Go-Go music ban imposed on MetroPCS store draws protest and petitions

Video-Go-go performed outside the MetroPCS store(K Michelle)

Update April 9:Go-go music is back on the speaker outside Metro PCS, folks at the scene report victory

On the 7th of April resident of the new Shaw luxury building known as The Shay threatened MetroPCS at 7th and Fl Ave with a lawsuit for playing Go-go music. T-Mobile also reportedly ordered them to stop playing the music, probably in response to the same complain from the same "New Washingtonian." On the 8th of April, supporters of Go-Go music held a protest at the MetroPCS store demanding they be allowed to turn the music back on.

Ron Moten has now gotten into this, gathering thousands of signatures on a change.org petition to bring back the go-go music that has been a cultural marker at 7th and Fl since the days when they were selling beepers.

Some on Twitter have called for Howard University students and local (non-New Washingtonian) residents to bring their own sound systems and instruments for live performance, and bring go-go back to 7th and Fl no matter what T-Mobile and the yuppies in the Shay have to say. They can't sue T-Mobile nor sue subsidiary MetroPCS for what neighborhood residents are doing, and it is never wise for those who live in glass condos to throw stones at those who lived in the neighborhood before they and their luxury shit arrived.

Some of those stones may already be rebounding back at the Shay: other Twitter posters are calling for a boycott of every single retail establishment located inside the Shay. If this grows legs, the Shay could lose milliions of dollars. The Shay is whining that they have nothing to do with the crusade against go-go music and that it is all the work of one of ther residents. Of course, had the Shay not been built, that "New Washingtonian" probably would live too far away from 7th and Fl to care and with luck might not be in DC at all. The Shay's management probably should look into getting rid of this resident who brings the anger of the whole community down on themselves.

All of this comes on the heels of the DC government shutting down clubs that dare to play go-go music, trying to criminalize go-go performers and ban busking (street musical performance) entirely.