Go-Go music is the heart of D.C. It is our homegrown style. Actually, it’s even more that: it is home. We are also the home of the godfather of Go-Go, Chuck Brown, where the day celebrating his life is held annually in Chuck Brown Memorial Park in Northeast.
That’s why I enjoyed hearing Spread Love Band play at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station on March 15. The New Orleans-style street band has four trombonists and one drummer. The group plays all around town. According to a 2015 Washington Post article, its favorite spots are outside the Farragut North Metro and 15th Street and New York Avenue, NW. At the time, the Post described the band’s volume as having “earned the enmity of employees at two major Washington institutions: the Treasury Department and the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.”
As I watched and listened, I noticed the homeless people who make that Metro entrance their regular hangout really enjoying the music. This is so important. Homelessness is very stressful. Lots of times you don’t know where you are going to sleep or how you’re going to meet your basic needs.
But music heals the soul and the spirit. So, thank you, Spread Love Band, for making life a little easier for the homeless community that day.
