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Good morning! Lotsa ground-breaking yesterday! The Howard Theatre’s seems to have gone off without a hitch. As for the new Fillmore venue in Silver Spring? Hours after a bunch of guys at the site posed with shovels, local concert promoter I.M.P. added Montgomery County to its lawsuit against the state of Maryland, alleging shady use of taxpayer dollars. The Fillmore is being built by Live Nation, the concert behemoth that wants to eat your soul merged with Ticketmaster earlier this year. I.M.P. sued Live Nation when it announced that merger in 2009. (I.M.P.’s chairman and 9:30 Club’s owner Seth Hurwitz also has started a record label—-well, sorta.)
Moving on! A volunteer from the Vince Gray campaign has asked the city’s Office of Campaign Finance to look into whether various songs and go-go shows and other ephemera made under the eye of Ron Moten in support of the Fenty campaign are in violation of election laws. Barely related: Yesterday D.C. rapper 20 Bello sent out his take on the election—-it’s called “We The People.”
DOWNLOAD: 20 Bello – “We the People”
[audio:http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/artsdesk/files/2010/09/WeThePeople.mp3]
The Phillips will still be closed today after yesterday’s fire, but we’ll update Arts Desk if there’s more to report. And a song by local rockers U.S. Royalty shows up in another promo for the Gant clothing brand, as does the band’s bearded frontman John Thornley, who goes for a snow-kissed walk with his newest, well-attired friends. (Here’s another, much more ridiculous Gant promo with a U.S. Royalty song.)
Speaking of well-attired, Washington City Paper photographer Darrow Montgomery is now on Twitter! Enjoy the weekend!