Go-Go Museum & Cafe

Can't Steal Our Joy Concert and Campaign Kick-Off
2025-08-18 17:30 - 22:00 (America/New_York) | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
Come join us for a night of music, fun, and empowerment as we kick off our campaign to spread joy and positivity!

Welcome to the Can’t Steal Our Joy Concert and Campaign Kick-Off Feat. Sirius Company Band! Join us at the Go-Go Museum & Cafe for a night of music, fun, and activism. Let’s come together to spread positivity and fight against injustice. This in-person event will be a celebration of resilience and unity. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to make a difference while enjoying great music and company. See you there!

BJ Simmons "Trapped In" Official Listening Party
2025-08-15 19:30 - 21:30 UTC | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
ALL AGES

Join us for BJ Simmons’ “Trapped In” Official Listening Party and get ready to vibe to his latest tracks all throughout the night! Doors at 6:30pm
BJ Simmons “Trapped In” Official Listening Party
Come join us at the Go-Go Museum & Cafe for an exclusive listening party for BJ Simmons’ latest album, “Trapped In.” Get a first listen to the tracks, meet fellow fans, and enjoy a night filled with good music and great vibes. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to immerse yourself in the sounds of BJ Simmons in person. See you there!

Go-Go Museum Takes Queens of Go-Go & All-Stars to Baltimores Jazzy Summer Nights
2025-08-07 17:00 - 19:00 UTC | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
Don’t miss all of the beltway love as DC and Baltimore celebrate Black August as the sister cities unite for a evening of elegance with a host of stars.
Feat: The Go-Go Museum All-Stars and Queens of Go-Go Live In Living Color @ Baltimore Hopkins Plaza
Click here to get tickets while they last
Click here to see Queens of Go-Go practice at the Go-G0 Museum
Click here to see “Jazzy Summer Nights” promo
GO-GO MUSEUM ALL-STARS and Queens of GO-GO HEADLINE JAZZY SUMMER NIGHTS
AUGUST 7 The Farewell Season Continues to Shine with Soul, Safety & Culture at Hopkins Plaza
Baltimore, MD – Jazzy Summer Nights (JSN) Season 25 continues on Thursday, Aug. 7 with a high-energy performance from the Queens of Go-Go, featuring the Go-Go Museum All-Stars, LIVE at Hopkins Plaza. Adding to the excitement are legendary special guests, Big G, Weensy (Backyard Band), and TRÉ– bringing even more star power to this unforgettable night uniting the beltway.
This special edition of the series celebrates the vibrant cultural exchange between DC and Baltimore—spotlighting the unmistakable sound and energy of Go-Go music. With deep roots in DC, and a growing influence across the region, Go-Go takes center stage at Hopkins Plaza. Hosted by “
Vibe Creator” April Watts, the evening promises an unforgettable celebration of rhythm, movement, and community—driven by the vision of LaRian Finney and Derrick Chase.
Now in its Farewell Season, JSN continues to draw thousands downtown each month, creating a positive ripple effect for Baltimore’s creative economy and reaffirming its role as a model for safe, inclusive, and community-centered cultural programming.
WHAT TO EXPECT
● Live music by the Go-Go Museum All-Stars – Powerhouse band repping the legendary DMV sound
● DJ sets by Farrah Flosscett and DJ Tanz
● Hosted by media personality April Watts
● Local food trucks, vendors, and sponsor activations
● A vibrant, safe and welcoming environment
EVENT DETAILS
Hopkins Plaza Downtown Baltimore Queens of Go-Go, feat. Go-Go Museum All-Stars
Thursday, Aug. 7 | Doors 5 p.m. | Show 7:15 p.m.
PROMO | Graphic + Photos
JSN is presented by The Finn Group (TFG) in partnership with Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, The City of Baltimore, and generous sponsors including Hennessy – Mana Supply, Sagamore Spirit, Corenic Construction, and Coke Consolidated.
With only TWO SHOWS LEFT in this historic farewell season, we invite media, partners, and the public to join us in celebrating 25 years of music, culture, connection, and legacy.
ABOUT JAZZY SUMMER NIGHTS:
Launched 25 years ago, Jazzy Summer Nights has become one of Baltimore’s signature cultural events — showcasing national talent, uplifting local artists, and creating a vibrant community space through soul, jazz, and Baltimore pride. Each First Thursday through October, Hopkins Plaza transforms into a lively outdoor festival with food trucks, local vendors, sponsor lounges, and unforgettable live performances.
Don’t miss this final season — Meet Us At Jazzy!
Media Contact: Ritza Yana | ritzayana@ryink.co

LEAD TALKERS – CALL & RESPONSE (Chuck Brown’s Birthday Month )
2025-08-03 08:00 - 2025-08-11 17:00 UTC | DC

Black Restaurant Week Finale
2025-07-29 17:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
Celebrate Black Restaurant Week at the Go-Go Museum!

Join us on Tuesday, July 29th for “The Black Restaurant Week Finale” at the Go-Go Museum & Café. Come enjoy street food and spirits from Chef Angie Rose. The event will feature performances by DJ QuikSilva, DJ Super Dan, and The Experience Band Show.

Date: July 29th, 2025
Time: 5:00 PM
Location: The Go-Go Museum & Café

Voices of Go-Go
2025-07-26 18:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
Join us at the Go-Go Museum for Conversation and Crank, as we uncover the buried stories of our music and culture.

Join us for an intimate panel discussion featuring authors who have documented, lived, and breathed the go-go music scene that defines Washington D.C.’s cultural identity.

Panelists:
Dr. Natalie Hopkinson
Charles Stephenson
Kato Hammond
Jill Greenleigh
Michelle Blackwell
Taimak “Teej” Dargan
Mailk Obi
Natarsha “Lil Boogie” Proctor

Date: July 26th, 2025
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: The Go-Go Museum & Café

Cumbia Meets Go-Go
2025-06-29 15:00 - 17:00 UTC | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
Learn about the connections between cumbia and go-go music!

On Sunday, June 29, Poder del Pubelo,The Go-Go Museum & Café, and the Afro Latino Institute will present “Cumbia Meets Go-Go.”
Join us for a panel exploring African roots and the connections between Colombian cumbia and Go-Go music from Washington D.C., We’ll feature musical samples from both groups and a jam session! FREE ADMISSION!
Acompáñanos a un panel que explorara las raíces africanas y la conexión entre la Cumbia colombiana y la música Go-Go de Washington D.C., Tendremos muestras musicales de ambos grupos y una sesión musical improvisada. ENTRADA GRATUITA!!!

Date: June 29, 2025
Time: 3:00 PM
Location: The Go-Go Museum & Café

Go-Go Museum Mid-Day Concert Series Kick-Off
2025-06-25 11:30 - 13:30 UTC | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
Government workers enjoy your lunch break with us!

Come join us as we kick off our Mid-Day Concert Series with The Experience Band.

Patronize any Anacostia business or restuarant and gain access.
20% off all Go-Go Museum merchandise.
Go-Go Museum Chef Angie Rose will be on the grill!
Due to a heat advisory, the concert will take place inside the museum.

Juneteenth Jubilee: Freedom & Unity Walk
2025-06-19 10:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | 1201 M Street Southeast, 1201 M St SE, Washington, DC, 20003, United States
Walk for freedom and stay for the joy in historic Anacostia on Juneteenth.

🖤❤️💚 JUNETEENTH JUBILEE 💚❤️🖤
Freedom & Unity Walk📍 Anacostia, DC | 📅 June 19, 2025 | 10:00 AM
On Wednesday, June 19, 2025, the Anacostia Renaissance Kollective, a coalition of artists, business owners, healers, and visionaries, invites the public to join the Juneteenth Jubilee: Freedom & Unity Walk—a daylong celebration rooted in liberation, cultural pride, and the power of community.
The event begins at 10:00 AM when we gather at 1201 M Street, SE to complete a powerful Freedom Walk across the 11th Street Bridge also known as Freedom’s Crossing—a symbolic reenactment of enslaved people crossing the Anacostia River into freedom in 1852.
The day continues with local business activations, conversations, discounts, and healing stations along MLK Jr. Avenue & Marion Barry Avenue SE, from 12:00 to 5:00 PM.
📍 Walk Starts from 1201 M. St. SE
🕥 10:00 AM – Gathering at 1201 M. St. SE (Maritime Plaza)
🚶🏾 11:00 AM – Freedom Walk over the 11th Street Bridge
🎉 12:00–5:00 PM – Panels, vendors, healing spaces, music & more
For more information, partnership opportunities, or to volunteer, visit www.anacostiarennaissancekollective.com and follow @anacostiaARK on Instagram.
Transportation will be provided from The Go-Go Museum to the starting point from 9:45 AM to 10:45 AM. The bus will bring you back to the starting point at the end of the day as well. Parking available near 1201 M. Street and throughout Anacostia.

Don't Mute DC 6 Year Anniversary Celebration
2025-04-10 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
Come celebrate 6 years of Dont Mute DC with us at our in-person anniversary celebration!

Dont Mute DC 6 Year Anniversary Celebration
Come celebrate with us at the Go-Go Museum & Cafe for Dont Mute DC’s 6th anniversary! Join us for an evening filled with live music, dance, community, reflection on victories of the past, and uniting our community as we continue to embrace future victories for natives and those who love the culture and spirit of our city.
Live performances include the Experience Band and Show featuring Travis the Trombone King and J’TA Freeman along with surprise guests. The conversation reflects on DMDC victories which include successfully keeping UMC Hospital open months before COVID shut the world down.
Let’s honor the vibrant culture and DC activists together. Don’t miss out on this special event that pays homage to the grassroots and our superpower of Go-Go. See you there!

Not In Vain Conversation
2025-04-04 18:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
✊🏾 NOT IN VAIN: LEARNING FROM DR. KING ✊🏾
On April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, but his fight for justice—especially economic justice and the rights of the poor and working class—lives on. Dr. King believed that true freedom required more than civil rights; it demanded economic empowerment, fair wages, and collective action to dismantle poverty and inequality.
Join us for a powerful evening of conversation, culture, and community as we explore how tech, media, finance, and organizing can drive liberation and build the just future Dr. King envisioned.
🔥 Beyond the Dream: A Panel Discussion
🎶 Live Music & LIVE GO-GO BAND
🍹 Delicious Food & Cocktails
🗓 Friday, April 4th
⏰ 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Doors open at 5:45PM)
📍 Go-Go Museum & Cafe
19020 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave SE, Washington, DC 20020
Dr. King’s final campaign—the Poor People’s Campaign—was a call to unite the working class, demand economic justice, and reclaim our worth. His fight was not in vain. Let’s continue the movement.
#NotInVain #BeyondTheDream #MLKLegacy #EconomicJustice #ReclaimingOurWorth #GoGoMuseum

First Ladies of Go-Go Series Celebrating Woman's History Month
2025-03-27 18:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
First Ladies of Go-Go Series At The Go-Go Museum and Cafe Celebrating Woman’s History Month

6-9 pm Thurs. Mar. 27.
In honor of Women’s History Month, the Go-Go Museum has assembled powerhouse group of women musicians to reprise the First Ladies of Go-Go series:
TWINK LITTLE on drums
KISHA KAOS on congas
MAKENZEE ADAMS on keyboards
TIFFANY LLOYD on bass
GABRIELLE HIGHTS on guitar and vocals
On lead vocals: SONGBIRD KIMISE, ELLE MARCHELLE & J’TA
Also join us for a conversation facilitated by healer, artist and curator MELANI DOUGLASS
Food by: Go-Go Museum Cafe Chef Angela Bethea

Salsa to Go-Go
2025-02-28 18:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
Explore the history of Go-Go, the rhythm born in Washington DC, and its intersection with Afro, Afro-Latin and African American culture.

Experience the fusion of cultures through music.
Explore the history of Go-Go, the rhythm born in Washington DC, and its intersection with Afro, Afro-Latin and African American culture in an immersive tour filled with music, history and community at the Go-Go Museum & Café . Join us on Friday, February 28, for this special event from the Go-Go Museum & Café and the DC Mayor’s Office on Latino Affairs.
Come celebrate the richness of our stories and the power of music to bring us together! …SALSA TO GO-GO!
Date: February 28, 2025
Time: 6:00 p.m.
Location: The Go-Go Museum & Café

Hail to the Anacostans
2025-02-22 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Go-Go Museum & Café, 1920 Martin Luther King Jr Ave SE Washington, DC 20020, Washington, DC, United States
Conversation & Crank in honor of the First People to inhabit the land and river where the Go-Go Museum stands.

Our distinguished guests help us honor the first people to inhabit the land and river where the Go-Go Museum & Café stands. We explore ways to strengthen Black and Native American connections and combat cultural erasure. ​
Among the key digital artifacts in the Go-Go Museum & Café is the 2018 video for the “Ghosts of Anacostia,” by Crank LuKongo, the DC band of many genres including go-go, and vocals by Matt SwampGuinee and Sebi Medina-Tayac, a member of the Piscataway Indian Nation. The artists described the work as a “compelling song-story of 17th and 21st century displacement of the Indigenous American Indian and the Native African Americans residing East of the River, Washington, DC.”
Seven years since the song debuted, trending topics are, again, historic erasure, displacement and Washington football logos. More people are incorporating Native Land Acknowledgments and supporting initiatives such as renaming Maryland’s Indian Head Highway. ​
This Conversation & Crank series takes place during the museum’s Grand Opening Week celebration in collaboration with the Traditional Arts DC Project/National Folklife Network. ​
Conversation Moderator: Phillip Kulubya ​
Crank by DJ Supa Dan
Curator: Dr. Natalie Hopkinson​
​
Panelists:
Jessi Swann, member of the Piscataway-Conoy Tribe​
Camila Bryce-Laporte, author of “Black in Piscataway Land” ​
Jay Winter Knightwolf, host of “The American Indian Truth: The Most Dangerous Show on Radio” on WOL ​
Armand Lione, Ph.D., author of Native American History of Washington, D.C.
Watch the livestream on our YouTube channel!
Livestream Link – https://youtube.com/live/4y-Qj3JWT8s?feature=share
