Code Pink 4 Peace

The bodacious DC chapter of Code Pink had a housewarming party today to celebrate their new digs in Northeast.  Present were lots of good food & drink, beautiful weather, and a great group of activists of all ages, flavors, and issues. 

Alicongaras

 The Colombian artist Marta Gutierrez is an architect by training who decided to follow her dream of becoming an artist.  Her latest exhibit, Critters + Doodles (Alicongaras y Mamarrachos), showcases her talent in the form of whimsical characters, paintings and drawings.  Here's a sample from the show, which was hosted by the Colombian Embassy.

on display at the Colombian Ambassador's residence

Happy Birthday, Richie Furay

David and Nancy Stone know how to throw a party.  And Richie Furay knows how to say thank-you.

The country-rock pioneer showed his appreciation to the promoters and the sell-out crowd who came to celebrate his 70th birthday with a heartfelt and high-energy performance tonight at the South Orange (NJ) Performing Arts Center.  And, like any great birthday party, there were plenty of surprises.

Richie with David & Ted Spero

The evening began with an intimate dinner for Richie & his band with family and friends.
 
Dinner was followed by a meet & greet reception with close to 100 fans -- many of whom have been following Richie's career since his early days with Buffalo Springfield, then Poco, Souther-Hillman-Furay, the Richie Furay Band and beyond.  As always, Richie was gracious with his time -- chatting, signing autographs, posing for photos.

The Richie Furay Band with Rusty Young

Then the concert got underway, along with the first special guest of the evening: Rusty Young, co-founder of Poco and master of the pedal-steel guitar.  Rusty engaged the audience with stories and songs and accompanied Richie on several tunes, including the 1973 Poco epic, Crazy Eyes.


The second surprise guest was original Poco drummer and vocalist George Grantham, who continued to play on and off with Poco until 2002, when he suffered a stroke.  George got a standing ovation as he walked onstage with the help of a cane and sang with Richie.

Richie Furay and George Grantham

Next up, a video filled with birthday messages from a who's-who of rock musicians including Graham Nash, Jim Messina, Kenny Loggins, Dan Dugmore, Waddy ("You don't look a day over 69") Wachtel, Chris Hillman, Paul Cotton, and many others.  At the conclusion, a birthday cake was trotted out, and it was the crowd's turn to sing to Richie.

Mark Volman greets Richie onstage

Then, one last video -- a birthday message from Mark Volman (founding member of The Turtles, former member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, and half of Flo & Eddie), who said he hoped to see Richie "real soon."  And right on cue, Volman walked onstage.  A perfectly choreographed surprise.

Here are a few YouTube videos courtesy of Buffalo Springgal (and check out 4 great Poco tracks in the jukebox):


This was my third trek to NJ to see Richie and the Stones, and it was worth every mile to be a part of their warm community of fans and friends for one memorable night of music and celebration.

Al Kooper at B.B. King's

Al, who rarely performs these days, did a two-night stand at B.B. King's in NYC to celebrate his 70th birthday.  He was supported by guitarist Jimmy Vivino and a backing band of profs from Berklee College of Music. He treated us to a mix of songs from his time with the Blues Project, Mike Bloomfield, Dylan, and the Stones. One of the best-dressed guys in the business, Al didn't disappoint with a sharp black glitter jacket and an exquisite paisley coat that gave me wonderful flashbacks.

Photos from tonight's show:

Ralph Nader is Unstoppable

Ralph Nader is on tour to promote his latest book:  "Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State."   

Ralph Nader speaking at Busboys and Poets

He's always a draw for me because he addresses the problems that everyone else ignores, and does so intelligently and succinctly.

If you purchase this book, please buy it at Barnes & Noble or your independent bookstore.

Peaches

Shocked and saddened to learn of the death of Peaches Geldof, 25-yr-old daughter of Boomtown Rats & Live Aid's Sir Bob Geldof.  I admired her poise, natural beauty, fashion sense, and gorgeous little family.

Wonderous Stories

"The Voice of Yes," Jon Anderson, performed at the Keswick Theatre in Glenside, PA, just outside Philadelphia.  This is probably the hundredth time (ok, slight exaggeration) that I've seen him since he parted ways with his band Yes and started touring solo (and once with Rick Wakeman).  His setlist has changed very little in all those shows.  Frankly, I wish he'd mix it up a bit, and I question some of his song choices (A Day in the Life?  On ukulele???).  But I keep going back because of That Voice.  It's just so darn beautiful. And once he starts singing Wonderous Stories and Soon, all is forgiven.

Firth of Fabulous

The incomparable British guitar master, Steve Hackett, delighted a packed theater of progressive rock fans with his show, Genesis Extended.  The Lincoln Theater on historic U Street in DC was the first stop on the tour.  This was my fourth Genesis Revisited show (VA, NY, Phila, DC) and every one has been thrilling.  This show is not for the hit-ster fans of later Genesis and Phil Collins.  Only deep, earlier album cuts served here.  The music is at once exhiliarating, emotional, esoteric, and enduring.  Most overheard comment:  "My God, I feel like I'm 17 again."

Below is a clip from the Lincoln Theater.  It's my favorite passage from Steve's extended guitar solo in the song, Firth of Fifth.  (Apologies for the jitters -- it's difficult to remain still when you're enjoying the music.)



Steve's official website

Genesis Revisited CD/DVD set

More videos from the tour

Lincoln Theater DC Setlist
Dance on a Volcano

Dancing With the Moonlit Knight

Squonk

Fly on a Windshield

Broadway Melody of 1974

The Lamia

The Return of the Giant Hogweed

The Musical Box

I Know What I Like

Horizons

Firth of Fifth

Lilywhite Lilith

The Knife

The Fountain of Salmacis

Supper's Ready

Encore

Watcher of the Skies

Los Endos

New Jimi Hendrix Stamp Misses the Beat

With great anticipation, I bought a sheet of new Jimi Hendrix stamps at the post office today.  Must admit disappointment.  The artist rendering just doesn't do it for me.  Artistic license maybe, but the resemblance isn't quite there, and the color palette doesn't seem authentic to psychedelic art of that era. 

 And what are those bizarre lines around his face?

If I were in charge....it would look more like this:

IMO, for the music icon series, the USPS should stick with photographs.  They did a much nicer job on the Ray Charles stamp:

Hope they do a better treatment with the upcoming John Lennon stamp.  Here's one of my favorites:

 And if they need an idea for the Jim Morrison stamp, how about this?

At the rate it's going, postage will be up to 69 cents before we know it.

Andy Shallal for Mayor

Andy Shallal, an Iraqi American, owner of hip local restaurant chain Busboys and Poets, and all-around good guy, is running for mayor of DC.  This jaded former political operative is not easily impressed, but after hearing him speak at a private fundraiser, I put a yard sign in my front window.

Andy's the sort of candidate that's in short supply  -- someone with integrity, honesty, real-world experience, not a career politician beholden to special interests, a progressive who walks the walk.  The mission statement for his restaurants is this:

Busboys and Poets is a community where racial and cultural connections are consciously uplifted...a place to take a deliberate pause and feed your mind, body and soul...a space for art, culture and politics to intentionally collide...we believe that by creating such a space we can inspire social change and begin to transform our community and the world.

andy4dc.com

Madame Tussaud's at the Mansion

It was a little scary. I'd never been this close to really good wax figures. When I first walked in the room, they looked so real it was startling. But the true test is, do they look alive up close? Yes...eerily so. And from every angle. I swore I could see them twitch.

selfie with The Duke

The Beatles in wax (with John looking a bit like Dave Mason)

Friendship

With social media, we can now claim to have thousands of friends.  But how many of them are true friends? Most of the people we call friends are merely acquaintances or activity partners. We may have some common interests but we don’t really share an emotional bond. 

10 Character Traits of a True Friend

1. Honest.  They are truthful and not afraid to tell you when you’re wrong. 
2. Supportive. They are there for you through thick and thin. They won’t disappear when the going gets tough. 
3. Good Listener.  They allow you to express yourself without interrupting or judging.
4. Sensitive.  They're sensitive to your feelings and needs. 
5. Loyal.  They don't talk behind your back and will defend you if others do. 
6. Humble.  They don't try to “one-up” you. 
7. Helpful.  They help you when you’re feeling sick or depressed. 
8. Available. They make time to get together, talk on the phone, etc. 
9. Positive.  They aren't overly critical or drag you down. 
10. Respectful & Considerate.  They respect commitments.

Thoughts on Friendship

True friendship isn't about being there when it's convenient.  It's about being there when it's not.

 It's not how many friends you can count, it's how many you can count on.

 Hard times will always reveal true friends.

 In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends. ~MLK Jr.

 It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.  ~Marlene Dietrich 

Think where man's glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends.  

~W.B. Yeats

Destiny?

I'm always interested in how exceptional talent gets discovered.  I often ponder the question:  can a person have a gift and not know it?  What if a potential violin prodigy grows up never having played a violin?  Will she go through life unaware of her talent?  Or will the inner drive be so powerful that she'll somehow find a way to express it?  Or, will destiny ensure that she's given the opportunity to play one?  What if Jimi Hendrix had been raised in a remote part of the world with no guitars?  Or if McCartney had never met Lennon?  Would they have still discovered their songwriting talent?

I ponder this question with Olympic ice dance gold medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who met at ages 8 & 9 at their neighborhood rink.  They both knew immediately, even at that young age, that they were meant to be skating partners.  They've trained and competed together for 17 years.  It's an amazing story.

Meryl started skating at age 5 because she lived beside a lake and wanted to be able to skate on it in the winter.  What if she'd grown up next to a desert instead?  Would she have ever discovered her talent for skating?  And Charlie's parents gave him skating lessons so he could skate with his friends.  What if his friends had been into bowling?  Or what if his parents hadn't had the money to pay for lessons, or didn't live near an ice rink?  Would he still have found his way onto a pair of skates?

Certainly, much of their success goes to their dedication to the sport -- long hours of practice and major sacrifice.  But their exceptional talent was discovered, in the right place at the right time with the right opportunities.  That's the part I ponder.

How much of our lives are governed by destiny, how much by circumstance, and how much by choice?  Will an uber-gifted person somehow discover his gift, regardless of his means or circumstances?  Or are there people walking around out there -- perhaps even you or me -- with a gold-medal talent that they aren't aware of?  What do you think?

In Praise of Hometown Press

Like most everyone, I'm enthralled by the Olympic gold-medal skating couple Meryl Davis and Charlie White.   Their skill, speed, and agility on the ice.  Their charisma and grace off the ice.Their 17 years of growing up together, training together, competing together.  I saw the mainstream coverage, but I wanted to know more.  How did they start?  What drew them to skating and to each other?  Who first recognized their talent?   I wanted to dig down to the very beginnings of their journey to gold.  

with their first coach

After much searching, I found what I was looking for.  Not from NBC, CNN, or the like.  From an obscure article on a hometown website called Observer & Eccentric.  OK, O&E is owned by Gannett.  But it has a decidedly micro-local focus that delivers depth and details only a hometown paper can. So kudos to them and to all hometown media outlets for giving inquiring minds what they want to know!

Here's the article. 
First skating coach for Charlie White and Meryl Davis looks back on pair's career

Counterfeit Medicine

Medicines Made in India Set Off Safety Worries

Is that drug you're taking real or fake?   Why are we importing our pharmaceuticals from countries that are known counterfeiters? 

• India, the second-largest exporter of over-the-counter and prescription drugs to the US, is coming under increased scrutiny by American regulators for safety lapses, falsified drug test results, and selling fake medicines. Over 40% of our over-the-counter and generic prescription drugs come from India.
  
• The World Health Organization estimates that one in five drugs made in India are fakes
• Counterfeit medicines at a pediatric hospital in Kashmir are now suspected in hundreds of infant deaths.  And the Uganda Cancer Institute received shipments of anti-cancer drugs from India that turned out to be counterfeit and inactive, with forged labels.
• One widely used antibiotic was found in a govt. lab test to contain no active ingredient. The test was kept secret for nearly a year while 100,000 useless pills continued to be dispensed.
• The crucial ingredients for nearly all antibiotics, steroids and many other lifesaving drugs are now made exclusively in China, home to some of the largest counterfeit manufacturing operations in the world.
   
  Read the article here.

Angelique!

Eve

Spirit Rising

One of my most-admired living persons was in town tonight in support of her new album, Eve, and book, Spirit Rising.

Angelique Kidjo gave a high-energy, crowd-pleasing performance at GWU's Lisner Hall. She sang with power, inspiration and emotion a range of songs -- including Pata Pata (in tribute to Miriam Makeba), -- and invited the audience to join her on stage at the end of the show. Between songs, she spoke passionately about the need to empower and educate women in Africa and around the globe. And nobody's got her dance moves! Here are a few clips from (sorry) the back of the theater.

Click here for a recent article about her in the NY Times.

Her NY-based drummer, Daniel Freedman, kept me enthralled and nearly stole the show. 

In keeping with tonight's theme -- here's Toni Childs's haunting Zimbabwe  ...and an alternate 12" version of Toto's masterpiece
along with and an interview with Toto's David Paitch on the making of his enduring #1 hymn to the continent.

Beatles 50th

It was fifty years ago today... At 8:31pm, on this day in 1964, the Fab Four performed their first full concert in America, right here at the now-defunct Washington Coliseum.  It was the largest venue they’d ever played—with the promoter jamming 2,500 temporary seats right up to the lip of the stage to accommodate 8,100 fans.  The historic site is being converted to (sigh) luxury condos / mixed use.

Deadheads Invade the Mansion

Tom Constanten and a houseful of tie-dye at the O Street Mansion, 
DC's best-kept secret and a wonderful concert venue.

(TC is former keyboardist for the Grateful Dead and holds a Ph.D. in Music from Harvard University)

Esperanza Spalding

Ace of bass and scat singer extraordinaire
singing for those who have no voice
Close Guantanamo Now
 Lincoln Theater, U Street

Gipsy Kings

The amazing Gipsy Kings on their 25th Anniversary tour, in support of their new LP "Savor Flamenco," Grammy-award winner for Best World Music Album.
The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
Listen to their new album here or this 1987 classic: