Madam's Organ: Happy Endings For All

WASHINGTON, D.C. – A burlesque redhead with 13-foot high breasts surveys the stylishly gritty neighborhood of Adams Morgan, reminding patrons that the No. 1 bar in the city is only blocks away.
The artist’s rendering of the Madam, as she is known, located on the side of 18th Street NW, is a startling but fitting symbol for the offbeat Madam’s Organ, whose slogan is “where beautiful people go to get ugly.” The Madam looks towards the bar's entrance, which is decorated with wooden barrels, vintage signs and wagon wheels, greeting the weary urban cowboy who enters this particular saloon for a beverage and lively music.
“[The Madam] is a nice piece of art,” said Stuart Chang Berman, who has been coming to Madam’s Organ for the past six years. He added that the French-styled mural teamed with the rustic atmosphere of the bar sums up the neighborhood’s melting pot culture. “It sort of, in a weird way, represents Adams Morgan.”

An Institution

Up until the early 2000s, Adams Morgan wasn’t known for its quality environment. The neighborhood was “seedy,” Berman said, but has turned into a quality area with a strict Advisory Neighborhood Committee to make sure the establishments were under control.
“It used to be the East Village in New York,” said Berman, a New York native. “The West Village would be Georgetown. But recently, Adams Morgan is much more crowded than Georgetown. It’s cheaper and more trendy.”
But Duggen stuck it out through the hard times and has crafted a bar that Berman described as “an institution” and “infamous in D.C.” Another patron, Ben Perez, said the Happy Hour specials had hooked him and kept him coming for several years.
“It’s an interesting, unique, fun place,” said Perez, who works across the street from Madam’s Organ. “People who left D.C., come back for nostalgic reasons. You constantly meet people who came her a long time ago.”
The two men sit at a table on the first floor of the bar. Candles on the bar create a cozy, intimate setting, while electric lights dimly warm the second floor. A narrow, wooden staircase only hints at the third floor and the roof top bar. Paraphernalia covering every millimeter of the walls includes instruments, stuffed animals, paintings of nudes and a framed copy of The Washington Post front page published on the day Martin Luther King Jr. was shot. A small stage sits in front of the window facing the street, which boasts a different genre of music seven nights a week.

The Madam’s Biography
Owner Bill Duggen opened Madam’s Organ in 1992 with the simple goal to loosen up and enjoy the district’s thriving nightlife. “I do it to have some fun,” said Duggen with a shrug.
The bar is the quintessential hotspot of the district’s hipster culture. With happy hour specials, a weekend brunch and a roof top tiki bar, it has drawn Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher, the Bush twins and supposedly even Prince Edward because of its wild reputation and down-to-earth vibe.

The name is a take off on its surrounding neighborhood, Adams Morgan, which Washingtonians know as one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the district. On any given night, one will find lobbyists, tourists and college students visiting the Madam, sharing drinks and occasionally jumping up on the bar to dance.
“The staff dances to get the crowd going,” explained Paul, a bartender who has been at Madam’s Organ for eight years. “Occasionally we’ll pick a volunteer from the crowd.”
The bar had been at two other district locations before it settled into its current location – a three-story row house. Duggen is quick to point out that Madam’s Organ has been named one of “Playboy” magazine’s best bars in America, as well as one of “Stuff” magazine’s top 20 bars in America. Madam’s Organ has also been featured on E! Television, The Washington Post and Washingtonian magazine for its quirky atmosphere that packs the bar by 11 p.m. every single night.

Behind the Bar

Ralph, who preferred not to give his last name, has bartended at Madam’s Organ for the past two years.
“You’ll find fusion,” he said, pointing at the menu, which listed fried fish, quesadillas and pulled pork barbeque as just a few of its soul food-style dishes. “[There’s] a diverse, mixed crowd here at Madam’s Organ. It’s a great place to hang out.”
Ralph said the majority is white, but added that on any night – just like Adams Morgan itself – it can become an “international crowd.” The bar has welcomed travelers from Australia, Norway, Belgium and New Zealand, he said.

Lend A Helping Hand
As Ralph finishes pouring a beer from the tap, a man walks in and asks Ralph if he’s found a credit card. Then the hunt begins.
“We get five or 10 a day,” he said, referring to the amount of forgotten credit cards and IDs, pulling out a small tin stuffed with cards. “It’s out of control. It’s like looking at a needle in a haystack from hell.”
Ralph searches through dozens of cards wrapped in receipts, inspecting them one by one by the light of a candle. The man hoping to recover his card stands near the center of the bar, where a large statue of a hand sits in front of the beer taps with its middle finger extended. Unfortunately, the card isn’t found and the man tries his luck at one of his other stops that evening.
Before the hour is up, a second man will come in searching for a credit card. This time, though, Ralph successfully locates the card, barely skipping a beat in his description of the bar as a community-gathering place that includes game night on Tuesdays, non-profit fundraisers on Thursdays and karaoke on Thursdays and Sundays. “Drunkeoke,” he calls it with a laugh.

Everybody Needs a Dive Bar

Duggen pops behind the bar for a moment, dressed and ready to work. Today’s project is fixing the heat; the patrons at the bar are all wearing their coats.
Duggen dedicates himself to the Madam, his staff and his patrons to ensure his goal of fun is shared by all. He points at the hand statue and said he just purchased it at a yard sale for $5. “To our valued customers,” he jokes.
But Duggen doesn’t joke when it comes to his passion for his bar. He prides the bar on its fun atmosphere, rustic nature and the “good will” that permeates Madam’s Organ.
“In a town where not much is real,” he says, “this bar is pretty f------ real.”

Incubus, Roots musician goes 'Deeper'

As published in The Eagle on 11.06

At a time when most college kids are struggling to pass final exams and finding a job, Ben Kenney, the bass player for Incubus and former guitarist for The Roots, was already a professional musician.

"It [beats midterms] ... until you have to carry a bass amplifier up four flights of stairs to your apartment," Kenney said, who will perform at the Black Cat Sunday. "Doing that night after night for 50 bucks here and there, playing covers ... that was my college." 

Kenney's musical education began at age eight, when his dad gave him a drum set. But Kenney didn't limit himself to the drums for long. His parents would host jam sessions where he, his brothers and cousins would play for hours, switching instruments and giving Kenney a chance to experiment with other sounds.

"Where I grew up, everyone played everything," he said. "It wasn't unusual at all. You'd get laughed at if you couldn't hold down a beat on the drum set."

Kenney put his childhood jam sessions to work on his newest solo album, "Distance and Comfort." Released earlier this year, it features Kenney on all of the instruments and vocals. He mixed and produced it in his living room.

Though Kenney praised his experience with other bands, noting the growth and new perspective he gained from his time with acclaimed hip-hop group The Roots as well as the past five years with Incubus, he said creating a solo album was a good chance to learn new skills and "exorcise his demons."

Kenney also noted the added bonus of efficiency when recording a project entirely on his own.

"I don't ever have to explain anything to anyone, there's no social aspect," he said. "It's strictly going in and working."

Though it was a hefty project, Kenney called it a "low risk" endeavor compared to creating a record with Incubus.

"Knowing that there's billions of people across the world who are going to judge that record? That's pressure," he said. "For me, [solo projects are] no pressure. A lot of people look at it like it's something extra."

Being a drummer on 10 songs is what ends up becoming exhausting, he said.

"The easiest thing to do is to pay for it," he said.

But Kenney's creativity rarely gets exhausted. He called his writing and recording process a constant in his life, whether in the studio with Incubus or on tour promoting his own record.

"The faucet never turns off," he said. "This year I toured a bunch ... and I already have music written for the next record. Hopefully I'll write 10 more."

Kenney said he would rather pen a melody instead of a set of lyrics. He praised the ability to make a statement without words. But Kenney also acknowledged the challenges unique to singing. 

"Singing is the most intimate," he said. "Playing drums ... you can do when you don't feel like it and you can get away with it. For singing, you kind of have to deliver emotion ... or it goes south fast."

Still, Kenney's comfort zone is in the instruments and sounds he's heard and performed since elementary school. But he doesn't draw boundaries between genres of music; Kenney said he doesn't see that much of a difference. He compared it to the difference between playing hip-hop and rock.

"To me, it's the difference between playing a slow song and a fast song," he said. "It's just music."

Syndication!

I'm famous!

Syndication at work.

I'm not sure how or why, but it's pretty cool nonetheless.

Yamagata 'sinks teeth' into 9:30 club

as published in The Eagle Oct. 28, 2008

In a tiny dressing room upstairs at the 9:30 club, Rachael Yamagata sat on a counter, talking into her phone.

"Is that a good star rating?" she asked the caller. She listened for a moment and then said "That's a good sentence."

Reviews are still coming in on Yamagata's latest album, "Elephants ... Teeth Sinking Into Heart," but so far many have praised the veteran songstress for her lush harmonies and complex instrumentation.

Yamagata said she wrote the album on a keyboard, testing out the programmed sounds to create

 tones that would later become violins, oboes and cellos. Once she took the demos to 

an arranger, it became a challenge to bring the album to life with an orchestra.

"I thought about what supplied the right texture," she said. "I didn't think about how we'd reproduce it ... making the music mirror that lusciousness."

But Yamagata didn't need to worry about her newest songs translating well in a live setting. During her performance at 9:30 Oct. 28, she performed several tracks from the album that met audience approval. Along with Hotel Café tourmates Samantha Crain, Thao Nguyen, Jenny Owen Youngs and Meiko, Yamagata brought enough energy and charisma to ensure the audience had a unique and enjoyable evening.

Though no one performer headlined the Hotel Café Tour, the crowd clearly favored Yamagata, eager to respond to her between-song banter. Though she has been performing professionally for eight years, Yamagata's set resounded with a sense of maturity that most of the other performers couldn't quite match. 

Yamagata's main exposure to music came through performing in musicals at the girls' school she attended in Bethesda, Md.

"I didn't go out to see music," she said. Between practices for volleyball, softball, cross-country, track and play rehearsals, she had no time to attend concerts.

But studying theater in Chicago introduced Yamagata to her true calling - music. She followed a local band around until they finally let her join them as a vocalist.

"Music took over," she said. "I lost sense of time doing it. Being in a band, it became clear my passion was songwriting."

Relationships are the most common topic in Yamagata's writing. "Elephants ... Teeth Sinking Into Heart" is almost entirely focused on examining love and the aftermath of relationships through a myriad of lenses. Even though Yamagata is currently in a successful relationship, she doesn't think she'll ever lack relationship-based material.

"I'm never content," she said of her romances. Even when happy in a relationship, Yamagata added, issues and observations always pop up to create new tension and keep her writing.

But just because she's happy now doesn't mean she's not bitter about the past.

"If you've ever had anything end badly, then you are my soul mate," she told the audience before playing her last song of the evening.

But the final song hit a few snags when she forgot the lyrics to "Reason Why."

"Sing it for me," Yamagata told the audience as she kept playing, laughing and blaming the missed words on the alcohol she drank to calm her nerves. "You'll remember this," she promised at the end of the song, before exiting to the audience's enthusiastic applause - proving that once again, Yamagata didn't have anything to worry about.

Doug Funnie, Ph. D

as published in The Eagle, Oct. 30, 2008

At AU, teachers have high expectations for their students. But students also expect quality from their teachers. A teacher should be intelligent, reasonable and punctual.

It doesn't hurt if he's also a comedian.

Enter Doug Hecox, an author, journalist, public relations agent, adjunct professor in the School of Communication and professional stand-up comedian.

Hecox said it was not difficult to maintain his multiple occupations.

"Teachers and comedians have a lot in common," he said. "Each has a prepared course of information he or she wants to share with a group of folks who generally have not heard it before. The cover charge for college is much higher, but comedy clubs let you drink in class."

But Hecox's preferred class is Writing For Mass Communication, a course he has taught at AU since 2001.

"I like that the students are brand new," he said. "They come into this fairly green, as writers. I can watch their progress ... it's just more fun for me."

The fun doesn't just stay in the classroom. As a comedian, Hecox has performed at D.C.'s 9:30 club, New York City's Laugh Factory and, most recently, Denver's ComedyWorks, where he recorded his first CD, "Vote For Me," released earlier this month.

"I was very nervous," he said. "It was the first time I'd performed a set that long at that club ... I was pretty stressed about it."

Nerves didn't stop him from delivering outstanding material to create a genuinely hilarious debut. "Vote For Me" navigates the perils of illegal immigration, holidays and the political humor expected from a resident of D.C. Adding in personal anecdotes and sharp one-liners, Hecox keeps his jokes fresh and the audience guessing what presidential candidate he will bash next.

"I make fun of the Democrats because it's easy," Hecox said. "Someone says, 'Well how come you don't make fun of the Republicans?' ... Well, where do I start?"

But long before the jokes about presidential wannabes, Hecox found comedic pay dirt in the Crackerjack boxes prizes his parents gave him to keep him quiet on long trips.

"The [prizes] I liked were the tiny joke books," he said "I'd spend the rest of the trip memorizing one little riddle, and then we'd get to my grandparents', and I'd delight them with that joke I'd learned in the car."

Hecox enjoyed his first taste of an audience's approval and continued his comedic training by acting up in school. In high school, he competed on the speech team performing published, humorous material. By senior year, he had added his own jokes into the material and discovered the world of humor writing.

Comedy doesn't always stand the test of time because it depends so much on the audience's physical presence for success, but the written word can be consistently funny over time, he said.

"If you can come up with something that's really well-crafted, it's like sculpture," Hecox said. "Comedy is more like spatter painting."

His views on writing teamed with his background as a comedian made him the perfect candidate for teaching Writing for Mass Communication.

"Comedians are writers. They're writing their material ... they're getting it just right, and then they say it the same way over and over because that's the purest way," Hecox said. "Stripping away all the non-essential and getting to the bare bones, that is the essence of journalism."

Hecox said that with so many interests, he is lucky that they all complement each other, but he is careful not to blur the lines and be "a professor telling jokes."

"Trying to be 'on' all the time wears on people, and I worry that it could undermine my credibility," he said. "I think my keeping Writing and Teaching Doug, Public Relations Doug and Comedian Doug separated is a good thing. Psychologists call it schizoid. We're probably both right."

To hear Comedian Doug, listen to WPFW 89.3 FM Nov. 3 to 7 at 2:30 p.m. To purchase "Vote For Me," visit www.dougfun.com.

Titling a blog...

...is tough work.

Being expected to create a permanent name in under five minutes is even tougher.  But hey, I'm a reporter.  We thrive on deadlines.

The title for this blog comes from a quote by G. K. Chesterton, an English mystery novelist: 

Journalism largely consists of saying 'Lord Jones is Dead' to people who never knew that Lord Jones was alive.  

I found that highly amusing - and worthy of a blog title.  

But as cheeky as it is (those Brits are nothing if not witty), it makes an important statement about journalism - we the media are the public's source of information.  We're responsible for telling them what they need to know.  People might not pay full attention to us, but we're all they've got. 

Nothing like feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders.

Selling Your Soul One Video at a Time

Weekends are generally spent watching TV, eating ice cream or reading a trashy romance novel.

But instead of comfort foods and mindless entertainment, I slummed my weary self up to the second floor MGC to talk to students I'd never met to talk about - go figure - mindless entertainment.

Of course, I mean YouTube. Friend of the procrastinator everywhere, home for water skiing squirrels and... an anthropological study on the newest form of communication on the web?

A study presented by John Wesch of Kansas State University at the Library of Congress argued that YouTube was a mirror for our culture and opened new lines of communication through webcams that would change the way our society related to each other.

But the students at American University disagreed, citing YouTube as entertainment that could have possible side effects of legit communication, but entertainment, none the less.

Almost all the students noted that instead of falling into the black hole of YouTube, they more often only visited the site when sent a link or when looking up a specific clip, averaging only five or ten minutes per visit.

This selective exposure to YouTube undermines what seems to be the popular cultural idea that YouTube is where college students and young professionals head when they've got nothing else to do - but that honor is really delegated to Facebook.

Out of the six students I interviewed, only one had uploaded his own content to YouTube (a video of him dancing in his dorm hall to "Since U Been Gone" by Kelly Clarkson), and all of them spoke of video blogging with the distinct tone of pity and disgust that one might use when describing road kill. Video blogs were the product of attention-seeking, fake people, and they would never be caught dead pimping themselves for their webcam.

Another perception demolished.

So even though my weekend didn't entail the customary sugar and SVU marathon, it did facilitate smashing the academic views of YouTube, bringing it down to the level of the average Joe-the-College-Student, which is pretty cool.