D.C. Music History in a Handy Size

In the '60s, Mike Schreibman, longtime president and executive director of the Washington Area Music Association, operated New Era Concerts and drafted some of the area's finest artists to create his concert posters. Many artists were connected to Lou Stovall's printmaking studio, Workshop. Stovall, of course, went on to become one of Washington's best-known artists while also gaining international renown as a master printmaker.

Now, Vintage New Era has produced a set of 5-by-7 notecards featuring unique artwork from those posters, 12 cards and envelopes to a package. Each contains four designs, three by Stovall (including a classic 1969 Who concert at Georgetown University and the 1976 Emmylou Harris concert that marked the reopening of the Warner Theater). This is the first of what Schreibman hopes will become a series of retrospective sets.

At www.vintagenewera.com, you can also find vintage New Era posters, as well as a new set of notecards honoring WAMA Hall of Famer Eva Cassidy. The notecards feature black-and-white photos of Cassidy by Adam Traum and Maria Villafana, taken while Cassidy performed for WAMA in 1994, two years before she died and long before she became a best-selling artist here and in England. The set, which sells for $15 for a box of 12 cards, is available at the Music Center at Strathmore gift shop in North Bethesda, the House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park and Orpheus Records in Clarendon; or by check from Vintage New Era, 6263 Occoquan Forest Dr., Manassas, Va. 20112; or by calling 703-368-3300.

Schreibman and Shelley Brown, Strathmore's vice president of programming, are co-producers of "The Washington Area Music Timeline Concert Series: Volume I," a 17-track CD drawn from 64 concerts at the Mansion at Strathmore leading up to last February's opening of the Music Center. The concerts featured local artists celebrating music legends, rising stars and key moments in Washington music history, from John Philip Sousa and Duke Ellington to Bo Diddley, Marvin Gaye and Roberta Flack to Root Boy Slim. It's available at the Strathmore gift shop and online at www.wamadc.com.

  2005 The Washington Post Company