The Best Day

Stuart has a friend whose daughter says this was the best day.

Stu and I came close to having that last Wednesday, May 25. We had tickets to see the matinee of Follies at the Kennedy Center. Our plan was to meet up at the Foggy Bottom Metro stop around 11 and then walk into Georgetown and have lunch at Mr. Smiths. It’s one of our favorite restaurants. I was going to have one of their burgers.

We met up right on time. We both looked very dapper. It was a nice sunny but not too hot day. A great day for a walk into Georgetown. We got to Mr. Smiths and found out that they didn’t open until 11:30. We decided to walk to Georgetown Park.

Georgetown Park is a mall along M Street in Georgetown. It has seen better days and that’s putting it mildly. I think there are more empty store fronts then there are actual stores. It is struggling to survive. In fact at one point earlier this year it was on the verge of closing all together. One thing that does bring people into the place is that a branch of the DMV is located there. But I’m not sure that guarantees that people will do any shopping. We took a walk around and then headed back to Mr. Smiths.

It turned out we were still a little early so we walked down to Barnes and Noble. After that it was time for Mr. Smith’s to be open. It was after 11:30 but they were still not opened. We then opted for an Italian place around the corner. It just so happens this place is part of my mileage plus program with American Airlines. It also just so happens that from the middle of May to the middle of June each time you eat out at a restaurant that’s part of the program you get 300 miles. Not bad at all. The meal itself was great. I had pan seared salmon with a salad. Very good.

Then it was off to the Kennedy Center. We had great seats. Seven rows back. The show was incredible. We both really enjoyed it. Elaine Paige was in it. The last time I saw her was in Chess in London just about 25 years ago. Bernadetts Peters was also in it. She of course I saw just last fall in a Little Night Music another Sondheim show. Just a fantastic show.

From there we went back to my house to do resume. Stu is still looking for a job. We even had fun doing that.

Then I said I take us both out to dinner. We went to Franklin’s which is about 10 minutes away from my house by car. I finally got my hamburger and it was great. Stu had vegetarian cottage pie. He liked it too. After dinner, I drove Stu home. And that was our best day.

Kennedy Center Open House, Video

Here's some video I shot at the Open House.

Kennedy Center Open House

The Kennedy Center Open House is always a great deal of fun. Lots of free performances. One of the most enjoyable was in the Concert Hall. It was the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Enrique Diemecke. On hand was Eugenio Toussaint to play his own composition Concerto for Improvised Piano and Orchestra. It was a great treat and part of a wonderful afternoon.

Kennedy Center Open House, Part II

One of the activities people got to do was play instruments. There was a whole range of them to choose from drums to cellos. The last two pictures are from one of the main halls at the Center.

Kennedy Center

I went to the Kennedy Center last night to see Christine Ebersole at the Terrace Theater. Here are some pictures of the Center.

More From the Kennedy Center

The last five pictures are taken from the top of the Kennedy Center.

Another Kennedy Center Clip

This one ends a little abruptly.

Stills from the video

Here are a few still images from the video. Not that I'm getting carried away with iMovie in any way shape or form.

Kennedy Center clip

Well I got a small clip to work on YouTube.

Kennedy Center Open house

Yesterday I went to the Kennedy Center open house. It was a great deal of fun. I got to hear a free concert from the National Symphony Orchestra. There were many many people there. As we would say in my family it was mobbed, mobbed.















































































The view from the top of the Kennedy Center

Lang Lang at the Kennedy Center

Here's a review of the performance.

I don't go to make performances by the symphony because I don't know the names of the many pieces that I enjoy. So this was a treat. There was a very beautiful opening piece by Enescu, Romania Rhapsody No. 2 in D major. The other piece of the opening half was City Scape by Jennifer Higdon. It was the Washington premiere of this piece and the writer was there. She took questions in the AfterWords segment too.

The second half was Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 1 which is one of my favorite classical pieces.

Again my seat gave me the vantage point of being behind Land and thus I was able to his hands play the piano. Here are just some random thoughts I wrote down on the subway ride back home on Friday night from the performance:

• How do you know when to have one hand move over the other? Yes it must have something to do with the notes you are playing.

• Sometimes Lang's fingers pounded the keys and other times they caressed the keys.

• When he wasn't playing, I noticed that his right arm and left kept time to the music.

• I was surprised how help his arms in relation to the piano for some reason I thought they would be closer to the piano.

• He stretched and arched his back at one point. What you see someone do at gym instead of a concert performance.

• There were times when his hands were a blur moving over the keys. It was genius.

There were balcony seats to the side and behind the orchestra. I think it would be very interesting to see a performance from there. The unfortunate thing is that there is only one performance left in the season. I think I might be going to it.

Lang Lang at the Kennedy Center

Lang Lang performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1.

It was amazing.

One of my favorite pieces of music of all time.

It was wow. It was amazing.

I was in row F. Got to see him play the piano.

It was wow. It was amazing.

More tomorrow when I can process everything because wow it was amazing.

Did I mention like wow it was amazing.

Coriolanus at the Kennedy Center

I'm not one to usually go and see Shakespeare. But this got such great reviews I had to see it. You can see the whole review in the Post here.

From the review:

The "Coriolanus" at the Kennedy Center turns out to be the most electric night of Shakespeare the festival has presented. The surprise is not that it's brought to you by the Royal Shakespeare Company, but that the production is the best thing the RSC has imported to Washington in its five-year Kennedy Center residency.

It was amazing. It took me a little while to get used to the language. Even after getting used to it, I probably lost about 20% of what was being said. I was all the way to the left in the second row. There were actors running on to the stage off to my side so I had to be careful where I put my feet. The lead actor (pictured below and yes he was that bloody) was incredible. The choreographed fight scenes were first rate. And there was more than one and it was sword upon shield and axe upon shield and then drawn swords. The entire cast was just first rate and very much on for the performance. I walked out at the end and said aloud wow that was amazing. The person next to me heartily agreed.

I've decided I'm going to try and attend an event at the Kennedy Center at least once a month. That might be pushing it and it might be a little expensive. Maybe a better goal is to go to one cultural event each month. That's not counting going to a museum. This would be a play or concert or maybe an author's reading. I once saw Jack Germond at the Barnes and Noble in Georgetown.

Thinking about last night, I have to say it again WOW!!!!

Click on the picture for a larger view. You can really see the intensity that William Houston brings to his role as Coriolanus.