaxy Ballroom and its associated renegade musical spirit. The Marble/Galaxy contingent were treated to their own "old timey sounds" area, the "Marble Bar Retrospective" on the Redux Stage - where co-stage managers Sam Fitzsimmons (Motor Morons) and Fred Collins (Motor Morons, Pleasant Livers) oversaw the day's entertainment. They were ably assisted by emcee Robyn Webb, who introduced the day's numerous acts and kept the rock rolling smoothly.

Continue reading "Marble Bar Redux" at Accelerated Decrepitude.  

Related Links:
Mark Harp's All-Stars (Facebook event post)
SoWeBohemian (Baltimore Or Less)
Scott Kecken's "SoWeBohemian" film short (YouTube)
Marble Bar Redux @ SoWeBo Festival 2012 (Accelerated Decrepitude)

The Shirkers

"Drunk and Disorderly" b/w "Suicide"
(Limp 003, 1978)

• Listen to "Drunk & Disorderly"
• Listen to "Suicide"

Serendipity. This great word, whose etymology I learned from Joseph Campbell (it's from the Arabized/Anglicized form of the Sanskrit word for the island of Sri Lanka, which was the inspiration for the Persian fairy tale "The Three Princes of Serendip" - whose heroic trio had a number of adventures by chance), accounts for me coming across this obscure (to a Baltimorean) single by a DC band - while surfing the 'net for info about yet another band!

Both of these trash-punk songs are great (the A-side was later covered by DC punk rockers Black Market Baby), but what blew me away when I started poking around the Internet to read more about this band was the realization that their bass player was none other than Libby Hatch...


Libby Hatch

...who co-wrote "Drunk and Disorderly" and went on to join Tru Fax & The Insaniacs in 1980 with drummer Michael Mariotte, guitarist David Wells (not to be confused with the former MLB pitcher), and singer-guitarist Diana Quinn. Tru Fax were one of my favorite bands, and their classic "Washingtron"/"Mystery Date" single never wears out its welcome on my phono player.


Tru Fax single (Wasp Records, 1980)

I was good friends with Libby Hatch dating back to my daze playing in Thee Katatonix, and maintained a pen-pal correspondence with her for several years in the pre-Email/texting/Instant Messenger/Facebook era. Libby was a graphic designer by day and I used to look forward to her stylishly decorated letters, always adorned with cool rubber stamp and sticker designs; one of her designs later became her business card slogan - "Turn Adversity Into Adventure" (a slogan I never forgot and continue to quote to this day). The flyer below - showing her rockin' out with intensely focused guitarist David Wells - was probably her design:





Tru Fax flyer (September 1980?)

I remember Libby being upset by Katatonix frontman Adolf Kowalski's lewd comments about her breasts after we played some gig with Tru Fax, and had to explain to her that he was just playing up to his laddish punk-provocateur persona (what Joseph Campbell, to cite him again, would call his performer's "mask") and meant no harm.


Dance of Days

Libby's boyfriend was Mark Jenkins, the Washington City Paper writer who went on to co-write (with Mark Andersen) the definitive history of the DC punk scene of that period, Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation's Capital.

But I lost touch with Libby after '81 and was therefore shocked to read that she died in a motorcycle accident in 1998. (I guess I should have read the introduction to Dance of Days, wherein Jenkins wrote, "My work on this book is dedicated to the memory of Libby Hatch.") R.I.P., Elizabeth Denison Hatch (February 26, 1955 - December 6, 1998).



The other Shirkers were noteworthy players as well. Guitarist Thomas Kane was Slickee Boy Kim's brother, who went on play with The Dark and the Velvet Monkees, while drummer Jeff Zang banged the skins in Kim Kane's side project Date Bait. The lead singer was Steven "Stiv" Bailer, with Liz DuMais handling the other guitar and (along with Libby Hatch) backing vocals.

The single was produced by Howard Wuelfing (of Slickee Boys, Nurses fame).

Black Market Baby's Boyd Farrell said this of "Drunk and Disorderly":

I always loved this record since the first time I heard it in the late 70′s…My band Black Market Baby recorded and released a 7″ version of it in 1986 on the very same label (Limp records)…The Shirkers played one show and released one single and then broke up (true punks!!)..Libby Hatch was the bass player for the Shirkers, she co-wrote the song and sang the high pitched backup vocals in the chorus…Libby was a friend of ours and gave us her blessing to record it. She later went on to play with another well known DC band from the early 80′s, Tru Fax and the Insaniacs…Sadly Libby died in a motorcycle accident several years ago..I think both versions of the song are an excellent tribute to a great lady…Libby Hatch…

Wow, Farrell's recollection that The Shirkers having only played one show and released one single before breaking up must set some sort of record for one-and-done musical productivity. What an amazing story!

According to the Black Market Baby web site, the bass that Libby Hatch played on the "Drunk and Disorderly" was bought by Keith Campbell and given to Mike Donegan, who played it on their version, which was released on Yesterday and Today Records in July 1990.


Black Market Baby pay tribute

Skip Groff of Limp Records and Rockville's legendary-albeit-no-longer-bricks-&-mortar record store Yesterday and Today Records released a 30th anniversary re-issue of this classic 7″ on marble vinyl (top side LIMP 666 cover, flip side DACOIT 999 cover) in 2008. (To order, see Yesterday and Today Records.) The Shirkers also appear on the The Best of Limp (...Rest of Limp) vinyl compilation record. According to a reviewer at Hyped2Death Records, Best of Limp's version of "Drunk and Disorderly" features a "cleaner but almost guitar-free remix" of the single's "wall-of-mud" sound.


"Best of Limp" compilation record

Hyped2Death Records has released both the Shirkers' and Black Market Baby's versions of "Drunk and Disorderly" on their Homework "U.S. D.I.Y." ("low-budget, home-made or just cool and strange...Artwave, punk-wave, experimental, post-punk, No Wave") compilation CD-R series representing the golden years of American DIY, 1977-1984. The Shirkers appear on Hyped to Death #2 CD-R: North American punk "S" 77-85, while the Black Market Baby version of "Drunk and Disorderly" turns up on Hyped to Death #5 CD-R: North American punk bands 1976-1984: A & B (aka Homework #104).


Hyped2Death CD-Rs

This is a great series, like everything in Hyped2Death's catalog. The Village Voice's Jason Gross called the series "...a better sociological study of white boys gone cuckoo than Lord of the Flies or Kids." (The series also apparently samples cuts from the local music compilation records Best of Baltimore's Buried and :30 Over D.C. for tracks by The Alcoholics, 1/2 Japanese, Nurses, Velvet Monkeys, and Da Moronics.)

For a band that was gone quicker than a New York minute, The Shirkers are amply represented on record and (thanks to mp3s) on the 'net, ensuring that the memory of Libby Hatch lives on forever.

Video:
Watch "Drunk and Disorderly" (YouTube)