DC Go-Go: Ten Years Backstage

By Chip Py and Greg Boyer

DC Represent!

There's a party over here, there's a party over there! In go-go the party never stops, and neither does the beat. The bands, the stars, the clubs, the spots, the sweat, the late nights and the passion are the sound of the city--all photographically captured and preserved right here. For those who know go-go this book is a documentary celebration. Shout yourself out with a special photographic section dedicated to the fans. For those who don't know, this book is a peek into that world through the lens of photographer Chip Py. Once Chuck Brown's official photographer, his go-go collection is now part of the People's Archive at the DC Public Library. Discover the district's distinctive music, its artists, its culture, and why it has become The Official Music of Washington, D.C.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Feb 14, 2022
• ISBN: 9781439674413

Chip Py

Chip Py began taking photographs at a young age while he tagged along with his father, a reporter. He studied history at East Carolina University and moved to Washington, D.C., in 1988. An avid live music fan, Py has been shooting D.C. bands of all genres for more than thirty-five years. One of his photographs is on permanent display as part of Chuck Brown Memorial Park. His go-go portfolio was acquired by the People's Archive of the D.C. Public Library in 2020, and the Washington City Paper gave him the Editor's Choice Award for his work in 2021.

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

CHUCK BROWN AND THE ORIGINS OF GO-GO

Why is it called go-go? When someone from outside DC thinks of go-go, they think of the go-go craze from the 1960s and early ’70s—scantily clad young women dancing in cages and wearing the famous go-go boots—but that has nothing to do with the DC go-go that is now the Official Music of Washington, DC (or just DC, as Washington, DC, is known to DC residents).

DC go-go is best described by reaching back to its origins and the story of Chuck Brown, DC’s Godfather of Go-Go. While serving an eight-year sentence for murder at Lorton Penitentiary, DC’s reformatory prison located nearby in Northern Virginia, Chuck Brown swapped cigarettes for a guitar made by a fellow inmate in the reformatory prison’s industrial arts shop. Chuck began to learn jazz classics on this guitar, and as things progressed, he began to look at music as his way to never go back to jail again. Chuck began to consider his future as that of a working