| Where
to Hear Live Music
The Bethesda
area features many places to hear live music, from hard
rock to soft jazz—and everything in between
By Elise Hartman Ford
The days are long gone when area residents could see
top name bands at Bethesda
clubs like the Psyche Delly and Twist and Shout. But
the Bethesda-area music scene still hums. Many restaurants
and bars feature live music and some have dancing. Here
are some of the venues awaiting you:
Bethesda
Cesco Trattoria
Jazz guitar soloist Bart Stringham performs classics
like “Autumn in New York” and “Moon River,” as well
as lesser known tunes, every Wednesday evening, from
6:30 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. No cover, all ages. 4871
Cordell Ave., 301-654-8333, www.cescotrattoria.com.
Europa Lounge
Those in the mood for jazz will find it in
this cozy, chic lounge (low-slung loveseats, deep leather
chairs) most Friday nights, 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Playing
to a crowd that includes 20- and 30-somethings beginning
their night crawls and older music lovers settling in
for dinner or after-dinner entertainment, the Nicki
Gonzalez Band performs a pop/Latin/blues style of jazz.
No cover charge, so maybe you can spring for that watermelon
martini, white pizza or profiterole from the lounge
menu; you may also order from the main dining room’s
menu. All ages. 7820 Norfolk Ave., 301-657-1607, www.cafeeuropabethesda.com.
Flanagan’s Harp and Fiddle
Flanagan’s Irish Pub has moved from its basement digs
on Old Georgetown Road to a street-level location a few
blocks away, changing its name and look in the process.
A large bar anchors the pub, which serves Irishy dishes
like smoked salmon and Guinness beef
skewers, but also smoked baby back ribs and breast of
chicken. Thankfully, Flanagan’s here is the same as Flanagan’s
there when it comes to music: The Mary Ann Redmond Band’s
romping, bluesy brand of rock ’n’ roll and other regulars
are on the schedule, Thursday and Saturday nights for
sure, but check the Web site for details, still being
confirmed at press time. No cover; you must be 21 or older
to enter after 9 p.m. 4844 Cordell Ave., 301-951-0115,
www.flanagansharpandfiddle.com.
Mon Ami Gabi
A jazz quartet or trio, usually Greg Harrison’s, plays
every Tuesday from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. in the cozy bar
area. Happy hour, 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., offers a $5 menu
and special prices on drinks, which means the youngish
after-work crowd fills all tables and bar stools by
the time the jazz begins. The music may be audible in
the main restaurant, but just barely. No cover, all
ages. 7239 Woodmont Ave., 301-654-1234, www.monamigabi.com.
RiRa Irish Pub
Live Irish music 3 p.m.-6 p.m. Sundays in the restaurant
pleases families and tamer types, who are here, truth
be told, as much for RiRa’s pleasant ambience and a
taste of lamb stew or bangers to accompany their sips
of Guinness. Separate from the dining room is the pub,
open to those over 21. Irish music is on tap here on
Wednesdays from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., and rock cover bands
like Down with the Man play
every Friday and Saturday. Weekend music gets going
at 10 p.m. and ends at about 1:30 a.m., collecting a
mostly younger crowd who come to dance, listen, drink
and flirt. No cover. 4931 Elm St., 301-657-1122, www.rira.com.
Rock Bottom Brewery
Every Saturday night, from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.,
bands like Niki Barr and Uncle Chunky perform energetic
rock inside the packed, often standing-room-only bar,
separated by a partition from the main dining room.
Music and sports fans share this space, which means
that the cheers erupting from time to time are more
likely to be in response to a game-play seen on one
of the bar’s 13 TVs, than to the music, no matter how
great. A mezzanine level allows you to view the band
and bar from above. No cover; you must be 21 to enter
the bar. 7900
Norfolk Ave., 301-652-1311, www.rockbottom.com.
Sala Thai
Sala Thai Restaurant is the anti-Bethesda:
You can walk in without a reservation, eat at the bar
and read a book, and come straight from work in your
wonkiest wear or from home with disheveled hair. And
three nights a week Sala Thai also serves up mellow
jazz. Local musicians, like vocalist Karen Gray, who
sings many swing standards, perform from about 7 p.m.
to 10 p.m. every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. No cover,
all ages. 4828 Cordell Ave., 301-654-4676, www.salathaidc.com.
Chevy Chase
Clyde’s
It’s mainly the khaki and polo shirt bunch filling
the comfy booths and bar stools in the lower level of
Clyde’s. But the music is anything
but straitlaced. Longtime local rock bands like Mary
Ann Redmond’s and John Harbison’s play their hearts
out Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights, from 10 p.m.
to 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. Here for a meal, people often stay
for the music. “I’ve seen people move all the chairs
out of the bar area and the whole place just start dancing,”
says Sivan Pavan, the downstairs host on a recent Friday
night. No cover, all ages. 5441 Wisconsin Ave., 301-951-9600, www.clydes.com.
Derwood
Outta the Way Café
Most of us know Redland
Road as the location for a Montgomery County vehicle emissions testing
site; a few miles further along is this aptly named
neighborhood joint, which is equal parts restaurant,
Steelers fans’ hangout and nightclub. If you’re lucky
enough to find your way here when James Mabry and his
band are in the house, which is about once a month,
you’ll be hearing some of the best blues the area has
to offer. Most Saturday nights and sometimes on Fridays,
the café hosts classic rock cover bands, like the Rock
and Roll Relics or Mike’s Garage. Bands set up right
in the restaurant; when things get lively, the audience
moves tables to make room for dancing. Cover charge
is $3 to $5. Music starts about 9 p.m. or 9:30 p.m.,
continuing until about 2 a.m. All ages. 17503
Redland Road, 301-963-6895.
Gaithersburg
Finewine.com
Shop at this wine store on a Saturday evening between
6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., and you’ll be serenaded by
a musician or group playing gentle jazz, soft blues
or ballads. A petite wine bar offers
stools, a handful of tables and a couple of armchairs,
where you can sit and order wine and small plates of
cheeses and pâtés as you listen. On a recent
Saturday, “acoustic roots” musician David LaFleur was
in fine voice, as he strummed a mandolin and sang “Old
MacDonald” to a pair of thumb-sucking, towheaded little
girls, then grabbed his Dobro guitar to play ragtime
standard “Ditty Wah Ditty” for their parents. No cover,
all ages. Washingtonian Center
(Rio), 20A Grand
Corner Ave., 301-987-5933, www.finewine.com.
J.J. Muldoon’s
A jumble of ethnicities, races and ages (though
most are in their late 20s), J.J. Muldoon clubbers are
intent on partying. Cover bands perform on a small stage
beyond the long bar, leaving just enough room for the
obligatory sets of girlfriends to dance with each other
since, as usual, the men would rather stand and gape. The place is a
bit old-fashioned: Waitresses wear short shorts, a disco
ball twirls from the ceiling, and stained glass is a major
decorative element. But when bands like Supergreen (whose
parents are in the audience) take the stage, all that
matters is that they can play respectable and raucous
versions of Dave Matthews and U2 tunes. Muldoon’s features
rock bands on Friday nights, 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., and Saturday
nights, 9:30 p.m.-1 a.m., usually charging a $5 cover;
and acoustic solo performances Wednesday evenings from
9 p.m. to midnight at no charge. You must be 21 or older
to enter. 16143 Shady Grove Road, 301-258-8866, www.jjmuldoons.com.
Mrs. O’Leary’s Irish Pub
The food is not grand, but the music is, if
you like traditional Irish and contemporary songs. Musicians
ranging from soloist Pete Papageorge to the trio Stringer
Folk perform at the pub every Thursday, Friday and Saturday,
from 8 p.m. to midnight. Families with little kids are
largely in the audience early on, but young single men,
as well as a seasoned, older bunch move in as the night
progresses. The band sets up at the front of the dining
room, where they are heard loud and clear throughout
the pub. No cover, all ages. 555
Quince Orchard Road, 301-947-1993,
www.mrsolearys.net.
Old Towne Firehouse Cue
This used to be known as Buffalo Billiards, which
explains the eight pool tables; these along with the countless
interactive video and computer games help create the feel
of a huge indoor amusement park for adults. As many as
500 people can fit in the Firehouse, whose focus these
days is live music: The club aims to showcase acts here
six or seven nights a week. On a recent Saturday night,
a boomer band called DoubleCrossed was entertaining a
mid-size crowd of restless 20-to-40-somethings. The firehouse
has three bars, including one on the patio in the summer,
and serves pizzas and other standard bar fare. Music on
weekends is from 9 or 10 p m. to 1:45 a.m.; weeknight
music runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. There’s never a cover;
after 8 p.m., you must be 21 or older to enter. 317
East Diamond Ave., 301-977-7665. Summit Station
Restaurant and
Brewery
Upstairs from the restaurant and brewery in this
century-old building is Summit Station’s pub, which,
every Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, from 8 p.m.
to 11 p.m., hosts some of the area’s best blues, reggae
and R&B groups, including the hard-driving Cathy
Ponton King band. The place is too well lit and attractive
to feel like a nightclub, probably because it functions
as a dining room, too. Interesting items on Summit Station’s
menu include entrees such as the Brewmaster’s Island
Style Fish and Chips. The club’s primarily suburban
and middle-aged audience is clearly into the music.
The pub has a bar at one end, and another on an adjoining
outdoor deck, but you can’t hear the music well out
there. No cover, all ages. 227 East Diamond Ave., 301-519-9400, www.summit-station.com.
Potomac
Normandie Farm
Adjacent to the lobby in this 74-year-old restaurant
is Margery’s Lounge, where on Friday and Saturday nights
from 8 p.m. to midnight, neighborhood patrons enjoy
jazz standards and contemporary dance music played by
such renowned local musicians as Tim Ford and Barry
Gurley. This is a 50s and older crowd, who, typically,
stop in before or after dinner in the restaurant, though
some do dine in the lounge. Fireside dancing is one
of the lounge’s chief draws. No cover, all ages. 10710
Falls Road, 301-983-8838, www.popovers.com.
Rockville
Timpano Italian Chophouse
This Italian “chophouse” restaurant seems always
to be bustling, or maybe it just sounds that way—the
live music here is very loud, the better to be heard,
probably, throughout this large, two-tiered, indoor
and outdoor space. In its Starlight Lounge, just to
the right of the main dining room, Timpano features
a quartet 8 p.m.-midnight, Tuesday through Sunday nights,
the music mostly a mix of soul, jazz and contemporary
songs. The clientele is a mix, too: of races, ages and
types, from out-of-town businessmen still in coats and
ties, to singles at the bar, mindless of the music.
Thursday and Friday nights are most popular, Saturday
and Sunday most subdued. Arrive after the dining room
closes, 10 p.m. weekdays and 11 p.m. weekends, if you’re
more interested in hanging in the lounge and listening.
No cover, all ages. 12021 Rockville Pike, 301-881-6939, www.crww.com/timpano.
Silver Spring
Austin Grill
This is the only Austin Grill in the metropolitan
D.C. area that offers live music, and it takes place
every night of the week, usually starting at 9:30 p.m.
The Tex-Mex menu is the same as that at other Grill
locations, but you don’t have to order food to enjoy
the music. Talent ranges from Monday’s open-mike unknowns
to nationally recognized groups, like The Nighthawks.
The atmosphere is always laid-back, the audience likewise.
Austin Grill president Chris Patterson, himself a musician,
is behind this live music venture, and has carefully
set up the restaurant to make sure the venue works for
diners and music lovers alike. No cover, all ages. 919 Ellsworth Drive, 240-247-8969, www.austingrill.com.
Half Moon Bar-B-Que
Its restaurant is known for bargain barbeque, its nightclub
for serving up rockabilly, zydeco, blues, R&B and
country music. Local legends like The Nighthawks and
J.P. McDermott have regular gigs here. You walk through
the restaurant and up a flight of stairs to reach the
smallish club, where groups thunder on stage. Audiences
tend toward die-hard music aficionados who are not letting
gray hair and doubling chins get in the way of a good
time. The room offers some seating, but it’s mostly
a place to stand; some like to head to the tiny, dark
loft, which overlooks the joint. Call or check the Web
site for upcoming events, which usually start at 9:30
p.m. and go to midnight or later. Sometimes there’s
a cover charge; for example, J.P. McDermott’s show cost
$6. All ages. 8235 Georgia Ave., 301-585-1290, www.halfmoonbbq.com.
Freelance writer Elise Hartman
Ford is the author of the Frommer’s Guide to Washington, D.C., and other travel books,
and has written for the Washington Post, Washingtonian
and Ladies’ Home Journal.
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