September 1, 2007
LIFE AFTER FUGAZI
Even after all these years, hardly a weekend goes by in this city that someone doesn’t head to a jukebox somewhere and lay down a few quarters to play Fugazi, one of Washington’s most influential and international bands of all time. Monday marks the milestone 20th anniversary of Fugazi’s first show, which kicked off a legacy of vicious, heartfelt punk and progressive politics that lasted through the late ’80s and ’90s. But despite the blog buzz about an upcoming reunion concert, Fugazi is on indefinite hiatus, and there’s no anniversary show, say the folks at Dischord. So is there a “next Fugazi”? Uh-uh, we hear from Glen E. Friedman, New York-based photog who followed the band with his camera for more than 15 years, capturing it from the start (with pics of Ian MacKaye weeks before starting the band in 1986) to pretty much the finish (the 2002 Fort Reno show) in his book “Keep Your Eyes Open,” out Monday. “They are very unique in many ways, what they’ve done musically and ethically,” he says. Okay, okay. So what remains of the era can we still see?
Lavanya Ramanathan
