Skies light up after timpanist plays at the Kennedy Center

At the Kennedy Center guests who attend performances by the National Symphony Orchestra see and hear shows indoors and out/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At intermission Tuesday night, guests attending the National Symphony Orchestra performance streamed out onto the veranda at the Kennedy Center to catch a breath of fresh air, to sip beverages, admire the scenery, and praise the performance of timpanist Jauvon Gilliam who had just finished, in vigorous fashion, Timpani Concerto No. 1, "The Olympian," by James Oliverio (b. 1956).

Jauvon Gilliam/Photo from blogs.Kennedy-Center.org

At the conclusion of the piece moments earlier in the Concert Hall, the composer came up on stage and joined Mr. Gilliam and guest conductor Thomas Wilkins to receive enthusiastic applause and shouts of "Bravo!" from the audience.

Mr. Gilliam, the NSO's principal timpanist and also guest principal timpanist for the Budapest Festival Orchestra, had pounded the eight kettledrums which encircled him at the front of the stage, swirling in his chair and making music with what seemed like four hands.  He waved his sticks like a juggler tossing flames, with arms that sometimes flashed behind him.

The combinations of jazz, dance, Duke Ellington, and George Gershwin made for a spectacular presentation in the inauguration of the NSO's series "New Moves:  symphony + dance," the latter expertly supplied by members of Katie Smythe's New Ballet Ensemble from Memphis. 

Now in its eleventh year, the New Ballet comprises children from different social and economic backgrounds, those who cannot afford to pay for dance training and those who can, to learn professional dance on their way to stage careers.  Several alums have already made it up.

Thomas Wilkins, conductor of the Omaha National Symphony and principal guest conductor for the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, had no trouble leading the NSO. Indeed, every time he turned around to face the audience, a broad smile brightened his face.

Thomas Wilkins/Photo from the Omaha Symphony Orchestra

Selections from Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin (1898-1937) with arrangement by Robert Russell Bennett (1894-1981) got the show off to a stellar start, leading me to wonder if the best was saved for first, but it was an introduction to all the evening's finery which lay ahead, including the fantastic Martin Luther King from a ballet composition, Three Black Kings by Duke Ellington (1899-1974) and arranged by Luther Henderson (1919-2003). Ellington died before he finished Kings, and his son, Mercer, completed the piece. 

(Up against the night's competition, Souvenirs, Op. 28 by Samuel Barber (1910-1981) was a trifle uninteresting.)

All this served to build anticipation for the night's climax, the debut of Ellington's Harlem ballet, commissioned by the NSO and the Kennedy Center.

New Ballet Ensemble dance Harlem with the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/Photo by Scott Suchman

Dressed in Sunday clothes for Harlem's streets (except for one lass wearing a long dress who may have just stepped off the train from Kansas), the young performers exuded confidence and grace that belied their years and made viewers aware of their futures as career performers.

The choreography had some gaps, namely, the frequent freezes-in-positions which left the majority of the nine dancers stationary and motionless while one, two, or three colleagues twirled around them.  The ballet was far more enjoyable when all nine danced, like the old-fashioned way.

I wondered what a Porgy and Bess ballet would be like and discovered the Dallas Black Dance Theatre brought it to the Kennedy Center in 1998.

The combination dance and music series continues this weekend with compositions by John Adams and Aaron Copland and performances by violinist Leila Josefowicz and Jessica Lang's Dance Company.

This summer will find Maestro Wilkins, a Norfolk, Virginia native, in the area again when he conducts the NSO at Wolf Trap August 2 with guest artist, Yo-Yo Ma.  At last check, only lawn spaces remained.  Take your back brace.

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Scenes from a musical petting zoo at the Kennedy Center

"Johann, this is how you hold it." At Sunday's "instrument petting zoo" at the Kennedy Center/Photo by Patricia Leslie

What fun to go and see all these fine instruments up close! To touch them, to hold them, and blow them all up!

Between performances at last Sunday's Peter and the Wolf at the Kennedy Center, everyone was invited to check out and play instruments on the Terrace Level. KenCen volunteers and members of the Lake Braddock High School Band were on hand to help the budding musicians, clean mouth pieces, and provide direction.  Smiles, galore!  What fun!  And free.

Which instrument do you think was the most popular?  Just take a guess, and I'll bet you are wrong. Answer is in the photos.

At Sunday's "instrument petting zoo" at the Kennedy Center ("I don't know if I trust this guy or not. He's a little scary to me in that checkered shirt.")/Photo by Patricia Leslie

"Stand back!  It's my turn, and I don't need your help! I can play these just fine."  Rat-a-tat-tat! At Sunday's "instrument petting zoo" at the Kennedy Center/Photo by Patricia Leslie

"Now, honey, it's Daddy's turn." At Sunday's "instrument petting zoo" at the Kennedy Center/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

At Sunday's "instrument petting zoo" at the Kennedy Center/Photo by Patricia Leslie

"Open wide like you're at the dentist's and say "'aahhhh.'" At Sunday's "instrument petting zoo" at the Kennedy Center/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Cameras, photographers, and proud parents were in abundance at Sunday's "instrument petting zoo" at the Kennedy Center/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At Sunday's "instrument petting zoo" at the Kennedy Center/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Shoulder-to-shoulder or instrument-to-instrument at Sunday's "instrument petting zoo" at the Kennedy Center it was /Photo by Patricia Leslie

And the Number One Most Popular Instrument at Sunday's "instrument petting zoo" at the Kennedy Center was the cello.  The line to play it stretched from wall to wall, far more than for any other instrument.  Where was the bass?  Hiding in the orchestra pit/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

 

 

 

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National Symphony Orchestra tickets on sale for $11

Martin Frost will debut with the National Symphony Orchestra April 24 when he plays Aho's Clarinet Concerto/Photo by Mats Backer

Can you believe it?  For less than the price of a movie.

A mailing I received from the Kennedy Center says a minimum of any three concerts (certain dates and times) without a handling fee are all you need to buy to get $11 tickets.

You can get better seats for $22 or $33 each, depending upon the level where you want to sit, but since my purse is mean and lean, I'm going with the extra super-duper low price to beat all.

Timpanist Jauvon Gilliam will play Oliverio's Concerto No. 1 in a night of symphony and dance at NSO May 13/Photo by Margot Schulman

Okay, the details:  No Saturday nights, but there are plentiful Thursday and Friday nights available: Feb. 27-28, Mar. 13-14, Mar. 20-21, April 10-11, April 17-18, April 24-25, May 7-8 (Wednesday and Thursday), May 13 (Tuesday), May 16, June 5-6, and June 12-13. 

 

The programs are fantastic:   Beethoven, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Strauss, Prokofiev, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky, Bruckner, Gershwin, and Copland to name many of the composers.

Violinist Leila Josefowicz will join NSO in a night of symphony and dance when she plays Adams' Violin Concerto May 16/Photo by Henry Fair

The May programs feature "symphony and dance" like Bernstein's On the Waterfront (May 7-8),  The Three Faces of Duke Ellington (May 13), and Adams' Violin Concerto (May 16). 

Rush!  (Whew!  This puts me in one.)

James Conlon will conduct NSO April 10 and 11 in works by Zemlinsky, Korngold, and Brahms/Photo by Robert Millard

Log on to nationalsymphony.org/tripleplay and choose the Triple Play Subscription under NSO Classical. Make your selections and check out.  Last year I couldn't get online reservations to work for me so this year I called 202-416-8500, and "Billy" got me all signed up and squared away, pronto.  Thanks, Billy!

 

The offer ends February 21, 2014, and it can be withdrawn at any time.  Time's a fleetin'.  Enjoy the show!  (You know, don't you, about the free shuttle which runs about every 10 minutes from the Foggy Bottom Metro Station to Ken Cen?  And back.)


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Young pianists thrill Kennedy Center audience

International piano stars at the Kennedy Center, from left: Mihyun Lee, Matthew Eng, Vivien Zhu, Ethan Hsiao, Gloria Cai, and Tyler Fengya/Patricia Leslie

 

Their keystrokes and music coming from the Steinway on the Millennium Stage Tuesday evening left audience members star struck by talents displayed by those so young. Unless you were there, it is almost impossible to believe, but the large screen up above the stage on the heavy curtain displayed close-ups of nimble fingers and focused eyes, and we realized we were witnesses to distinction. 

 

The performers are the world’s best pianists for their age groups, as selected in the 28^th International Young Artist Piano Competition, and three of the five are area residents.

 

First up on the stage was seven-year-old Tyler Fengya who began his piano lessons at age three and won his first competition a year later. A school student in Clifton, N. J., Tyler played Claude Debussy’s “Clare de Lune” and “Chinatown Rag” composed by Li-Ly Chang who founded the competition in 1986.

 

Promoting Chinese composers and strengthening ties between the East and West are two goals of the contest which requires participants to play selections by Chinese and western composers.

 

Tyler was not the only pianist to play a piece written by the competition’s founder. Mihyun Lee, the prize winner for the Young Professional group ages 19 through 28, chose Ms. Chang’s “Taking Shapes” and, also, Maurice Ravel’s “La Valse.”

 

A Korean native who is a Ph.D. student in musical arts at Ohio State University, Ms. Lee has a solo recital coming up later this year at Carnegie Hall.

 

Gloria Cai, age 10, a school student in Ellicott City, Maryland, came to the stage after Tyler. She began her training at age 4 at the knee of her grandmother, Yuhua Gu. When Gloria was seven, she won her age category in the international contest. For Tuesday’s show Gloria played “Flower Drum Song” by He Hsao Yin and Frederic Chopin’s Etude, Op. 10, No. 5.

 

Next on the bench was Ethan Hsiao, 11, who began his piano lessons at age six. A school student in McLean, Virginia, Ethan played Aaron Copland’s “The Cat and the Mouse.”

 

Vivien Zhu, 14, attends high school in Rockville, Maryland, and she started musical training at six. Her selection was Enrique Granados’s Allegro de Concierto, Op. 46.

 

Matthew Eng, 15, a student in Moorestown, New Jersey, began studying piano at age seven, and his selections were Quan Jihao’s “Combination of Long and Short” and Alexander Scriabin’s Sonata No. 9, Op. 68 “Black Mass.”

 

The winners of numerous awards, prizes, and scholarships, the young medalists have performed on television and at top venues across the U.S., including, in Ms. Lee’s case, Korea.

 

Without question those of us who hold classical music dear have many hours of listening pleasure to anticipate from these remarkable musicians. 

To see past performances click here.

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A star-studded evening at the National Symphony Orchestra

Jean-Yves Thibaudet/Cincinnati Symphony.org

 

How was I so lucky to be able to attend the best performance of the year by the National Symphony Orchestra?  Or, at least, of the six concerts I heard?

My $11 seat three rows from the front at the Kennedy Center Friday night on the "piano side" was equivalent to a 50-yard chair when the Redskins play Dallas. 

Jean-Yves Thibaudet, born in Lyon, France in 1961 and "one of today's most sought after soloists," according to the program which quotes verbatim from his website, did dazzle with his performance of Camille Saint-Saens' Piano Concerto No. 5 in F major, Op. 103, "Egyptian."  His fingers raced up and down the keyboard faster than a fan's blades turn in summer, and the magical music we heard coming from the piano was truly astonishing, given the pounding inflected upon it by Thibaudet. He was up and down from the bench so frequently one guesses he never need exercise.

At the end the crowd roared, and the pianist, who has played around the world for three decades and recorded more than 50 albums, returned to the stage for three encores which ended the first part of the program.

At intermission in the aisle was a woman, about 80, complimenting Thibaudet's performance:  "I've traveled around the world," she said, and it was about time the National Symphony put on a really good show.  "Shut up," said the man (her husband?) as he guided her up the aisle with his hands on her shoulders.  "No one wants to hear you!"  (I was taken aback, more by him than by her.)

It was a spectacular evening, beginning with Edvard Grieg's familiar Peer Gynt, Suite No. 1, and ending with Witold Lutoslawski's Concerto for Orchestra. 

Krzysztof Urbanski was the guest conductor

 

The guest conductor making his NSO debut was Krzysztof Urbanski, the music director of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the chief conductor for the Trondheim Symfoniorkester and the principal guest conductor of the Tokyo Symphony. Quite the showman himself who has won many awards and conducted all of Poland's major orchestras, Urbanski, age 29, was a a danseur at the podium to watch him weave and wave the baton and urge the orchestra to follow his commands.  His modern, upswept hair style might be worthy of an Oscar nomination.

Meanwhile,  Thibaudet's wardrobe, the program noted, was designed by Vivienne Westwood.  It included a diamond oblong belt buckle of about 2.5 by 1.5 inches, a diamond-filled emerald cut brooch (about 2 by 1 inches) hanging from a necklace, and a single diamond-studded earring. A black satin jacket and black patent-leather shoes complemented his score.

 

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Cool Nordics charm a Kennedy Center crowd

Hakon Thelin on his double bass at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

A hushed crowd listened intently last weekend to Unni Lovlid of Norway sing and hum in her contemporary, distinctive style on the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center.

You know how sometimes (all the time?) you just need a little something to soothe your mind without having to think about it?  Like pressing "refresh" and mental ocean waves sweep through your brain, calming tired wires. You've experienced that, no?   Ms. Lovlid’s voice, Hakon Thelin's double bass, and Ingar Hunskaar's magic with electronics are the remedy Dr. Healer ordered for a weary state.

Unni Lovlid and Hakon Thelin at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

 
Ms. Lovlid is known for her contemporary folk music, talents she developed on the west coast of Norway, sharpening her ear for years under the tutelage of older women, especially her mother, who sing and perform. 

If you closed your eyes and allowed your ears and mind to fill with the sounds, her soft chants and humming carried you away to a religious experience at a monastery.  

Unni Lovlid is projected on the big screen with its black lines at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

 

With a distinctive, clear voice, reminiscent of a mix of Buffy Sainte Marie and Joan Baez, Ms. Lovlid hypnotized the standing room only crowd with her stare and slight smile, gazing intently upon the crowd while she sang or watched Mr. Thelin, a Norwegian Grammy award-winner, play solo. 

They performed a northern lights number which had the power to summon the northern lights even for those audience members who have never seen the northern lights, with mighty sounds of roaring water which ebbed and flowed with all their friction, compounded by the rumblings of an earthquake.

Hakon Thelin projected on the big screen at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

In 2006 Ms. Lovlid was named Norway's "Traditional Musician of the Year," and soon, Mr. Thelin's and her new album will be out. This is Ms. Lovlid's first performance in the U.S.
 

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Their performance was part of the Nordic Cool 2013 Festival underway at KenCen through St. Patrick's Day, March 17, and what a success it has been, from dancing, singing, theatre, shirt sculpture (?) to Legoland on the roof for wee ones.  (Big wee ones are permitted to play, too.)

Click here to see the cool Nordic Cool brochure and leaf through its 64 pages and learn detail about upcoming presentations, many which are free.

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'Metamorphosis' was cool theater at Nordic cool

Gisli Orn Gardarsson became a flying insect in Metamorphosis at the Kennedy Center/Vesturport

 

Metamorphosis has come and gone after playing for just three nights as part of the Nordic Cool 2013 arts celebration now underway at the Kennedy Center, and it was some of the best theater I have seen in years.

A friend said he found Kafka depressing, but my purpose in attending was to enjoy drama and the artistry of the production, and that’s what I got, and a lot more.

If you've read the "novella," you must wonder how a producer would go about metamorphosing a man, a family's primary breadwinner, into an insect, but Gisli Orn Gardarsson, who plays the insect/man, and David Farr, both adapters and directors, had no problems bringing it all together.

The set for the play is a portion of a family’s house on two levels:  the sitting room downstairs and the bedroom of "Gregor" (Gardarsson) upstairs whose mother, father, and sister don’t take too well to the changed physical and mental state of their relative. They grow increasingly weary of putting up with the pest, and their tolerance of him who grows more different from them day by day diminishes.  Only the fittest shall survive.

In Metamorphosis only the fittest survive/Vesturport

 

Except for the mother (Edda Arnljotsdottir) who frequently shouted to project her voice, the performers performed their characters with aplomb, but it was Gardarsson who, of course, stole the show.  His metamorphosis into insect was so captivating that lack of bug costume and fur, 1,000 legs, and wings to soar over the house went unnoticed while watching.

Over time, his bedroom, which the audience views from a ceiling perch, becomes a cage where Gregor explores in his creepy, crawly way, sometimes on an invisible trapeze as he leaps from wall to wall.  Always crouched on boomerang appendages, he hangs from the ceiling, and jumps upon tables which become landing pads.

The insect's bedroom metamorphed into a cage/Vesturport

 

When his sister Greta (Selma Bjornsdottir) comes to beat him in one memorable scene, the lights go out and Gregor's domicile immediately changes into a black and white torture chamber, illuminated by one big bright light shining on the room from the back and exposing prison bars behind the wrestling silhouettes while Greta strikes her brother repeatedly. It is a painful scene but hardly worse than Gregor's parents' behavior toward their only son: Get rid of him, and let's move on. Gregor's father (Ingvar E. Sigurdsson) pelts him with fruit.

The show included a ballet of sorts by Ms. Arnljotsdottir who often pirouetted from one side of the stage to the other in gentle solos, rolling across the dining room table at one point, just like Gregor, except the mother was a tad more jubilant, not racing to escape her captors, and uplifted subconsciously perhaps, by the knowledge the upstairs occupant was dying and would soon cease to be a bother.

The lighting (Bjorn Helgason) conveyed in the gloomy but homey set (until Gregor's room is metamorphed) and the music (Nick Cave and Warren Ellis) (think: Hitchcock on ice) were spectacular. (Alas, unseen musicians and the volume made it seem taped.) Split-second cues for sounds and buzzers were never missed.

 
Presenting the play were Vesturport Theatre of Iceland and Lyric Hammersmith of the U.K., companies which pride themselves on producing exceptional experimental theater which has earned them several prizes.  Gisli Orn Gardarsson is one of the founders of Vesturport, and David Farr, a screenwriter and director, is associated with Lyric Hammersmith.

This Metamorphosis, staged around the world, was presented at the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center, the smaller theater size which makes reception more enjoyable, however, do avoid Row Y in Orchestra since the leg room is about a third less than that found in other rows, and we just a little better off than insects crammed in a cage.

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Cool Nordic jazz at the Kennedy Center

In the distance at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center Friday night was Ibrahim Electric/patricia leslie

Guests stood 14 deep behind the filled seats at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center Friday night to hear Ibrahim Electric from Copenhagen play cool Nordic jazz, part of KenCen's Scandinavian arts festival now underway through St. Patrick's Day, March 17. 

That's Jeppe Tuxen of Ibrahim Electric on the Hammond B3 on the big screen at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center Friday night with the ceiling lights overhead but not that close/patricia leslie

Doses of Janis Joplin and Eric Clapton infused the chamber, mixed with Electric's acid rock sounds, soul and jazz.  The group has only three members but its distinctly northern lights music from a guitar (Niclas Knudsen), Hammond B3 (Jeppe Tuxen), and drums (Stefan Pasborg), made it seem like six were on stage.

Niclas Knudsen of Ibrahim Electric was on the big screen at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center Friday night with overhead ceiling lights, and a bed frame in the rear(?)/patricia leslie

The group charged up the young, old, and in-between crowd, happy to be ignited for the weekend's start.

Happy Socks Free Ship

Stefan Pasborg of Ibrahim Electric was on the big screen at Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center Friday night with overhead ceiling lights/patricia leslie

Check here for more Nordic Cool 2013 festival events at the Kennedy Center whose blue lights make the news every night.

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National Symphony Orchestra tickets on sale for $11

Frederic Chopin playing the piano in Prince Radziwill's Salon, 1887/Henryk Siemiradzki and Wikimedia Commons.  At the end of the piano seated beside the standing woman is, perhaps, Prince Radziwill, looking at the viewer and bearing a strong resemblance to Congressman James Moran (D-VA). What do you think? Emanuel Ax and the National Symphony Orchestra will play Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2, April 4 and April 5, 2013. 

You must purchase a minimum of three tickets at $11 each for National Symphony Orchestra performances to take advantage of this outstanding sale. No handling fee.

Deadline to purchase is February 22, 2013.

Music lovers:  How can you beat this? 

Offered are concerts on Thursday and Friday nights (no Saturdays or pops) at the Kennedy Center.

You may call the subscription office at 202-416-8500, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. and talk with a human or log on, according to the card in the mail, to nationalsymphony.org/TriplePlay and order, however, just like last year, I am still (after triple plays) unable to log on.  Or find that site.  Whatever.  It's a deal which I bought last year ordering from a person.

Here are a quick calendar and programs for the remainder of the 2013 season.   Click here for more description.

Feb. 21 and Feb. 22:  Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto

Feb. 28 and Mar. 1: Nordic Classic Cool (Sibelius)

Mar. 7 and Mar. 8: Mozart's Requiem

Mar. 28 and Mar. 29: Beethoven's Violin Concerto

Apr. 4 and Apr. 5: Emanuel Ax plays Chopin

Apr. 25: Beethoven and Tchaikovsky

Apr. 26: Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 and more

May 2: Elgar's Cello Concerto

May 3: Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5

May 30 and May 31: Respighi and Ravel

June 6 and June 7: Dvorak's Violin Concerto

June 13 and June 14: Ravel and Vaughan Williams

June 20: Thibaudet plays MacMillan

June 21: Thibaudet plays Saint-Saens

$33 (total) will get you three seats on Tier 2, however, $66 buys three better seats on the orchestra level, or $99 will get even better seats on orchestra. 

  
Hurry since the offer may be withdrawn at any time (i.e., when NSO reaches target sales).



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Funky, funky, funky times at Millennium Stage

Big Sam's Funky Nation at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/patricia leslie

Funky, funky, funky…Big Sam and his Funky Nation came to the Kennedy Center Thursday night in a free performance at Millennium Stage and forced the audience to jump out of our seats and dance right away. 

“Get up! Get up!” he ordered the crowd, as soon as he pranced on stage.

“Get up! Do you feel like movin' your body?" he screamed, and the crowd roared:  "YES!"

Big Sam told us to "get up," and we got up.  He was looking for a "funky donkey."/patricia leslie

We couldn't help but do what Big Sam told us to do, and we leaped and gyrated and moved our bodies.  No sitting down listening to pretty music with Big Sam.  That's not what it's all about. 

Under the lights and on the video screen was Big Sam's Funky Nation at Millennium Stage/patricia leslie

Young (five months), old (several in their 80s) and those in-between bumped and grinded (ground?) and waved hands (or had them waved) for almost all of the 50-minute show.

You missed your exercise Thursday?  You could have exercised with Sam and used up about 500 calories.

Big Sam Williams at Millennium Stage/patricia leslie

Of course, it was a SRO-crowd with four or five rows deep behind the ropes and standing on their feet the entire time, but we with seats were standing, too.  We were dancing in the aisles.

The horns!  Sam plays a mean trombone!  Big Sam's Funky Nation is from New Orleans, he told us twice, and one of the band members said Sam was 6'2" and 225 pounds, but from way in the back, he didn't look that big, however, with a name like "Big Sam," I was expecting a really big Sam, like maybe 300 pounds, so 225 looked normal.  Where was I?

Big Sam and Funky Nation at Millennium Stage/patricia leslie

The announced band members, save for Chocolate Milk (drums) (that's what Sam and the program said his name was), did not appear to be the band members' names in the program which were Andrew Baham (trumpet, vocals and keyboard), Andrew Block (guitar), and Eric Vogel (bass guitar).

Two of the tunes:  "Thank you for Letting Me Be Myself," (we sang along) and "She's Got Me Breakin' the Rules, I'm About to Lose My Cool, I Got to Get Away" or something like that.  It's not like I know funky.

Millennium Stage is a fantastic place to take children and introduce them to live music and dance. Noise is not a problem, and they (and you) can be free and move and sing with everybody else.  Plus, the cost can't be beat.

But there's the little matter of service at the Kennedy Center. 

Ahem:

Attention, Kennedy Center:  Presumably, a goal is increased revenue.  One way to increase revenue is to increase the number of bartenders and cash registers, and then you can sell more products!  (Well, duh.) In the ONLY line Thursday night, I stood with 17 others waiting on service for Happy Hour. 

“Just a beer,” I pleaded when I finally made it to the front of the line.  “Any old beer will do as long as it's the coldest and not those hot Stellas you just brought out in that box.  Oh, and I'll take some nuts, too." 

Kennedy Center: You could take some of those 1,000 ushers in the red coats who always seem to be beating us down and practically throwing us out of our seats for who knows what violation, maybe having the gall to cross our legs, one of which might just stick out in the aisle a wee bit, and have them sell beer and what-nots.

What?  You didn't know beer-drinkers were going to show up for Big Sam's Funky Nation?  I didn't hear Guy Lombardo playing at the Millennium Stage Thursday night.  But that might be because he died in 1977. And you don't know who Guy Lombard was, do you?  Well, a single refreshment line might have satisfied his crowd just fine, thank you.  Please check your listings.



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Kennedy Center tinkers with Millennium Stage

Toubab Krewe plays at the Kennedy Center's new Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

It wasn't the first time the Kennedy Center has moved its Millennium Stage upstairs to the Atrium, according to an usher.

"They are just trying something new," she said.  "Do you like it?"

It was new all right, and refreshing and hip and more like a club and in retrospect, the new venue made the Millennium Stage on the ground floor seem like a school classroom and old-fashioned with its folding chairs all neatly lined up and ushers saying "hush, hush."  Goodnight, mush.

 My gawd, the new digs were almost electric, in contrast, "fluid" and flexible.  "Mood" lighting and draperies added to special effects.

"There aren't enough seats," said another usher, "but this is the way they want it.  Kind of like a jazz club.  But you can sit on the floor," and many of the young and the old and the in-between did just that.

More college students than normal milled about, checking out the crowd, and chatting while enjoying liquid refreshment.  (Thank goodness, Happy Hour transferred upstairs, too.  I was crushed, absolutely crushed at the prospect of no beer and trinkets with free music at KenCen which, after a nanosecond's thought, gave way to reality and revenue, and there was the bar after all! Reason lives.)

What will they call it? The Atrium Stage?

Toubab Krewe at the Kennedy Center/Patricia Leslie

Up on stage was Toubab Krewe, a quartet of instrumentalists from Asheville, N.C., who combine their sounds from guitar, piano, fiddle, bass, percussion, kora (Wikipedia: "a 21-string bridge-harp used extensively in West Africa"), kamelengoni (12-string harp lute), and djembe (a drum played with bare hands) to make unique music with influences from Africa, the Middle East, the East, and Hawai'i.

According to program notes, the difference between Toubab Krewe and other groups adapting African music is the way Toubab innovates on what's been learned "instead of simply recreating tradition." 

The group's members are Justin Perkins, Drew Heller, David Pransky, and Luke Quaranta who have studied and lived in Guinea, the Ivory Coast, and Mali, and have performed in festivals around the world including Bonnaroo and in Mali, the Festival In The Desert.

At KenCen, Toubab's lively, not too harsh nor too loud, somewhat mellow music uplifted the crowd and sent everyone out on a happy note to go watch the Nats. It was lots of fun, and that's what music is about, isn't it? 

Goodnight to the old lady whispering "hush."

(Wikipedia says "toubab" means foreigner in several West African languages, and "krewe" is the New Orleans way to spell "crew.")

Toubab Krewe plays at the Kennedy Center's new Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

What: Oct. 15 Nathan Williams and the Zydeco Cha Chas (with free dance lessons at 5 p.m. with Dancing by the Bayou)

Oct. 16 Hilton Worldwide:  Compagnie de Danse Jean-Rene Delsoin

Oct. 17 Fire and the Wheel

Oct. 18 Theater Patrasket: Friendship (Denmark)

For future performances, click here.

When:  Seven days a week at 6 p.m.

Where: The Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20566

How much: Admission is always free at the Millennium Stage

Metro station: Foggy Bottom and ride the free shuttle (every 10 minutes) from there to KenCen or walk it (10 minutes)

For more information:  800-444-1324 or 202-467-4600

patricialesli@gmail.com