In Which Stereotypes Run Amok

I don't want to get too crudely reductive here, but considering that Mocha Hut on 13th Street where I work appears to have an entirely African-American staff, the music they're playing today bears on odd resemblance to . . . what's on my iPod. I've already heard a Broken Social Scene tune, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, some Built to Spill, and now "Baby Six String" by Dressy Bessy which I regard as a somewhat obscure band even by indie rock standards.

Is it possible that there's some kind of gentrification consultant out there telling the Hut's management team what kind of music will appeal to the neighborhood's newer demographic? If so, can that person tell the owners of the Mercadito Ramos that they should refrigerate their Diet Coke supply?

9/28/06 11:15AM del.icio.us this incoming links

Comments

You work at Mocha Hut?

Posted by: Anthony Cormack on September 28, 2006 11:26 AM

You work at Mocha Hut?

Well, I'm not employed by Mocha Hut ... I sit there in the morning and work on my book and write the blog.

Posted by: Matthew Yglesias on September 28, 2006 11:35 AM

But who owns the Mocha Hut? Probably whitey.

Posted by: Al on September 28, 2006 11:44 AM

It would have been a way better story if you were employed by Mocha Hut. The blogosphere levels all social stratification! etc.

Posted by: JP on September 28, 2006 11:58 AM

This reminds me of my life. I live in a racially mixed neighborhood, near to some majority-black neighborhoods. Whenver I go to the nearby drug store, the music they're playing is always of the Glen Campbell/Johnny Rivers variety (alas, no indie rock where I live). Yet the staff and virtually all of the customers are black. I always feel a little bit like I've stepped into a Spike Lee movie.

Posted by: Sam on September 28, 2006 12:02 PM

I love Dressy Bessy.

Also, an alternate theory to yours is that some black people like indie music. What a weird and wacky world, I know!

Posted by: Realish on September 28, 2006 12:03 PM

Good taste in music. If you like more indie rock, I recommend Wolf Parade and The Most Serene Republic for groups most people haven't heard of. Also, Sondre Lerche (more alternative than indie) is underrated and unheard of.

Posted by: gautsid on September 28, 2006 12:13 PM

I heard a Pavement song at TGI Friday's once.

Posted by: Chad on September 28, 2006 12:27 PM

i heard a rap song at tgi friday's once.

Posted by: niv on September 28, 2006 12:36 PM

hmm

i used to go to the other mocha hut all the time (it ain't in columbia heights, as the website claims, btw, rather in that portion of DC that seems to have no name but which gentrifying real estate agents seem desperate to call "14th St Heights"), and, i don't remember any music at all.

maybe the expansion into U St and the new music means that it's decided to go all corporate?

hopefully the breakfast sandwich on a croissant doesn't suffer...

joshb

Posted by: joshb on September 28, 2006 12:40 PM

Music has no skin color . . . does it?

Posted by: rea on September 28, 2006 12:51 PM

Mercadito has Coke in glass bottles. How awesome is that.

Posted by: Spencer on September 28, 2006 12:51 PM

I don't want to get too crudely reductive here.

Uh, hate to shake up your whole worldview, but Realish is right. My roomate at summer camp 13+ years ago was a black kid from Baltimore whose favorite bands were Queensryche and a local Baltimore hard rock band called Kix.

I (Whitey McWhiteypants from upscale suburban SoCal) was the one who introduced him to NWA. At the time I thought it was bizarre, but as I've gotten to know more black people over the years, it's astonishing to observe that they can appreciate as many varieties and styles of music as white people!

Posted by: tom on September 28, 2006 12:57 PM

Indie rock isn't so objectively wonderful that we have to be worried if black people don't like it. Kix rocks though.

Posted by: joeo on September 28, 2006 01:13 PM

"Well, I'm not employed by Mocha Hut"

You should at least try to get a free espresso beverage in exchange for the publicity they're receiving from a plug on a highly influential and well-respected blog.

Or perhaps a longer-term "unlimited, hot, caffienated beverages in exchange for consistent plugging" (link or logo/icon in a prominent place) arrangement....

Then you can both do your writing there and be employed by the Mocha Hut.

Everybody wins.

Posted by: SoCalJustice on September 28, 2006 01:24 PM

I'm black and I like alt-rock.

My name is Mike and I approve this message.

Posted by: Mike P on September 28, 2006 01:27 PM

I often call Mocha Hut the Sim City cafe for its strangely likeness to the Sim City theme music. But besides that their Chicken and Waffles is freeeeking awesome.

Posted by: russ on September 28, 2006 01:36 PM

Charley Pride, Johnny Mathis, Public Enemy/Anthrax collaboration,Jimi Hendrix, Love, Bad Brains, Fishbone, Ice-T doing metal, Run DMC Covering Aerosmith, Living Color....we do have some precedent, y'know.

Posted by: boonie on September 28, 2006 01:42 PM

"Is it possible that there's some kind of gentrification consultant out there telling the Hut's management team what kind of music will appeal to the neighborhood's newer demographic? If so, can that person tell the owners of the Mercadito Ramos that they should refrigerate their Diet Coke supply?

Sorry Matt, our research tells us that you like it room temperature. However, since you bring it up, we also have decided that you prefer "Coke Zero", and we'll soon have all that "Diet Coke" replaced.

Enjoy.
(That was not a request)

Posted by: Njorl on September 28, 2006 01:45 PM

Dude, Kix? My God, in seventh grade they were one of my favorite bands. Air guitar & lipsyncing to Midnight Dynamite....ah good times. I am very proud of my underground hair metal past. If any of you were down with Rough Cutt or Black N Blue, we should be pals.

Also, Matt, you're in DC. Turn off the "indie" rock for a day and celebrate DC's great punk legacy and crank some Void, Black Market Baby, Government Issue, Bad Brains, and of course, Minor Threat. If we're gonna be labeled as "angry" liberals, our musical choices should reflect it. But if you want to keep it light, Shudder To Think and The Dismemberment Plan are perfectly acceptable.

Posted by: xjerryx on September 28, 2006 02:29 PM

Ah, I see your not familiar with Muzak's adoption of a business model akin to just-in-time inventory. Whereas it used to take years or decades for a song to make the transition from relative obscurity to popular hit to being used to make us want to buy stuff we don't need in Safeway or buy a lousy gas guzzler, nowadays Muzak reps prowl iTunes and other music download sites to pounce on new tunes to rapidly accelerate the transformation from art to commercial crap.

Posted by: Bragan on September 28, 2006 02:38 PM

Hey, xjerryx, at our apartment right now we've got the Spitboy/Crudos split LP, the Charles Bronson discography, some Clikitat, NoU, and all sorts of assorted PR/HC treats. Yglesias is way punk rock.

Posted by: Spencer on September 28, 2006 03:00 PM

google Car Bomb Opera

Posted by: judson on September 28, 2006 03:42 PM

The world is a funny place...I lived in Washington this summer, at 1301 U street where that Mocha Hut is. Yet I only started reading this blog AFTER coming back to Canada. For all I know I could have passed you on the street one morning, yet this blog is as abstract to me as any other.

Posted by: Graeme on September 28, 2006 04:14 PM

You drink Diet Coke ????

Ok then ! I don't want to hear you complaining about headaches evarrrrr ! And it's full of citric acid (or phosphoric, depends on the plant) and it's bad for your teeth even without the sugar.

[ It's this entry about paternalism ... ]

Posted by: Fifi on September 29, 2006 02:47 AM

Built To Spill?

Sounds like the basis for a potential lawsuit. I think the band would get increased play in coffee venues if they changed their name to "Safe Hot-Beverage Container."

Posted by: Jimbo X on September 29, 2006 08:44 AM

Plus, DC is all about wild violations of stereotypes.* In my new neighborhood of Mt. Pleasant, I've seen no small number of Guatemalans buying hamburgers and fries at Chinese restaurants. Is there a law saying that Chinese restaurants have to have a sizable number of non-Chinese items? The other night before the Yo La Tengo show, I was in a Chinese restaurant near the 9:30 that had a poster for "Authentic Gyros."

*It's also about wild violations of decency, but that's just the middle part with the pretty buildings.

Posted by: Seth D. on September 29, 2006 05:22 PM

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