#dontmutedc has become a powerful call to ensure that DC's own indigenous music is supported, promoted and celebrated. Through these three great summer reads, learn about Go-Go's history, people, sounds, setbacks and future with DC Public Library's Go-Go Book Club, in partnership with Solid State Books, Washington Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

June 18
The Beat: Go-Go Music from Washington DC by Kip Lornell & Charles C. Stephenson, Jr.

July 18
Take Me Out To The Go Go: the Autobiography of Kato Hammond

August 15
Go-Go Live: The Musical Life and Death of a Chocolate City by Natalie Hopkinson

This month: Take Me Out to the Go-Go

In the tradition of the autobiography/memoir, TMOTTGoGo's Kato Hammond opens up for the first time about the inside stories of his life growing up in the legendary musical genre of Go-Go — which is still going strong today. In Take Me Out To The Go-Go, Kato Hammond exposes his unrepentant, unbridled life as a guitarist, actor, dancer, playwright, through bands such as Pure Elegance, Little Benny & The Masters, and Proper Utensils, to the Godfather of Go-Go Media. He delves deep into his volatile, profound, and enduring relationships and reveals an ultimate story of endurance, that started in the 1970s with a young Kato, a kid who despite negative statistics, took bold steps and sacrifices through lessons learned. Kato takes you through a personal look into a human story through the Go-Go music culture, the people who inspired him, the ones who enabled him, the ones who tried to control him, the ones who changed him, the one's who gave him opportunities, and the ones who tried to take them away. Take Me Out To The Go-Go is a whole story: a loner’s story, a musician's story, an actor’s story, a writer's story, a recovery story, a love story, a success story, a failure story, a visionary story, and a re-construction story.

Learn more about DC Public Library's Go-Go Archive project at dclibrary.org/gogo

600 H Street NE, Washington, DC 20002

This event is FREE and open to all. Let us know you’re coming on Facebook.