Social Scene

Mary Bird • May 11, 2015

Dana Tai Soon Burgess and his eponymous dance company culminated their three-month residence program March 26 at the Kreeger Museum in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain with a premiere of “Picasso Dances,” inspired by four of the artist’s paintings in the museum’s collection. Burgess said that he felt “exposure to art adds to the creative process.” The choreographer traveled the world as an American Cultural Ambassador for the State Department. He dedicated the performance to Picasso and composer Manual de Falla as well as to the memory of his late father. [gallery ids="102064,134475,134474" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler •

It was a close-to-the-end of April weekend in Washington, spring trying to keep its foothold amid an unseasonable windy chill, and Washington being “This Town” as opposed to “Our Town,” it appeared to be a noticeably more busy weekend than usual.

It’s just a perception, of course. The things that quicken heartbeats in this town are not necessarily the things that can wound hearts, or steady hearts, or make them burst with sudden affection.

In short, it’s the differences between, say, the White House Correspondents Dinner and all of its increasing number of events on the noisy social peripherals of after and before parties and brunches, and the more prosaic annual festivals or celebrations, and routines that add a different sort of more modest jewelry to our daily lives in this, our town.

There is a difference among these occasions—all of them are of course specific to the city we live in, but they offer up different forms of pleasures, excitements and opportunities for reflection.

Let’s be the first to admit that if someone had brought me and dragged me to the WHCD, I would have gone gladly and rented a tux, to boot, and informed everyone I knew about my presence there. That being said, without any sentimentality, going on the Georgetown House Tour, taking in the French Market on Book Hill, picking up the best crab cakes in town at the Dupont Circle farmer’s market on Sunday, the guilty television pleasures “Outlander,” “Madame Secretary” and “Game of Thrones” and watching a beheading on the latter made the weekend fulfilling enough. It did not soften the news and alarms of the weekend news, but it gave them perspective.

I hadn’t been to a house tour in a couple of years or so but I was, step by step, cobble stone by cobble stone, amid all the wandering people, children, dogs and shop keepers and artists and docents and home’s facades, none of them homely, struck by what I missed.

It’s fair to say that Georgetown is unique, or that it is not East of the River, Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan or Petworth, or the Navy Yard. The point is that however affluent or historic, Georgetown, which may be a village, is also a Washington neighborhood, with neighbors. To its residents, and to its many visitors, it is a special place. But then, people who live in Adams Morgan like to think it’s a special place, and it is, in spite of the rapid changes that are coming down and the pop ups that are popping up.

We walked around for about three hours—not non-stop—saw four or five houses along N Street, Prospect Street and P Street, wound our way up and down the 1600 block of Book Hill and the French Market, tasted strong coffee, looked at the expanses of new (to me) stores, noted the changes along antique row with new and impressive art galleries, noted the absence of the Georgetown Restaurant, where 1980s late-night revelers ate breakfast at two in the morning. We ran into old acquaintances not forgotten and were greeted, here and there by readers.

We saw the house were Senator Pell once lived on Prospect Street, with its music room, a piano, a harp standing up, and an inviting kitchen which merged liveably with other functions. We saw the splendid house(s) on N Street where their owners had artfully, and carefully collected paintings, rugs and furniture. A Biedemeier was mentioned at one point. There was a John Marin in one house, and a reading room with a fireplace (working) and a John Grisham book draped over a chair’s arm in another.

It reminded me of tours from the past, the weather then and now—windy, but brightly lit at times—and how once on an afternoon in a house full of Asian statuary, a retired diplomat sipping a cocktail told tales of fireflies gathering on a porch in Bangkok.
We stopped by for the tea at St. John’s Episcopal Church, met the new rector, talked with people from the Senior Center and thought of people long gone and others vibrantly here. We ate one too many cupcakes and then went home, satisfied, past the Ritz Carlton not yet a frozen traffic jam.

I will say that I watched both the President’s speech and “Saturday Night Live” star Cecily Strong’s protracted, equally-opportunity diss of everyone there. I watched it on my computer, not C-Span (meow). The president—who appears to be in his milieu here—killed it—zinging the terrible billionaires for their campaign spending, well, a billion. “I did a little fund raising in my time,” he said. “But I mean my middle name is Hussein.”

Strong, who has that preternatural did-I-say-something-nasty look on her face, did say something nasty, and often. But after a while, between her own reactions, and reaction shots of targets in the crowd, it all seemed like what it was: a kind of familial gathering from opposing families merging into a bigger family. This is “Under The Dome,” Washington-style, featuring not disagreeable townfolk, but politicians and elected officials as celebrities, and celebrities paying to breathe the same air in the room.

How these occasions reference themselves against the urgent dramas of international, national, local and even more familial news and events makes for an interesting contrast.

You would think that a roomful of newsmakers and news reporters would somehow at least be reflective of news. But the great tragedy of Nepal and its natural disaster and the churning rallies, protest and some violence in Baltimore seemed to resonate more in homes and on the street. Surely, that was not the time for the police and race joke by Strong, referencing the president’s abundance of white hair.

The news from the great and/or near world resonates as part of the prosaic and sweet moments, the regularity of regular events made all the more sweeter by the larger world.

Nepal made the front page, the White House Correspondents Dinner got five (page four and a little pages in the Style section with 20 pictures from Saturday night on a Monday pape)r. This Town, maybe not Our Town. [gallery ids="102067,134466,134471,134468,134470" nav="thumbs"]

Gary Tischler •

This year’s Washington Performing Arts Gala & Auction—Saturday, May 2, at the Marriott Marquis—will have an international theme as Washington Performing Arts focuses on the 40th anniversary  of its Embassy Adoption Program and its planned expansion.
           
The Embassy Adoption Program is a partnership between Washington Performing Arts and the District of Columbia Public Schools, which pairs 50 embassies with 50 fifth and sixth grade classes for a year’s worth of cross-cultural learning, projects, and enrichment activities.

“There is no city, no place in the country which has a program like this,” said Jenny Bilfield, Washington Performing Arts President and CEO. “We are fortunate to have this and be able to do this.”
           
This year, DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson will receive Washington Performing Art’s first Leadership in Arts Education Award at the gala. Henderson is receiving the award as the representative of DCPS, which is partnering on the Embassy Adoption Program, along with taking part in  and collaborating with Washington Performing Arts on a host of programs, including Concerts in  Schools, Capital Dance, Capital Jazz, Capital Strings and Capital Voices.  
           
According to Washington Performing Arts, the award has no fixed timing: it will be given based on arts-education merit alone, and not time-elapsed criteria.
           
“The Embassy Adoption Program has benefited thousands of students over the years,” Bilfield said. “Our students in this city live in a world that’s not always recognized by others—they are surrounded by a hotbed of international culture.  To be able to connect in such a programmatic way with the international community here is one of our proudest achievements.”
           
The focus of gala comes on a day which also kicks off the annual Passport D.C. festivities, a month-long  explosion of international culture in which the city’s embassies open their doors to the public for a variety of activities, exhibitions, and events.
           
This year’s gala is chaired by Reginald Van Lee. The Embassy Adoption Program is chaired by Jake Jones, Daimler.  EAP committee co-chairs are David Marventano, Fluor; Rachel Pearson, Pearson & Associates; Ambassador Arturo Sarukhan, former Mexican Ambassador to the United States and Veronica Valencia-Sarukhan. 
           
The gala kicks off at 6 p.m. with a Kentucky Derby Watch Party.  Cocktails and Silent auction begin at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and program at 8 p.m.
           
Performers will include the Washington Performing Arts Children of the Gospel Choir and the New York-based hot jazz ensemble, The Hot Sardines, who are—did we say?—hot.
           
The Embassy Adoption Program is described as an arts-integrated  academic program in which fifth and sixth grade teachers apply to participate.  Each class is paired with a single embassy, and together they embark on a school year-long journey, exploring the adopted country’s history, culture, government, arts, food and geography. 
           
Some 50,000 students have been able to participate in the program over the years, from all eight wards of the city, partnering with some 100 embassies.
           
The program culminates in a presentation about the countries which the classes have partnered with and a mini-United Nations event in May.
           
The gala comes at a time when Bilfield is completing her second year at the helm of Washington Performing Arts and her first season which bears her programming mark, including new programs, such as “The Art of the Orchestra,” “Mapping Our Silk Road: Creative Intersections” and “Wynton Marsalis x 3: a 30-year Friendship Deepens.”
           
The gala also comes days after Washington Performing Arts’ 2015-2016 season announcement, the first of two seasons in anticipation of 2016’s 50th anniversary  celebrating.
   

Georgetowner •

Two bastions of luxurious living came together on April 20 as chef Patrick O’Connell launched his newest book “The Inn at Little Washington: A Magnificent Obsession” at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens. Joyce Conwy Evans, the British “fairy godmother” and interior designer of the inn, was the guest of honor. One guest quipped that Evans had only two clients: O’Connell and the queen. “Too much is just right,” said O’Connell, who thanked Ellen MacNeille Charles, Hillwood board president emerita, and Hillwood President Nancy Appleby. (Charles is the granddaughter of Marjorie Merriweather Post, who bought Hillwood in 1955 and then turned it into a museum.) The Inn at Little Washington’s legendary cuisine was well represented with lobster and caviar.
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Mary Bird •

On April 24, Aniko Gaal Schott and Nash Schott elegantly hosted their friend of long standing, Princess Michael of Kent, at their home on the occasion of her visit to Washington to launch the first two volumes of her Anjou trilogy. The princess lectures on historical topics and regaled the guests with the story of Yolande of Aragon, a powerful and complex woman of her time. Several days later, Hungarian Ambassador Dr. Réka Szemerkényi bestowed the Order of Merit of Hungary, Officer’s Cross, on Aniko Gaal Schott for her outstanding achievements in promoting Hungarian-American relations. A tearful Schott rejoined, “I carry Hungary in my heart.” [gallery ids="102079,134330,134331" nav="thumbs"]

Mary Bird • April 28, 2015

It was an interesting first try as the Helen Hayes Awards divided honors depending on the ratio of actors in a production working under an Actors’ Equity contact and raced through the presentations at the Lincoln Theatre on Apr. 6. Awardees accommodated to the 30 second acceptance deadline with aplomb. The downside, saved by wonderful late arriving spring weather, was an endless wait for the Howard Theatre to open its doors for the after party. Troopers that the theatre goers are, there was nary a complaint before a stampede to the bars and dance floor.
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Robert Devaney • April 23, 2015

The inaugural Icon of Georgetown awards presentation filled the back dining room of J.Paul’s Restaurant March 11 with well-wishers for two Georgetowners who have served the town for more than 20 years . . . at least.

Ward 2 councilmember since 1991, awardee Jack Evans was among old friends and his 18-year-old children, Christine, John and Katherine. Evans noted that his political life began upstairs at J.Paul’s with the likes of Max Berry, Bill Jarvis, Richard Levy — and Paul Cohn. Evans noted that he won his first council race by 320 votes. The longest-serving councilmember also recalled his first stay in Georgetown at 35th and N streets in the summer of 1975.

Awardee Paul Cohn, who founded J.Paul’s in 1983 and began many other restaurants, such as Paulo’s, Old Glory, Georgia Brown’s, Georgetown Seafood Grille and the River Club, was introduced by Greg Casten of Tony and Joe’s Seafood Place. Part of Cohn’s latest effort, Boss Shepherd’s on 13th Street in downtown D.C., Casten said, “The biggest thing about Paul is that no one has anything bad to say about him. As a friend, he is always there.”

The joyful get-together benefitted a major Georgetown mission: Georgetown Heritage — a non-profit coordinated by the Georgetown Business Improvement District — which seeks to “restore and revitalize” the mile-long section of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, including the purchase of a new canal boat and the replacement of locks. The long-term, large-scale efforts call for donations that will likely exceed $25 million.

Host Tom Gregg, the new CEO of Capital Restaurant Concepts, which owns J.Paul’s, Old Glory, Paulo’s and other eateries in the D.C. area, said the C&O Canal is one of Georgetown’s treasures and presented the awards to Evans and Cohn.

Among the many other C&O Canal plans, Georgetown BID CEO Joe Sternlieb said that if all goes according to plan, the canal barge, The Georgetown, will be available for rent on Saturdays for group dinner or parties.

Robert Devaney •

Showing up for the fourth time at the Gridiron Club dinner, President Barack Obama proved himself a more than able comic-in-chief, joking about Hillary Clinton’s email snafu and D.C.’s partial legalization of marijuana. Also at hand were Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, doing stand-up for the Republicans and Democrats, respectively.

Put on by the Gridiron Club and Foundation, which was formed by newspapers and news services in 1885, the evening of fellowship demands that journalists and politicians call a truce and mock themselves or each other. There are also musical skits performed by the press members. The United States Marine Band is there, and everyone sings “Auld Lang Syne” at the end.

The 130th annual dinner was held March 14 at the Renaissance Hotel on 9th Street NW with photographers and onlookers waiting in the lobby to check out the specially invited and formally dressed arrivals. Men wear white-tie, while women go full-length. No formal reporting, recording or filming is allowed, but somehow notes from the tables make it out past the lobby and into news reports the next day.

While baseball great Hank Aaron, the new owner of the Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, and the new D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser were there among 650 others, top 2016 presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush were not.

Presidents (except Grover Cleveland) from Benjamin Harrison to Barack Obama have spoken at the dinner, an insider Washington tradition.

Herewith, gleamed from various press reports that include the Washington Post, Politico and National Public Radio:

From NPR: Obama commented, “This is my third appearance at this dinner as president. And I predict you will laugh harder than ever. I’m not saying I’m any funnier. I’m saying weed is now legal in D.C. I know that’s how you guys are getting through this dinner. That’s why you ate the food.”

From the Post: Walker said, “I really do have a lot of close friends who are Democrats. I even have Hillary’s private e-mail . . . It’s HillaryClinton@Wallstreet.com. You know the best part of that joke, Elizabeth Warren wrote it for me.”

From Politico, here are a few of Obama’s other jokes: “Just a few years ago, I could never imagine … being in my fifties. And when it comes to my approval ratings, I still can’t. (Laughter.) I mean, think about how things have changed since 2008. Back then, I was the young, tech-savvy candidate of the future. Now I’m yesterday’s news and Hillary has got a server in her house. (Laughter.) I didn’t even know you could have one of those in your house. (Laughter and applause.) I am so far behind. Did you know that? I would have gotten one. On the bright side, by the time I’m done with this job, I will finally have enough life experience for a memoir. (Laughter.)

“My Vice President isn’t here tonight. He told me, ‘If I want to hear people talking for five hours straight, I’ll just stay home alone.’ (Laughter.) And, by the way, this is just a quick aside — Joe rubs my shoulders too. … Despite a great performance tonight, Scott [Walker] has had a few recent stumbles. The other week he said he didn’t know whether or not I was a Christian. And I was taken aback, but fortunately my faith teaches us forgiveness. So, Governor Walker, as-salamu alaykum. (Laughter and applause.) . . .

“I got flak for appearing on a video for BuzzFeed, trying to reach younger voters. What nonsense. You know, you don’t diminish your office by taking a selfie. You do it by sending a poorly written letter to Iran. (Laughter and applause.) Really, that wasn’t a joke.”
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Georgetowner •

The Embassy of Turkey and Vital Voices Global Partnership, in partnership with the Willard Hotel, held Together Through Time – Turkey’s Voice For Women, a benefit dinner on April 15 to promote awareness of violence against women. The evening featured special guest and Turkish haute couture designer Cemil ?pekçi, who showcased an Ottoman-inspired fashion collection in a runway show. Vital Voices is an international non-governmental organization that invests in women leaders working to advance economic opportunity, increase political and public leadership, and protect human rights. [gallery ids="102062,134498,134500,134502,134504,134506,134508,134510,134512,134514,134496,134494,134480,134519,134518,134482,134484,134486,134488,134490,134492,134516" nav="thumbs"]