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POPULAR MUSIC
Goapele last year. She's now shed her dreads, and she sang about change in her 9:30 club concert, but pretty much stuck to the old stuff. Which was fine.
(By M.j. Kim -- Getty Images)
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-- Christopher Porter
Washington Social Club
"Washington Social Christmas" was promoted as an evening of yuletide-themed musical mix-and-match among several of Washington's best bands. But mostly it was a typically frenetic Washington Social Club gig, its generous bill offering lagging hipsters the chance to sample some of the savoriest homegrown white pop of the last couple of years for the low, low price of $15.
Heavy metal three-piece Caverns served as house band during the three-hour-plus show, mixing thunderous arrangements of holiday standards with originals from a tiny corner of the holly-decked stage. Early on, they offered a plaintive emo version of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." It was exactly as funny as it sounds, and given the absence of laughter during the first verse, the fact that Caverns played the song in its entirety almost qualifies as punk rock.
The other seasonal selections were better: Jukebox the Ghost absolutely nailed Danny Elfman's "What's This?!" from "The Nightmare Before Christmas." Mick Coogan of the Dance Party sang a few uncertain lines of "The Christmas Song" at the top of an otherwise secular, and superior, set. Laura Burhenn ( of Georgie James) covered the Zombies' "This Will Be Our Year" accompanied by the violin-playing Hsu sisters of Exit Clov. Later, Burhenn's golden pipes blended beautifully with those of WSC frontman Martin Royle on the Pogues' "Fairytale of New York," not merely the greatest Christmas song of the last 20 years, but the one with the most sing-along-ready chorus. But -- humbug! -- nobody joined in.
WSC's climactic 70-minute headlining performance opened with the Ramones' "Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight)" and only gathered steam. By the time the Club got to its encore of "Modern Trance," the invited stage-invasion had turned the band into a sweaty, jolly millipede. Christmas in Federal City has seldom looked -- or sounded -- better.
-- Chris Klimek
