Latest News

Georgetowner •

Historian, consultant and baker Mike Copperthite continues to celebrate the 125th anniversary of his family business, the Connecticut-Copperthite Pie Baking Company of Georgetown. He hosted a party for Carol Dyer’s “Back In The Day” poster, as seen previously in the Georgetowner, at Martin’s Tavern April 24 also to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Martin’s Tavern. He sent a very nice donation check to St. John’s Church. This Saturday, May 11, at 2 p.m., Copperthite will be at the Georgetown Public Library, offering up some pie slices and a photograph donation to the library’s Peabody Room, which is a center for historical research for Georgetown.

Georgetowner •

Georgetown University Performing Arts: “Once Wild: Isadora in Russia”

May 3nd, 2013 at 08:00 PM | 25.00 | Tel: (202) 687-2787 | Event Website

On Friday May 3rd & Saturday, May 4th at 8 p.m. & Sunday, May 5th at 2 p.m., attend the world premiere dance theater collaboration of Once Wild: Isadora in Russia at the Davis Performing Arts Center, Gonda Theatre. Written by Helen Hayes Award winning playwright, Norman Allen with original music by Dominik Maican, and choreography by Cynthia Word. Once Wild steps across creative boundaries to offer a bold, new vision of seminal artist Isadora Duncan, her work and her years in Bolshevik Russia.

Address

Davis Performing Arts Center, Gonda Theatre at Georgetown University; 37th and O Street, NW

L’Eclat de Verre: “BLUE NARRATIVES” Opening Reception

May 3rd, 2013 at 06:00 PM | Tel: 202.333.6840 | Event Website](http://www.eclatdeverre.com/us/)

Save the date for the opening reception of “Blue Narratives” with the photographer Caroline von Tuempling on Friday, May 3, from 6 to 8 p.m. On view from Saturday, May 4, through Saturday, June 29, enjoy Tuempling’s first photographic exhibition at L’Eclat de Verre. In this limited edition collection of prints in large format, Tuempling invites us to travel with her and explore the beauty of blue.

Address

L’Eclat de Verre; 3336 M Street, NW

60th Annual Landon Azalea Garden Festival

May 3rd, 2013 at 10:00 AM | Free | alexis_polakoff@landon.net | Tel: 301-320-1014 | [Event Website](https://www.facebook.com/AzaleaFestival)

Come celebrate the 60th Annual Landon Azalea Garden Festival, May 3 to 5, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., daily. The weekend Festival offers something for everyone. Tour the two-and-a-half-acre azalea garden and shop the bountiful plant sale. FunLand offers rides/fun foods for kids. The more than 60 vendors at Specialty Boutiques, and antiques/collectables at Bearly Used Collection provide great shopping. Musical entertainment all weekend. Mark’s Run on Sun. at 8 a.m. is an annual 5k race and 1-mile fun run (www.marksrun.org).

Address

Landon School; 6101 Wilson Lane; Bethesda, MD 20817

Dumbarton Oaks Park: First Open House for Historic Park

May 4th, 2013 at 10:00 AM | [Event Website](

Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy is hosting an Open House for one of Washington’s most historic and bucolic urban parks. The park, designed by Beatrix Farrand and once enjoyed by local gentry, foreign dignitaries and poets, is now part of Rock Creek Park, one of 401 National Parks Service properties across the country.

Join the Open House on Saturday, May 4 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., for a free children’s music class in the meadow with the Levine School of music (parents welcome).

Address

3265 S Street, NW

Choral Evensong

May 4th, 2013 at 05:00 PM | Tel: 202-333-6677

Music of Philip Radcliffe, Thomas Tallis, and John Rutter. Sung by the professional Choir of Christ Church this series is free and open to the public as a gift to the community.

Address

Christ Church; Georgetown, 31st & O Street NW

The Little Folks School 40th Anniversary Gala & Auction “Make Our Garden Grow”

May 4th, 2013 at 07:00 PM | $250 per person ($175 tax deductible) | LFS2013auction@gmail.com | Tel: (202) 333-657 | [Event Website](http://www.littlefolks.org/)

The beloved Little Folks School in Georgetown is hosting the 40th Anniversary Gala to raise funds for a spectacular new permanent home at 3247 Q Street, NW. Funds raised will support the purchase and renovation of its new building. Reception & Silent Auction at 7 pm ~ Live Auction at 9 pm

Address

National Geographic Society; 1145 17th St NW

BOURBON STEAK: EAST Meets WEST Dinner

May 7th, 2013 at 08:00 PM | $150 per person (excluding tax and gratuity) | Tel: 202.944.2026 | [Event Website](http://www.bourbonsteakdc.com/)

Join Chef Michael Mina as he welcomes BOURBON STEAK’s new Executive Chef John Critchley and introduces PABU’s Executive Chef Johah Kim to Washington, D.C. This event will feature a six-course tasting menu, designed by the three chefs and featuring new Modern American specialties from BOURBON STEAK alongside Japanese Izakaya dishes from Baltimore’s PABU. Creative cocktail, spirit and wine pairings are included. . For reservations or more information, please call 202.944.2026.

Address

BOURBON STEAK’s

2800 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Gil Schafer Presentation and Book-Signing Reception Tickets

May 9, 6 p.m. | Prices start at $50.00 | DoyleDC@DoyleNewYork.com | Tel: (202) 342-6100 | [Event Website](https://www.georgetownhousetour.com/purchase-tickets/)

Doyle New York is honored to host an evening with award-winning architect Gil Schafer. His work has been featured in numerous publications, including Architectural Digest, Elle, Décor, Veranda, The New York Times & The Wall Street Journal.

Join Doyle New York for a presentation and book signing reception at the Blake Hall at St. John’s Episcopal Church. Doors open at 6 p.m. and book signing and reception immediately following.

Address

Blake Hall at St. John’s Episcopal Church

3240 O Street NW in Georgetown

Georgetowner •

History will come alive as American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation bring their Partners in Preservation community-based initiative to raise awareness of the importance of historic preservation to the nation’s capital. This first-of-its-kind preservation effort will enlist the help of Washington, D.C. Metro area residents, and anyone who loves the Capital Region, to help choose which of 24 historic buildings, icons and landmarks will receive a portion of the $1 million in preservation funding.

Beginning today through May 10, Partners in Preservation invites the public to visit www.PartnersinPreservation.com to help their favorite historic place earn points by voting online and via mobile, sharing with friends via Twitter, checking in on Foursquare and capturing images using Instagram. The historic place that receives the most points is guaranteed full funding of their preservation project. Full details on the program terms and how to earn points for historic places can be found at www.PartnersinPreservation.com.

At the end of the program, a Partners in Preservation advisory committee comprised of Washington-area civic and preservation leaders will recommend how the remainder of the preservation grants will be awarded. District of Columbia Mayor Vincent C. Gray, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell are the honorary chairs for the Partners in Preservation advisory committee.

“We are excited to bring this year’s Partners in Preservation program to the National Trust’s hometown,” said Stephanie Meeks, president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “Since its inception in 2006, the campaign has not only provided valuable visibility and resources to historic sites, but also presented a platform for the public to support their favorite historic places in their community. With many diverse places of local and national significance in the Washington, D.C. metro area, Partners in Preservation will enable local preservationists and visitors to the Capital Region to experience historic sites as they never have before.”

The 24 historic places in the greater Washington, D.C. Metro area competing for the $1 million in grants are:

Abner Cloud House at the C&O Canal, Georgetown, D.C.

All Souls Church Unitarian, Adams Morgan, D.C.

Arlington House, Arlington, Va.

The Athenaeum, Alexandria, Va.

Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site, Shaw, D.C.

Clara Barton’s Missing Soldiers Office, Penn Quarter, D.C.

Colvin Run Mill, Great Falls, Va.

Congressional Cemetery, Barney Circle, D.C.

Darby Store, Beallsville, Md.

Dumbarton Oaks Park, Georgetown, D.C.

The GALA Hispanic Theatre at The Tivoli, Columbia Heights, D.C.

George Mason Memorial, National Mall, D.C.

Greenbelt Theatre, Greenbelt, Md.

Heyden Observatory, Georgetown, D.C.

The Kennel at Aspin Hill Memorial Park, Silver Spring, Md.

LAMB at Military Road School, Brightwood, D.C.

Living Classrooms of the National Capital Region, Anacostia, D.C.

Meridian Hill Park, Columbia Heights, D.C.

Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, Scott Circle, D.C
.
Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon, Va.

National Museum of Women in the Arts, Franklin Park, D.C.

Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, Mount Vernon Square, D.C.

U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, Arlington, Va.

Washington National Cathedral, Tenleytown, D.C.

On May 4-5, the 24 historic places will host an open house weekend for the public to visit, learn more about and cast votes for the participating historic places. Admission will be free or discounted, and sites will be campaigning for votes with on-site activities highlighting their rich histories.

Through this partnership, American Express and the National Trust for Historic Preservation seek to increase the public’s awareness of the importance of historic preservation in the United States and to preserve America’s historic and cultural places. The program also hopes to inspire long-term support from local citizens for the historic places at the heart of their communities. For more information, visit PartnersinPreservation.com or Facebook.com/PartnersinPreservation, or follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/PartnersinPres.

Gary Tischler •

Like him or not, Al Neuharth was a newspaper mogul and tycoon, a media giant and innovator right up there with Ted Turner and maybe even the likes of Hearst and Pulitzer. He knew he wasn’t liked by everybody and probably didn’t want to be: his memoir was entitled “Confessions of an S.O.B.,” a description any number of people in the business would argue with.

What he did was, he expanded Gannett Newspapers, from which he founded USA Today, a national daily newspaper, full color and full of pictures, shorter stories, a four-section paper that divided itself into news, style, sports and business. The newspaper was not the place for in-depth reporting on politics or policy issues.

Neuharth, who died at 89 April 19, insisted he was giving people what they wanted and creating an efficient product by cutting costs drastically. A lot of the heavyweights of the time, especially Ben Bradlee at the Washington Post, scoffed at the idea. It was probably fair to say that USA Today, which was called “McPaper” by many, initially had more fluff than any other paper in the country, not counting the National Enquirer. But it also changed the publishing world drastically.

While many newspaper buffs criticized USA Today for its lack of substance, people bought it to the tune of more than one million copies, a circulation figure it still holds today. It was a newspaper that was trying to look, feel and read like a local news television broadcast—accessible, friendly, punchy, and with few serious thoughts in its head.

The first edition on September 15, 1982, cost 25 cents and gave readers an idea about what USA Today was about. The top two stories were about the death of Princess Grace (Kelly) of Monaco, a blonde, beautiful former movie star from Philadelphia who had married the Prince of Monaco, and a plane crash in Minnesota which killed 55 people. You had to go to the sidebar on the left to find out that the President of Lebanon had been assassinated, a major development which resulted in the massacre at the Palestinian refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila.

USA Today remained popular and has grown as a newspaper with a sturdy journalistic reputation. Neuharth went on to found the Newseum and the Freedom Forum, an institution dedicated to the defense of free speech all over the world. Today, it occupies a prominent space on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Neuharth was colorful, outspoken and not in the least bit shy. But he was never anything less than a serious man. If the publishing industry did not realize at the time that the real danger to its very existence would not come from television or USA Today but the Internet—a hard thing to foresee. Today, USA Today still seems to be thriving or holding steady in a world where the media has undergone tumultuous changes, and newspapers disappear almost weekly.

Gary Tischler •

You probably know this, but there’s an election being held tomorrow, April 23, in Washington.

You didn’t know?

That’s a possibility, too, although the splash of political signs around the city—local D.C.’s own version of spring planting, promoting Elissa, Perry, Anita, Matthew, Paul and Pat—should give you a hint.

The election is a special one—although after so many special elections over the last few years—it may not seem so special. This one’s for the District Council at-large seat vacated by Phil Mendelson when he ascended to the District Council Chairmanship in yet another special election. In addition, there was another special election for another open at-large seat several years ago in which Vincent Orange barely squeaked out a win over Republican Pat Mara. And let’s not forget—you have?– the special election held to replace Ward 5 Councilman Fred Thomas, Jr., who resigned and is currently in jail, won by Kenyon McDuffie.

A neighbor asked me about the candidates this morning. We discussed a few of them, and she was tending toward Anita Bonds, the long-time city and Democratic Party official who now holds the seat, courtesy of an interim appointment, which technically makes her the incumbent. “She’s been around a while,” she said. “She seems to know what she’s doing.” “I don’t know though,” she added. “Maybe, I just won’t vote.”

Another neighbor pointed out that there had been a story in the Washington Post that morning which reported that Alissa Silverman, a Democratic “reform” candidate, had tried to get fellow Democrat Matthew Frumin, a Ward 3 advisory neighborhood commissioner, to drop out of the race to winnow the field of Democrats which might otherwise split among four candidates, which includes Bonds, and attorney Paul Zukerberg, whose key issue is the marijuana de-criminalization. The other two remaining candidates are Statehood D.C. candidate Perry Redd and, of course, Mara, the Republican now making his third bid for a city council seat.

The one thing that has characterized all the special elections—and to a smaller degree the general elections—is that this one is likely to have a very low voter turnout with the conventional wisdom being that 15,000 votes could win the election. There are 38,000 Republicans registered in the District, a factoid which gives Mara a lot of hope.

Yet, in the only poll taken, by the Public Policy Polling Company, shows Bonds holding a narrow 6-percent edge over Silverman and Mara—19 percent to 13 percent of likely voters—with Rudd, Frumin and Zukerberg trailing in single-digit percentiles.

The Bonds lead seems to this corner somewhat ephemeral—the last appointed incumbent, the capable Sekou Biddle finished third behind Mara and Orange. And Bonds, who’s taken to becoming invisible on the crowded candidate forum trail, stumbled when she suggested that black voters vote for her because she was the only black Democrat in the field.

Not discounting the presence of Rudd—who has proven by far to the most rhetorically powerful and eloquent candidate in the field judging by the two forums I attended—the fact that he and Bonds are the African Americans in the field says something about the population shift in the city. Yet it shouldn’t say anything about whom you should vote for. Rudd’s obliquely addressed the changes in the city, its gentrification and rising prosperity where bikers and bike lanes are every bit as important as crime in the streets.

Everybody on the campaign trail talks about affordable housing. It wasn’t discussed as much at the Georgetown Business Association forum as it was at the TENAC forum, where it was a key topic, given that the group fights for tenants and renters rights. It seems even with $100 million set aside on the part of Mayor Vincent Gray for affordable housing, no candidate has so far managed to identify what affordable housing actually is and who can afford it for that matter.

In the Georgetown forum at Tony & Joe’s Restaurant—where Silverman and Bonds were absent—the discussion was as much about high gas prices as it was about housing, making the city competitive with suburban contractors and employees, zoning and other issues. Mara touted his connections to Republican members of the committee that has oversight over D.C. and to Republicans in general as a way of being able to help the District. He has also promised to be a keen watchdog on the council’s ethical issues—some of which remains if only as a kind of uncomfortable atmosphere after the affairs Graham, Thomas and Brown (Kwame).

Speaking of Brown, Michael Brown, who was originally in this race to regain a seat on the council that he lost in the last general election, decided to drop out because of personal and family reasons. His name, however, remains on the ballot.

Silverman has professional expertise as an economic and budget policy worker and researcher and in a previous career was a journalist covering politics and city government for the Washington Post and the City Paper, where she was for a time the Loose Lips reporter and an effective one.

In many ways, she’s easily the most effective and competent candidate in the field and is in the tradition of a liberal and reforming Democrat which the majority Democrats among voters ought to find appealing. But in the course of the campaign she’s also managed to challenge Zukerberg’s registration signatures and reportedly tried to get another candidate to drop out. At the TENAC forum, she and an angry Zukerberg got into a political argument about her challenge and her claim not to have taken corporate donations, which Zukerberg challenged.

Bonds failed to show up for the TENAC forum, which might have been a naturally sympathetic arena for her, filled as it was with long time community leaders, labor leaders and activists.

Zukerberg insists he’s not a one-issue candidate but his resounding claim that the city has put more young men into jail for drug charges than it has graduated from high school is still one of the best attention getters around—all the more so because it sounds true.

Bonds has a number of endorsement to cite, the most impressive of which is the backing of several of her colleagues on the council, including Marion Barry, Jack Evans, McDuffie, Muriel Bowser and Yvette Alexander.

Mara has been endorsed by the Washington Post, the Chamber of Commerce and the Sierra Club, certainly an eclectic group. But the Post may be right in claiming that Mara would bring a fresh presence to the council, but they’re wrong in presenting him as a latter-day Carol Schwartz, who was the essence of a non-traditional Republican. Mara’s entry into the 2008 race challenging and defeating Schwartz in a bitter campaign, led to his own defeat when “independent” Michael Brown entered the race in the general election. While Mara has endorsed marriage equality, abortion rights and budget autonomy (from Congress), he did on the other hand support Mitt Romney and is a hard-core fiscal conservative. In the climate of super-charged commercial development and a rush to condo, this doesn’t make him an outsider on the council.

Voters will also be asked to weigh in on Proposed Charter Amendment VIII regarding local budget autonomy. As things stands the Home Rule Act gives Congress affirmative action in regard to the entire District of Columbia budget. The Charter Amendment “ would permit the Council to adopt the annual local budget for the District of Columbia government; would permit the District to spend local funds in accordance with each Council approved budget action; and would permit the Council to establish the District’s fiscal year.”

Georgetowner •

Tomorrow, District of Columbia voters choose an at-large member of the District Council. The race for this special election has seemed a bit overfilled with similarly sounding candidates. We can almost see why one candidate asked another to leave the race, even as one already withdrew. The candidates on Tuesday’s ballot: Anita Bonds, Matthew Frumin, Patrick Mara, Perry Redd, Elissa Silverman and Paul Zukerberg.

We found that they have advanced the political discussion in the city and trust that they will continue in their own way once a new councilmember is chosen.

We have observed one candidate who, to our minds, has stood out and offers a new energy and slightly different and fresh perspective. In a city of Democrats, we find that the best candidate for this open council seat is Republican Patrick Mara.

His work and experience on the school board has been noteworthy, balancing public and charter schools’ concerns. He says he is committed to integrity in government, and we believe him. With a more fiscally conservative viewpoint — and here that is a good thing — he wants the District to tax less and be fairer to businesses. His campaign states that Mara would:

• Strengthen oversight of all District government spending

• Win budget autonomy from Congress

• Lower fees and other regulatory burdens that discourage businesses from locating in the District

• Freeze taxes at their current rates and begin a serious discussion about lowering burdens on homeowners.

We agree.

Mara has received a range of endorsements from the Fraternal Order of Police, Sierra Club and the D.C. Chamber of Commerce as well as from several newspapers and media outlets.

It is time to include this one: The Georgetowner endorses Patrick Mara for District Council. And it is time to vote for him Tuesday.

Robert Devaney •

Kintaro Japanese Restaurant Opens on 33rd Street

Kintaro, a 100-percent Japanense restaurant with sashimi, sushi, ramen noodles, bento boxes and more, has opened at 1039 33rd St., NW., in the former L. Chocolatier space. Run by Tetsuro Takanashi and Ken Yamamoto, Kintaro is open for lunch and dinner — 202-333-4649.

Cafe Capitol Prague Opens

While the restaurant Capitol Prague is yet to open, its companion cafe is open for business — with coffee and strudels — near the restaurant at M and Potomac Streets. The restaurant should be open in June, managers said.

Max’s Best Ice Cream Loses Lease to Rocklands

Glover Park is losing its beloved ice cream shop, according to Glover Park Hyperlocal: “The owner of Max’s Best Ice Cream (2416 Wisconsin Ave.) received verbal notice last fall that his lease would not be renewed, says Raymond Ruppert, Jr. president of the Ruppert Real Estate property management firm. The reason: ‘Basically, Rocklands wants to expand, and they’re an older tenant.’ Rocklands indicated that it always wanted to expand but expected to do so only when Max’s was about to retire.

Govinda Gallery Space to Become a Yoga Studio

According to discussions at the latest meeting of the 2E advisory neighborhood, the former Govinda Galley space at 1227 34th Street, NW, will become a yoga studio with another nearby shop to be used for selling yoga merchandise. The multi-shop complex at the corner of 34th and Prospect will continue to have a dry cleaner and a hair salon, as their leases run through a few years from now. (Owned by Chris Murray, Govinda Gallery continues as an online business, closing its 34th Street location two years ago after decades of groundbreaking exhibits, including rock ‘n roll photography, and noteworthy receptions.)

CorePower Yoga Opens on Jefferson Street

But, wait, there’s more: CorePower Yoga has opened at 1055 Thomas Jefferson Street. The company explains: “the two-room yoga studio features a range of amenities, including changing rooms with showers and private lockers. A full retail boutique will showcase men’s and women’s yoga active wear and accessories for all of your yoga and lifestyle needs.”

Shell Gas Station Opens With Watergate Prices

After a fire ruined and closed the Georgetown Auto Shop and Washingtonian gas station at 1576 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., the intersection now is home to a Shell gas station, operated by Roland Joun, who used to run the Watergate Exxon. The high gas prices at the Shell station at Q Street and Wisconsin Avenue reflect its Watergate heritage. [gallery ids="101282,149511,149505" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler • May 2, 2013

One fan, upon hearing that the legendary George Jones had died at the age of 82, said it was “the night that country music died.”

Many fans said the same thing: “RIP, Possum.”

Given the present day pull of pop on the country music world that exists today, it might be more accurate to say that honky tonk music of the kind that Jones with his twangy, rich voice, his every-which way sideburns and pompadour when it didn’t turn into a marine crewcut, his booze-and-bar filled life and his full-of-a-whole-lot-of-trouble marriage to country music’s tragic and gifted and unforgettable queen Tammy Wynette, personified had died with him.

He had his ancestors, not the least of which was Hank Williams, the skinny guy with the big guitar and cowboy hat and sports jacket who practically invented honky tonk and the fast-driving, hard-drinking life style, coming out of hard-scrabble. These guys came out of working class places and towns in Oklahoma, Texas and the smack-dab-in-the-dust middle of California that included Waylon Jennings and the lone surviving member Merle Haggard—not counting Willie Nelson who’s like an armadillo that always gets across the road, come taxes or whatever.

Jones came out of dusty parts of Texas wanting to sing because, according to the stories told, at least in part because his daddy would come home drunk and wake up his kids to sing to him. From there, it was only a step towards hustling and singing in the streets for quarters and doing a good job of it. Jones sang with a hitch and a twang, and the voice was clear as a slap in the face at closing time.

You could hear that aching heart experience in Conway Twitty, in Williams, Ronnie Milsap, Wynette and Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton, and Jennings on the road out in the big empty of Texas, in that gorgeous voice of Vince Gill’s, in the more gentlemanly voices of Marty Robbins and Ray Price, the latter a guy who had a voice that sounded both wounded and authoritative.

If you grew up in the Midwest in the 1950s, or hung out in Missouri or Kansas or West Virginia or the bottom part of Ohio near Kentucky, those voices made their way underneath the gyrating belly of rocking rollers.. The rockers—with the exception of Elvis who had a little gospel and country road hitch and high voice sometimes—hadn’t gotten around to serious heartbreak yet in those days. The likes of Jones, Haggard, Price, and not to forget Johnny Cash and Twitty wore black or fringed, glammed up jackets and every now and then socked it to the sock hoppers with a song like “Young Love” by Sonny James.

Jones was an adult—there wasn’t much question of that, his pains and wounds, received and handed out, were of the adult variety that caused friendships to end, and marriages and families to break up. Two successive wives endured his boozing, his volatility—both his second wife and the famously third one Tammy Wynette took his car keys away only to find out that he was barreling down the highway on a lawn mower toward the nearest honky tonk bar—to soak the cold beers, the sawdust on the hardwood floor, and have enough change to pump up the jukebox and play a Hank Williams song. Naturally, he made music out of driving a John Deere to a honky tonk.

No one questioned Jones on his authenticity or talent. When he sang a song it was like he stood there naked as a jaybird, exposing himself with such candor that you couldn’t turn away. Only Jones could pull off his most famous song “He Stopped Loving Her Today”, about a man who vowed to love his woman til the day he died. This is a song so full of schmaltz, you could cry it a river, except that Jones just barrels it through—voice-to-heart-to-you-and makes you catch your breath.

He had something—you didn’t have to listen between the lines or read between them either—best way to get Jones is listen to the music on U Tube, with and without Tammy and catch the titles, a life strung together: “White Lightning”, “We’re Gonna Hold On” (with Tammy, along with “Golden Ring”,)_“I was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool”, “Still Doin’ Time”, “I Always Get Lucky With You”, “She Still Thinks I Care”,”I’m a Long Gone Daddy…I’m a Leavin Now”, “I Just Don’t Give a Damn”, “If Not For You”, “How Wonderful a Poor Life is”, “The Cold Hard Truth”, “Brothers of a Bottle”.

There are parts of the Wynette-Jones marriage, love fest, brawl and trouble in there—but Wynette is also at least partly famous for the spit-in-the-wind marriage anthem “Stand By Your Man”, (a song that is text book heartbreak), although there were cynics who kept hearing “Can’t Stand My Man” in the song but she would later sing about “D-I-V-O-R-C-E”. Their duets were classics—he with his hair then abundant, she with a cascade of blonde going down her back. Only the Twitty-Lynn duets—which don‘t have the added raw paint of personal experience—come close to that sort of genius.

Wynette died in 1998. Jones went on singing and eventually stopped drinking and carrying on, and became a living legend—as in greatest living country singer, collected honors—a Kennedy Center Honor among them—and kept on singing, at times bemoaning country’s embrace of pop. Nobody would call him a pop singer—but he was a pure, and great singer of heartache and honky tonk—the kind that even Frank Sinatra—who admired him—understood.

As for Possum—his other nickname was “No Show Jones” for missing concert dates—well, friends thought his sharp features resembled that of a possum.

So, RIP, Possum. You stopped loving her today, but who knows what comes after that.