Inteveniew! Behind the Scenes at U St. Music Hall

Name: Will Eastman

Profession: DJ, co-owner of U Street Music Hall

Music at U-Hall is: “eclectic, provocative, left-of-center,” “forward-looking,” “accessible”

DJs: in his apartment, for Bliss (DC’s most famous monthly dance party)

Managing a music club: “is a lot of fucking work, at least if you want it done right. But I'm happy.”

   

Will Eastman has 8,000 records, a graduate degree from George Washington University, and one-sixth ownership in the recently opened U Street Music Hall. Will Eastman is maybe the coolest person I’ve met in a long, long time.

Which is fitting, really, considering the fact that the club he helps manage is definitely the coolest place I’ve been this year. Relatively nondescript on the outside front, the building opens to reveal…a staircase, of all things. The stairs lead down into a basement-style dance floor, complete with two adjoining bars, several booths, a small stage for live bands, and an impressive DJ booth lining the back wall.

 “I started off DJing for parties in my parents’ basement when they were out of town,” Eastman grins unrepentantly. “Basements are the best environments for dance parties.” And though he has essentially moved from playing in one basement to, well, playing in a much larger one, he has certainly come a long way from his hometown of Neenah, Wisconsin (which is famous for the production of manhole covers, as it happens).

He began his official career as a DJ began in the same month as his job as a historian for the Smithsonian Institute, where he developed public programs and exhibitions in the areas of technology and inventors. Even there, he never strayed far from his passion. His research focused largely on the history of the electric guitar and sound recording techniques – a focus that lined up perfectly with his night job. After nine years of trying to juggle the two, both of which he loved, Eastman realized that he had to make a decision. (read more)

Interveniew! Behind the Scenes at Rock & Roll Hotel

Name: Steve Lambert

Official Position: Booking Manager

At Rock + Roll Hotel since: October 2006

Favorite Shows: “I saw Phoenix play about a year ago, when they were still kind of under the radar for some reason. They’re definitely one of the best live bands – incredibly accessible to their audience.”

Excited about: the new Liars record, the Crime in Stereo concert at DC9 in May, the fact that people like Mayer Hawthorne can produce throwback stuff that younger generations are getting into

              I wish I could say that I didn’t go to the Rock and Roll Hotel for my interview with Steve Lambert fresh off a Chinatown bus from Philadelphia, but, well, that’s what happened. Still wearing last night’s clothing and frustrated by the perils of cheap transportation, I was definitely not as prepared as I would have liked to be standing outside and trying to figure out how to work the intercom buzzer. But the girl who puts me out of my misery by opening the door shoots me a friendly smile as she leads the way to Steve Lambert, and I feel a little bit of the tension dissipate.

              In the middle of the afternoon, the Rock and Roll Hotel is eerily empty – most of the lights are off, the doors to the main stage area are closed and foreboding, and the stairs creak as we climb to the second level of the club. The office is tucked away in a hall just past the upstairs bar area, cozy but not cramped, and littered with fliers promoting both past and future shows. Lambert himself fits in well with the environment, dressed comfortably in jeans and a t-shirt that displays his fondness for tattoos. He rises to shake my hand with a quiet smile before settling back into his obviously well used desk chair.

              “So,” he begins, “what would you like to know?” And with that, we’re off. Lambert works as the booking manager for two DC venues in addition to Rock and Roll Hotel: The Red and the Black, which tends to support the smallest local and touring bands, and DC9, whose manager I spoke with earlier in the month. He began his career as an industry professional in 2000, working his way up from booking underground acts for parties, alternative space shows and bars to his current position booking the acts with the some of the greatest momentum. (more after the jump!)

Interveniew! Behind the Scenes at DC9

In this new weekly series, DJ Emily Simpson takes us behind the scenes at major DC music venues and chats with the people who make the action happen. For her inaugural installment, Simpson headed to DC9 to meet with Bill Spieler.

Name: Bill Spieler

Age: 46

Sign: Pisces

Official Title: Managing Partner at DC9

Favorite album of 2010 (so far): Vampire Weekend’s Contra (“But I’m really looking forward to the new MGMT album, Congratulations.”)

Favorite DC bands: Exit Clov, Alex Gruenberg, Vita Ruins

Craziest thing to happen at DC9: “There was one night when I was over at The Red and The Black, and I got a call from one of my employees at DC9. They were shutting down the bar, it must have been 3:30-4:00 in the morning at that point, and apparently some guy in the diner next door had shot at something in the bathroom. Technically it wasn’t in this particular space, but still. I was just glad no one here was hurt. There used to always be these four teenaged kids smoking weed in front of that diner, too. You could smell it everywhere.”

Meaning behind the venue’s name: “Well it’s pretty straightforward. We’re in the District of Columbia, and this is 9^th Street.”

The first thing Bill Spieler does after shaking my hand is to offer me a beer, setting the stage for a comfortable and low-key interview. In that way he is very much like the bar and music venue he helps to manage. DC9, with its cozy bar area downstairs and intimate stage area upstairs, provides a down to earth atmosphere that can be quite elusive in a city as vibrant as Washington, D.C. Nowhere to be found is the pretension that frequently inhabits the indie music scene. Here again, Spieler and his venue are quite similar.

 “It’s more about what I don’t do,” he laughs in response to a question about his actual job description. As it turns out, that is only one thing: booking. Everything else seems to fall under his jurisdiction. He lists off several of the tasks he can remember doing recently, ranging from helping out in the kitchen to handling the paperwork to DJing every couple of weeks.