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Robert Devaney • June 29, 2012

Some D.C Council members are preparing for a trip to Las Vegas at the end of the week. It is for a retail and real estate trade show, which some of them have attended before, at the Las Vegas Convention Center across from the Las Vegas Hilton and near the new, shiny Wynn Resort and other temptations.

Their attendance may be good for Washington business, but it still looks a little awkward, what with the brouhaha over a GSA trip to Sin City in the Nevada desert.

RECon — May 20 through May 23 — is the “world’s largest gathering of retail real estate professionals and provides the opportunity to network, make deals and learn from industry experts,” the group says. “No other retail real estate convention attracts a worldwide audience. With over 30,000 attendees and 1,000 exhibitors it is the largest industry convention, making it an unparalleled opportunity to do a year’s worth of business in just three days. So, if you are looking to meet with retailers to discuss new or existing leases in your center, then you need to have a presence at RECon.”

WAMU, which first reported on the Las Vegas trip, wrote: “The D.C. Council is doubling down on Las Vegas this year, sending an unprecedented number of council members and staff to the Global Retail Real Estate Convention, which is hosted annually by the International Council of Shopping Centers. The D.C. Council is sending perhaps as many as 15 or 16 people to the . . . conference, many on the taxpayers’ dime. Why? The city’s real estate market is hot. Big box retailers want in, and once-overlooked neighborhoods and projects — St. Elizabeth’s, Walter Reed, Penn Branch — are now primed for development. Council members are looking to, as several put it, bring home the bacon.”

Council members reportedly traveling to the show include chair Kwame Brown — who wrote a letter to his peers about the trip and told WAMU, “Clearly my letter indicates that for everyone going, there should be justification on why you are going” — and Jack Evans, Jim Graham and Vincent Orange.

According to Washington, D.C., Economic Partnership, the local non-profit which has registered some of the council members and others for the convention, “Washington, D.C., has remained a top investment market both nationally and globally, even through the most recent recession. Despite D.C. development activity bottoming out in 2009 with only 4.3 million square feet of construction starting, it made a quick and significant comeback in 2010 with nearly 11 million square feet of construction starts. This dramatic increase was in large part due to federal and local government investment in the office, hospitality and education development markets.”

“The increase in retail space last year verifies that the District’s retail market is alive and thriving, and we need to make sure that this story is being told across the region and the nation,” says Keith Sellars, president and CEO of Washington, D.C., Economic Partnership.

O.K., that’s a pretty good reason. Besides the obvious attractions, a big one is no longer there. The Lamant Peterson-Amir Khan boxing match, set for May 19 at Mandalay Bay, has been canceled because Peterson failed a drug test.

Robert Devaney •

President Barack Obama zipped a few blocks from the White House to the Ritz Carlton May 8 to address the 18th Annual Gala for the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies. It was a day after the Ritz hosted the likes of Prince Harry and Ban Ki-moon for the Atlantic Council’s big dinner. Obama entered the ballroom which proved campaign-ready.

With shouts of “aloha” and “mahalo,” the president spoke before an enthusiastic and loud crowd in the standing-room-only hall. “Four more years! Four more years!” the crowd yelled to Obama, who responded, “Thank you. Everybody, please, please, have a seat. Have a seat. You’re making me blush.”

Citing his own life story, Obama said, “Now, I am thrilled to be here tonight because all of you hold a special place in my heart. When I think about Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, I think about my family — my sister, Maya; my brother-in-law, Konrad . . . My nieces Suhaila and Savita. I think about all the folks I grew up with in Honolulu, as part of the Hawaiian ohana. I think about the years I spent in Indonesia. So for me, coming here feels a little bit like home. This is a community that helped to make me who I am today. It’s a community that helped make America the country that it is today. So your heritage spans the world. But what unites everyone is that in all of your families you have stories of perseverance that are uniquely American.”

After Obama left and darted back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, one of APAICS’s leader, Rep. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) said that the president was not born with “silver chopsticks” or “silver rice bowl,” for that matter. Honda then asked the group, “Are you ready for the next four years?”

Besides political and congressional leaders, such as House minority leader Nancy Pelosi or Norman Mineta, the 1,000-plus crowd included Olympic medalist Michelle Kwan, actress Grace Park and Miss D.C. Ashley Boalch.

The Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) is a national non-partisan, non-profit organization that is “dedicated to promoting Asian Pacific American participation and representation at all levels of the political process, from community service to elected office.” According to the 2010 Census, Asian Americans comprise the fastest-growing group in the U.S. and are now getting more attention from politicians for their votes.

Robert Devaney •

Georgetown Farmers’ Market Re-Opens Wednesday

The Georgetown Farmers Market opens Wednesday, May 2, for its tenth season in Rose Park.

The Friends of Rose Park, in cooperation with the D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation, sponsors the Georgetown Farmers Market in Rose Park for another season. The market will be open, rain or shine, every Wednesday until Halloween from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. near the corner of 26th and O Streets.

“The Friends of Rose Park has been delighted with the neighborhood support for this project in Rose Park, and we hope the Georgetown community will join us on opening day,” according to the group.

The market welcomes newcomers and regulars to the park:

= Two Oceans True Foods: free-range turkeys, chickens and eggs as well as family-caught seafood

= Oh! Pickles: a wide variety of homemade pickles

= Baguette Republic: artisan breads, cookies and more

= Anchor Nursery: fresh vegetables, fresh cut flowers, plants

= Quaker Valley Orchards: berries, honey, apples, peaches, greens

= Praline Bakery: French bakery specialties; dinners-to-go, croissants

= Les Caprices de Joelle: paella, soups, quiche, waffles and other goodies

Neighbors and volunteers interested in helping at the market one day a month and local non-profit groups interested in getting on the calendar at the market should e-mail RoseParkMarket@yahoo.com.

Rose Park is located between M and P Streets, N.W., bounded on the west side by 26th and 27th Streets and on the east side by Rock Creek Parkway. Its facilities include three tennis courts, a basketball court, a baseball diamond, two playground areas and substantial open space. [gallery ids="100757,123127,123121" nav="thumbs"]

Robert Devaney •

During lunchtime on April 30, 2007, a fire nearly destroyed the Georgetown Public Library at R Street and Wisconsin Avenue. The flames of the collapsing cupola and roof attracted neighbors and news crews, as the D.C. Fire & EMS Department struggled with low-pressure hydrants and used one blocks away.

That same morning, a fire had swept through Eastern Market, one of Capitol Hill’s most popular food, shopping and meeting spots. Stunned city officials and residents feared the two places would never completely recover.

Today, both buildings have been re-built and made even better — thanks first to the firefighters of Washington, D.C. The library and its Peabody Room are a source of information as well as pride for its neighbors.

Georgetowners, thinking they had lost the history that is contained in the library’s Peabody Room, were relieved to learn that almost all items had been saved. The collection houses books, photographs, maps, manuscripts, newspapers, artwork and artifacts documenting Georgetown’s two-and-a-half centuries.

Here is what Jerry McCoy, Special Collections Librarian, Peabody Room, has to say:

“Today is the fifth anniversary of the Georgetown Branch Library fire. The fire destroyed two-thirds of the second floor of the library. The remaining one-quarter was the Peabody Room. Had it not been for the professionalism of the D.C. Fire & EMS Department more than 250 years of Georgetown’s history would have been lost.”

Named in honor of 19th century merchant, banker and philanthropist George Peabody (1795-1869) and established in 1935, the Peabody Room is a special collections section of the Georgetown Public Library. The Peabody Room is open Monday, 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 pm; Thursday, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. [gallery ids="100759,123146,123140,123137" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler •

On stage, Delray—the owner of a black underground music bar in Memphis, circa 1951—paces the floor with an eye out for trouble. His sister is on the stage, singing sassy and soulful blues numbers, and all male eyes in the joint are on her, and Delray’s eyes are on them. Delray is an imposing guy. He’s a little scary a times, a serious man who hides his soft spots well, a balled fist at his side.

Delray is one of the mainstays and main characters in “Memphis,” a loud, electric, fast-paced, high-energy Tony-Award winning musical now on its Washington stop through July 1 of a national tour at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House, trying and succeeding in bowling over by its sheer force of energy. Delray is pivotal to the proceedings, which involve a goofed-up young white man named Huey and his discovery of rhythm and blues evolving into the coming of rock and roll—and his discovery of Delray’s sister, Felicia, with whom he’s smitten. Delroy fumes, he doesn’t like it, you can practically see his eyebrows bristles, his fist clench tighter.

Quentin Earl Darrington, who plays Delray understands the man. “I know what he’s about doesn’t mean I’m him, but I know where he’s coming from,” said Darrington, a personable, passionate-about-theater man. “This is the South. You can’t do certain things. There are race laws, and this is termed race music by white people. So, he’s suspicious, especially of a white man getting sweet on his sister.”

Darrington is a serious guy, serious about his role as an actor, about being on stage, about being on the road, about race and economic and racial divides in the country, about his responsibilities—and the joys thereof—of being the father of three young boys, about his future.

Like many young boys who idolize their kin, Darrington wanted to be a football player like his brother but instead started getting into acting at the high school he attended in Lakeland, Fla. “Mr. Hughes, my teacher, he stuck by me, encouraged me,” he said. “My folks weren’t that keen on the idea.”

“This show, it’s more than just about the music,” he said. It’s about the times, how music figured in all of that, how it burst out onto the national scene. There really was a guy like Huey who was a local deejay here in Memphis who played our rhythm and blues and rock and roll. He had a TV show, and he was a forerunner, like the guy who discovered Elvis and Dick Clark in Philadelphia. The music was jumping out and it was important because it brought people together, whether they liked it or not.”

Darrington is coming back to the Kennedy Center and the memories of his last trip here were all good. He had the stirring, difficult role of Coalhouse Walker in the Kennedy Center-mounted production of “Ragtime,” a second-go at the musical version of E.L. Doctorow’s novel about America on the move into modernity in the early 1900s. Walker was a man with a mission, he wanted to marry the woman he loved, he was a charistmatic man with huge pride and style, he wanted to show off his Model T, he wanted to do good and shine in the world, until his run with some New York firemen totally changes his life.

“That was such a great experience, such a game-changer for me,” Darrington said. “It was a big role, but it was complicated. You had to think about his life, and your own life, and what he wanted and the country. It makes you grow, it made me grow, and going to Broadway with it was absolutely terrific. You know, it’s the kind of thing that really made you think, about who you are and what kind of man you want to be.”

One of the things he wants to be is a good father, the best father. He’s used to the road and uses it—to reach out to the communities, where “Memphis” is playing, and take part, but he wants to stay close to his children.

“You’ve got to think about things like that,” he said. “I love acting, what I do, who I am, but you’ve got to think of other things, too. And the stage—you’ve got to expand. Coalhouse in “Ragtime” made him think about that. “It’s funny. I think about him almost every day, he comes to mind a lot.” Darrington thinks a lot about going back to school, which he plans to do next. “I want to teach others someday,” he said. “I want to open doors, for myself and others.”

Meanwhile, Delray paces the stages, his fists clenched.

“Memphis” will be at the Kennedy Center’s Opera House through July 1.

Georgetowner • June 27, 2012

The Castleton Festival

June 22nd, 2012 at 07:30 PM | info@castletonfestival.org | Tel: 866-974-0767 | Event Website

The Castleton Festival’s fourth season June 22-July 22 brings classical performances, musical theater, opera, bluegrass and fine dining to the rolling hills of Castleton, Virginia (65 miles from DC) with 21 performances featuring The Barber of Seville (June 23 and 29, July 1), Carmen (June 30, July 6 and 8), A Little Night Music (July 13-16), concerts of Beethoven, Mahler, Bach, Gershwin and more.

Address

The Castleton Festival Theatre, 7 Castleton Meadows Lane, Castleton, Virginia, nestled in the rolling hills of Rappahannock County, 60 miles southwest of Washington, D.C.

Fete de la Musique

June 22nd, 2012 at 06:00 PM | Free | marine.cornuet@francedc.org. | Tel: (202) 234-7911 | Event Website

For the past 30 years, June in France has been characterized by hundreds of amateur and professional musicians invading public spaces across the country to share their music. From jazz to electro, the Fête de la Musique has evolved past the point of local festival to become a nationwide tribute to all genres of music.

Address

3401 Water Street, NW

Coldwell Banker’s Art Exhibition & Sale

June 22nd, 2012 at 05:00 PM | mnute@cbmove.com | Tel: 202-333-6100 | Event Website

Established Artists Supporting Emerging Artists
Georgetown Coldwell Banker office is hosting an Art Exhibition and Sale to benefit Duke Ellington School of the Arts. June 22-23.
A group of local artists are contributing their work with a portion of sale proceeds to be donated to the school’s art programs through CBRB Cares, the charitable arm of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.
Wine and cheese reception Friday June 22nd from 5–8:00 pm. Exhibition hours 12–7 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

Address

3050 K Street, NW, Plaza Level, Boardwalk Entrace, Overlooking the Potomac River

Creative Opera Ensemble: Hansel and Gretel

June 23rd, 2012 at 09:30 AM | Free | information@nationaltheatre.org | Tel: (202) 783-3372 | Event Website

The classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale of two lost waifs who stumble upon a delicious gingerbread house deep in the woods, is brought to life in an imaginative musical production set to Engelbert Humperdinck’s enchanting score. Kids are invited to sing, dance and even act in this fun-filled performance that introduces opera in a friendly and engaging atmosphere guaranteed to entertain the entire family!

Address

The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Ave., NW

2nd Annual Thai Village in Georgetown

June 23rd, 2012 at 12:00 PM | Free | nipatsornk@thaiembdc.org | Tel: 202-298-4790 | Event Website

Ambassador Chaiyong Satjipanon, Thai Ambassador to the United States, is hosting the 2nd Annual Thai Village in Georgetown. The event will feature a broad range of popular dishes from all four regions of Thailand, along with Thai drinks, and soft beverages. Cultural performances will include a demonstration of Muay Thai (Thai boxing), music and dances.

Address

Grace Church (Across from Thai Embassy), 1041 Wisconsin Avenue, NW

Walking Tour – “Mr. Nourse’s Neighborhood: Georgetown c. 1800”

June 24th, 2012 at 01:00 PM | 10 | info@dumbartonhouse.org | Tel: 202-337-2288 | Event Website

Join Dwane Starlin for this stroll through Georgetown’s streets, circa 1800, the way Joseph Nourse would have viewed his neighborhood from Dumbarton House.

$10 per walker (ages 3 and under free) Meet at the corner of Q and 27th Streets, NW Tour starts at 1:00pm Rain or shine 1 hour tour 3 years and younger are free, must be in a stroller No pets allowed Wear comfortable shoes and clothing No reservation required (cash or check only at door), but pre-paid reservations welcome

Address

2715 Q Street, NW

Nordic Jazz Festival

June 26th, 2012 at 06:00 AM | $25-$50 | rsvp-hos@foreign.ministry.se | Tel: (202) 467-2645 | Event Website

This year’s Nordic Jazz 2012 presents seven outstanding jazz acts from the five Nordic countries-presenting some of the best performers the Nordic region has to offer.

On June 26, jazz bands from Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark will take the rooftop stage at House of Sweden.

Address

Twins Jazz, 1344 U Street Northwest

House of Sweden – Embassy of Sweden, 2900 K Street, NW

Embassy of Finland, 3301 Massachusetts Avenue, NW

Gary Tischler • June 18, 2012

When it comes to international affairs, there’s always a lot of talk about American Exceptionalism in political circles and not so much about exceptional Americans.

In the cultural and art world, you hardly ever hear the phrase.

You would have with John Paton Davies, Jr., prescient and courageous American diplomat and later in life, an artist and always husband, father, grandfather.

All of those qualities come to the fore in Davies’s posthumously published autobiography, “China Hand.” (Davies died in 1999 at the age of 91.) It coincided with a remarkable exhibition called “A Singular View: The Art and Words of John Paton Davies, Jr.,” which closed recently after a stay at the Mansion at Strathmore.

It was an exhibition that shimmers with a singular life and a history of the times and interests of Davies, a veteran American diplomat whose advice and reports about China during World War II and immediately after eventually cost him his job, an extreme case of the consequences of daring to speak truth to power during the McCarthy era.

The exhibition, the autobiography and the work and life all showcased qualities deserving of attention—for historians, for lovers of unique art, and admirers of singular people.

Davies was that rarest of men—a true American original, whose expertise, curiosity, gifts and knowledge functioned at a high level throughout his life. He lived the life of a high-ranking and highly-regarded foreign service professional among many of his peers—George Kennan was a friend. In the 1950s, having lost his career he began another, moving to Lima, Peru, to open a furniture store with his wife and family. He excelled in both worlds, but he was much more than that—good father and husband, exceptional writer and student of history and art.

All of this was very much in evidence in the art he created while in Peru, in the memoir, in the life. Many of the prints—he based them on pre-Columbian art—also bear a striking echo of Chinese art in their dramatic simplicity. Both the Latin American and Chinese-influenced prints seemed at once ancient and modern, something he saw clearly in his study of the art. “While the record of these ancient art forms reflects the flight of centuries, it is apparent in that in their strength, their vitality, often in their humor, they are modern as tomorrow, as rich and visited to the decorative quality as a millennium of yesterdays,” he wrote.

That’s a fact, and that’s poetry, also. The exhibition includes photographs from his life—of Davies and his wife Patricia Grady Davies in their studio in Lima, among others. The works, mostly monoprints comprise a kind of journey, and are not devoid of a winsome quality as well as a powerful simplicity. Most of the works in the exhibition had been seen publically only once before in 1961 at the Little Gallery in Birmingham, Mich.

Davies was the son of American missionaries in China and was born there. He entered the then new professional foreign service in the 1930s and served in China beginning, off and on, in 1933. He was on the staff of the legendary General Joseph “Vinegar Joe” Stilwell in World War II. In China, he saw the forces of both Communist leader Mao Tse Tung and Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek up close. Davies argued that Chiang was corrupt and would not prevail in the battle against the Communists and suggested that the U.S. establish ties with Mao. This kind of assessment—while accurate and pragmatic—did not sit well with the powers-that-be in Washington, embroiled in the McCarthy disloyalty hunts of the time. Davies and other China hands were caught up in the furor, characterized as men who had “lost” China. He had numerous security investigations against him, all unfounded and with no proof of disloyalty ever found. Instead, the staunch anti-communist Secretary of State John Foster Dulles fired him for lapses in “judgment, discretion and reliability,” after Davies had refused to resign. In 1969, after years of battling, Davies had his security clearance restored.

He and his wife—a writer and partner in her husband’s business in Peru—moved the family to Peru, site of his last diplomatic posting. They were married for 57 years and raised a family of seven, six daughters and a son, among them Patricia “Tiki” Davies, who was for years the communications director at the Kennedy Center.

In pictures, Davies, sometimes wearing sun glasses as on the cover of his autobiography, looks lean, intelligent and thoughtful. Like so many things, pictures don’t always tell the whole story. They certainly don’t encompass the life, work, art, loves, family and friendships, of the exceptional American life lived by John Paton Davies, Jr. In “China Hand,” you find a man with a keen gift for to-the-point story-telling. The book encompasses his foreign service life and is full of insights about the men and women he encountered, among them Stilwell, Kennan, Mao Tse Tung, and Chiang Kai Shek.

(“China Hand” is published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, part of the Haney Foundation Series.) [gallery ids="100733,121371,121365" nav="thumbs"]

Michelle Kingston •

Too many shopping bags in hand from a day on M Street? Most of us would just put up our hand to hail a cab, but maybe we should just struggle and walk the distance now after the D.C. Taxicab Commission reports that seven taxi drivers have been arrested for allegedly assaulting passengers within the past few weeks.

One victim was a Georgetown University student who reported to the Department of Public Safety at approximately 1:23 a.m. on March 29, that he (or she) was assaulted by a taxi driver around midnight who was also making inappropriate sexual comments.

“What we’re seeing is an increase in [cab drivers] physically manhandling their fares,” D.C. Taxicab Commission Chairman Ron Linton told ABC7 News. “Striking them. Pulling them out of their cabs. One woman was pulled out by her ankles.”

Linton has put out a warning, especially to females, as six out of the seven victims were women, to be cautious.

Due to the increase in attacks, the commission has proposed a plan to install panic buttons in to all cabs by December. GPS units and cash-free meter systems that will allow riders to pay with plastic are also expected to be placed in D.C. taxis for a much needed upgrade.

Robert Devaney •

As the nation has begun its celebration of the bicentennial of the War of 1812, which gave us “The Star-Spangled Banner,” we also observe Flag Day. It is designated June 14 because of the 1777 resolution by the Continental Congress which established the design of the U.S. flag on that day.

While there was a D.C. flag tattoo flash mob, that started today at 5 p.m. at Dupont Circle, there are some serious thing to know about the flag and its role in American history.

To say that the flag is an emotional symbol for Americans is an understatement. For many, the flag is perceived and handled almost as if it were a sacred object. There are general rules on how to display or store the flag. While there are few legal constrictions on treatment of the flag, one who mistreats or shows disrespect in public to the Stars-and-Stripes does so at his own peril.

Georgetown has played its part in the history of the flag. It was home to the author of the national anthem, which celebrates Fort McHenry’s stand against the British as well as the triumphant flag which still waved over the fort at the end of the fight. His name was Francis Scott Key and lived on what become known as M Street next to where a bridge and a park would be named in his honor.

After the burning of public buildings in the new capital city, Washington, D.C., in August 1814, the Royal Navy and British army prepared to attack the bigger city of Baltimore in the days before Sept. 14. Meanwhile, as the British roamed around Chesapeake Bay and Maryland, they had captured a town leader, Dr. William Beanes, from Upper Marlboro, prompting a presidential group to seek his release. President James Madison had asked Georgetown lawyer Francis Scott Key to meet the British and negotiate his release. While with British officers on their ship near Fort McHenry, which guarded Baltimore harbor, Key could not leave and witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry. After the British push on land to Baltimore City was stymied, the navy stayed out of range of the fort and hit it repeatedly but failed to pass its defense.

Ending an evening of terrible explosions, lights and sounds, the British gave up the fight and withdrew in the morning. As “the dawn’s early light” revealed that Fort McHenry had stood its ground, Key was elated to see “that our flag was still there.” A large American flag — the Star-Spangled Banner — waved atop the fort. It was a moment of profound relief for the Americans. This war revealed one of the first times that Americans had acted as Americans — a fresh national identity — and not just as Marylanders, Virginians or New Yorkers. Key wrote these sentiments into his poem, “The Defense of Fort McHenry,” which was quickly renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It become an instant hit, an army musical standard and finally the national anthem.

Key lived with his large family in Georgetown, D.C., from 1804 to around 1833 with his wife Polly and their six sons and five daughters. Their land was across from what is now the Car Barn (3500 block of M Street) and their backyard went all the way to the Potomac River (the C&O Canal did not yet exist). An accomplished lawyer, a true gentleman, scholar and fine orator, he was involved in church and community in the small town of 5,000 Georgetowners. He was the district attorney for Washington under the Jackson and Van Buren administrations.

Years later, business leaders and the Georgetowner newspaper founded “Star-Spangled Banner Days” to celebrate the flag, the anthem and its author, a hometown hero. In 1993, Francis Scott Key Park was completed and dedicated on M Street — one block from his famous home, demolished in 1947 — between 34th street and Key Bridge.

Today, Francis Scott Key Park and the Star-Spangled Banner Monument is a D.C. and national salute to the flag, the anthem and the man with its percola, bust of Key and a flag pole which flies a Star-Spangled Banner. That original flag, which inspired Key’s song, is on display about 25 city blocks away at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Passers-by can rest and meet at this Georgetown oasis and recall a time when a young city and country had confronted its own years of war and lived through it to thrive and create a great nation. [gallery ids="100860,126837" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

Cine Francophone: Bus Palladium

June 14th, 2012 at 07:00 PM | $9 admission | Tel: (202) 234-7911 | Event Website

Named after the popular Parisian music venue in the 1970s and ‘80s, Bus Palladium tells the story of a young, four-person band named Lust. Manu (Arthur Dupont) the charismatic leader and singer, and Lucas (Marc-André Grondin) the discreet composer, are childhood friends, but their friendship is put a stake when Laura enters their already precarious and fragile world. French with English subtitles.

Address

Letelier Theater,3251 Prospect St, NW, Upper Courtyard

Opening Reception: Winging It

June 15th, 2012 at 06:00 AM | Free | info@heinercontemporary.com | Tel: 202-338-0072 | Event Website

Heiner Contemporary is delighted to announce Winging It, a group exhibition exploring the study and depiction of birds, featuring work by Colby Caldwell, Todd Forsgren, Justin Gibbens, Megan Greene, Jenny Sidhu Mullins, Roger Tory Peterson, and Beverly Ress. The exhibition takes as its starting point three works by the American naturalist, ornithologist and artist Roger Tory Peterson.

Address

Heiner Contemporary, 1675 Wisconsin Ave NW

Become a Pilot Day

June 16th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | Free Admission! Parking is $15 | bedneyN@si.edu | Tel: 202-633-0732 | Event Website

Family Day and Aviation Display!

Join us for the eighth annual Become a Pilot Day at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport. See 50 visiting vintage, recreational, military, and homebuilt aircraft, on display outside the Center for one day only. Talk to pilots and find out what skills are needed to fly. Inside the Center, test your piloting skills in flight simulators, talk to aviation experts, and enjoy story time and hands-on activities with the kids.
Address

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
14390 Air & Space Museum Parkway Chantilly, VA 20151 USA

A Golden Father’s Day

June 16th, 2012 at 10:30 AM | $3-7 | mkatz@tudorplace.org | Tel: (202) 965-0400 | [Event Website

George Washington left his mark on Tudor Place. What better place to celebrate your favorite “Founding Father”? An interactive tour through the historic mansion, uncovering treasures from the first President. Learn all about gilding – the application of gold leaf to mirrors, picture frames, and other decorative objects – work as family groups to gild a gold-leaf frame to take home. Bring cameras to take pictures with Dad in the gardens!
Address

Tudor Place Historic House and Garden
1644 31 Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20007

Pet Adoption Event

June 17th, 2012 at 12:00 PM | Free Admission | mnute@cbmove.com | Tel: 202-333-6100 | [Event Website](http://www.cbmove.com/real_estate_office/135/District-of-Columbia/Washington/Georgetown.aspx)

Adopt a dog and never walk alone. Pet Adoption Event, The Washington Harbour, 3050 K Street NW, Sunday, June 17, 2012, 12 – 4 pm.

The Georgetown Office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage is proud to join forces with Operation Paws for Homes to host a Pet Adoption Day in Georgetown.

For more information about the event, you may call 202-333-6100 or visit us at www.CBMove.com/Georgetown.

Address

The Washington Harbour, 3050 K Street NW

Weschler’s Fine Book Auction

June 20th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | info@weschlers.com | Tel: (202) 628-1281 | [Event Website](http://www.weschlers.com/)

Weschler’s will auction one of the most diverse private collections of fine books in recent history. The collection, consigned by a Maryland estate, includes many first editions of American and European history, natural history and natural science, travel and exploration, philosophy, literature and poetry, and more. The collection will be exhibited on Monday, June 18th and Tuesday, June 19th from 10am-3pm.

Address

Weschler’s Washington, D.C. gallery