Filmmakers to bring documentary about Go-Go subculture to BGSU

1/31/2003

You Go-Go? You even know Go-Go? Unless you've lived within the Washington Beltway sometime in the past 20 years, and even if you have, you probably have never heard of one of the most active regional music scenes since rap exploded from the South Bronx of New York City in the late 1970s.

The Go-Go sound is conga-and-cowbell heavy, with timbales and a heavy, rollicking bass line, sort of a cross between Parliament Funkadelic's groove and Grandmaster Flash's repetitive beats. And it continues to this day in relative anonymity. The only national exposure was a 1988 hit, “Da' Butt.”

But filmmakers Nicolas Shumaker and Michael Cahill are doing their part to promote this obscure subculture. Tomorrow at Bowling Green State University, they will show The Pocket: The D.C. Go-Go Movement, their lively documentary about Go-Go, its roots, and who it influenced. The screening is at 7 p.m. in Olscamp Hall on the west side of campus. It's free and open to the public.