It’s been a chaotic year, but I am feeling grateful to have had the chance to produce and curate music through it all. This year I launched Sandflower, a DIY label for producing music, invigorating community plazas, and bringing high caliber musicians into DC’s most intimate and quirky venues. Scooby Doo Mansion has always been a cornerstone of that vision and one of DC’s most beloved art hubs. I owe so much to this house, from living there, to building lifelong friendships there, to finding deeply beautiful service opportunities to the community there. Now, it is up for sale and we need your help saving it. I’ve seen too many beautiful music spots and venues close this year. What happens when they’re all gone? The hope is to find a new landlord who believes in the beauty of this place and the functions it serves to the community. If you’re interested in helping, visit @scoobydoomansion or reach out to @ithink_therefore_iyam for more details on what’s at stake and how you can help!
📸 by the legend @ktsimonian
In my latest Inkwell piece, I sat down with the organizers of the Green Room, an intimate DIY performance space in Mount Pleasant, to learn about what drives them to host opportunities for D.C. locals to experience high-caliber artistry in their own backyards. With major performance institutions like the Kennedy Center down for the count, now more than ever we need these kinds of grassroots efforts to bolster our local music community and give some of D.C.’s incredible musical talent the chance to shine.
🔗 in bio to read the full piece.
This story was a real treat to write. Many thanks to @ktsimonian@rsandy93 and @chi_theartist for allowing me to have a peek behind the scenes at the work you’re doing.
All photo credits to Katie Simonian🌱
Article mentions, in order of appearance: @greenroom.irl@1acommittee@ktsimonian@tayloruckleswag@smallplanesdc@cecilyalexa@rsandy93@chi_theartist@oldsoulmusic_@everyday.everybody@scoobydoomansion@bukomcafe@we.are.nibi@electriccowbell
The Green Room sessions could not be any more DIY and we love it. We hope you come to the next one! Excited to share glimpses of these talented artists and keep shooting in the New Year.
Big thank you to @bigbearcafe for opening up the doors to Sandflower and @we.are.nibi with a memorable night of music to close out the year. More on that soon. 2026 RSVP in bio.
Thanks for tuning in - Ryan, Steph & Katie
📸 @ktsimonian
🤍💜🌿 it’s been a privilege and an honor to tackle this passion project. The last six months have been so fulfilling. Keep in mind this is a labor of love from countless folks just on the weekends! I love these people and love Mount Pleasant. It’s all public health at the end of the day 🫡
Photography and design by @ktsimonian
Sandflower Records and Foots x Coles are excited to present The Juke, a monthly jam session at Bukom Cafe!
Artists, pull up and jump in.
Community, come through and vibe.
A different artist will be featured each month & of course @alexvaughn will be our first!
$5 Cover ATD
(No one will be turned away for lack of funds)
🫂🫂🫂 RSVP LINK IN THE BIO 🫂🫂🫂
La maestra Nidia Gongora on Lamont Plaza ☀️La gran cantadora del Pacífico colombiano.
We’ve been organizing, playing and producing all sorts of amazing artists on the plaza in Mount Pleasant for years (in the footsteps of decades of others’ doing the same with that same energy) as an arm of outreach and community togetherness, particularly in the ugly face of grief and dark times for the city. Getting to watch Sandflower Records put this on with partnership from Poder Del Pueblo and so many other amazing people and organizations was a great honor. Good luck stealing this joy.
Hemos estado organizando, tocando y produciendo todo tipo de artistas increíbles en la plaza de Mount Pleasant durante años (siguiendo los pasos de décadas de otras personas que han hecho lo mismo con esa misma energía), como una forma de trabajo comunitario y de unión, especialmente frente a la cara dura del dolor y los momentos difíciles de la ciudad. Ver a Sandflower Records llevar esto a cabo en alianza con Poder del Pueblo y tantas otras personas y organizaciones increíbles fue un gran honor. Buena suerte intentando robarse esta alegría.
📷 @ktsimonian
Mixing by @rodriguez_eem
Tejiendo puentes, democratizando los espacios culturales, fomentando el intercambio y orgullo cultural y creando espacios de aprendizaje colectivo por intermedio de la cultura, la defensa de los derechos humanos y la solidaridad entre los pueblos.
Tuvimos el honor dé compartir con La Maestra @nidiagongoramusic en DC donde nos deleito con sus raíces en los sonidos tradicionales de la costa del Pacífico de Colombia, mostrando su profunda conexión cultural y espiritual con la región. Sus currulaos,
bundes, jugas, rumbas y canciones de cuna nos llegaron dé emocion, dé risas, recuerdos, lagrimas dé felicidad y mucha esperanza al hacer un homenaje à la resiliencia dé las víctimas dél conflicto armado colombiano y mostrarnos qué en la solidaridad y la empatia está el camino à la reconciliación. GRACIAS MAESTRA POR SER UN orgullo cultural.
Gracias a nuestros hermanos y hermanas, por sus ideas, apoyo, articulación y colaboración @la_pailadelanegra@dchoco_24@rsandy93@maspaz@lacami_heartbeats@idachaverra@lina_kastillo_arango@casamigo.dc sin ellos esto no hubiera sido posible, gracias à todos/as los/as voluntarios @carolinarivera9470@yeraldingonzalez38@arymondragonmimms@neil@aliz@norma qué estuvieron presentes apoyando y disfrutando ❤️🔥
@isaiasgu@dianifula
Poder del Pueblo se enorgullece de traer a la Maestra Nidia Góngora, del Pacífico Colombiano a Washington DC. Concierto gratuito! Desde nuestra organización seguimos comprometidos con el intercambio cultural, la democratización de espacios culturales, la memoria histórica y la resistencia. La maestra compartirá sonidos de su primer álbum como solista, Pacífico Maravilla. Una propuesta que fusiona tradición y contemporaneidad, que canta al río, al manglar, al duelo, a la maternidad, a la sanación. Es un honor articular con @dchoco_24@la_pailadelanegra@maspaz@rsandy93@dianifula@isaiasgu@colombia_migrante@idachaverra
Poder del Pueblo is proud to bring the Maestra @nidiagongoramusic from the Pacific Coast of Colombia to Washington DC. Free show!! We continue our commitment to cultural exchanges, democratization of cultural spaces, historical memory and resistance. Nidia will share sounds of her debut album as a soloist called Pacifico Maravilla. An album that fuses traditional and modern sounds that sing to the river, the mangroves, grieving, maternity and healing. Thank you to our partners tagged above.
Scooby Doo shows are as special as they come, but this one felt particularly beautiful!! An honor seeing @seysew_music and @jose.luiz.martins band last night ❤️ shoutout @rsandy93 and the Scooby crew for putting on this incredible show!
Hopping on here to mainly say come to this show on slide 1… I’m so excited for it! But also, I wanted to extend a big thank you to everyone who has come to a Sandflower records event or show. It means the world to see you there! We are still making art and cooking good food and stuff. Love you all!
@taisha_estrada at Salonhouse produced by Whatsupdc and Sandflower records— a beautiful night of music with a set of unreleased songs on the horizon 🙏🔥
More music soon!
📸 @maya.s.bliss
