As the evening sun sweeps over Fort Reno State Park, a local band called Evolution quietly sets up atop a six-foot-high stage in the basin of the field. Spectators watch aimlessly from the surrounding grass, sprawled out on blankets or standing around idly. There are no box offices, corporate sponsors, or vendors in sight (minus a small ice-cream truck nearby) and the sole sign of authority is a pony-tailed soundman helping the band with setup and soundcheck.
Evolution’s three members – a guitarist, bassist, and drummer – have a median age of about 13. They all attend Alice Deal Junior High, which stands adjacent to the park, and it’s their first time playing at the Fort Reno Summer Concert Series, a world-famous D.C. tradition. The free event takes place at the highest natural point in the District and features a panoply of local talent.
“This is a small opportunity for bands to get started,” Amanda MacKaye, the main organizer of the summer-long series, said. “There is no longer a small venue in this city and there’s not a venue that’s not a bar anymore. [Traditional venues] want bands that can guarantee a draw of some sort and if you’ve never had a chance to play you can’t really do that.”
MacKaye crafted this year’s line-up with lesser-known upstarts in mind, aiming to showcase as many new bands as possible. That’s not to say the series doesn’t feature its fair share of talent: D.C. legends like Fugazi, the Dismemberment Plan, and Q and Not U have all played the event. Still, MacKaye emphasizes Fort Reno as a local starting point rather than a victory lap.
Now in its 41st summer, the series hasn’t always had such a defined agenda. MacKaye noted that the concerts emerged in the late ’60s as an effort to rebuild community in the wake of volatile protests. The neighborhood surrounding Fort Reno – an actual fort during the Civil War – offered to put on shows in the park with the aid of city funding and the neighborhood planning council.
During the ’90s, and under the auspices of former Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly, the concert series was nearly lost after the neighborhood planning council folded into larger advisory committees. But under the leadership of Father George Dennis, a local priest, the event forged on by way of the Northwest Youth Alliance. Students at nearby schools became a stronger force in the planning process and Fort Reno gradually became a D.C.-only venue.
And the original intention – to foster community – has thrived.
“Anything that gives people a place to play and an audience, and it’s free – how could it be anything but good?” Steve Feigenbaum, the owner of Maryland’s Cuneiform Records, said.
“Last year, when I came to the first Fort Reno, it was just like seeing everyone again that you don’t see for a while,” Matt Sala, 19, added. “And then we’d all go up to the top of the hill after and watch the sunset. It’s like the beginning of summer, the first one, and the last one you know it’s ending.”
Last summer was, in fact, almost the end of Fort Reno for quite some time. The National Park Service closed the park indefinitely on May 14 following the discovery of arsenic levels nearly 25 times the EPA limit in a geological survey. Two weeks later, the park re-opened. Officials noted that the original test turned out to be “a false positive” after the U.S. Geological Survey and the EPA retested the soil samples. MacKaye was relieved, and even grateful.
“In a funny twist, the arsenic scare of ’08 worked in our benefit because it coincided almost to the minute that our fundraising campaign was going to launch,” she said, noting the series’ reliance on donations. Over the past few years the event has been kept running thanks to the charity of concertgoers and sizeable donations from acts like Ted Leo, the Dismemberment Plan, and Fugazi.
“All the bands play for free,” she remarked. “The only person who makes any money is the soundman.”
Despite this fact (and the arsenic levels), there has been no shortage of interest in playing. MacKaye said that she received over 130 entries this year during the booking process, a task that typically begins around February. Though this is MacKaye’s first year of planning the schedule alone (she worked alongside another colleague for the past few years), she already has a set of criteria that she follows to determine eligibility: Foremost, the band must live within the Beltway. After that, MacKaye keeps her eye out for bands that have female members and/or any members under the age of 18 – like Evolution.
“I love the fact that at Fort Reno we have newborns to 80-year-olds coming to see music. So I want for the kids who are coming to see something that kind of looks like them. I would love for them to see kids up on stage because I hope that they’ll think that they can go start a band.”
Creative submissions also catch MacKaye’s attention. For instance, this year’s most unique submission came from “The Creepy Magicians” whose demo arrived in a hand-made wooden coffin. When MacKaye opened it, she found the interior was lined with red fabric and housed a calligraphy scroll.
“It’s not just about the music,” she argued. “The music is obviously important, but I want to know who you are. The way the music world has been bastardized, in my opinion, it’s done everything to remove who you are from the music.”
Taste aside, MacKaye encouraged anyone to check out Fort Reno, if only to give each band a chance: “I will challenge everyone who thinks these bands are not well known enough to come out and see them.”
Plus, it never hurts to throw the Frisbee around.
(Come out to see the last Fort Reno show of the season this Thursday featuring The Jet Age, Yell County, and Title Tracks. Visit www.fortreno.com for more details.)
