With Corcoran Partition, Old Fillmore School on 35th Street to Be Sold
• May 23, 2014

The Corcoran College of Art and Design’s Georgetown campus, housed at the old Fillmore School at 1801 35th St., NW, will be for sale with the transfer of the Corcoran School and its real estate to George Washington University, according to the Washington Business Journal.

The oldest art gallery in Washington, D.C., the Corcoran Gallery of Art and its art school are to be divided between G.W. and the National Gallery of Art — with the university receiving the school and the real estate and the National Gallery controlling the Corcoran’s works of art.

The deal between the Corcoran, National Gallery and G.W. has been completed and awaits approval by the D.C. Superior Court.

Meanwhile, the old Fillmore School property at the intersection of 35th and S streets will again be looked at by developers — to be turned to a condominium, as previously planned. In 2010, EastBanc was in talks with the Corcoran to purchase it, but talks broke down. (The old Fillmore School property is not part of the D.C. Public School System.)

The Corcoran located its Georgetown campus in old Fillmore School in 1998. According to the Corcoran, “renowned artist and photographer William Wegman helped launch the campus and taught the first course at Georgetown, allowing students to photograph his famous dogs.”

[REVISED May 23 for correction and clarification.]

A Weekend Alive With Music: Volta Park, Adams Morgan, Embassy Series
• May 21, 2014

The old saying or song is wrong: it’s not always fair weather. Once again, the world is on fire and drowning. Once again, it takes a change in the air, and a song or two to come with it, to make the next week seem promising again.

During the week, the news was again full of streams overflowing, rivers running through it and by it, with yet another local outburst of storms and flooding here and there along the Potomac as in the days before.

This time, the misery was shared by the world, where floods tore through the Balkans, otherwise known as Serbia, Croatia and other places that once made up the no-longer-in-existence nation of Yugoslavia.

Out in California, wildfires raged and destroyed in one of the more affluent pieces of real estate in the state, down in San Diego, burning homes in the arid countryside and hills.

It made me think of the old James Taylor song—“I’ve seen fire, and I’ve seen rain…..”

Taylor made music, and it was music—and a horse and another lyric—that soothed if not the savage beasts, at least the savage weather.

Because spring once again was in high dudgeon of blue-sky good feeling, outdoors and indoors.

At Georgetown’s Volta Park, the Citizens Association of Georgetown kicked off its annual Concerts in the Parks series bouncing the air with children, snow cones and balloons as always, resounding with the sounds and smells of picnics on a Sunday afternoon. There was—oh, my sorrow—free Haagen Dazs ice cream, and complimentary Sprinkles cupcakes.

Best of all, musically and in any way, there was Georgetown treasure Rebecca McCabe, singer-songwriter, blonde and lovely as always, singing with Human Country Jukebox, who had foraying with high voice and spirits into classic Johnny-Cash-style country music before she raced in from the airport. At concert’s end, a special delight: the kids singing “Let It Go” from the film “Frozen,” up on stage with McCabe.

That was Sunday, yesterday, all our sorrows seemed so far away.

On Saturday, there was the horse and the City Paper’s female jazz vocalist of the year of 2013, not all together, but sounding similar confident tones and tunes. At the Preakness—after sitting in on the Adams Morgan Summer Concert Series at Columbia Road and Calvert and 18th streets—you got a chance to see that California Chrome, that winner of a three-year-old once again scoot to a first place finish, this time with a smart position and a sprint at the end, seeming hardly to work up a sweat. He is now king of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

This means that Chrome, the horse of little pedigree — with the working class owners, a jockey who admits that his horse might be just as smart as he is and a trainer who’s never been in the inner circle of the Triple Crown sorts – can now become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

If California Chrome wins the Belmont, the endurance and heart tester of a race which has foiled a few speedsters in its day. That could happen unless the mini-controversy of the nose guards worn by Chrome to help his breathing turns into a cut-off-your-nose-to-spite-the-Triple-Crown kind of thing.

Meantime, Rochelle Rice, a local jazz singer of some renown sang with a trio on a perfect kind of Saturday afternoon in Adams Morgan. On this corner, where there are empty bike racks, and you’re only 100 feet away from the site of the latest condo development where there used to be the Exxon station, you can feel change. But you can also feel the things that don’t change, come what may, as traffic and connector buses swerve around the turn, and just about all the little kids that live in Lanier Heights showed up to try their little selves on hula hoops.

Rice had her way about her too: she sang Satchmo’s soothing celebration of everything, “Wonderful World,” and there was nothing you could brood or say to that, because she infuses pop with jazz, and leaves the left-overs to both. She can stretch an entire line of lyric into meaning, or caress and make putty out of vowels and make you love it.

That was Saturday.

On Friday, at the Embassy of Hungary, the Embassy Series under founder Jerome Barry, resurrected the middle-brow art of operetta vocals, with the presence of soprano Krisztina David from Hungary and Austrian tenor Michael Heim to engage in romantic musical duels and courtship, accompanied by George Peachey on piano.

They played the songs and music of Franz Lehar and Emmerich Kalman, masters of the form of music which once lathered Broadway and MGM musicals, with waltzes and romances and comedy from “The Merry Widow” to “The Gypsy Princess.”

This was the kind of music and performances which, done with gusto, verve and elan, was an antidote to weather and war, any evening. Heim sang with ebullience and exuberance, and David soared with high notes and the charm of a natural, beautiful coquette.

So, James Taylor did that song: “I’ve seen fire, and I’ve seen rain…

And then: “I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end.”

And that was the weekend that was.
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Md. Gov. O’Malley Touts ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ Bicentennial Celebrations
• May 19, 2014

“In Baltimore, we have been doing homeland security since 1814,” said Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley of the defense of that city by Fort McHenry against the British Navy 200 years ago this summer.

Speaking at the National Press Club May 13, O’Malley was on hand to announce the State of Maryland’s celebration of the 200th anniversary of “The Star-Spangled Banner” and the Battle of Baltimore with events at Fort McHenry, towns along the Chesapeake Bay and the Star-Spangled Spectacular in Baltimore, Sept. 10 to Sept. 16.

During the War of 1812, when the United States declared war on Great Britain, it was an uncertain time. O’Malley said that Americans ask today, “Have we ever been so divided?” He replied: “Yes, we have.”

That national fear and uncertainty and, then, astonishment at America’s reversal of fortune at Fort McHenry’s victory was expressed perfectly by Washingtonian lawyer and Georgetowner Francis Scott Key, who was sent on a rescue mission by President James Madison. Key penned what would become our national anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

“The story of Baltimore, the War of 1812 and ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ especially speaks to these times,” O’Malley said.

As Americans, we were “finding our way” and faced threats to free trade and travel, said O’Malley, who sees in the threads of the Star-Spangled Banner flag “the threads of human dignity.”

“The people of Baltimore believed in each other” then, O’Malley said. “We are all in this together.”

To kick off the big history lesson, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will put the original manuscript of the lyrics of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by Francis Scott Key on exhibit next to the original Star-Spangled Banner which flew over Fort McHenry on Sept. 14, 1814. This union is a historic first.

Besides “the best fireworks display in Baltimore since 1814,” as organizers say, what else is in store? Here is a list of summer 2014 events, as provided by Star-Spangled 200, Inc.:

— June 14 through July 6: union of original 15-star, 15-stripe flag (the Star-Spangled Banner) with the National Anthem manuscript at the National Museum of American History

— June 6 through Sept. 8: Chesapeake Campaign Festivals

— June 6 to 8: Raiders and Invaders Weekend (Leonardtown)

— June 21 to 22: Battle of St. Leonard Creek (St. Leonard)

— Aug. 23 to 24: Battle of Bladensburg (Bladensburg)

— Aug. 30 to 31: Battle of Caulk’s Field (Fairlee)

— Aug. 30 to 31: United States Capital for a Day (Brookeville)

— Sept. 6-8: Battle of North Point Commemoration (Baltimore County)

— Sept. 9: Young Defenders’ Day at Fort McHenry (Living American Flag)

— Sept. 10 to 16: Star-Spangled Spectacular (Baltimore)

— Sept. 10: Star-Spangled Festival begins (through September 15) Tall ships and gray hulls arrive

— Sept. 11: Public ship tours Blue Angels’ practice

200th March of the Defenders

9/11 Flag Commemorative Event at Fort McHenry

–Sept. 12: Defender’s Day Observance

Public ship tours

Blue Angels’ practice

— Sept. 13: Public ship tours

Star-Spangled Spectacular Aircraft Display & Festival (Martin State Airport)

Star-Spangled Spectacular Air Show featuring the Blue Angels

Evening Ceremony at Ft. McHenry and Star-Spangled Spectacular concert and live television broadcast
Spectacular Fireworks

— Sept. 14: “By Dawn’s Early Light” Flag Raising at Ft. McHenry Star-Spangled Spectacular Aircraft Display and Festival (Martin State
Airport) Public Ship Tours

Star-Spangled Spectacular Air Show, featuring the Blue Angels

— Sept. 15: Public ship tours

Star-Spangled 200 Legacy Day

— Sept. 16: Parade of Ships departure

Useful links for Star-Spangled Banner celebrations:

Fort McHenry:

Star-Spangled 200 events:

Maryland War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission:

Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail:

Visit Baltimore:

Baltimore.org:

Maryland Historical Society:

Maryland Office of Tourism:

Trash Containers Will Get Picked Up
•

William Howland, director of the Department of Public Works functions, told those at the April 28 advisory neighborhood commission meeting that marked containers for pick-up would be collected within a couple of weeks. He said DPW would focus on Georgetown and Capitol Hill, two neighborhoods where many of the new containers are unwanted. Residents expressed frustration with the unsightly clutter of various containers along the sidewalks. Howland said that residents could turn the containers upside down to indicate pick-up or spray paint them “Take me,” if the DPW stickers were missing.

Weekend Round May 15, 2014
•

Trio Caliente SURPRISE SHOW THURSDAY at Blues Alley

May 15th, 2014 at 08:00 PM | $20 | Event Website

Recent Wammie Winner Trio Caliente will be performing this Thursday at Blues Alley at 8 and 10pm.

Trio Caliente performs a sultry, sexy mix of salsa, gypsy rumba, flamenco pop, and Brazilian jazz. They were recently awarded Best Latin Group for the second year in a row by the Washington Area Music Association.

Address

Blues Alley; 1073 Wisconsin Ave NW

Artist’s Proof Gallery: An Exhibition of Fashion Photography Works by Fred Maroon

May 16th, 2014 at 10:00 AM | Event Website

Artist’s Proof Gallery is excited to announce a show of fashion photographers from 1966-1970 by renowned photographer the late Fred Maroon (1924-2001). For the first time, these fashion photographs will be exhibited to the public as a collection from Friday, May 16 through Sunday, June 1. Gallery hours are daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Address

3323 Cady’s Alley NW

Busboys and Poets Presents THE ADMISSION

May 16th, 2014 at 07:30 PM | General: $35; Student/Senior: $25 | Admission@busboysandpoets.com | Tel: 202-332-6432 | Event Website

The Admission, Motti Lerner’s acclaimed & controversial play, is presented at Studio Theatre in workshop form by Busboys and Poets. This Israeli homage to Arthur Miller’s All My Sons focuses on a wounded veteran’s truth-searching mission surrounding the murder of Palestinian villagers by a unit commanded by his father 40 years earlier. After each performance, there will be open discussions with cast members & community leaders.

Address

1501 14th Street NW

Photography Workshop

May 17th, 2014 at 08:00 AM | Price: $50 per adult / Friends of Oatlands members: $42 | Tel: 703-777-3174 ext. 103 | Event Website

Join professional photographer Wayne Wolfersberger May 17 for an outdoor morning photographic workshop at Oatlands Historic House & Garden from 8 am-noon.

Bring your camera, lens and tripod (if you have one) for four hours of shooting. The workshop will include details of composition, aperture for depth of field and other camera settings.

Maximum of 10 participants. Rain date May 18

Several of your images may be submitted to the instructor via email for critiquing at a later date.

Address

Oatlands Historic House and Gardens; 20850 Oatlands Plantation Lane; Leesburg, VA 20175

The workshop will meet at Oatlands Carriage House for orientation and instructions

Understanding Ballet: Classical to Contemporary

May 17th, 2014 at 10:00 AM | General Admission $130 | Tel: 202-633-3030 | Event Website

Choreographer Diane Coburn Bruning, founder and artistic director of the Washington-based Chamber Dance Project, provides an introduction to that fascinating evolution.

Participants take a close-up look at that process in an interactive working rehearsal with Chamber Dance Project’s dancers and string quartet—and also get a chance to try their hand at shaping some of the dancers’ movements in a ballet created and performed on the spot.

Address

S. Dillon Ripley Center, 1100 Jefferson Drive SW

Check-in begins at 9:30am in front of the Carriage House.

Cathedral Choral Society Presents Classical Showcase

May 18th, 2014 at 05:00 PM | Start at $25 | srockwood@cathedral.org | Tel: 202.537.2228 | Event Website

The final concert for the Cathedral Choral Society’s 2013/14 Season features Beethoven’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, Haydn’s ‘Lord Nelson’ Mass and Mozart’s 1785 Cantata, The Penitent Davide.

Address

3101 Wisconsin Ave., NW.

Rebecca McCabe and a “Community Shred” at the May 18 Concert

May 18th, 2014 at 05:00 PM | cagmail@cagtown.org | Tel: 202.337.7313 | Event Website

For the first concert of the Concerts in The Park season, Gypsy Sally’s presents Georgetown resident singer-songwriter Rebecca McCabe as she teams up with Human Country Jukebox for a little Dixie in the District. This amazing pop country team will perform 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m., Sunday, May 18, in Volta Park. Little (and big) Disney’s Frozen enthusiasts won’t want to miss the on-stage “Frozen” sing-along.

Address

Volta Park; Washington DC 20007

Former Gates Foundation CEO to Speak on Poverty and Hunger in DC
May 18th, 2014 at 12:45 PM | FREE | serve@nationalpres.org | Tel: 202-537-7540 | Event Website

Come for an engaging talk with Patty Stonesifer, current president and CEO of Martha’s Table and former CEO of the Gates Foundation. Learn about the larger issues of poverty and hunger, best practices, and how you can make a difference! This event is free and open to the public; an optional boxed lunch ($10) is available from 12:15-12:45. To reserve a lunch, contact: serve@nationalpres.org or visit http://www.nationalpres.org/GreatDayofService

Address

The National Presbyterian Church, Stone Fellowship Hall; 4101 Nebraska Ave. NW

Alex and Ani Georgetown: ‘They Serve 2’ Charity Event

May 19th, 2014 at 06:00 PM | staceylindsey@hotmail.com | Tel: (202) 333-4195

Alex and Ani is a hosting a ‘Charmed by Charity’ Event on Monday, May 19 to raise funds for ‘They Serve 2,’ a non-profit organization committed to enhancing the lives of military families worldwide. 15 percent of all sales during the event will also go directly to ‘They Serve 2.’ . To RSVP to the ‘They Serve 2′ Charmed by Charity’ Event, email Stacey Lindsey at staceylindsey@hotmail.com.

Address

Alex and Ani Georgetown; 3068 M St NW, Washington

Cultural Leadership Breakfast featuring Jenny Bilfield

May 22nd, 2014 at 08:00 AM | $20 ($15 for George Town Club members) | richard@georgetowner.com | Tel: 202 3384833

Join us for the Georgetown Media Group’s next Cultural Leadership Breakfast featuring Jenny Bilfield, President & CEO of Washington Performing Arts.

Please RSVP by May 16 by emailing Richard@Georgetowner.com or call 202-338-4833.

Address

George Town Club; 1530 Wisconsin Ave., NW.

ANC’s Peter Prindiville Saluted
• May 16, 2014

Advisory neighborhood commissioner Peter Prindiville resigned from the ANC because he is graduating Georgetown University and leaving town. Prindiville called the ANC “unsung heroes” in a usually thankless job. He said he found the ANC’s “cordial attitude refreshing,” especially “in Washington of all places.” For Prindiville, the ANC is an “epitome of what good democracy is.” Congratulations, Peter. Job very well done. Thank you for the your service. The single-member district 5 in ANC 2E is now vacant. Contact the D.C. Board of Election, if you are interested in filling the position.

Kitty Kelley’s Next Book Will Be on Georgetown
•

Look out, Georgetowners, famed and feared biographer Kitty Kelley – who has written about Jackie O, Sinatra, Oprah and the Bush family and lives in Georgetown – will be writing her next book on her own town. She first told her neighbor and writer Carol Joynt that she intends to get the scoop on the “verve and dynamic of the loveliest 12 square blocks in Washington.” Kelley told Joynt of the Washingtonian magazine that she will give her book proceeds “back to Georgetown.” Some of you out there can expect a phone call or email soon from the author.

Mission of the Georgetown Community Partnership
•

It was “one of the great moments for Georgetown,” says Jack DeGioia, president of Georgetown University, when the neighborhood and university finally agreed to have a continuous discussion on matters of main campus growth and activity and community relations.
The point person for the university is Lauralyn Lee, Associate Vice President of Community Engagement and Strategic Initiatives, who has worked in that position for 18 months and at the university since 2002. She lives in the District with her husband and two daughters.
Any new efforts involve “multi-year, long-range planning” and a sustainable commitment, Lee said. Here’s how the university explains it:
The Georgetown Community Partnership is the forum created as part of Georgetown University’s 2010 Campus Plan to facilitate discussion, information sharing and consensus-based decision-making to support a high quality of life in our community and the university’s long-term planning.
– Created in July 2012 with a shared vision for responsible long-term planning in partnership with the city and the community;
– Led by a steering committee composed of neighbors, senior university administrators, and students;
– Five working groups focus on shared priorities: safety and student life; transportation and parking; environment and landlords; communications and engagement; and data and metrics;
– Provides mechanism for shared contributions and responsibility on issues of common concern (participants include community members from Georgetown, Burleith and Foxhall, university administrators, students and faculty);
– Enhances collaboration and communication between the university and the community.
Among the new efforts is the Office of Neighborhood Life – 202–687–8413.
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Washington Monument Reopens: Fresh Views
•

Closed for repairs since the August 23, 2011, earthquake, the iconic 555-foot obelisk dedicated to George Washington, first President of the United States, reopened to the public May 12.

The Georgetowner participated in a media preview May 10, when National Park Service rangers showed off the newly reopened Washington Monument and escorted writers and photographers to the top.

The 5.8-magnitude quake — unusual for the mid-Atlantic — caused significant damage to the monument which dominates the skyline of Washington, D.C. The monument’s foundation was laid July 4, 1848, and — after years of lack of funds and work halted — the structure formally opened in December 1884.

Scaffolding around the monument was erected for the meticulous repair work to be done. Cracks, especially at the top of the monument, the pyramid, were filled and braced or stones replaced. The work took almost three years.

Now, visitors may again take the elevator to the top of monument and look out windows at the height of 500 at each compass point, north, east, west and south. On the floor below, there is an exhibit area which tells the story of the Washington Monument.

Tickets are free from the Park Service, but there is a service fee of $1.50 to make a reservation. When NPS first offered tickets in mid-April, 16,000 tickets were snapped in 15 minutes. Most visitors use the online system these days. During the summer, hours have been extended. Visit www.nps.gov/wamo for details.

On hand at the Monday ceremony to reopen the monument were Sally Jewell, Interior Secretary; Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton; Mayor Vincent Gray; Jonathon Jarvis, director of the National Park Service; Robert Vogel, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks; David Rubenstein, co-founder of the Carlyle Group; Caroline Cunningham, president of the Trust for the National Mall; and Al Roker of NBC News, master of ceremonies.

Jewell noted the need for private-public partnerships in her remarks. She especially thanked Rubenstein who donated $7.5 million to match funds allocated by Congress. For Jewell, it is about “ordinary citizens making extraordinary contributions.”

For his part, Rubenstein is considered a patriotic philanthropist, and he joked he had received a message from George Washington on his iPad over the weekend.

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Carine’s Bridal Purchases Georgetown Café Building
• May 15, 2014

REVISED: May 15, 2014

Within a year or two, Carine’s Bridal plans to move one block down Wisconsin Avenue into the space once occupied by the shuttered Georgetown Café. The bridal salon purchased the vacant retail space for $2.1 million, the Washington Business Journal reported. The eatery was closed a few years ago.

Carine Krawiec will relocate her boutique to the 6,200-square-foot, three-level building at 1623 Wisconsin Ave., NW. Her current store is at 1726 Wisconsin Ave., NW, and will remain open. Renovations to the new space will begin as soon as possible.