Crankin: Power and Resilience in Washington DC's Go-Go Culture

Go-go is the heart and soul of Washington, DC's African American culture—a source of resilience for the community and a way to celebrate Black lives. As the soundtrack of the District since the mid-1970s, go-go was designated the official music of Washington in 2020, and it has been incorporated into music genres such as hip-hop and R&B for decades.

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Alona Wartofsky leads an exciting conversation with Charles C. Stephenson Jr. and Kato Hammond, offering a rich narrative to highlight go-go's key figures, bands, and moments—spanning fifty years from its beginnings all the way to its central role in the #BLM protests in 2020 and the #DontMuteDC and Moechella movements. This encompassing discussion of go-go music culture details the life of Chuck Brown, the "godfather of go-go," and documents the history of the genre's early pioneers, Trouble Funk, Rare Essence, and Experience Unlimited (EU). The panel recalls EU's 1988 number one hit, "Da Butt," go-go's gospel and grown 'n' sexy subgenres, go-go's international impact, the bouncebeat sound, go-go lifestyles, activism, and, finally, the homecoming as go-go artists brought Chuck Brown's African-inspired beat to Africa.

This talk will entertain and inform fans of go-go as well as African American and American-created music; musicologists; scholars of American culture and subcultures; and readers interested in DC history.

Time will be allocated for Q&A.

"Shaped and informed by their singular, varied, decades-long interactions with the go-go scene, the authors have created a lively, visually rich book that not only lives up to its title but is fundamental to understanding what this music is all about." Kip Lornell, coauthor of The Beat: Go-Go Music From Washington DC, and professor emeritus of music history and culture, George Washington University

Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing at the event.

Alona Wartofsky has been writing about go-go since the mid-1980s; her stories about the music have appeared in The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, The Village Voice, Spin magazine, Craftsmanship Magazine and LA Weekly. She served as Washington City Paper’s arts editor before moving to The Washington Post, where she worked as a Style and Sunday Arts editor and staff writer. More recently, she has covered go-go culture for Washington City Paper. Alona contributed the go-go section for the 2013 Corcoran Gallery of Art catalog for the exhibit, “Pump Me Up: D.C. Subcultures of the ‘80s.” She wrote the new Georgetown University Press book Crankin! Power and Resilience in Washington, DC’s Go-Go Culture with longtime community activist Charles Stephenson, Jr. and go-go historian and musician Kato Hammond.

Charles C. Stephenson Jr. is a lifelong political and cultural activist, the best way to summarize his ongoing work. Born in Harlem and raised in Mt Vernon New York, he relocated to Washington D.C. after serving overseas in The U.S. Army.  In D.C., his 30-year professional career on Capitol Hill culminated as the Legislative Director for California Congressman Ronald V. Dellums.  For every year on Capitol Hill, he also found time to assist many grassroots campaign needs with GOTV and voter education efforts.  For 25 years, he co-chaired the annual Malcolm X Day Celebration in Washington's Anacostia Park, where the largest and longest-running event to honor El Hajj Malik El Shabazz was held. He is the co-author of The Beat: Go-Go Music From Washington, D.C., with Kip Lornell. As a former chair of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Charles also expanded city-funded arts experiences and programs to broader audiences across the city.  By 2012, he relocated to Raleigh, where he now shares his ongoing activism as: the Wake County 05-05 Precinct Chair; a member of both the State Executive Committee and the African American Caucus of the NC Democratic Party; and Secretary of the African American Cultural Festival held in Raleigh every Labor Day weekend. He is also the Chair of the Board of Directors for The Regional Addiction Prevention (RAP, Inc), which provides substance abuse treatment for Washington, DC residents. In his spare time he is an avid senior golfer at the Brier Creek course.  He is married to public affairs consultant Judith Burrell and they have two children-Brandon and Zora.

Kato Hammond is a Washington, D.C. musician, author, filmmaker, cultural historian, and founder of TMOTTGoGo, one of the longest-running platforms dedicated to documenting Go-Go music and culture. A longtime guitarist, Hammond is also a former member of Little Benny & The Masters, giving him firsthand experience inside the music and culture he has spent decades documenting. For more than 30 years, he has chronicled the people, history, sound, and evolution of Go-Go through journalism, books, film, photography, and digital media. Hammond is co-author of CRANKIN!: Power and Resilience in Washington, DC’s Go-Go Culture, published by Georgetown University Press.