Bad Brains Banned in DC

Bad Brains Banned in DC @ CBGB's 1982. Take in the exuberance of this audience. You could power vegas on this energy.


In '89 I snuck into a Bad Brain sound check at the Country Club in Reseda, Ca. Dr. Know was astoundingly cool when he OK'd me to open up for their sold out show. I played 2 songs on my acoustic. One was a cover of the Bad Brain's Regulator. Total Irie of a night.

Never have I experienced, before or since, such extreme energy from both a band and an audience. Disbelief even while witnessing. Functioning as part of that energy. The energy contained in the small building on Sherman Way and Canby grew to be surreal. I am still feeling the shock waves nearly 20 years later.

Here they are in 2006 back at CBGB's. I and I survive.

Observing and being part of a Bad Brains audience is a worthy music lesson as any.