We’ve got two tickets to for a show this Friday at the Rock & Roll Hotel. And you know you want to party for free.

The Dance Party is a disco/synth rock act originally from DC. They’ve also spent time recently working in L.A. and are known for being very “over the top” with their outrageous parties in Hollywood. If this doesn’t say enough about them, fellow DC band US Royalty is on their myspace Top 8, alongside Ladyhawke, The Friday Night Boys, and Miss Beyonce Knowles at the number two spot. Hot.

The contenders:
Burt Bacharach vs. Elton John

If these two were put in a boxing ring together, tell us who you think would win the fight, and why!

Anyone can enter to win. Please enter by replying to this post. The contest ends Wednesday at midnight, and the winner will be announced by email Thursday morning.

We will pick the winners based on the best answer to the match fight. Who’s gonna finish on top?!

Special thanks to D.C. music blog http://allthingsgomusic.com.

photos by Louise Brask

Within the next 24 hours we will have all the pictures from September’s WVAU Open Mic up online! We had a festive first public event this year at a new location in The Perch. The ambiance was perfect for a sit down student concert including the perch’s vast Tazo Tea collection, lattes, and coffee, not to mention comfy chairs and floor cushions from Crate & Barrel. And best of all, we had live entertainment. Performances were of the variety with everything from a Korean indie band to a vocal impersonation of Bobby McFerrin. The friday night was a hoot.

Check back within the next day then and save, share, and tag your friends on our flickr photo album.

Also, congratulations to all of our new DJs. By the beginning of this week, most of our new crew will have finished their required sit-in show, and starting today will now be broadcasting live during their time slots. Check the schedule to see the 100+ DJs we have this semester!

Our WVAU DJ & Assistant Music Director Kevin Kunitake interviewed Psychedelic/Gothic/Ambient musician James Pants, currently signed to L.A.’s Stone Throw Records.

“Last March or so, through my internship with a DC based group called Undercult, I got the opportunity to interview an artist from one of my favorite labels, Stones Throw Records. James Pants is singlehandedly one of the most interesting people I’ve ever gotten the chance to speak with. We talked about his hypothesis about vinyl, his love for curry, touring in China, his prom, and his life in Colorado.

James is currently touring in Japan, but when he comes back to the states, I highly suggest going to go see his live show. When I saw him, he was playing with two turntables, a couple microphones, a drum pad, and a couple symbols. He probably doesn’t even do that anymore. He switches it up constantly.

His latest album, Love Kraft, is coming out soon. He’s also releasing an album with Undercult, all Japanese-based music. Look out for those. Click the links below if you’re curious about Undercult or James Pants.”

http://www.stonesthrow.com/jamespants
http://twitter.com/sirjamespants

http://undrcult.com/
http://twitter.com/undercultdc

James Pants Interview by WVAUOnline Interview by Kevin Kunitake

Assistant Music Director Carrie tells us about her experience at the D.C. Surfer Blood gig last weekend.

In the week leading up to the Surfer Blood/The Drums show at 9:30 club, I had many internal arguments regarding my attendance.

“It’s a Sunday! And you’re poor! You have so much work to do!”

“But Surfer Blood rules! And it’s only $15!”

I ended up going, figuring I’d regret it if I didn’t. I went by myself –since any friends who were interested– decided with their more rational selves. I got to 9:30 club when opening band The Young Friends was halfway through their set. They were a little amateurish and the vocalist sounded too tone deaf. Maybe they’d be better with experience?

After The Young Friends, I got talking with a guy who had also decided to come last minute for Surfer Blood. He was a student at Johns Hopkins and was taking a 3 AM train back home, now that’s dedication.

I didn’t know too much about The Drums prior to the show, but I was sold by their theatrical interpretive dancing and 80’s pop revival sound. Band leader Johnny Pierce sings and moves like a David Bowie/Morrissey hybrid with a little bit of vogue dancing thrown in.

Waiting for Surfer Blood, I made friends with some self-described “Georgetown indie kids in the closet” and a girl from Corcoran. We all bonded over music and a mutual disregard for the next days classes.

When Surfer Blood came onstage to the score from Jurassic Park, I knew that being irresponsible on a Sunday night had been a good choice to make. I had seen Surfer Blood twice before their 9:30 club show: once at The Black Cat, and another time at Siren Fest. Both times the band had played kind of like a band you would watch from your basement couch. This is not a bad thing, by any means it fits their accessible-and-sometimes-bro-ish sound very nicely. But non-stop touring and exposure has done Surfer Blood well. They looked and sounded significantly tighter and more confident. This time the band performed instead of just playing. The guitars seemed to break free, and the songs were crisper and bigger.

Front man JP Pitts has a great pop star voice both on “Astro Coast” and off, but live, there was some added harshness and growl that gave their songs an extra punch. He also seemed to have taken notes from The Drums when he showcased some awkwardly endearing dance moves. After eight tracks from “Astro Coast” and two new songs, Surfer Blood came back out with a cover of Pavement’s “Box Elder.” Not satisfied, the crowd brought the band back onstage for what they claimed was their first ever double encore. They ended the night with “Slow Jabroni,” my favorite Surfer Blood song that I had never seen live. It ruled.

I headed to Rogue States, a burger grilling company in Dupont, with the four future Facebook friends I met at the show. I proceeded to eat an amazing burger that was roughly the size of my face, and then, back at home, I stayed up until 4:30 to finish all of my work. Without hesitation, I WOULD DO IT ALL AGAIN.

-Words by Carrie Walters, pictures by Jasmine Wee, edited & posted by Louise

The digital stream is up and running both on and off campus!

The first few weeks of the semester we encountered a few technical problems here at the WVAU station. They may seem minor, but they set us back from broadcasting off-campus for a few weeks. Here were the perilous tasks in our path ahead: we had to set up the entire studio’s equipment after our summer vacation, receive security access within the university building, and enable the stream to broadcast outside of the campus server. 
Thanks to the dedication of General Manager Dan Raby, and many of our hardworking DJs, our quests were fulfilled.

In our first few weeks we’ve already been hard at work. Our Music Directors Roxanne & Leah plus their team of 6 Assistant Music Directors have already reviewed more than 40 CDs on the rack and counting! To track what our DJs have been playing, we have also enabled the music charts to update weekly online. You can see the results of our DJ’s weekly music charts on our navigation panel (above) or by clicking this Charts link. Stay in the know!

Program Director Brian Waligorski has been working with the mathematics and organization of the station. This weekend he’s been creating space for 65 applications from new DJs! He is in the final stages, and our new DJs should hear back from him soon.

So to tune into our 24/7 broadcast available worldwide, and click the ‘Listen Now’ link (above), and get a dose of WVAU!