Technology has changed the way we perceive music so much in the last twenty years, that the music world is a place barely recognizable to those who were actively involved in making, playing and consuming music during the 1980's and early 1990's. It's an age overrun with various methods of digital promotion; we are encouraged to have short attention spans, brand new gadgets and deep, deep pockets to support bands that go from Myspace directly to arena tours with barely an LP's worth of material and having never slept on a floor or cut a demo tape. Music's trajectory has literally made history a thing of the past; although the reissue market is enormous, ask a modern-day band of teenage punks who Black Flag was and you will often be surprised by the response. Thanks to a company called Yellow Arrow, youngsters, or oldsters, can receive a guided tour through landmarks of the Washington DC punk scene via text messages to their phone. The Capitol Of punk Tour is an interactive trip through the city's harDCore history designed for people who may not be familiar with bands like Bad Brains, S.O.A. or Iron Cross or venues like the Wilson Center or DC Space. The curious can download a map of the tour here to see what punk landmarks are included. Simply send a text message with the name of the landmark you are interested in, and you will receive a response with directions leading you there as well as facts about every one of the ten spots on the tour. It could not be easier to get in touch with the town's musical roots and see where it all started. As project director Christopher Allen recently told the Washington Post, DC's punk background is largely ignored even though it makes up a large part of the city's cultural history. "When you're there, it's hard to believe. There's no marking. There's no way to see that history. It's invisible." The same could be said for contemporary bands who were indirectly influenced by a world of artists that came before them; the history is there but there is little acknowledgement of it. I'd like to see motivated people in other maor American cities pick up the cultural slack of their town and develop similar tours. It doesn't have to be punk, but any kind of musical history presented in a convenient and inexpensive (read: free) way is invaluable in an age when there is little incentive to explore the past. (Written by: B_Werner)