Arts & Society

Mary Bird • July 26, 2011

On Mar. 22, The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington announced the finalists for this year’s awards which will be presented at the Marriott Wardman Park on June 26. The theme will be Carnevale da Cuisine. New this year is the Joan Hisaoka Associate Member of the Year with Adams-Burch, BB&T, EagleBank, Fiji Water, The Ritz-Carlton Washington, DC and SYSCO Food Services of Baltimore the finalists. Traditional categories include Fine Dining Restaurant, Chef of the Year, New Restaurant and Rising Culinary Star. [gallery ids="99633,105194,105225,105221,105199,105217,105213,105204,105209" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird •

The YMCA held its spring luncheon on Apr 2 at Café Milano. Gwendolyn Russell welcomed guests. Executive Director Norris Woods spoke of “inclusiveness, equality and mutual respect for all.” In hailing the success of helping just one person, Tyrone Moore told of a young man who went from not being able to read to graduating from the Lab School and running aquatics programs in DC. Aaron Payne joined the YMCA at age six and is now a “paying customer.” In delivering the invocation, co-chair Marsha Nelms Muawaad said “it’s in the way that we guide our youth that we guide our future.” In addition, luncheon was delicious. [gallery ids="102511,120153,120145,120155" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

The Board of Trustees of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA) and Bank of America held an elegant buffet reception by Capitol Catering at the museum of Feb. 15 to inaugurate Eye Wonder. The photographs from the Bank of American Collection highlight works from 1865 to 2004 by women artists who have created compelling images that reflect their unique perspective. The 26 artists include Margaret Bourke-White, Rineke Dijkstra and Graciela Iturbide. A number of public programs are scheduled during the exhibit which runs through May 22. [gallery ids="99613,105064,105075,105071,105069" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird •

Lima has been declared the Gastronomic Capital of Latin America and that distinction was most evident at the Organization of American States on Mar. 23 as over 300 guests enjoyed a four-course dinner created by noted Peruvian chefs Coque and Felipe Ossio, who came here for the occasion. The menu included ceviche, shrimp chowder, lamb and multiple desserts. OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza presented Peruvian Minister of Trade and Tourism Eduardo Ferreyros with the first Cultural Patrimony of the Americas award in honor of Peruvian gastronomy marking the Inter-American Year of Culture. To recapture the experience guests departed with the prize winning cookbook Peru Mucho Gusto. [gallery ids="99634,105214,105226,105219,105223" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

On Oct. 21, Sitar Arts Center hosted student led tours and then moved to the Meridian International Center for a reception, silent auction, fall fashion show, arts performance and even more to benefit its arts education programs. Exec. Dir. Ed Spitzberg hailed Sitar as “arguably the number one arts center in this country.” Sitar Arts Center enables underserved children and youth to study visual and performing arts in an after school safe haven. It reaches more than 700 students a year, 80 percent from low-income households. Partners include The Corcoran Gallery of Art, The Washington Ballet, Shakespeare Theatre Company and WPAS. – Mary Bird [gallery ids="99444,99445,99446,99447,99448,99449" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

This year’s Honorary Chef Ris Lacoste hosted a VIP reception on Oct. 26 at her acclaimed restaurant highlighted by Chef Geoff Tracey and media spouse Norah O’Donnell signing Baby Love: Healthy, Easy, Delicious Meals for Your Baby and Toddler. The main event was a stone’s throw away at the Ritz-Carlton where over 20 of our area’s best chefs served samples of their signature dishes accompanied by offerings from breweries, wineries and local bartenders. Live and silent auctions included unique dining packages, event tickets, hotel stays and weekend getaways. Proceeds support local March of Dimes programs to reduce premature births and infant mortality. – Mary Bird [gallery ids="99450,99451,99452,99453,99454,99455" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler •

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”

William Shakespeare said that. Well, he wrote it. Maybe.

I think he did, no maybe about it. Otherwise why were we celebrating William Shakespeare’s 447th birthday instead of, say, Oxford’s?

He put “To be or not to be. That is the question” into Hamlet’s mouth, and he spoke them and took three hours answering the question before expiring from a poisoned sword tip. Every young girl from his time forward imagines herself as Juliet, helping Romeo up the balcony, because Romeo described her thusly: “But soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”

He wrote:

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.”

And he was right.

The evidence was on display at the Folger Library’s annual Free Family Party in celebration of William Shakespeare’s Birthday on Capitol Hill. Spring was there. The spirit of youth was in everything. And there were children, lots of them, who I am sure knew his poems.

To many Washingtonians—those who loved the Bard and bards, peonies and poems, madrigals and sword fights, and faint and fair maidens—this great celebration is the first official sign and stamp of spring.

No question, it was spring on Capitol Hill after all that harrumphing about closing down the government and the tea party that has neither tea nor does it party. At this gathering, a rhyme trumps a riot. and children and dogs are princes, princesses and canine royalty.

Hundreds turned out and did things they rarely do every other Sunday. Little boys picked up wooden swords and watched a demonstration of sword-and-broad-sword and other weapons fighting, with two or three members of the gentler sex bashing each other with fury that hell hath not, under the supervision of Brad Weller, who trains and designs medieval combat scenes from Shakespeare’s more warlike plays.

Children –and gleeful adults—stood in a small room and yelled Shakespearean insults at each other.

There was maypole dancing and actors on the Elizabethan stage doing excerpts from “Richard III,” doing their best to explain that he wasn’t such a bad guy. Rosalind appeared on stage from “As You Like It,” the most formidable female character ever put on stage. There was courtly dancing to be sure and much lording it over and bowing and beautiful feathered hats from folks who appear at Renaissance Fairs and look splendidly fair and handsome.

In the Elizabethan garden, open for the first time, you saw a sight to prove Shakespeare right: nearly a baker’s dozen of five or six year old girls, ensconced as if bewitched, watching and listening to the Larksong Renaissance Singers singer Renaissance music, medieval music, madrigals, in Italian, German, French and English, blessed by the presence of mothers and children as much as the music itself.

Everywhere, everyone wore bright garlands and danced. This is the occasion when the Folger airs out its venerable reading room with its century-old books and the scent and dandruff of scholars and the lights and youths come sparkling in to pose with Shakespeare.

I met a dog—a Maltese, miniature poodle mix—named Rosa Luxembourg, the 1920s revolutionary in Germany. Someone played, with dancing delight, an accordion.

Queen Elizabeth (the first) showed up to wave, her hair blazing. They handed out cakes, but not cupcakes, those not having been invented in Georgetown yet.

Spring reigned on Capitol Hill, where in a courtyard at a used bookstore down the street, a woman sang boogie-woogie music, a guy played rickety piano, someone strummed a guitar, and purple blossoms embraced a branch like benign boas.

“Now, every field is clothed with grass, and every tree with leaves; now the woods put forth their blossoms, and the year assumes its gay attire.”

Say happy 447 thbirthday, Master Shakespeare. It was a day in April when “the spirit of youth was in everything.”

Georgetowner •

On Oct. 21, The Georgetowner hosted a happy hour at Ris, celebrating the launch of chef and restaurateur Ris Lacoste’s new column, “Across the Cutting Board with Ris.” The evening was also in honor of the return of The Georgetowner’s much beloved column, “The Player,” in which Veena Trehan teams up with WTOP’s Bob Madigan to interview a diverse array of prominent members of the DC community. Ris catered the event with delicious choice samplings from the acclaimed kitchen, including Gruyere puffs, tuna tartar and veal terrine. Keep an eye out for both columns in The Georgetowner. — Ari Post [gallery ids="99465,99466,99467,99468,99469" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird •

The Junior League of Washington (JLW) launched its 52nd Annual A Capital Collection of Holiday Shops at the Marriott Wardman Park with the Meg Graham Scholarship Breakfast on Nov. 19. The late Rev. Margaret “Meg” Graham was a past President of the Association of Junior Leagues International, former Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Georgetown, and co-founder of the National Alliance to End Homelessness. In l982 the JLW established an annual $10,000 Meg Graham Scholarship awarded to graduating seniors of DC public and charter schools who have been accepted to an accredited post-secondary institution and who demonstrate a strong academic record and significant volunteer service. [gallery ids="99569,104840,104829,104837,104834" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner •

Girls inc Gala was held October 28th. [gallery ids="99470,99471,99472,99473" nav="thumbs"]