Nation (formerly The Capital Ballroom) was a live music/club venue, located at 1015 Half Street SE, in the
Navy Yard/Near Southeast
Navy Yard, also known as Near Southeast, is a neighborhood on the Anacostia River in Southeast Washington, D.C. Navy Yard is bounded by Interstate 695 to the north and east, South Capitol Street to the west, and the Anacostia River to the south. ...
neighborhood, of
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
It was larger than any other club in the D.C. area, with three levels indoors and a multi-level outdoor patio. The large rooms, sound, and lighting systems made it a popular destination for the
rave,
goth,
drum & bass
Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-b ...
and
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
communities.
History
Built in 1924, the building initially comprised the front entrance of what became Nation, serving as a carriage factory. The building later expanded as it changed hands, at one point serving as a warehouse for the military and finally as a factory for Hurley Boiler before it ceased operations. The club first opened its doors as The Capital Ballroom in August 1995, with
The Ramones
The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United S ...
,
Björk and
Lords of Acid being among the first acts to take the stage. The club was located near the other seminal Navy Yard club called
Tracks (1111 First St, S.E.), a large
gay club at the time. The Capital Ballroom began holding "Buzz" nights on Fridays, which hosted a number of national and international talent in dance music. It eventually became one of the country's largest weekly dance party/rave hybrid. On Saturdays, the party "Industrial Revolution" hosted by D.C. DJ "Mohawk" Adam brought industrial and dark electronic acts. Nation became recognized locally for highly diverse concert events. Nation was also recognized on a national and even international level for its three weekly DJ and theme driven nightclub parties.
Due to its large size, The Capital Ballroom did host many top-selling musical acts during its four-year tenure, but it also had a sparse schedule, as the neighborhood, located in the area of Near Southeast in D.C., was notorious for its high crime rate in the mid-1990s. In 1999, The Capital Ballroom changed management and became known as Nation. Nation soon became very popular after another nearby dance club Tracks closed on November 6, 1999.
Nation was managed by Primacy Companies, Inc. On July 17, 2006, the club closed after longtime lot owners Potomac Investment Properties decided to move forward with a planned office building on the site. In July 2007, Potomac Investment sold the site to Opus East for $41.5 million, and in spring 2008 construction began on the office building.
[Square 697/1015 Half Street/1000 South Capitol- Near Southeast DC Revitalization](_blank)
/ref> The area is now considered part of the "Ballpark District" due to the fact the Nationals Park
Nationals Park is a baseball stadium along the Anacostia River in the Navy Yard neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Home to Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals since its completion in 2008, it was the first LEED-certified green major profe ...
stadium has been built two blocks away. As of January 2010, Opus East is insolvent and construction has been halted.
Notable events
Nation had been host to hundreds of bands and solo acts, from David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
to Rage Against the Machine
Rage Against the Machine (often abbreviated as RATM or shortened to simply Rage) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commer ...
. In 1996, the venue hosted the Warped Tour
The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running touri ...
marking the only time the annual event was held indoors. It was originally scheduled to be held at Merriweather Post Pavilion
Merriweather Post Pavilion is an outdoor concert venue located within Symphony Woods, a lot of preserved land in the heart of the planned community of Columbia, Maryland. In 2010, Merriweather was named the second best amphitheater in the Uni ...
. The venue also held the "Superbowl of Hardcore" a day-long concert featuring many of the top hardcore bands and punk bands.
The final event at Nation featured Mindless Self Indulgence on July 17, 2006.
Technical design and production staff at Nation included original Lighting Designer John Niederhauser (JSN Design), Lighting Director Kevin W Clark, Production Managers Joe "Shaggy" Conroy, Dylan Overstreet, Production Assistant Jeff Nightingale, and Stagehands "Seal", "Mouse", and "Gwydo" who ran lights for concerts. The main room was equipped with a stage, a large mezzanine walkway, and a third level skybox was added in 2000 for VIPs. The lighting fixtures in the main room consisted of 8 Studio Spots, 12 Studio colors, 72 par-cans, 6 lekos, 5 Studio 250s, and 6 MAC 500 moving heads; all controlled by a Hog 1000 with the pars and lekos going through a leprechaun dimmer rack. The main rig included a 15 1/2 foot diameter Truss Ring, with a 4-foot mirror ball hung in the center. Ring was hung on 4 chain motors, and one for the raising and lowering of mirror ball, running at 32 fpm. This allowed the ring and ball to travel the 35 ft height of the space, very quickly. Once the ring was at a preset height over the dance floor, by running the downstage motors up and the upstage motors down, the ring was tilted to a 50 degree angle in 4 beats. This truss move tilted the ring at 1 foot per second (64 fpm). Video was mixed and processed through an Edirol v-4 mixer and fed to the upstage, downstage, circular, and rectangular trusses for projection.
The sound consisted of EAW cabinets and drivers, amplified by Crown, and fed by a post-processor in the DJ booth that received signal via a Pioneer 500 mixer or, if the talent on hand preferred something a little more "old-school", a Rane mixer. Front of house sound was managed by contracted third parties, usually Springfield Sound or MSI.
Nation hosted a variety of events, such as concerts, sporting events, trade shows, and even a six-week run of The Rocky Horror Show
''The Rocky Horror Show'' is a Musical theatre, musical with music, lyrics and book by Richard O'Brien. A humorous tribute to the Science fiction film, science fiction and Horror film, horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s, the ...
. It was home to events such as "Alchemy/Alias" (Thursday), " Buzz (DC)," alternately "Sting" and "Cubik" after a brief move to Redwood Trust in Baltimore (Friday), and gay night " Velvet Nation" (Saturday).
"Alchemy" was one of the country's weekly goth/industrial nights. Tony Tribby led a team that created Alchemy and used Nation's multi-room layout to combine music ranging from industrial, ebm, goth, 80s, punk, electro-clash, trance, alternative into a package with a Goth aesthetic. Alchemy had hosted VNV Nation
VNV Nation is an Irish alternative electronic project led by Ronan Harris in the roles of singer, songwriter, and producer. VNV Nation's sound combines lyrics with sounds that ranges from melodic industrial dance anthems, to haunting ballads ...
, Icon of Coil, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Juno Reactor
Juno Reactor is a multi-national musical and performing group, primarily based in Brighton, UK. Known for their cinematic fusion of electronic, global influences, and orchestral symphonic approach, collaborating with composer Don Davis and compo ...
, Shiny Toy Guns
Shiny Toy Guns is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 2002. The band is composed of guitarist/vocalist Chad Petree, vocalist Carah Faye Charnow, keyboardist Jeremy Dawson, and drummer Mikey Martin.
Their first studio ...
and others at their Thursday night event, and put on annual events such as Goth Prom in the Spring and Freaks United every July 4.
" Buzz (DC)," alternately "Sting" and "Cubik" hosted by Scott Henry and Lieven DeGeyndt, were named the country's top electronic dance music events numerous times by international publications such as Urb and BPM. Buzz/Sting and Cubik hosted the world's top electronic house, drum and bass, breakbeat and techno djs such as Paul Oakenfold
Paul Mark Oakenfold (born 30 August 1963), formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer and trance DJ. He has provided over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Mas ...
, Tiësto
Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was v ...
, Sasha and Digweed, Dave Clarke, Dieselboy
Damian Higgins (born 1972) better known by his stage name Dieselboy, is an American drum and bass DJ and music producer.
Early life
Dieselboy was born Damian Higgins in Tarpon Springs, Florida in 1972. At the age of six he moved to Colora ...
, Andy C
Andrew John Clarke (born 7 April 1976) is a British DJ and record producer and is co-founder of RAM Records, a pioneering label in the drum and bass genre.
Music career
Early years
Andy C was a DJ in his own right but gained a strong reputa ...
, The Freestylers, The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers (along with the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, and other acts) in bringing the big beat gen ...
, The Crystal Method
The Crystal Method is an American electronic music act formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. They were pioneers of the big beat genre and their music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video gam ...
and Paul Van Dyk
Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...
as well as live acts such as Rabbit in the Moon
Rabbit in the Moon is an American electronic music group that formed in 1991. Their style draws from psychedelic trance, house music and breakbeat, along with other diverse influences.
History
Formed in 1992 in Tampa, Florida, the group cons ...
and The Prodigy.
Saturdays played host to Velvet Nation, a gay dance event. The event was respected as one of the top events of its kind in the US. For many years, circuit event DJs and talents such as Junior Vasquez
Junior Vasquez (born Donald Gregory Mattern, August 24, 1949) is an American DJ, record producer and remixer. He has been referred to as one of the only DJs of his time to gain international attention.
Career
Mattern moved to New York City a ...
, Abel Aguilera, Alyson Calagna, Mike Reeze, Manny Lehman, Susan Morabito, Tony Moran, Victor Calderone
Victor Calderone (born March 20, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York, United States) is an American electronic music producer, DJ and remixer.
Biography
Raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, Calderone was introduced into New York City's nightlif ...
, The Pet Shop Boys
The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo ...
, k.d. lang
Kathryn Dawn Lang (born November 2, 1961), known by her stage name k.d. lang, is a Canadian pop and country singer-songwriter and occasional actress. Lang has won Juno Awards and Grammy Awards for her musical performances. Hits include the s ...
, and The Village People
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
. Nation was also known for lavish theme parties, such as Madonnarama, a night of all Madonna music and video, The White Party, and a variety of Pride events.
References
{{reflist
External links
Freaks United
FREAKS UNITED /// WASHINGTON, DC /// GOTHIC-INDUSTRIAL SUMMER MUSIC FESTIVAL
Nightclubs in Washington, D.C.
LGBT nightclubs in Washington, D.C.
Electronic dance music venues