Hutch's dirty little secret...he buys A LOT of used vinyl/CD/wax cylinders ...who is really getting paid there...certainly not the artist
and yes in the last few years back in DC I really have had an inferior music set up...I have only myself to blame for that.\
Oh it was mentioned, but Ursula 1000 was awesome, their vinyl was in heavy rotation on my tables about a decade ago
Hipster is objectively a slur...not sure why that is even a question
Seriously, show me one example of it used in a positive light?
I can't speak for Baltimore, but DC's local music scene really has been lacking for almost 30 years
and ESL was one of the few examples of a DC label/Act that was doing anything substantial on a national/international level.
I think there is a level of an artist that plays at a venue like 930 or Black Cat in other cites and I can't imagine many acts from DC that could go to SF and sell out the Fillmore
I agree there are probably hundreds of small acts that you could probably list that might fill the red room
But can't think of one act in the last 30 years that could sell out a medium sized label in a city 500 miles from here
ESL was past it's prime, but they certainly had a prime. People were listening and buying their stuff