If you know DC, you know go-go;
and if you know go-go, you know one of the founding bands of the genre that has
spanned cultures, generations and coasts, respectively.
Experience Unlimited (a.k.a. EU), the go-go group that has
touched audiences from funk to rock (and genres in between) will come full
circle when it celebrates their 50th year anniversary.
The group, founded by Gregory
'Sugar Bear' Elliott, has come a long way since their Charles Hart Middle School
beginnings in 1971 having toured globally with
their Billboard hit “Da Butt”
featured in Spike Lee’s 1988 film ‘School Daze.’
“This is my
life,” Elliott said of his long-spanning go-go music career.
Elliott will not only celebrate
the 50th anniversary of the group he gave life to, but also his birthday
on July 25th.
“I put a lot
of time, grind, sweat and fun into this. Some of my brothers have gone on to
glory with Jesus. It speaks volumes that all these musicians are celebrating
with me, said Elliott.
Related: Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-Go.
Recently, EU
drew headlines from Glenn Close and Questlove’s shout-out during the 2021 Oscars. Last year, their music helped power
Juneteenth protests parades to the city’s Black Lives Matter Plaza fueled by their
Don’t Mute DC-themed performance at the 2019 BET Music Awards.
But the group’s accolades don’t
stop there.
“Generations
have been partying with EU, but what is publicly known about their story barely
scratches the surface” said Dr. Natalie Hopkinson, go-go scholar and Associate
Professor at Howard University and director of the Traditional Arts DC.
“EU epitomizes
excellence, longevity, and art with a community purpose. There is
everything from their pre-go-go work recording with Black Fire Records, links
to Capitol Hill, anchoring annual Malcolm X Day celebrations, to running a
record store and practice space in Anacostia in the 1970s and collaborations
with hip-hop. They are one of music’s great untold stories.”
The great untold
story will finally be told as a coalition of D.C. groups and organizations come
together to plan a schedule of events beginning July 10 with a Reunion Luncheon, culminating with
the group’s August 20th performance at the Kennedy Center of the
Performing Arts.
Just as go-go
represents a community, the coalition is asking the community to share memories
and photos from the EU experience by emailing traditionalartsDC@gmail.com.
This is a story
that’s never-ending. As long as I'm alive, there will always be an EU", ‘Suga
Bear’ Elliott said.
Coalition members include the District of Columbia Office of Cable,
Television, Music and Entertainment, the Go-Go Museum & Café, Don’t Mute DC, DC Office of Creative Affairs, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the Smithsonian Center
for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
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