In Vibrant Color

Louis Armstrong

Today, with our glossy magazines, large HD TV screens, and high-resolution iPhones and iPads, we are used to seeing our celebrities in full color. But, of course, this wasn't always the case. In the mid-1930s, most people had never encountered a color photograph, much less a color film. Harry Warnecke changed that with his revolutionary photographs for The New York Daily News,  New York’s first tabloid. The Sunday paper featured Warnecke’s brilliantly colored prints of beloved celebrities as they had never been seen before.

Now, 24 of these photographs from the 1930s and ’40s line the walls of the National Portrait Gallery, creating an exhibit entitled In Vibrant Color: Vintage Celebrity Portraits from the Harry Warnecke Studio, which is running until Sept. 9. 

Lucille Ball

You can see Lucille Ball's blazing red hair. And speaking of red, you can see that famed Boston Red Sox hitter Ted Williams actually did wear red socks. Ball and Williams are joined by many other of the biggest stars of the era. General George Patton is there. Laurel and Hardy are there. There is even a young Orson Welles.


Cowboys (and cowgirls) are often thought of in terms of white (hats) and black (hats).  And a more colorful wild west is represented in the show with full-color portraits of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, and Dale Evans.


At first, the exhibition can be somewhat unsettling to those who grew up in the black and white only American times. The celebrities just don't look right.The best way to describe the effect is the sensory contrast between the opening black and white scenes of The Wizard of Oz with the burst of color that explodes on screen when Dorothy and her home plummet to Munchkin Land. For the record, that film debuted in 1939 and ushered in the color era. By the mid 1960s, almost all the rainbows were in color.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Two of our nation's greatest newspapers are The New York Times and The Washington Post. Both battle for journalistic supremacy and often cover the same events in DC. Here you can compare the 2 papers coverage of In Vibrant Color. Click here to see The Times review of the exhibition. Click here to check out The Post review.

Burger Battle Bash

It was about 20 minutes until the competition started. The competitors were spread throughout the room. TV crews and reporters were everywhere. The Mouth of the South, doing his best to live up to his nickname, was delivering a lively interview to a female Japanese news team. The shining symbol of his last victory was draped over one shoulder like a championship wrestling belt.

Outside, in the near 100 degree heat, the competition arena was being carefully prepared. Eight small glasses of water were placed near each of the 13 large, white name cards.  Red and blue balloons fluttered in the slight wind. The super-heated crowd swelled, finding the best place to watch their favorites. With about 8 minutes to go, the final filled aluminum trays were brought out and placed on the tables. This was brash. This was big. This was the annual Independence Burger Eating Championship, sponsored by Z-Burger and this year being held at the Z-Burger in Washington DC's Tenleytown section.

Furious Pete wolfs down a burger bite as The Mouth of the South, on left in overalls, watches.

Most of the cameras and the largest section of the crowd was directly in front of the center table where 24-year-old Pete "Furious Pete" Czerwinski from Ontario, Canada, would be trying to win the DC national burger competition for the 4th consecutive year. Czerwinski had finished first in more than 50 eating competitions around the world, including the Pizza Eating Championship in Rome Italy. He was also famed for eating a 72-oz steak in 7 minutes.

Next to him was his stiffest competition and the best American hope to capture the DC crown. That seat belonged to Dale "Mouth of the South" Boone, a 300-pound, 41-year-old competitor from Atlanta, Georgia. Boone had starred in the made-for-TV movie Gutbusters in Alaska. He had also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Weakest Link and about half a dozen other shows. Boone, who has been competing as a professional competitive eater for 11 years, had finished 2nd to Czerwinski for the past 3 years. Many in the largely American crowd hoped this was Boone's year to bring that title back across the border.

The basic rules of the competition were simple. The winner would be the eater who could devour the most plain hamburgers and their buns in 10 minutes. All must completely finish a hamburger before they could start on the next one. The eaters could use or drink the water at their tables, but they would not be permitted to regurgitate any of the food back into the cup and then re-eat it.

Most of the enthusiastic crowd was prepared to witness serious eating. But several members of PETA circulated around the grounds, passing out literature urging spectators to go vegetarian or vegan.

With rousing sports-arena music blaring in the background, Metro DC DJ Jarrod Wronski took to the mike, employing his best ring announcer's voice to introduce the one female and 12 male competitors. Once seated,  they finished their last pre-task, unwrapping the 20 hamburgers in the tray. Behind each competitor stood a specially-chosen female wearing a tight red top and extremely short black shorts. These girls would hold up numbered cards as their competitor completely consumed each hamburger. That way the crowd could keep an unofficial tally of results.

"Crowd are you ready?" Wronski shouted. "Competitors are you ready? OK, begin."

Watching this contest revealed several different styles. Some of the competitors stood. Some sat. Some altered positions. Some drank sips of water before they ate bites. Others after. Some dunked the hamburger in the water and then ate. But for all, the eating was fast and the eating was frenzied.

With the song parody "Eat It" by Weird Al Yankovic as background, the contest approached the half-way point. "With 5 minutes to go, it's 9 for Furious Pete with the Mouth of the South at 7," Wronski explained, before exhorting the crowd to unleash an "Eat, eat, eat" chant.

"There's 1 minute remaining. Go, go, go, go," Wronski said, the crowd picking up his chant and the song shifting to Bruce Springsteen's "Hungry Heart." "Let's count it down. 10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7 ...6 ..."
At 1, the competitors dropped any bits of uneaten burger to the table. However, the contest was not concluded. In order to be eligible for cash, prizes, and the title, the competitors had to refrain from throwing up for 2 full minutes.

Several minutes later, Wronski began announcing the top 5 finishers. With only numbers 2 and 1 to go, neither Boone's nor Czerwinski's name had been called.  "At number 2, with 13 burgers eaten it's Dale 'Mouth of the South' Boone," Wronski exclaimed. "And our winner, with 15 hamburgers, once again it's Furious Pete Czerwinski."

Wronski brought Boone to the mike. "Will you be back next year?" he asked.

"Of course," Boone responded.

Then it was the champion's turn. He said it felt "awesome" to win the DC title for the 4th time. He, too, pledged to return to defend the title. He finished by saying that he would be competing in a New York City July 4th eating competition the next day. "But right now, I don't want to think about food until tomorrow," he said.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
As part of the Independence Day holiday promotion, Z-Burger offered a free burger, fries, and drink to everyone who witnessed the competition. As we stood in line for our free food, I noticed last-place competitor, 23-year-old Washingtonian Mark Rosenberg, joining a large group of his friends who had come out to support him. "The meat was so dry, so dry and I stink," Rosenberg, who finished only 2 hamburgers said. "But you had the most friends here," one of 2 females in the group said. "You know, you're right," Rosenberg replied. "I would much prefer that to any title." Now what was that about winning that Vince Lombardi supposedly said? Of course, he was talking about pro football, not professional eating.

Citizen Lane

Social activist attorney Mark Lane could be considered a real-life Forrest Gump. Remember how Forrest was always showing up at key points in American history and culture? Well, the same could be said for Lane. In 1960, he served as a New York campaign chairman for John F. Kennedy. One year later, he became the only elected official to be jailed for involvement as a Freedom Rider. After the assassination of President Kennedy, Lane volunteered to defend accused killer Lee Harvey Oswald (he was refused) and testified before the Warren Commission. To date, Lane has written 3 books on the assassination, all questioning the Commission findings, maintaining that Oswald was a pasty, and accusing the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with having JFK killed. He actively opposed the Vietnam War and, in 1968, ran on an independent party presidential ticket with activist comedian Dick Gregory. He successfully defended Native American leaders during the Wounded Knee proceedings. He represented both James Earl Ray, the accused killer of Martin Luther King, and Rev. Jim Jones of the People's Temple, where he became one of the few witnesses when Jones and about 900 of his followers died at the tragedy at Jonestown.

Last night, Lane appeared at Politics and Prose to talk about his new autobiography Citizen Lane: Defending Our Rights in the Courts, the Capitol, and the Streets.

Lane's book is divided into 21 chapters, each one detailing an event in his life. Lane, now 85, detailed 2 of those events in depth.

In 1961, Lane and his friend NAACP leader Percy Sutton decided they needed to join the Freedom Riders, a group of mostly young blacks and whites who were trying to desegregate the South, especially Mississippi and Alabama, by riding buses together. Lane, who had worked closely with Robert Kennedy during his brother's successful campaign for president, called the attorney general and told him of his plans. Kennedy said his brother's administration hadn't worked out a position yet and strongly disapproved of Lane's involvement. Lane, never one to fail to speak his mind, says he told the younger Kennedy. "Well, why don't you name your agency the Department of Justice and Injustice."

After their bus arrived in Montgomery, Alabama, Lane said it was boarded by "angry KKK members, shouting and threatening to kill all the (n word)." Lane and Sutton were both carrying attache cases. "I asked Percy what we were going to do and he said 'I'm an attorney. I believe in self-defense,'" Lane said. When the KKKers realized that the duo were prepared to fight, they backed off the bus and it continued on to Jackson, Mississippi.

In Jackson, Lane and Sutton entered the local airport and sat together, at the time a violation of state law. They were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace and jailed. While in jail, the pair were notified that a trial had been held, they had been convicted, and both had been sentenced to 4 months in the notorious Parchman Farm Prison. They were released on bond and ordered to return to begin their incarceration. However, when they returned, they discovered that the state of Missisippi had backed down and they would not be imprisoned.

In 2011, Lane and the remaining 200 of the 400 Freedom Riders were officially honored by President Barack Obama. At the time, Obama said "the Freedom Riders had faith that America could still be perfected. And as has been noted, it is only because they did, that I am able to stand here as president of the United States of America."

"One day, we were criminals in the eyes of Mississippi and then, just 50 years later, we were Freedom fighters and leaders being honored by the President," Lane said.

Lane also talked about his involvement with the Wounded Knee movement, where he represented Native Americans charged with serious legal violations after they took over land in a move designed to point out long-standing injustices against them. "It was not an occupation. The Indians were there for a long, long time. It was a siege by the United States," Lane said.

At the time, Lane called U.S. actions a "reign of terror" which included the murders of innocent citizens. Now, he said, for the 1st time, the government is actually going to investigate such activities based on his 1974 motions.

"It takes time, but it can work to devote your life to trying to do the right thing," Lane said.

He added that while some areas such as race have improved over the years, there are still many dangers to civil liberties. "With the Citizen United ruling (which basically determined that corporations are people and can contribute as much money as they want to political campaigns), someone can actually now buy the presidency of the United States," Lane said.

The attorney says the only way to make certain that "the single most important sentence in American history - which begins with  Congress shall make no law  ..." remains a reality, is to stay vigilant and continue the battle for the rights for all that the Founding Fathers envisioned.

"Remember these rights, insist on these rights, and fight for these rights - no matter what the cost," Lane said.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
For decades, people have been asking Lane why he undertakes such challenging, controversial rights cases. Just recently, Lane believes he may have come up with the key to his actions by recalling an episode from his very early years he had completely forgotten. In the 1930s, Lane and his family lived in an all-white section of Flatbush in Brooklyn.  At the time, his mother expressed strong disapproval of a friend who had hired a poor black woman as a domestic maid without telling her how much she would get paid until after she finished her work. "I think that stayed with me all these years - the importance of not using your power and influence over other people. You're not going to be here forever and you need to do something that will impact people in a good way," Lane said.

That Deadly Day in Dallas

Hill scrambles onto Kennedy car

Even now, almost 50 years later, you hear the emotion creep into his voice when Clint Hill talks about that deadly November, 1963 day in Dallas. Then, a 31-year-old Secret Service Agent, Hill was the agent who threw himself on top of Jackie Kennedy to protect her as she tried to comfort her blood-stained, dying husband as their open-topped car sped from Dealey Plaza to Parkland Hospital, where doctors tried frantically, and ultimately unsuccessfully, to save the life of the 35th President of the United States of America.

Hill, who until this year has remained relatively quiet about the assassination and his years serving as special agent for Mrs. Kennedy, appeared at the Newseum to discuss his new book, Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir with co-author Lisa McCubbin.

Obviously, a large portion of that talk focused on the assassination and the events immediately preceding and following President John Kennedy's death.

Kennedy had won the presidency over Richard Nixon in 1960 by the slimmest of margins and he knew that he would have to carry the important southern states of Florida and Texas to be re-elected.

During his visit to Florida just before his Texas trip, Kennedy again expressed his orders that Secret Service agents should not surround his car and impede the large crowds from seeing him.

"Get these Ivy League charlatans off the back of the car. I do not want it to appear that there is anything between me and the people," Hill said Kennedy mandated.

Ironically, the 2-day Texas trip was to be the first time Mrs. Kennedy, who had just finished recovering from the death of the couple's infant child, Patrick, would campaign with her husband. On the morning of the assassination, Hill said Kennedy seemed in a jovial mood, especially when he quipped at a supporters breakfast that he was "the man accompanying Mrs. Kennedy around Texas."

When the first couple began their motorcade, crowds were everywhere, Hill said. He was riding in the car directly behind the presidential car, which also contained then Texas Governor John Connally and his wife.

As the presidential car made a sharp turn, Hill heard a popping sound. He turned briefly in the direction of the noise, then jumped out and began running to overtake the moving car in front of him with the plan to climb on from the rear bumper and crawl over the trunk to the back seat where the President and First Lady were located. During that time, 2 more shots were fired.
 
Hill grabbed the handrail less than two seconds after the fatal shot to the President. The driver then accelerated, causing the car to slip away from Hill, who was in the midst of trying to leap on to it. His sunglasses flew off. He succeeded in regaining his footing and jumped on to the back of the quickly accelerating vehicle. As he got on, he saw Mrs. Kennedy, apparently in shock, crawling onto the flat rear trunk of the moving limousine."There was blood, brain material, bone fragments," Hill said. He struggled to her and guided the First Lady back into her seat. Once back in the car, Hill placed his body above the President and Mrs. Kennedy. "My objective was to form a shield," Hill said. "She wouldn't let go of the body. I think she didn't want anybody to see how bad the situation was."

Arriving at the hospital, Hill paced until he was notified he had a call from the attorney general, Kennedy's brother Robert. "He asked how bad is it and I told him it's as bad as it can be," Hill said, who was certain from seeing the president up close that his injuries were fatal.. The president died at 1 p.m., approximately 30 minutes after the 1st of the 3 shots were fired.

Hill said that Texas officials were contending that under Texas law an autopsy would have to be performed. Federal officials, not knowing how widespread the danger was, wanted to get Vice President Lyndon Johnson and his wife back to Washington as quickly as possible. The Johnsons said they would not return to Washington without Mrs. Kennedy. Mrs. Kennedy refused to leave Dallas without her husband's body. Finally a compromise was reached. Hill and others loaded President Kennedy's coffin onto Air Force One and Mrs. Kennedy, still wearing her blood-stained pink suit, stood bravely at Johnson's side as he was sworn in as the 36th President.

Clint Hill today

Hill continued to guard Mrs. Kennedy until 1964, when he was switched to President Johnson's detail. He rose through the Secret Service ranks until he retired in 1975 as assistant director. But, of course, even as he got on with his life and career, thoughts of that tragic day never completely left. "I kept it inward. I should have sought counseling, but I just had to keep going," Hill said.

But today Hill believes, as do so many others, that Kennedy's death, was much more than the death of a powerful and often wildly popular president. "It was the end of the age of innocence," Hill said with a sense of finality.

Tales, Tip, and Tidbits
Perhaps more than any other American event, the death of President Kennedy has prompted a long-standing, still ongoing controversy. Was there a conspiracy? Or was it the case of one man, Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone? Dozens of theories have been brought forward. However, the official word, as established by the Warren Commission, is that Oswald was the sole killer. But many still have questions. Hill was there. What does he think?  "There were 3 shots, 1 gun, and 1 assassin," Hill says. "A conspiracy coverup doesn't last for 50 days, let alone 50 years in Washington. But what about the doubts that one man could pull off such deed? "He (Oswald) had all the advantages that day and we didn't have any," Hill said.

Mrs Kennedy and Him

In retrospect, the 4-year relationship between Jacqueline Kennedy and Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who would be guarding her, didn't get off to the best of starts.

In 1960, Mrs. Kennedy, an intensely private person, certainly did not want someone hovering around her constantly. And the situation was even plainer for Hill. He had spent time guarding President Dwight Eisenhower and looked at the new assignment as a demotion."It was like somebody hit me in the gut," Hill said. "I figured I would be going to garden parties and ladies' teas. I wanted to be where the action was. But we both understood we had to get along somehow."

Relatively quickly, the president's wife and her new guard developed a mutual admiration, feelings which only deepened until Hill was assigned to President Lyndon Johnson's detail in 1964.

Hill appeared at the Newseum to discuss his years with President John Kennedy, Mrs. Kennedy, and their family he has outlined in his book Mrs. Kennedy and Me: An Intimate Memoir, which he co-authored with Lisa McCubbin.

"I vowed I would never write a book," Hill said. "But I got to know Lisa very well working on another book and she convinced me that the information I had was historical and should be documented. I also wanted to give a better understanding of who she (Jackie Kennedy) was."

While Mrs. Kennedy is often heralded for her intelligence, beauty and grace, Hill said she was extremely athletic. "She was very energetic and active. She was a water skier and played tennis. And she loved to ride horses."

She was also respected and admired not only in the United States, but around the world. "Wherever we went the crowds were enormous," Hill said. "She was very popular."

During their joint presentation, Hill and McCubbin presented several pictures and videos of Hill and the Kennedys. One, from Hill's personal collection, shows the agent, a cigarette dangling from his mouth (it was the early 1960s remember), ferrying a young John John back and forth from a Kennedy yacht to the shore at the Kennedys' Hyannis Port compound.

Hill recalled that President Kennedy would often join the family on Friday evening. "He would show up and ask all the youngsters 'anyone for ice cream?' and off they would all go in a golf cart to get ice cream," Hill said.

The agent, whom the family often referred to by his code name Dazzle, said that while he spent the majority of his time with Mrs. Kennedy and the children, he did get to participate with the Kennedy men and their friends in their famed touch football games. "That gave me a chance to get even with some of the things they had done," he said with a laugh.

The fascinating photos and videos demonstrated that the bonds then were strong between the agents and the First Family they were assigned to protect. However, just as 9/11 changed security measures, President Kennedy's 1963 assassination in Dallas (Hill was there and his personal account is detailed in the post above) changed the job of the Secret Service. "You have to remember back then there were only 3 agents assigned to the president and only 2 to Mrs. Kennedy," Hill said. "It was an age of innocence. It's much different today."

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Although Hill promised his book contains no salacious details or gossip, his remarks did draw 2 series of oohs and aahs from the crowd. The 1st was when he talked about a political trip Mrs. Kennedy made to Greece. Prior to the trip, President Kennedy summoned him to his office and told Hill there was a Greek that was having tax problems with the United States and he didn't want Mrs. Kennedy "to cross paths with him." That man - Aristotle Onassis. Hill said he was also present with Onassis and Mrs. Kennedy as she spent time on his yacht recovering from the death of her infant child, Patrick.

Home of the Soldier

A scene from Home of the Soldier

It is a story both timely and timeless. A young man trains to fight for his homeland. Once engaged in war, he finds he is bombarded not just with deadly bullets, but with powerful questions. Why fight?  Can you maintain humanity in a time of slaughter? How different is your enemy from you?  And, in the end, is the sacrifice worth the cost?

These are the central questions that propel Synetic Theater's visual, visceral, impressionistically violent latest offering, Home of the Soldier.

In his artistic director's note in the playbill, Paata Tsikurishvili, the founding director of Synetic, says that the play is an attempt to explore human life and home.

"Having become an American citizen, working in the DC theater for years, I gained a new appreciation for what military men and women do," Tsikurishvili writes. "I wanted to explore the humanity of this remarkable group. It is easy to use weapons and explosions in TV and the movies, and stamp it with a military feel, but it is quite another thing, as we have discovered in our process, to dig into the experience of these men and women and discover what they feel."

Tsikurishvili said he and his supremely talented ensemble tried to create a new war story, something both epic and relevant to today. "We wanted to portray an individual's quest through the experience of a modern war. We created a close-to-home fantasy world, one that tries to capture the essence of a military paradigm and take on the question of what it means to civilize."

Writer Ben Cunis said he found researching the play "eye opening," saying he was especially struck by the honesty that the soldiers he interviewed displayed about their experiences.

"The miracle of modern technology has allowed countless soldiers to share their experiences online and the amount of raw footage to be found of soldiers waiting, working, dancing, and talking among their teams is stunning. There are some wonderful documentaries out there, but nothing beats the soldier's direct perspective," Cunis said.

Tales, Tips, and Tidbits
Home of the Soldier marks the end of the season for Synetic, which I jokingly say performs in my basement since it is located in the Crystal City underground where I live. I found myself thoroughly engaged and engrossed in the theater company's unique productions. Synetic calls its style physical theater and I would urge anyone interested in modern theater, reworkings of classic literature, or dance to check out a production.  Here is the schedule for the 2012/2013 Season.

• Jekyll & Hyde (Sept. 20 to Oct. 21)
• A Trip to the Moon (Dec. 6 to Jan. 6)
• The Tempest (Feb. 21 to March 24)
• Three Musketeers (May 9 to June 9)
• A Midsummer Night's Dream (July 24 to Aug 14)

Writing About the President

From left, Maraniss, Kantor, and Schieber

It can be exceptionally difficult to write accurately about a sitting president, especially one who is seeking re-election.

First, there is the image - it must be protected at all costs. Then there are matters ranging from personal pride to political propaganda to national security. And with President Barack Obama, there are some special problems. First, unlike some of his predecessors, Obama is self-reflective and introverted. But the largest barrier to truly knowing the real Barack Obama may be that Obama views himself as a writer, one who wants to depict his own personal narrative, not leave it to others to do.

"Obama primarily thinks of himself as a crafter of narrative. He wants to be the custodian of his own story," Noam Schieber says, adding that Obama had signed a copy of his book for Schieber, and inscribed it, "To Noam, a fellow storyteller."

Today, 3 authors who have recently written books about Obama, his family, and his administration appeared at a New America Forum to discuss the challenges they faced. The panel consisted of:

• David Maraniss, author of Obama: The Story
• Jodi Kantor, author of The Obamas
• Schieber, author of The Escape Artists

Kantor said that unlike other former presidents, Obama didn't come to the office with a lengthy political record. "Obama was an insane overnight success. It was as extreme as we've ever seen in modern politics," Kantor said.

Kantor, who reports on the Obamas for The New York Times, says she has found that Obama is acutely aware of what is being written about him. For example, she pointed out that in a press conference, Obama noted that a negative story about his dealings with a foreign power had been printed above the fold, but a positive story appeared below the fold.

"I think he is a rational man in an irrational society," Maraniss said. "He thought he was the exception and could overcome all the political stuff that is going on."

Maraniss, whose book dealt with Obama's formative years, said he finds it intriguing that many of Obama's best qualities "are not politicians' qualities." But what about the personal stories in the two books about himself that Obama has written? "Really, they're a fairly unrealistic account of what happened in his life, but then he called my book fiction," Maraniss said.

Schieber, who first began covering the president when he was a state senator, said that criticism of Obama that he was not a typical Washington political type, glad-handing financial supporters and stroking Washington egos, should have been expected. "So much of his appeal was as the anti-politican," Schieber said.

Kantor says that the anti-politician side is what continues to draw her to Obama's story "There is this  tension of trying to win at politics, while at the same time objecting to it," she said.

Even in the face of setbacks, Obama has strong confidence, a confidence some say often borders on  arrogance. "They joke about a new measure of confidence - the Obama," she said. "Things like that's 2 Obamas. Or your Obama seems to be low today."

Maraniss agreed that Obama believes his personal powers are great. "He believes he is a great basketball player and he is not. He can't even jump," said Maraniss, prompting hearty laughter from the audience. "But he does seem to have this borderline sense of destiny. He believes he can do great things."

Maraniss said that a key to understanding Obama's character may be contained in a letter he wrote as a 21-year-old, a letter talking about the careers his friends had chosen to enter. "The only way I can satisfy myself is embracing it all," the young Obama wrote.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Tonight marked the first time in our DC stay that we attended a session sponsored by one of the many Washington think tanks. In this case, it was the New American Foundation. To learn more about that group, click here.

Bringing Back the Funk

Clinton and a small part of P Funk with Mothership model

Several songs into his visually arresting stage show, George Clinton, the leader of the P Funk All-Stars, surveyed the bouncing, swaying crowd which completely filled the large tent on the National Mall and spread in every direction over the grounds.

"The Mothership in the Smithsonian," Clinton bellowed, his voice nearly drowned out by rousing shouts and claps. "We really are one nation under the groove!"

For the uninitiated, which certainly didn't include many of the thousands who attended the concert and sang and danced to every song, the Mothership is a central part of Clinton's music and myth. For years, Clinton and his band Parliament Funkadelic used the large spaceship as an integral part of their shows. Now, one of those versions of the Mothership will be an exhibit in the under-construction National Museum of African-American History, which is scheduled to open in 2015. The NMAAH was the sponsor of last night's concert entitled Bring Back the Funk. The concert served as a kickoff for the Smithsonian's annual outdoor Folklife Festival which will run until July 8.

While Clinton, who has always been hugely popular in DC, and his contingent of more than 20 musicians, singers, and dancers, were clearly the stars of the show, the crowd gave a warm reception to the 2 opening acts.

First up was bassist and bandleader Meshelle Ndegecello, who although born in Germany, grew up in DC. She opened her set with an instrumental take on Washington Go Go music legend Chuck Brown's great 1970s funk hit "Bustin' Loose." Brown would have played the festival but died last month. Ndegecello and her 3-piece followed with a set of jazz/funk numbers, including a spoken-word version of James Brown's "(Say It Loud) I'm Black and I'm Proud."

Ivan Neville and Dumpstaphunk

Next was Ivan Neville, son of New Orleans musical legend Aaron Neville, and his band Dumpstphunk who play a newer brand of funk tinged with New Orleans elements. In funk, the drums and the bass are essential and Dumpstaphunk emphasizes those elements by having a ferocious female drummer and 2 bass players.

Clinton, considered by most to be the reigning Godfather/King of funk, briefly joined Dumstaphunk on stage, beaming his approval as he pointed to individual members and shared a microphone for a chorus or two.

"I don't know if you all know what just happened," said one of the bass players when Clinton exited the stage. "But I feel like we just got baptized. That was Mr. George Clinton up here."

Clinton, who is known for his outlandish stage costumes and wild, unruly hair, appeared last night in a subdued, stylish brown double-breasted suit with matching hat. His attire sparked a comment from popular DC DJ Tom Joyner, who hosted the show. "Bet some of you didn't recognize George. Hair all conked back. Smooth. Looking like Nat King Cole."

George Clinton, earlier in the day, touring real space ships at the National Air and Space Museum

Tales, Tips, and Tidbits
This year's Folklife Festival is divided into 3 segments: campus and community, citified, and creativity and crisis. You can check out a full program schedule by clicking here.

The Quilts Are Still AIDing

The solemn figures, some alone and some in pairs or small groups made their way slowly and silently across the National Mall grounds, trying to take in the poignancy, power, and history of the row upon row of quilts carefully laid out at their feet. As they strolled, pausing from time to time for a closer look, they heard the roll call of names at their back: the names of the 94,000 victims of AIDS the quilts represent.

The display marks the 6th time the quilts have been unfurled in Washington since the project began in the late 1980s as a way to both visually illustrate the numbers lost to AIDS and humanize the devastation of the worldwide pandemic.

This display is serving as the central focus of the Crisis and Community portion of this year's annual Smithsonian Folklife, which is running until July 6.

The year 2012 marks the 25th anniversary of The AIDS Memorial Quilt and 30 years of life with AIDS. With the introduction of The Quilt in 1987, The NAMES Project Foundation redefined the tradition of quilt making in response to contemporary circumstances. Through hands-on panel-making activities, individuals and communities come together to remember loved ones, grieve, find support and strength, and engage in dialogues for change. The Quilt contains nearly 48,000 panels, and it has been viewed by more than 18 million people.

The quilts, each of which represents an AIDS vicitm, vary greatly. Some are simple - just a name, an age, and maybe a heartfelt message. Others are more ornate with pictures, slogans, and artifacts capturing the essence of a life. Still others are strikingly colorful creative masterpieces of folk art. But each serves its purpose.

Creativity and Crisis: Unfolding The AIDS Memorial Quilt is the first Festival program to focus exclusively on community craft and performance that were directly developed in response to crisis and grief. With The AIDS Memorial Quilt as the anchor and through craft demonstrations, dance and musical performances, interactive discussions, and other activities, this program commemorates the innovative and resourceful ways through which communities have endeavored to educate people and to cope with one of the most complex pandemics in modern history.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips

It would be virtually impossible not to be moved by the massive display of quilts. Becoming more actively involved makes the experience even more moving. Each day as visitors stroll, volunteers are reading the names of AIDS victims, many of them represented in the quilts. I volunteered to be a reader. I read 2 pages of names, hoping in some small way to do my part so victims could be remembered. At 4 p.m. each day, the quilts must be put away and stored. Judy and I joined other volunteers in that hour-long process. To borrow from the lyrics of Elton John, we know it's not much, but (on this day at least) it's the best we could do.

A Look at the Jaina Figurines

When it comes to ancient figurines and other artifacts, we have a tendency to view such antiquities with reverence. But Yale University Dean Mary Miller believes it is important to keep in mind that these items were not created to be museum works of art. They were once used by real people for everyday purposes.

Take the exquisite collection of more than 50 Mayan Jaina figurines now on display until September 15th at the Mexican Cultural Institute.  "They were all designed to be held in the hand," Miller says. "They're old and dear friends to me and I'm happy to think about them in a new way."

Miller, who has 4 decades of experience working with treasures from the Hispanic regions of the Americans, appeared at the Institute tonight to talk about the new exhibit  Jaina: On the Threshold of the Mayan Underworld.

Jaina, located in the present-day Mexican state of Campeche, was an artifically constructed island which served as a Mayan burial grounds from about 600 to 900 A.D. More than 1,000 graves have been excavated at Jaina, which the Mayans designed to be a point of contact between their Earthly world and the underworld.

The figurines found at the burial sites served as both messenger and message for the concept of regenerating life, which was the backbone of the Mayan mythological belief system. Mayans had many burial rituals. For example, buried males always faced north, while females faced south and infants faced west. Human sacrifices, often infants, were also part of the Mayan culture.

Notice the Mayan blue.

Miller said the figurines demonstrate the ideals of Mayan beauty. The Mayans used boards to reshape babies' skulls, flattening heads and elongating foreheads. They used nose extenders. "No nose could be too long," Miller said. Being cross-eyed was also desirous and the Mayans took artificial means to achieve that beauty ideal. "All notions of beauty are highly cultural," Miller said. "When I talk to young people they have a hard time understanding that until I show them the Jaina figures."

The Mayans had no gold, but the vibrant blue pigment (appropriately called Mayan blue) with which they stained some of their molded clay figurines served to designate richness. Miller said it appears the creation of these figures was a sort of cottage industry in Mayan times.

Many of the figures were used as musical instruments. Items on display included figurine whistles, rattles, and even ocarinas. "Music was an important part of Mayan funeral services," Miller said.

The figures also fall into some stock character categories including old gods, young women, vendors and crafters, athletes, warriors, and submissive captives. One of the more common figurines is a young woman, possibly representing the fickle goddess of moon, being suggestively fondled by a craggy, toothless old man. However, what you are seeing is not a scene debauched lechery, Miller said. Actually, it represents 2 gods together since only Mayan god figures could show signs of age, a tribute to their eternal longevity compared to the temporal nature of mortals.

Tales, Tips, and Tidbits

A Jaina ballplayer

The next time you plop a cigar in your mouth to celebrate the victory of your favorite sports team, you should thank the Mayans, Mary Miller says. The Yale dean points out that when the 1st Europeans arrived in the Americas, there were no team sports in Europe. The Europeans were captivated by team games such as an early version of soccer and imported that concept back to their native lands. "They discovered a world of team sports," Miller said. "They took some of the athletes back with them to Europe to say 'aren't they extraordinary.'" As for cigars, most all of us know from our history books that tobacco was a product of the New World. In fact, the origin of the word cigar comes from the native language of the ancient Mayans. The Mayans called the cigar a "Ciq-Sigan" which the Spanish word "Cigarro" is derived from. The New English Dictionary of 1735 called the cigar a "seegar", and was later adapted into the modern word    "cigar".

The Art of Video Games

Visitors tour the video game exhibit

When it comes to video games, my knowledge is virtually nil. A couple of games of Pong with my young son in the early 70s. A few dozen games of  Spider Monkey on my iPhone and iPad this year with my 3-year-old grandson. And that's it. No Atari, Nintendo, Play Station 3, X -Box, or Wii.

So when I learned that the Smithsonian American Art Museum was going to feature a first-of-its-kind exhibit The Art of Video Games, I figured I had better turn to an expert. I called my friend Jim Boner, the director of the Bridgeton (NJ) school system's audio visual programs and inveterate gamer for 25 years, and invited him and his 5-year-old daughter Jells, who is also a budding gamer, to spend some time with us here in DC. As part of the deal, he would view the video game exhibition and tell me what he thought. Here is what he had to say.

What did you think of The Art of Video Games exhibition?
I liked the scope of the exhibit. Everything was larger in size. The things that I grew up with were blown up to 20-foot-size. With the games they selected,  they pretty much nailed everything but the next generation. But it would have been nice to see some of the (games that were) losers not just the winners. 

What did you like best about the exhibit?
They are finally trying to elevate video games from something that you play in your parent's basement to what they really are - an entertaining art form. 

Do you think video games should be considered as art?
Absolutely. I think they should be considered art not only for the talent involved, but because art should stir the imagination, act as an escape, create a controversy, or cause people to think and video games do all of that. 

How do you account for the increasing popularity of video games?
When games moved from the arcades to everyone's living room in the 80s, the industry entered into a slump. It was a case of quantity over quality. Then the games got much better and became more social. Now, with the iPhone, more people than ever are playing them. I mean my grandmother is playing Words with Friends. 

What would you say to someone who sees no art value in video games?
I would ask them - do you see value in film? Those same elements in film are in almost all the games now and the immersion factor in games makes them even more engaging than watching a film. 

What pre-visit advice would you give someone who is going to see the exhibit?
I would say if you are expecting the art behind video games, don't get your hopes up. But if you want  to experience video games in a new way you won't be disappointed.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
If you want to check out the video game exhibit, you still have time. It is scheduled to run until Sept. 30.

Patented Jobs

Ol' Steve Jobs he dead and gone
Left his work to carry on.
                                     -- late 21st Century folk/blues song

Of course, there is no folk song celebrating Steve Jobs. Yet. But, like steel-driving John Henry and hard-riding Paul Revere, Jobs status as computer and consumer electronics designer and head of Apple has soared to the mythological state of our folk heroes of yore.

The S. Dillon Ripley Center at the Smithsonian is hosting an exhibit focusing on Jobs and his patents for Apple favorites such as the Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad.

Interestingly, the larger-than-life photos of Jobs and replicas of dozens of his patents are displayed as if they are images on a giant Apple iPhone. The patents range from 1983 to 2011.

Also on display are several Apple products including a 1984 Macintosh computer and a 2003 iPod.

Jobs' enthusiasts claim that it was his ability to offer quality products which incorporated beautiful design which made him such a cult favorite. In his own words on display, Jobs in 2011once said: "It's technology married with the humanity that yields that which makes our heart sings."

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
The Jobs' patent exhibit here runs until July 8. You can read more about Jobs by checking out the Nov. 29, 2011 The Prices Do DC post about Jobs biographer Walter Isaacson's talk at Politics and Prose. If you live in or are visiting the DC area later this summer, you can take in Mike Daisey's one-man play The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs which will be performed at the Wooly Mammoth Theater from July 17 to August 15.

Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play

Is this the post-apocalyptic future? How many Simpsons characters can you ID?

Imagine there was a severe catastrophe. The power grid across America goes down and without power, water, and emergency services, fires rage out of control and nuclear reactors overheat, releasing wind-blown radioactive materials across the land. The U.S. population is decimated and a small band of frightened survivors tries to hold on to its humanity by remembering and replaying bits of popular culture, in particular episodes of The Simpsons TV show.

That supposition forms the basis for Anne Washburn's superb creation Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play now being performed brilliantly at the Wooly Mammoth Theater Company. The play is divided intro 3 acts. Act I takes place shortly after the disaster. Act II occurs 7 years later and Act III takes place 75 years into the future.

The one-of-a-kind play, which contains elements of science fiction, satire, pathos, humor, hurrahs to pop culture, and witty, original musical numbers and dances, obviously owes a thematic debt to the literary genre of post-apocalyptic fiction. Washburn acknowledges Stephen King's epic The Stand (which is one of my all-time favorite novels and is on sale at the theater) as an inspiration. But the mingling of those elements with the doings of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, Sideshow Bob, Mr. Burns and other members of The Simpsons casts pushes the play into new thought-provoking and extremely entertaining territory.

In her essential narrative from the playbill, production dramaturg Miriam Weisfeld writes: "In Mr. Burns, the comfort that unites strangers and keeps despair at bay is simply a TV cartoon: a funny story they can recall together and - even better - re-enact. In her play, Anne Washburn proposes that performance plays a vital role in human survival. It becomes an escape from fear, a valuable commodity, and finally an elegy for a lost way of life."

Director Washburn says the play is a vehicle to explore the ways that memory - and necessity - change narratives. "I was interested in what stories would persist after the loss of a civilization, and the different reasons they would be retained, and I was interested in storytelling: in what parts of a narrative are essential, and what the role of storytelling would be in a post-industrial society. In Mr. Burns, I tried to understand what values would be relevant for a post-civilization audience who had lost and endured so much"

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips

Are these post-apocalyptic DCers?

As additional attractions for the play, a blackboard where you could trace and add other cultural references found in The Simpsons was placed in the lobby. Upstairs, an exhibition of apocalyptic art work from 3 DC-area artists (Gregg Deal, Dafna Steinberg, and Kelly Towles) was displayed. The commissioned Mr. Burns artwork examined the question - What does the future of the District hold if a majority of the population is annihilated tomorrow?

Fire and Ice

Air disaster captured in real life photo ...

The ill-fated ship Titanic and the equally ill-fated zeppelin Hindenberg had much in common beside the fact that their names will forever symbolize the great disasters of the 20th Century. For their time, they were both modern marvels of transportation.  Ironically, they both inspired a sense of safety with their superior technology. And, to undercut expenses, both carried mail.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Titanic sinking in the icy waters of the Atlantic and the 75th anniversary of  the Hindenberg's fiery destruction at a  Lakewood, NJ air station. The National Postal Museum is marking those anniversaries with a special exhibition entitled Fire and Ice.

... and sea disaster depicted on film

The exhibit looks at both tragedies and offers a glimpse of artifacts and documents saved from the ship, as well as eye-witness accounts from survivors and items manufactured as a result of the historic incidents.

Here is a quick comparison by some of the numbers at the supposedly unsinkable Titanic and the Hindenberg, which German leader Adolph Hitler heralded as yet another example of Nazi Aryan technological supremacy.

Category                                                   Titanic                                  Hindenberg

Size	882 ft.	804 ft.
Cost to make	$10 million	$2.6 million
Time of Trip Across the Atlantic	6 days	2½ days
Number of Trips Made	0	63
Time of Total Destruction	2½ hours	34 seconds
Cost of Most Expensive Ticket	$4,350	$450
Number of  Casualties	2,229	97
Number of Saved Passengers/Crew	712	62
Pieces of Mail Saved	0 (all 5 mail clerks on board perished)	360 (although some were somewhat charred)

However, the final outcomes of the 2 tragedies were quite different. The sinking of the Titanic prompted several changes to cruise line rules and today that industry flourishes. However, in 34 fiery seconds, the end of helium (or, in the case of the Hindenberg more volatile hydrogen) air ships was over forever. Interestingly, the hydrogen was being used because the United States refused to sell helium to the German-based Zeppelin company.

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The title of the Fire and Ice exhibition comes from the 1st 2 lines of Robert Frost's poem entitled "Fire and Ice." Here is the complete poem and you have to agree, given the apocalyptic nature of the twin tragedies, it is fitting.

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

A Nation of Wusses

Even 2 years later, when he thinks about it, Ed Rendell, the former Mayor of Philadelphia, Governor of Pennsylvania, and Democratic National Chairman, still can't believe it. His beloved Philadelphia Eagles were to play an important home game with the Minnesota Vikings. There was a forecast for a significant snowstorm, but before even one flake of snow had fallen, the game was cancelled. And while there was some snow in the Philly area, the brutal forecast never materialized. Asked that day about the decision, Rendell blurted out that the cancellation was just more evidence that America was becoming "a nation of wusses."

He repeated his "nation of wusses" accusation in a front-page piece he wrote for The Washington Times. There he maintained that the cancellation was symbolic of a cautionary paralysis plaguing America and its politics. Echoing Tom Hanks' remarks on crying in baseball in the movie A League of Their Own, Rendell wrote: "Cancel a football game for bad weather? There's no cancelling a football game for bad weather."

Rendell, who appeared at Politics and Prose today, has chosen his accusation as the title for his new book A Nation of Wusses: How America's Leaders Lost the Guts to Make Us Great.

"We used to be a nation of risk takers," Rendell says. "Now we close schools with an inch-and-a-half of snow on the ground. What message does that send to our kids."

Continuing his extended snow metaphor, Rendell talked about former Eagle football great Steve Van Buren. On the day of a 1950s Eagles game in a driving snowstorm, Van Buren took 2 trolleys and a bus to get to the game. "Can you envision any of today's athletes doing that?" Rendell asked.

Rendell said he wrote his book, which he composed completely in longhand, for 3 main reasons. One was to have his say in a fun, but serious way about the complex problems facing America today. "We have an infrastructure that is absolutely collapsing. It is dangerous and it hurts us as a nation," Rendell said. "We're getting killed every way economically. It is ludicrous and embarrassing. We have none of the world's 10 largest ports. Six of the 10 are in China. But when China undercuts us, all we do is say would you please stop."

The 33-year political veteran said he believes much of the problem stems from the political idea that party ideals and re-election is an ultimate goal, not helping people and restoring America to greatness. "Too many politicians have no respect for the people they represent," Rendell said.

A second reason Rendell says he wrote the book is to demonstrate that, despite strong beliefs today to the contrary, "government is not the enemy."

"Government can and does great things," Rendell said. "Government must be part of the solution. There is good government spending and there is bad government spending. The key is to invest in the right things. Politicians can lead - all they need is courage and will."

A third reason for the book is a call for young people to consider the political arena. "We need young people to get into public service," Rendell said.

Tales, Tips, and Tidbits
In his book, the popular, plain-spoken Rendell offers the top 10 reasons he believes why most American politicians are wusses. Here they are:
10. They refuse to give credit to a rival no matter what he does
9.   They refuse to admit mistakes
8.   They refuse to answer questions from the media
7.   They don't have the courage to say no to their base
6.   They refuse to debate
5.   They refuse to stand by their votes
4.   They refuse to speak in front of protesters
3.   They change their positions as early and as often as you change your socks
2.   They run from their allies at the first hint of trouble
1.   They take credit for things they voted against.

Ellis Island and the Immigrant Experience

10,000 immigrants a a day could pass through Ellis Island

Ellis Island is a powerful symbol of the American immigrant experience, and by extension, the American dream. We all know the stories. Every immigrant arriving to America was screened there. Or that agents on the island routinely changed the names of eastern European immigrants whose strange-sounding names they couldn't pronounce or spell. The stories have been passed down in families for generations.

There is only one problem, a panel of experts said tonight at a program on Ellis Island and the Immigration Experience at the National Archives - many of the stories are more myth than truth.

"Ellis Island is a powerful symbol and we often get that confused with fact," says Marian Smith, chief historian for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. "When you get an image fixed in your mind, it can stop you from considering other possibilities."

Smith moderated the 3-member panel which consisted of:

• John Colletta, a veteran researcher and conductor of the Smithsonian's Resident Associate Program
• Megan Smolenyak, who describes herself as a genealogical adventurer and
• Joel Wurl, a senior Program Officer of the Division of Preservation and Access for the National Endowment for the Humanities

The program, which was presented in partnership with the U. S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, served as a kickoff for the Archives newest exhibition Attachments: Faces and Stories from America's Gates.

Colletta addressed the claim that immigrants were renamed, an idea chiseled into the American psyche through the movie The Godfather, where Vito Corleone received the last name of his village. The correct names of all passengers were on the ship's manifests and therefore there was no need for name changes. Colletta maintained..

The idea that all immigrants passed through Ellis Island is also a myth, he said. For example,1st and 2nd class passengers arriving to America were screened in their staterooms and then allowed to proceed directly to New York City.  In addition, there were more than 100 ports of entry into the United Sates beside Ellis Island. Also, Ellis Island was periodically closed, meaning that several hundred thousand immigrants over the years arriving in New York didn't get processed there.

Smolenyak said even key figures in the Ellis Island experience are subjects to distortions. Annie Moore, an Irish teenager, was heralded as the 1st immigrant processed when Ellis Island opened in 
1892. Statues of Moore appear at both Ellis Island and the Irish port city of Cobh. But many facts once reported about her later life were proven to be wrong, Smolenyak said..

Wurl focused his remarks on the people who were sent away from the United States with their port of departure being Ellis Island.

"The American gate has always swung in both directions," Wurl said, nothing that many were deported during the anarchist Socialist/Communist scares of the early 20th Century. "The story of America is who left as well as who stayed."

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
If you are interested in the story of immigration and the immigrant experience, you have plenty of time to see the Attachments exhibition at the Archives. It runs until Sept. 4.

What Happens When Beach Boys Grow Old?

The Beach Boys now ...

... And the Beach Boys then.

It was about 20 minutes into The Beach Boys concert at the Merriweather Post Pavilion tonight. The young 20-something sitting on the blanket next to us had a revelation. "God, they're old," he blurted out. "I mean really old."

And he's right. The Beach Boys, who began their career 50 years ago, are old. In fact, by the end of this summer's 50th Anniversary tour all 3 of the original remaining 5 members - Brian Wilson, Mike Love, and Al Jardine - will have turned 70. Their blond surfer hair has gone grey or missing. Their hands, now covered with age spots, shake as they strum their guitars or strike the keyboard. Brian Wilson, the main composer of the group's massive hits catalog whose mental and emotional struggles have been well-documented, sits at his piano away from the rest of his group in a near catatonic state. Sometimes he simply sits and stares, as if unaware of what is happening on the stage around him. Other times, when he sings, he mumbles, coughs, or is painfully out of tune. Obviously, none of the members of the group can hit all those high harmonies which were so much a part of the California surf and sun style they introduced with their 1st records in the early 60s. That task is left to some of the 10 backing musicians who are accompanying the Boys on this tour.

But despite all the physical limitations imposed by age on the singers, you can't dispute the brilliance of The Beach Boys songs. The term genius is overused, but I believe Brian Wilson qualifies. He, Love, Jardine, and his deceased brothers Dennis and Carl provided the American soundtrack for the years between Elvis Presley and the 1st rock and rollers and the arrival of The Beatles. During their career they have produced 93 records which have appeared on the Billboard charts. They first graced the top 10 with "Surfin' U.S.A." the week of June 15, 1963. Their new reunion release "That's Why God Made the Radio" (their first album of all-new material since 1992) showed up at Number 3 last week, allowing the Beach Boys to break a record by expanding their span of Billboard 200 top 10s to 49 years and one week.

It was the hits that the Merriweather Post crowd wanted to hear. And, in that respect, the Beach Boys did not disappoint, performing a 26-song 1st set, a 19-song 2nd set, and a 3-song encore. (You can check out the complete set list for the 3-hour show by clicking here).

The 1st set was definitely the weaker of the two. It was plagued by song choices that seemed to start and then abruptly stop the crowd. The 2nd set began on the same tone, falling to the night's nadir with a cringe-producing  attempt by Brian on  "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times."  But immediately the tenor of the night changed.  The band performed back to back strong renditions of "Sail On, Sailor" and "In My Room." After 2 newer tunes, the band paid tribute to the deceased Wilson brothers. On the giant screens, Dennis sang "Forever" and Carl provided posthumous vocals for one of the group's most beautiful love songs "God Only Knows." After that, as if filled with the spirit of their former bandmates, the group forced the crowd to its feet with a phenomenal version of "Good Vibrations." They stayed there  as "California Girls" segued into "All Summer Long," followed by "Help Me, Rhonda," "Rock and Roll Music," "Do You Wanna Dance?" and "Surfin' USA".

By the time the last notes of "Kokomo," "Barbara Ann" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" rang out, it was 1962 again. The surf was up and all the girls were the prettiest in the world. Forget age spots. Forget a few more pounds. Forget grey hair or shaky hands. It was summer. The sounds were right. The Beach Boys let you believe. Summer is eternal and, in our memories at least, we really can stay forever young.

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
Rock and roll was supposed to be young people's music. "Hope I die before I get old," the singers sang. "Don't trust anyone over 30," their listeners responded. But life ages all. Rockers are no exceptions. The night after the Beach Boys played, Little Richard, who this summer will turn 80, performed at the newly restored Howard Theater in DC. He had to be carried to the stage and spends his off-stage time confined to a wheel chair. Reportedly, the Rolling Stones are planning their own 50th anniversary celebration sometime later this year. When they take the stage, Mick Jagger will be 69 and his younger sidekick Keith Richards will be 68. Keith addressed the issue of rock and age a few years ago. Nobody seems concerned about bluesmen in their 80s and 90s performing; why should rock n' roll be any different, he asked.  I hope Keith is right. There  may be more missed notes and wrong chords than there were 50 or 60 years ago. But it will still be the same rock of our youth. And we can all still like it as long as our hearing holds out.