Happy 225th Birthday, Georgetown University

February 20, 2014

Today, Georgetown University celebrates 225 years since its founding in 1789.

The university has a long Catholic and Jesuit history, dating back to its founder John Carroll, who was the first Catholic bishop in the United States. Carroll started the intuition as a boys’ college on 60 acres overlooking the village of Georgetown.

The college’s colors, blue and gray, were selected by the students as a celebration of the end of the Civil War which nearly closed the college due to students leaving for military service on both sides. Blue symbolizes the Union; gray, the Confederacy.

Since then, the college has expanded to a major university with a student body of more than 17,000 and a 104-acre main campus. Georgetown University has educated many prominent figures from famous actors, sports players and many high-ranking government officials. A few well known alumni include former Secretary of Defense and CIA Director Robert Gates, Associate Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and former President Bill Clinton.

On the Georgetown University website today, there is an article in celebration of the university’s 225 years with quotes from senators and representatives who recognize the institution. Among them is Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., the longest serving member of Congress, who graduated from the College in 1949 and the Law Center in 1952.

“… This institution, which I am proud to call my alma mater, is a university that has remained true to its founding principles while evolving to reflect the changes that have taken place in this nation and, indeed, internationally . . . Having begun my own studies at Georgetown nearly six decades ago and maintaining ongoing contact with the university since that time, I can attest to the university’s commitment to addressing the challenges faced by our society and its consistent focus on developing students who are ready to contribute to future prosperity and positive civic leadership.”
Many people from all different graduating years have been participating in wishing the university a happy birthday with photos as well as a birthday message on the Tumblr website or photos on Instagram. People are encouraged to go to the site themselves and share their own message using the hashtag #GU225 to be a part of the celebration.

Also today, local hangout, the Tombs, is celebrating the birthday with $2.25 Tombs Ale mugs and $2.25 Tombs brownies all day. After all, its sister restaurant is called 1789 after Georgetown’s founding year.

Weekend Roundup February 13, 2014

February 18, 2014

Neptune Fine Art: Valentine’s Day Auction Kick-off

February 14th, 2014 at 05:00 PM | Tel: 202-338-0353 | Event Website

Neptune Fine Art and Robert Brown Gallery are excited to host an exhibition and silent auction with a Valentine’s Day kick-off opening reception on Friday, February 14 from 5 to 7 p.m. This special event will feature over 40 prints, drawings and Chinese antiques with opening bids starting at $250.

Address

Neptune Fine Art 1662 33rd St. NW

Robert Brown Gallery 1662 33rd St. NW

Shear Madness

February 14th, 2014 at 08:00 PM | $50.00 | info@shearmadness.com | Tel: 202.467.4600 | Event Website

Shear Madness, the wildly popular comedy whodunit, keeps the audience laughing as they try to outwit the suspects and catch the killer. New clues and up to the minute improvisation deliver a different show every night.
It’s a day like any other at the Shear Madness salon, when the lady upstairs gets knocked off. WHOdunit? Join the fun as the audience matches wits with the suspects to catch the killer at this wildly popular comedy whodunit.

Address

2700 F St NW, Washington, DC 20566

Presidents Day Beer Fest

February 14th, 2014 at 06:00 PM | $40 ($50 at the door) | Jared.Lewis@thetasteofdc.org | Tel: 202-618-3663 | Event Website

Presidents Day weekend, Drink the District will celebrate, by recognizing the accomplishments of young professionals all over DC in a fun & festive environment.

Attendees will receive:

• An opportunity to mingle with other young professionals and leaders in a fun and festive environment.

• Unlimited tasting of over 50+ beers

• Unlimited full pours of 2 select beers (14oz)

• Experience some of DC’s best food trucks

Pre-sale tickets are $40 ($50 at the door)

Address

Dock 5 @ Union Market; 1309 5th St, SE;

Annual Stoplight Stupid Cupid Party

February 14th, 2014 at 10:00 PM | Tel: (202) 403-4343 | Event Website

Night Life Agency will be hosting its Annual Stupid Cupid “Traffic Light” Party at D.C.’s hottest new spot – Catch 15

Admission is free for the first 100 guests from 11 p.m. to midnight and includes a complimentary glow band to represent your status of single or taken. If you’re feeling really frisky, you may want to take advantage of the one-hour open bar from 10:00pm to 11:00pm, where single admission tickets will be $15 and couple admission tickets will be $20.

Address

Catch-15; 1518 K St NW

Valetine’s Pop-Up Dinner at Open Kitchen

February 14th, 2014 at 06:00 PM | $60-95/person | holly.camalier@openkitchen-dcmetro.com | Tel: 703-942-8148 | Event Website

Bring your sweetheart to our Pop-Up dinner for Valentine’s Day. We are featuring a 4-course dinner for only $60/person or with a 4-course wine pairing for only $95/person.

Address

7115 Leesburg Pike #107; Falls Church, VA 22043

Vintage Valentine: An Evening with the Washingtons

February 15th, 2014 at 05:00 PM | $15-25 | info@tudorplace.org | Tel: 2029650400 | Event Website

Celebrate our country’s first presidential couple at Tudor Place, whose collections include the largest assemblage of Washington artifacts outside Mt. Vernon. For this special evening program only, George Washington’s 1775 letter to Martha Washington will be on display to the public. After touring, visitors enjoy some of the Washington’s favorite drinks, savories, and sweets in Tudor Place’s enchanting Conservatory.

21+ only please

Address

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden; 1644 31st St NW

SCUBA SOIREE

February 15th, 2014 at 07:00 PM | Free | heather@hautehausagency.com | Tel: (240) 292-9492 | Event Website

Join SPE Dive School as we celebrate our Web site re-launch and thank our past clients with this exclusive networking event! All attendees will get treated to free champagne and small bites from 7 – 7:30 p.m.! Get your chance to win a $150 gift certificate OR a brand new wet suit! Local health and sport bloggers, media, and divers (new and old) will all be in attendance–dive in to this event!

Address

The Huxley, 1730 M Street NW

Living the Dream…Singing the Dream

February 16th, 2014 at 07:00 PM | choralarts@choralarts.org | Tel: 202-244-3669 | Event Website

The Choral Arts Chorus and the WPAS Men, Women, and Children of the Gospel Choirs join together singing music that has given voice to humanitarian causes over the years. Experience this joyful celebration that energizes and uplifts audiences; lift your hands in praise, clap your hands, stomp your feet, and sing along.

Purchase tickets:

Choral Arts – 202.244.3669 | choralarts.org

Kennedy Center – 202.467.4600 | kennedy-center.org

Address

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts; 2700 F Street NW

Stars of Their Times: Shirley Temple, Sid Caesar


We lost two American originals this week—unique unto themselves, if different from each other.

Both Shirley Temple Black, who died at 86, and Sid Caesar, who died at 91, had worldwide appeal in terms of their gifts, but their success stories were palatably and uniquely American in tone, style and appearance. Their talents—Temple as a uniquely inspiring American orphan movie star princess during the Depression; Caesar as a comic genius who raised and invented comedy television standards with unforgettable, impossible-to-match sketching and kvetching—needed no translating anywhere in the world.

Their lives were a part of uniquely American entertainment, show biz and cultural lore.

Here was Temple, in an age when child stars, child actors and actress and performers in Hollywood were a common staple of every studio, as common as cowboys in B movies. They had roles in the rosters of almost every studio movie, except maybe a Mae West starrer. Here’s where you found the entire cast of “Our Gang,” and Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland and little Freddie Bartholemew, and the very young Roddy McDowell, and Deanna Durbin and later Margaret O’Brien, feisty as a war bond. In that company, no child star caused more national ripples, had more of a calming effects on American spirits struggling through the Depression than Temple. There was, it’s true, Little Orphan Annie, but she was, until she hit Broadway decades later, only a comic strip character.

Temple could sing, tap dance and dance regularly. She could charm. She could embody fairy tales and kid lit roles, and her curly hair was a signature do sported by little girls all over the country. But her spirit, that was pure Shirley Temple. Even President Franklin Roosevelt considered her a national treasure and said, “Thank God we have Shirley Temple.” After a series of educational firm, she was signed up by 20th Century Fox and broke through in 1934 at the age of six with “Stand Up and Cheer,” which was followed that year by “Little Miss Marker.” In the darkest days of the Depression, she was making $1,200 a week, with $150 for her mom as hairdresser and coach. In December of that same year, she starred in “Bright Eyes,” which featured her signature song “The Good Ship Lollipop”.

Child stars are commodities that last only as long as childhood. Temple had quite the run through pretty much most of the 1930s with such films as “The Little Colonel,” “Wee Willie Winkle,” “Curly Top,” “Heidi” and others. She was inspiring and also made several films in which she tap-danced with Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. They were technically the first inter-racial couple on screen: he, the 57-year-old tap legend; she the six-year-old child star and America’s hope.

Her studio would not loan her out for the starring role of Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz,” which made a true star and legend out of Judy Garland.

Child stars grow up—just ask Garland. At age 17, Temple, dark-haired and fetching, married budding film star and war veteran John Agar, with whom she starred as loved interests in John Ford’s classic “Fort Apache”, which starred John Wayne and Henry Fonda. She played Fonda’s daughter, the wonderfully named Philadelphia Thursday.

Eventually, even though she worked in television and other films, Temple began a kind of second life as the much beloved wife of Charles Alden Black, a U.S. naval intelligence officer and winner of the Silver Star whom she married in 1950. They were married for 54 years until Black’s death in 2005.

She would go on to run unsuccessfully for Congress, became an ambassador—to Ghana and Czechoslovakia—and a representative to the United Nations. Living a life filled with class, honor and respect, she was a grown up and remarkable woman. Her childhood stardom was never forgotten and merged with the life of the woman.

Sid Caesar was the son of immigrants from Poland and Czarist Russia who picked up the various languages spoken around the luncheonette, run by his parents when he worked as waiter there in New York.

You could hear those same inflections, being turned into magically and riotously funny schticks on his most enduring work and fame on “Your Show of Shows” on NBC and his own show in the early days of black-and-white television.

For people who got their first television sets in the 1950s, Caesar was a laugh-inducing fixture in their childhoods. For aspiring writers and comics, his shows were inspiring, manic and rough training grounds. Imogene Coca, Howie Morris and Carl Reiner were his foils and co-stars in most of his sketch comedy, and the likes of Larry Gelbart (“Mash”), Reiner, Woody Allen and Mel Brooks cut their verbal and comedy teeth as writers on the show in an atmosphere that resembled a tornado—an intrinsic part of the insanity of live television. You could see some of it at work in the coming-of-age movie “My Favorite Year,” in which Peter O’Toole played an Errol Flynn-like movie star guest on the show, fully in panic mode after discovering he was performing live.

Caesar’s comedy was fueled by insecurity. Fame did not suit him, and failure and decline suited him even less. But the ensemble on “Your Show of Shows” produced remarkable takes on silent movies, politics, daily life, the world out there at large, much of it filled with foreign accents, roiling into sublime gibberish.

Check out “The German General” on You Tube—it’s a lovely, laugh out loud bit complete with surprise ending that would have honored the best of silent and sound comic actors. Carl Reiner said, “His ability to double talk in every language known to man was impeccable.”

Caesar went into movies—“It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World” and less successfully, “Grease.” He went into a decline in the 1970s and 1980s, battling drug use and alcoholism, but rebounding almost on sheer will power.

When Jonathan Winters received the second Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center, Caesar was among those on the stage and did one of his hallmark sketches, involving accents, disappearing into a part, timing of the most exquisite sort.

On the stage that night he was a pure original, something not lightly said, given that Winters was there, too.

Hail Caesar. [gallery ids="101639,145997,145994" nav="thumbs"]

D.C. Digs Out of Biggest Snow Storm in Years


The Washington, D.C., area was hit with a winter storm that dropped heavy amounts of snow in the early hours of Feb. 13 and shut down the region.

Between six and 11 inches fell throughout the District; parts of Maryland and Virginia got as much as 18 inches.

More snow was expected the evening of Feb. 13.

A “Snow Emergency” was declared by Mayor Vincent Gray, 6:30 p.m., Feb. 12. The last such emergency for D.C. was called in 2010.

The federal government, the District government and other local jurisdictions shut down for the day. Even Metrobus service was suspended, but it was expected to resume for some main routes around 2 p.m. today. Dulles International Airport and Reagan National Airport were closed Thursday morning — with flights cancelled across much of the East Coast.

For Georgetown, almost all businesses were closed. Those that opened on Thursday included several restaurants, such as Peacock Cafe, Cafe Milano, Martin’s Tavern, Clyde’s, El Centro and Cafe Bonaparte.

Also, open “as a community service,” said proprietor Sean Clark, was Dixie Liquors at Key Bridge and M Street. Among those manning the snow shift was Carlos Arredondo, who works at the U.S. Senate and whose office was closed. He walked from the Farragut North Metro to the store to help for the day. [gallery ids="101635,146052,146056,146061,146065,146069,146071" nav="thumbs"]

J. Paul’s Founder Paul Cohn Bids Farewell to His Restaurant Group

February 17, 2014

Paul Cohn, who started J. Paul’s Dining Saloon at M Street in 1983, is departing Capital Restaurant Concepts, a company he co-founded with Bechara Nammour in 1984 that grew to include J. Paul’s, Paolo’s, Neyla, Old Glory and Georgia Brown’s as well as the since-closed River Club and Club Zei. The group also runs the Paul Bakeries in D.C.

Friends, fellow workers, politicians and food industry lobbyists held a surprise farewell party Dec. 30 on Cohn’s next-to-last day as senior executive officer of Capital Restaurant Concepts at — what else? — the back room of J. Paul’s.

Cohn, originally from Baltimore, started out as a manager for singers Peaches and Herb in the 1970s. With his restaurants in Georgetown and downtown D.C., he became influential in local politics as well as instrumental in establishing the Georgetown Business Improvement District and other business and non-profit initiatives.

There were some toasts and a little bit of ribbing from admirers. “Paul put the ‘Paul’ in J. Paul’s and the ‘Paul’ in Paolo’s,” said Leonard Hellebuyck, area director for Capital Restaurant Concepts. “And the ‘old’ in Old Glory.”

Longtime friend and former D.C. council member Charlene Drew Jarvis spoke of how Cohn is a friend for forever and how she would probably see him more in this new chapter of his life. One realizes, Jarvis said, “There’s a whole other life after what you’ve been doing.”

Advisory neighborhood commissioner Bill Starrels, who worked with Cohn on liquor license agreements and the community, joked that during their discussions Cohn could be “more nuanced than Bill Clinton.” Commissioner Ed Solomon cited Cohn as “critical to the BID” and “a voice of reason.”

As for Cohn, he is not quite retiring. He wants to devote his time to creating another new restaurant — and to working on Cohn’s Kitchen, a non-profit that teaches underprivileged students culinary skills.

“I know what I’m leaving behind,” Cohn said. “I want to do it again.”

Cohn has started a new company called — close enough? — Creative Restaurant Concepts, which will launch a new restaurant, Boss Shepherd’s, in the Warner Theater building at 13th Street, NW, and Pennsylvania Avenue in April 2014. Alexander Robey Shepherd was the governor of the District of Columbia in 1873 and is widely seen as the father of modern Washington, D.C.

Cohn will remain with his former company as an advisor and on the board of the Georgetown BID. [gallery ids="101584,147541,147523,147540,147536,147528,147532" nav="thumbs"]

Expect No Roses for Valentine’s Day from Locally Sourced Florist

February 10, 2014

Next week, buy your Valentine flowers that are even more green — from D.C.’s only 100-percent locally sourced florist. Just don’t ask for roses.

“Little Acre Flowers offers an experience you can’t get anywhere else in DC.,” says founder Tobie Whitman. “All bouquets and arrangements are sourced from farms in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area.” Whitman’s company bringing the ever popular “farm to fork” experience from the garden to the vase now.

Every order is unique to whatever is the freshest that day to guarantee a more fragrant arrangement than other commercial offering, the company assures. Little Acre Flowers offers flowers in bouquets wrapped in reused burlap from Mayorga coffee or reusable glass vases in a variety of sizes and price points.

One can expect to see tulips, hyacinths, lilies, quince, cherry blossoms and dusty miller in the Valentine’s Day arrangements. All arrangements are one of a kind. But don’t expect to see any roses in Valentine’s Day arrangements; they do not grow locally this time of year. Arrangements can feature a lot of the branch florals like cherry blossoms that tend to be heartier and are in season in the area.

Little Acre Flowers is at 2645 Connecticut Ave., NW. Check its website to learn more about the company, see the zip codes of its delivery zone and view the Valentine’s Day arrangements: [www.littleacreflowers.com](http://www.littleacreflowers.com/). Personal notes can be added to arrangements that are written on recycled paper card with soy-based ink.

Weekend Roundup February 6, 2014


Georgetown Arts 2014 Opening Reception

February 6th, 2014 at 06:00 PM | Free | latiscornia@gmail.com | Tel: 202-337-7313 | Event Website

GEORGETOWN ARTS 2014, the 5th annual art show of the Citizens Association of Georgetown, will showcase artwork by local Georgetown residents and artists who have studios in Georgetown. Media will include oil and watercolor paintings, prints, sculpture and photography. All art will be suitable for viewing by adults and families with children.

Address

House of Sweden; 2900 K Street NW

Tosin CD Release Party at Strathmore

February 7th, 2014 at 08:30 PM | $20 | tosinbeatsbooking@gmail.com | Tel: (301) 581-5100 | Event Website

This Nigerian-born vocalist, drummer, and composer has been making music in the D.C. area for 12 years, lending his musical gift to many artists including Spyro Gyra, Chopteeth, Julie Dexter, Femi Kuti and others. Now on his 4th album as a bandleader, he calls his musical style Afrikan Rhapsody – a mixture of different cross-cultural genres with deep African roots, including afrobeat, Yoruba Rhythms, jazz, and neosoul. Join Tosin as he performs songs from his latest musical effort, Life Begins.

Address

5301 Tuckerman Ln; North Bethesda, MD 20852

Play-Doh Cupcake Party @ Sprinkles

February 8th, 2014 at 10:00 AM | $10 | editor@dctots.com | Event Website

Please join us for a special “Play-Doh Party” at Sprinkles Cupcakes 2nd Floor Party Room on Saturday, February 8. The event is sponsored by the new Bright Horizons Early Education and Preschool in Georgetown and will feature Play-Doh Cupcake kits for each child to use and take home as well as delicious mini cupcakes courtesy of Sprinkles. There will be two 45-minute sessions, one at 10am and one at 11am. Advance ticket purchase is required.

Address

3015 M Street, NW

Be My Valentine: Tour and Workshop for Children

February 8th, 2014 at 10:30 AM | $5-10 | info@tudorplace.org | Tel: 2029650400 | Event Website

Children tour the historic mansion in search of Valentine’s Day cards from years past. After the tour, children design their own Valentine cards to take home. Historic Valentine’s Day cards from the Tudor Place archive will serve as an inspiration for their creations.
Ages 5+

Address

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden; 1644 31st St NW

Rhino Bar to Host Philip Seymour Hoffman Retrospective

February 9th, 2014 at 11:00 AM | Free | Tel: 202-333-3150 | Event Website

Beginning 11 a.m., Sunday, Rhino Bar — at 33rd and M Streets, NW — will host a movie marathon showing films, featuring the late actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Address

Rhino Bar; 3295 M St NW

66th Annual “An Affair of the Heart” Luncheon and Fashion Show

February 10th, 2014 at 11:00 AM | $125.00 per person | Roxana.hoveyda@heart.org | Tel: 703-248-1745 | Event Website

The Women’s Board of the American Heart Association Greater Washington Region presents the 66th Annual “An Affair of the Heart” Luncheon and Fashion Show to benefit heart research and education. DC society will step out to this high-end event hosting over 1000 attendees. Bloomingdale’s will present the Fashion Show which will feature top designer collections along with exclusive pieces from the Spring 2014 collection.

Address

The Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road, NW

Tel’Veh Wine vs. Beer Class & Tasting

February 10th, 2014 at 07:00 PM | 1 Tix for Wine vs. Beer Class & Tasting at $35 / 2 Tix for Wine vs. Beer Class & Tasting at $60 | info@telveh.com | Tel: (202) 758-2929 | Event Website

Hey, wine and beer lovers! This tasting class will introduce you to wine varietals and beer types you’re sure to enjoy. Gain a healthy exposure and better experience with various wines and beers. The class is great for beginners, connoisseurs, friends, date nights, colleagues and more — sign up at the link.

Address

401 Massachusetts Ave., NW

Pinstripes, Restaurant and Bowling Alley, to Open Feb. 8

February 6, 2014

Pinstripes, the unique restaurant and bowling alley-bocce court at the Georgetown Park shopping complex, will open to the public Feb. 8.

Next to the C&O Canal at Wisconsin Avenue, Pinstripes takes up 34,000 square feet on a first and second floor. It “will include 14 bowling lanes, six bocce courts, a bistro and wine cellar, outdoor patios and event space, accommodating 20 to 600 people,” according to the restaurant group, and “offers a unique dining and entertainment experience, featuring Italian and American cuisine, combined with bowling and bocce.” There will also be an outdoor fireplace.

“It is quite a nice venue,” said advisory neighborhood commissioner Bill Starrels, who toured the new restaurant last week. “A lot of people will be surprised at the scale of the place. It’s beautiful and tastefully done.”

Having living through the complex’s demolition and reconstruction, nearby residents in the Georgetown Park condos were concerned about noise from the restaurant and bowling alley. “Pinstripes has gone to great lengths to work with the residents,” Starrels said. “Any sound and noise should not be a problem.”

The Georgetown spot will be the fifth location for Pinstripes, along with its other locations in Northbrook, South Barrington and Oak Brook, Ill., and Edina, Minn. Pinstripes plans to open another spot in Overland Park, Kan., in May and a downtown Chicago location in September.

Pinstripes is open seven days a week for lunch and dinner and is taking reservations for private events and parties, such as wedding receptions and bar mitzvahs.

A grand opening party is planned for the evening Feb. 7. On Feb. 22, the Citizens Association of Georgetown will host a benefit for its 2014 Concerts in the Parks program with an adults-only evening.

Potent Artful Trio: Seeger, Hoffman and Schell


There are or were still some giants in the cultural landscape—at least we notice them when we lose them.

Today, we mourn the loss of America’s troubadour of conscience and social justice, and the grandfather of the folk movement, still its remembered leader until his Jan. 27 death at the age of 94.

Today, we mourn the loss of one of our most gifted and sadly troubled actors, the Oscar-winning uncommon man who died apparently of a drug overdose, casting a large shadow of astonishingly unique roles in films and on stage.

Today, we mourn the loss of another Oscar winner, an Austrian-born actor who often specialized in memorable fashion playing Germans from the World War II era.

PETE SEEGER

In 2001, only a day or so after Sept. 11, people in our Adams Morgan neighborhood gathered together in the square in front of a local bank off Columbia Road and 18th Street, talked, mourned, lit candles and signed our names to messages on a wall. Folks from the Lanier Heights neighborhood brought their children and dogs , amid the diverse members of the family of man that characterizes Adams Morgan. We raised our voices in song, and all of us, somehow, remembered the words: “We shall overcome, we shall over come, someday. Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe, that we shall overcome someday.” It was a folk music anthem, the ballad of broken but determined hearts in troubled times.

“We Shall Overcame” was a song Seeger had made hugely popular, a song that was sung by many others (most notably Joan Baez, who added her high, clear and soaring voice to it, along with songs like “Where Have all the Flowers Gone?” “If I Had a Hammer” and “Turn! Turn! Turn!” These songs were later sung by the likes of Peter, Paul and Mary, the Byrds, Trini Lopez, and Baez. If he was not the founder of the great surge of popular experienced by folk music in the late 1950s and 1960s, he was certainly its craggy-faced but friendly avatar. Seeger — along with Woody Guthrie before him and to some extent Rambling Jack Elliott — was counted as fathering some part of Bob Dylan’s considerable body of work and persona, especially early on.

Seeger was part of a group called the Weavers, a notable folk group, and he appeared on the radio constantly in the 1940s. He was, more than any of his peers, a true singer-activist in the sense that he not only sang but demonstrated, marched, protested for workers, for African Americans and civil rights and against injustice. Early on, he had belonged to a Communist Youth organization, which he later regretted, but which got him into the sights of the House Un-American Activities Committee and Sen. Joe McCarthy during the 1950s. He survived all that to continue both his work and his activities, which in a way, became interchangeable. He continued to do both—be a banjo picker, 12-string-guitar player, singer, among others things—and an activist to the end of his days, including being part of the protesters who led the “Occupy Wall Street” movement. His voice managed the most intricate trick in the world—sounding inspiring, frail, soaring and flying wingless.

His wife of 70 years, Toshi-Aline Ota, died last year. She was his manager, his organizer and his soul mate.

People called him “the tuning fork of America.” Bruce Springsteen, who made an incredibly wonderful tribute album to Seeger’s music said, “I lost a great friend and a great hero.” President Barack Obama said, “Over the years, Pete used his voice and his hammer to strike blows for workers’ rights and civil rights, world peace and environmental conservation, and he always invited us to sing along.”

On the Internet, his voice is everywhere. But sometimes, many people, myself included, remember him most when we gathered together to sing his songs.

PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN

Hoffman, who died of an apparent drug overdose at the age of 46 Feb. 2, was what some folks like to call a character actor, noting that he could play anything and anyone, but also, without saying it, that he was never a real movie star.

He was not necessarily everyman either, although he could play one, as he did memorable and to critical praise in a Broadway revival of “Death of a Salesman” as Willy Lohman, the weary traveling salesman counting up his life and finding it wanting.

If you saw Hoffman on the screen , you never forgot him—the cult leader in “The Leader,” an Oscar for for “Capote” as the strange-voiced wispy Truman Capote, the anxious follower in director Paul Thomas Anderson’s examination of the 1970s porn industry, “Boogie Nights,” a slick, funny CIA operative in “Charlie Wilson’s War,” a priest suspected of abuse in “Doubt.” He also shone in more accessible works, such as “Twister” and “Patch Adams,” not to mention villains in blockbusters like the fourth “Mission Impossible” and “Hunger Games.”

He was also, as it turns out, a troubled soul—he had kicked a drug habit at age 22, and apparently returned to it in 2012. He was found, according to reports, with a needle in his arm, and quantities of bags of heroin beside him.

There is not much to say to that picture except to harbor a tremendous sadness and our loss and the absence of future roles.

MAXIMILIAN SCHELL

Maximilian Schell was an Austrian, whose family was forced to leaves Austria when the Nazis complete their popular annexation of his country, to which Adolf Hitler was native. His was an illustrious creative and artistic family—his older and much beloved sister was Maria Schell, who was an international movie star who also made a name for herself in the U.S. with the critical role of Grushenka in the film version of “The Brothers Karamazov.”

Ironically, because he could speak German and English, Schell ended up playing Germans and Nazis often. He first came to notice as a Wehrmacht captain in “The Young Lions,” which starred Marlon Brando a super-blonde German army officer and Montgomery Clift as a Jewish-American soldier. Next, he starred (as part of an all-star cast, which included Burt Lancaster, Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Marlene Dietrich and Clift) as a German defense attorney, representing members of the Nazi legal establishment in the Nuremberg trials. He was intense, impassioned, coldly logical, fiery and stern in the role, and it won him an Oscar, as did a supporting gig in “Julia,” in which he played a German Jew fleeing Nazi Germany in the film, starring Jane Fonda as Lillian Hellman.

He would work steadily, with a major role in “Deep Impact,” which featured Morgan Freeman as the President of the United States, as well as roles in “The Black Hole,” “The Condemned of Altona” and “A Bridge Too Far.”

He also contributed a major documentary on the life and legend of singer Marlene Dietrich, called simply “Marlene,” in which the legendary German actress and chanteuse was never seen on camera. He also produced a documentary called, “My Sister Maria,” and was a pianist and conductor. He had the sharp-lined face that seemed often to define him as a European intellectual. Perhaps not surprisingly, he was noted on the international stage as “one of the greatest Hamlets ever.”

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The SOTU Show: Obama, Congress and Guest Stars

February 3, 2014

Perhaps the most notable thing about the States of the Union address by President Barack Obama Jan. 28—and the GOP rebuttals and replies, for that matter—was how little it had to do with the state of the Union.

All day, and a few days leading up to the speech, pundits on all sides of the issues and pollsters, especially, as well as all the media, print, television, blogosphere and the like who read polls like high priests used to read the entrails of chickens in olden days were talking about how dispirited the American people seemed to be.

In various polls, we, the people, appeared to have lost hope not only over the five years of Obama but perhaps over the entire 21st Century thus far Like Jimmy Carter back in the late 1970s, brooding over high inflation and high unemployment and spiraling gas prices and the Iran hostage crisis, we appear to have discovered a national malaise within ourselves.

People—on various ideological sides and with various ways of spreading blame—had lost hope about a better future, about the economy turning around, we were worried about upward mobility, stagnant salaries, America’s ability to control events or solve problems, the great wealth and class divide. Back then, Carter blamed the people. Now, the people appeared to be blaming the president but also Congress and essentially anyone associated with the federal government.

They have their reasons—ideological combat on a grand scale, deadlock, the government shut down, Obamacare and its splendidly catastrophic roll-out, which has righted itself to some extent and remains the law of the land. The people appear to have lost faith in the president’s leadership skills and in Congress’s ability to work and play well with others.

Obama’s speech, while more or less well received, did not address any of those issues or the polls. He did not mention the government shutdown, he did not complain overly about every Republican opposition to his proposals, including raising the minimum wage. Rather, he talked about working with congressional leaders where it was possible, and if not, using not only the bully pulpit, but also an executive, go-alone action. To which more than one Republican replied that the United States did not have a king.

The president who had talked about hope so often over the course of two victorious elections, chose not to go there too often in his State of the Union address, which may actually be a reflection of the times, if not a referencing. He promised action, of one sort or another, on bridging the huge gap between rich and poor, and the self-evident shrinking, if not disappearing middle class.

Obama said many things worth noting or long overdue to be talked about. He brought up the startling notion in a country that has been at war ever since 9/11: “We must move off a permanent war footing.” He warned GOP leaders that if they sought new sanctions against Iran, he would veto any such moves. “Give diplomacy a chance,” he said.

There was some gauntlet throwing, but no major policy shifts, either. He stoutly defended Obamacare strongly, without referencing its rollout or making any further apologies for it, even though GOP leaders have vowed to fight it still. This is an election year, after all, and a critical one where the GOP is still trying to find its soul, engage women and Hispanics and save the middle class.

In a way, the State of the Union has become a television show. It has its main star, its minor stars, its guest stars—Willie Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” was there, perhaps taking the first step toward the State of the Union becoming, as one journalist said, something like the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner.

It has its rituals—the rolling walk to the podium by the president, the handshaking, the asides to friends and foes, who claps loudest or not at all. It becomes something like the Oscars and the Grammys in awards season. It must be sheer torture for House Speaker John Boehner—he is on camera just about 90 percent of the time, sitting alongside Vice President Joe Biden, who flashed his manic grin every now and then, jumped out of his chair, leaving Boehner sitting a few times. Boehner fiddled with his jacket buttons, try to look composed and ended up looking sternly umcomfortable. If Boehner failed to clap the gathered GOP stalwarts didn’t either, especially when the president said, “The debate is settled, climate change is a fact.” The Dems cheered; the GOP frowned.

At least no one shouted out, “Liar!” In fact, Obama in a fit of optimism American style reminded folks that this was a country where the son of a barkeep could rise to be Speaker of the House. Lots of applause for that. After a few seconds, Boehner gave a one-thumb up. Whereupon the president gave it to himself, being the son of a single mother risen to the presidency. Periodically you could see the stern face of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, perhaps thinking if it were possible for him to talk for hours about Dr. Seuss.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Washington State gave the official Republican rebuttal speech. It was a speech so sunny that there was not one word or idea in it with which anyone could argue with. In both the president’s speech and in Rodgers’s rebuttal, you would never guess that there had ever been a government shutdown, and a state of gridlock so severe that very little progress had been made on any issue. Rather, Rodgers said the divide was a divide of opportunity and that it could be closed as soon as everyone was given the opportunity to learn to climb the ladder of opportunity, apparently a feat that hitherto had only been accomplished by opportunists.

In the end, we were all swept away in the presence of of Sgt. First Class Cory Remsburg, whose severe wounds suffered in 2009 were still evident. He received the longest and loudest applause of the evening. Courage, a quality often lacking in politics and when witnessed in the flesh, often moves politicians and the rest of us to tears.