We know D.C. Get our free newsletter to stay in the know.
8
TUESDAY
The blues isn’t just about feeling bad; there’s also the shout-it-out, feels-so-good blues. And nobody sings that stuff better than the queen of the blues, Koko Taylor. Her 1965 recording of Willie Dixon’s “Wang Dang Doodle” is simply one of the most glorious expressions of joy ever captured. As the former sharecropper’s daughter told James Plath in the Clockwatch Review, “To me, my music is like a therapy. My music is healin’, you know? It’s healin’, it’s therapy, it’s encouragement. I try to sing the type of songs that make people happy. I try to sing a song that’s gonna touch somebody, to make them look up, pep up, feel good about themselves, encourage them.” How better to start 2002 than with a pep rally? Wang your dang doodle when Taylor plays with Son Seals at 7:30 p.m. at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $20. (202) 393-0930. (Dave Nuttycombe)