Tarra Thiessen and Natalie Kirch of Sharkmuffin (Photo courtesy Girlie Action)
Along the 2500 block of Pennsylvania Ave. NW, several restaurants and bars catering to the local George Washington University crowd dot the street. On the north side, a New Orleans-themed place called the Bayou offers food and live music.
But to the left of the Bayou, you can open a door and walk into a residential building that seems a bit out of place for the upscale surroundings. It’s not exactly a tenement, and it’s not that you would feel unsafe there at all, but it’s odd.
I strode into the creaky building Monday night, walking past young adults eating edamame and drinking PBR along several flights of steps in order to climb to the top of the building for a visit to Above the Bayou, an apartment that has become a firm part of the DC DIY scene hosting “house concerts.” That night, the bill included DC bands Rom and Cool People and New York City bands Lost Boy ? and Sharkmuffin. I came specifically to see Sharkmuffin, a girl punk-inspired duo with some great surf guitar.