Last September, the DC Beat Club–a digital music workshop that travels to neighborhood libraries and community centers in the DC area–came to Potomac Gardens. After participating in September’s Beat Club, Larry Jackson a 13-year-old Potomac Gardens Resident, has come by every week asking if he can rap and if we can put it on Youtube. This past Saturday, January 18, 2014, Grassroots DC hosted the DC Beat Club for the second time and Larry’s wish came true. DC Beat Club founder Barrett Jones and his friend Audrius Reskevicius with his own video camera and laptop, helped Larry put together the following video. Enjoy!

The DC Beat Club is part of Grassroots DC’s efforts to teach music and radio production to Potomac Gardens Youth. We plan to build up this partnership in the very near future.

In other news, Saturdays have become pretty busy at Grassroots DC. We’ve begun pre-production on a documentary called Potomac Gardens Inside and Out. Our first step is to conduct surveys of the residents living around the public housing complex. In February, we plan to put the same survey questions to the residents within Potomac Gardens itself.

In addition to the Beat Club and the surveying, students from Monday’s video production class have begun to use the open lab time to work on their video projects. Brenda Hayes, producer of radio program This Light: Sounds for Social Change, which airs Sunday nights on CPR radio, stopped in to do some audio editing. Knowing there would be a crowd, I served chicken and collard greens. If Grassroots DC can afford it, we may make that a regular thing. In any case, Saturdays are generally a good time to stop by and get involved. Doors are usually open by 10 am, but it’s good to call first, 202.608.1376.