ON THE BEAT

TAKING SHELTER WITH A SONG

That '60s-style activism can still have resonance in the '80s should be borne out by a concert Sunday night and a march Monday morning. On Sunday, the Bayou will host the D.C. Homeless Musicfest, a benefit for the Cityscape Theatre Project. CTP is a partnership of the local performing arts community and the homeless created by Carol Fennelly of the Community for Creative Non-Violence. The goal is to raise funds to renovate an auditorium adjoining the new CCNV model shelter; eventually, that theater will be the base for arts workshops for the homeless (with a special emphasis on helping homeless children) as well as a free staging area for local artists, who will act as tutors and teachers. The goals are to raise $1 million and open the theater in early 1990. Five dance bands -- the Deanna Bogart Band, the Daryl Davis Band, David Rose, Doc Scantlin's Imperial Palms Orchestra and Sassparilla -- will perform and there will be a special appearance at 7:15 by Voices From the Street, the acclaimed homeless performing group.

On Monday, CCNV is sponsoring a march from the Capital City Inn (a welfare motel) to the east side of the Capitol. It's part of the ongoing Housing Now! protests and among the speakers are Casey Kasem, Dr. Bob Stock and rapper KRS-One of Boogie Down Productions, who was living in a New York shelter just two years ago. There will also be several surprise celebrity speakers. The marchers will leave the Capital City Inn at 10 a.m. and are scheduled to arrive at the Capitol around noon. Giving Rap a Better Rep

Incidentally, KRS-One (Kris Parker) is one of a number of rappers involved in the Stop the Violence Movement (STV), a new coalition of rappers and music industry figures responding to violent acts at recent rap concerts in New York. STV was organized to counter the media's quick exploitation of "rap violence" and urban youth culture, pointing out that questions of inadequate security, as well as the more important issues of rap's cultural, political and sociological values, are seldom addressed, particularly rap's antidrug, antigang and proeducation messages.

STV -- which along with KRS-One (whose partner Scott LaRock was murdered last year) includes Kool Moe Dee, Public Enemy, MC Lyte, Big Daddy Kane, Ice-T and Stetsasonic (which appears at the 9:30 club tomorrow night) -- is about to record a 12-inch single and video, "Stop the Violence"; the record will include a lyric sheet and a booklet of questions to stimulate classroom discussion of the record and its theme of black-on-black violence. There will also be contests with giveaways of books and rhyming dictionaries. The object, STV says, is threefold: to point out the causes and social costs of black-on-black violence, to raise funds for the National Urban League's campaign against illiteracy and crime in the inner city and, finally, to show that rap can be an important tool to stimulate reading and writing skills of inner-city youth. Political Party Animal

Tim Eyermann will probably have to wait until next Wednesday to decide just how high on his re'sume' to place one of his summer jobs: He and his band, the East Coast Offering, were the official jazz group to the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, performing three concerts and an equal number of cocktail parties. Not that Eyermann's partial to one party or the other -- he's already performed at one Democratic inaugural (1977) and one Republican (1981). Tonight, though, Eyermann and his band will be playing at Blues Alley for the first time in six years and, while they're there, recording a live album as well, with Omega Studios doing a digital recording. This is the 14th year for the East Coast Offering, which Eyermann started as an analogue to Tom Scott's L.A. Express. Like Scott, Eyermann is a versatile multi-instrumentalist (alto, soprano, and tenor sax, flute, piccolo, clarinet and oboe) exploring contemporary jazz fusion. His current band includes Dan Reynolds on keyboards, Bill Foster on bass, and George Suranavich and Andy Hamburger on drums. Wavy Gravy's Comedy Groove

Good ole Wavy Gravy's new comedy record is called "The '80s Are the '60s Twenty Years Later: Old Feathers, New Bird," and the counterculture figure will try to show that not only his math skills are sharp at the Roxy's "Nobody for President" party on Monday. That happens to be the name of one of the cuts on the album; others include "Green Acid at Woodstock," "United States of Chicago," "Livermore or Less" and "Bubbles for Buddha." Joining Wavy Gravy (Hugh Romney) are the Vicious Hippies and the Jello Boys. On Tuesday, d.c. space will hold a Post Election Blues Celebration, a night of free poetry, storytelling and music by Carolyn Ely, Zack, Thomas Squip & Foodhead, Esmeralda, Fabulous Ace Kilgore, Malcolm Riviera and others.

And on Wednesday: Joey Ramone will host the "Cream of the New York Scene" at the Bayou. Ramone has been doing similar duty in the Big Apple, but this marks the first time he's taken his acts on the road (he'll emcee, deejay and then join in for the finale). The bands on display: Stotts (featuring former Plasmatics guitarist Richie Stotts), Raging Slab and Cycle Sluts From Hell.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.