15

SATURDAY

For a quarter-century, D.C.’s homegrown sound, go-go, has been thought of in a number of seemingly contradictory ways. Is it a hypnotic groove that keep kids out of trouble or is it a lightning rod for violence? Is it an innovative genre respected by connoisseurs throughout the world or just a workmanlike adaptation of R&B treasured in Southeast? In the symposium “Gimme That Beat!: 25 Years of Go-Go on the Streets of Washington, D.C.,” participants in three separate panel discussions will touch on all these questions. Put together by George Washington University professor Christopher “Kip” Lornell and longtime go-go supporter Charles Stephenson (who are working on a book on the subject), “Gimme” will offer insights from the likes of Chuck Brown, Marion Barry adviser Kemry Hughes, and Liaison Records’ Tom Goldfogle, plus a post-symposium performance by O1P. “Gimme” takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Memorial Library, in Room A-5, 901 G St. NW; O1P performs at 4 p.m. at the First Congregational Church, 10th and G Streets NW. Free. (202) 727-1285. (Steve Kiviat)