Smithsonian Folklife Festival to honor D.C.’s Chuck Brown

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. will be giving a daylong tribute to Chuck Brown, the “godfather of go-go” music, on the National Mall between 7th and 14th streets. Saturday has been designated by organizers as “Chuck Brown Tribute Day” at the festival’s program celebrating the arts and culture of black neighborhoods in the nation’s capital. The tributes will run from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Tributes to Brown include musical performances, an hour-long fitness workout to the sounds of go-go music, and storytelling on the history of go-go and Brown’s musical career. The bands set to perform are Cold Hearted Band, No Question Band, and Junkyard Band. Brown died in May 16 in Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Hospital of multiple organ failure.

The festival is free and runs through Sunday.