Friday, July 14, 2006

under the radar: The Death Star

Last fall I was invited to see the band of a kid I knew from high school play at a house on Cedar Street (the white house at center) known as The Death Star. I don't know where the name comes from, but paintings of Darth Vader's space station hang in the living room. The Death Star is home to a number of kids who follow the punk lifestyle, playing shows on the weekends for about forty or fifty kids from the local punk "scene."

In two weeks, that may soon come to an end: the Montgomery County Planning Board will be considering a proposal to run an office out of the house. (Those kids don't hold the title, of course.) Not quite gentrification - not quite the Ellsworth condos going up across the street (foreground of picture), but another sign that Silver Spring is heading away from its gritty past.

The show last fall was pretty good. I never belonged to any "scene" in high school so it was interesting to get a look at this very exclusive world that most people don't get to see. In a couple of years, "exclusive" will have a completely different meaning Downtown.

1 comment:

Sligo said...

I hate to say it, but this was under my radar as well. What's the deal with this house? Who owns it? How are bands able to perform in a residential house? Inquiring minds want to know. Well, at least one mind.