A millennial on Millennium Stage

Erez at Millennium Stage, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. Oct. 7, 2016/photo by Patricia Leslie

One of the performers last week at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage was female guitarist and vocalist, Erez, who sounds a lot like Adele and whose homespun songs come from heartache, too.

Erez at Millennium Stage, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. Oct. 7, 2016/photo by Patricia Leslie

Erez, a Hebrew name for boys which her family discovered after they named her, is from New York and a product of Israel where she grew up and lives. 

She charmed the SRO audience with her own brand of slow jazz, soft rock, and rhythm and blues. It's easy to see why she's a top Israeli vocalist, backed by a band of four on the organ, guitar, acoustics, and percussion.

Erez at Millennium Stage, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. Oct. 7, 2016/photo by Patricia Leslie

Erez, 23, said she was just coming off tour from New York, and Washington was her last stop in the U.S. before leaving the next day for Tel Aviv. 

She seemed genuinely delighted by the crowd and took several selfies, including one with her back to the audience which, upon request, raised hands.  Her stage presence was easy and comfortable and her maturity, far beyond her years.  No doubt we'll be hearing her name and music a lot more in the future.

Erez at Millennium Stage, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. Oct. 7, 2016/photo by Patricia Leslie

Erez at Millennium Stage, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. Oct. 7, 2016/photo by Patricia Leslie

Erez's band at Millennium Stage, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. Oct. 7, 2016/photo by Patricia Leslie


Words from "Out of Here," however, seemed out of balance with today's current young female population, strong and undeterred by opposites: 

You're right 

I'm wrong

I'm weak

      You're strong



It's not for me to say.

What:  Free performances

When: 6 p.m., seven days a week 365 days a year 

Where: The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, 2700 F Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20566

How much: Admission is always free at Millennium Stage.

Duration:  Usually less than an hour

Metro station: Foggy Bottom. Ride a free red shuttle bus (every 10 minutes) at the top of the escalators at Foggy Bottom to KenCen or walk it (10 minutes).


Happy Hour: Before 6 p.m. some beer, wine, and treats are half price at the hall's refreshment stands where servers could use a dose of customer service training at the School for Service Elites, Trader Joe's.

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


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Free dance lessons at the Kennedy Center

In the nightly sky above the roof line at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, it's not the moon or a star or a plane from nearby National Airport, it's a street light/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Estela Velez de Paradez led a flamenco dance lesson at the Millennium Stage at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/Photo by Patricia Leslie

First, you put your hands in the air/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Then, you wave them all about/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 Flamenco dancing is good for the middle/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Instructor Estela Velez de Paradez invited audience members up on the Millennium Stage for a flamenco dance lesson at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Can you do it? A one-on-one exchange, and the little girl dressed for the occasion/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A star is born at the Millennium Stage/Photo by Patricia Leslie

I could have danced all night

I could have danced all night

And still have begged for more.

I could have spread my wings 

And done a thousand things...

Wait!

Dancing was not why I was there!

Dancing was not on my menu, but rather...

Music, music, music!

I went to the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage to hear free music, music, music, and drink Happy Hour beer and eat pretzels.

But, but, but...no music, music, music to be found... or heard.

How about a flamenco dance lesson instead?

Estela Velez de Paradez of Joy of Motion Dance Center led the class, and she stomped.  

Her new students stomped.

She raised her hands.  

The students raised their hands.

She shouted "olé!"  

The students shouted "olé."  

She shouted "olé!" again and demanded a louder "olé!" response, and she got it.

Ms. Velez de Paradez gave a brief history of flamenco dancing (created by Gypsies "to express their emotions") and compared the dance to vino:  "It's like wine; it gets better the older you get" (!)), and she urged everyone present to practice attitude and posture, both critically important to successful flamenco dancing.  

"Stand up straight!  Hold your stomach in!" 

      You put your right foot in,

You take your right foot out,

You put your right foot in,

And you shake it all about

You do the hokey pokey

and you turn yourself around

That's what it's all about

Hold it!  That was not what Estela was leading, and there was no music.

Horrors!  If music ever started, was it to be taped a la Warner's and the Nutcracker?  No musicians nor instruments were seen.

After 30 minutes of stomping and hand wavin' and "ole's" and no signs of music making, I left at 6:30 p.m. and drifted home.  Sad.  

Whoever thought of looking at the schedule?

Coming up!  Another free dance lesson on January 31, 6 p.m., Millennium Stage, Beginner Contemporary Jazz with Jocelyn Isaac. "Please wear clothing you can move in" the Kennedy Center suggests.

When:  Free Millennium Stage performances seven days a week at 6 p.m. which last generally under an hour

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. Ride a free red shuttle bus (every 10 minutes) at the top of the escalators at Foggy Bottom to KenCen or walk it (10 minutes).

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

patricialesli@gmail.com

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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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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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

Be'la Dona rocks the Kennedy Center

Be'la Dona last week at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

One of the free 6 p.m. performances at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage last week was by Be’la Dona, D.C.'s own "homegrown" all-female band whose members can shake a tail feather, yes they can!

Dance and jive, yes!

Be'la Dona last week at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

I know I shed about 500 calories just watching them, and all I did was clap and throw my hands in the air.  I didn’t even stand up and get out on the dance floor like the white-haired white guy in the yellow shirt up front who thought he was part of the act, too.  But he produced a lot of laughs and applause with his show inside a show. 

An audience member who became part of the Be'la Dona show at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

Despite his participation, it did take a while for the singers and musicians to get the rest of the KenCen audience "going" in the spirit of things, but "going," it finally did.

It was the first Millennium production I've seen where the performers left the stage to go down into the audience and try to coax the crowd into a boogie. It was like rolling a wagon through a mountain of molasses, but then the people finally got into it

Said one of the leaders right at the beginning, "This is the Kennedy Center, after all, and we’ve got to be respectful” or something like that. 

The Be'la Dona guitarist was Genevieve Konecnik/Patricia Leslie

One of my favorite kinds of music, gospel, is one of Be’la Dona’s genres, but I didn’t hear any.

What I did hear was mostly loud percussion and vocals, and to my untrained ear, selections were repetitive.  One (maybe more) of the Be’la Dona members used to sing with Mr. Chuck Go-Go Brown, and it was his brand of music I was hoping to hear. (Mr. Go-Go may be 75, but he'll never be old, even when he gets to be 105! Hope he's feeling better.) 

Be'la Dona last week at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

During the production I did pick up a few words which may have been song titles since they were repeated about a millennia:  25 Days, Heartbreak Hotel (not the Elvis version), and Love Will Make You, Oh, So Happy…So Sad (Sing it sister! Not the Al Green version).

Members of Be’la Dona are Rhonda Coe, Wendy Rai Mackall, Genevieve Konecnik, Cherie Mitchell Agurs (maybe relative of John Agurs, manager?), Claudia Rodgers, Tempest Thomas, Shannon Brown, and Karis Hill.  If there's a happier band, I'd like to know who it is.   These ladies in their black and white apparel never ceased smiling broadly throughout their hour-long appearance.

Be'la Dona last week at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage/Patricia Leslie

It was surprising at 5:30 p.m. to find plenty of empty seats which I would have expected the hometown fans to have filled, but, by show's end, they had showed up, and it was SRO.

Reminder:  Before 6 p.m. you can get Happy Hour prices at the KenCen's hallway bars. Five bucks will get you beer, crunchy treats and live music.  Who can beat it? Gospel, not necessary. 

B o r i n g: The Manhattan Transfer at the Kennedy Center

From the Queen of Free:

I just don't remember their music and I thought I did. Anyway, it was a mind nummer. (Is that a word?)

It was music my grandmother would have liked. Wait a minute! I am a grandmother!

I was so mad at the Washington Post. It seemed like every single day it posted a notice about the free concert by the Manhattan Transfer at the KC. What? Did it need more people to attend? And then, of all things, on Friday the Post ran a photo, the nerve, in the weekend section promoting the performance! What was it trying to do?

Whatever, the likelihood of my securing a seat grew dimmer and dimmer as the week wore on. Thank you, Washington Post!

At Foggy Bottom, the line for the shuttle to the KC was at least 60 deep one hour before show time. I was so mad at the Post.

I walked to KC, arriving at 5:15 p.m and discovered one million people had arrived just ahead of me. Not only were all the seats taken, but people were sitting on the steps at the other end of the the Millennium Stage six miles away.

The Post had mentioned KC was installing screens for the special event and that it would observe half off Happy Hour prices for alcoholic beverages until 6 p.m. N o t. On my hike I stopped to quench my thirst, and the bartender gleefully reported: "The Post got it wrong."

Looking for a seat (step seats are better than floor seats) I stopped to ask one woman sitting on the steps if she had come to hear the Manhattan Transfer from six miles away, and she said, while wiping the sweat from her brow, that she had given up walking and had just collapsed.

She pointed to some seats in the horizon at the far end of Millennium Stage, and I hailed a taxi and took off.

Sure enough, although it was 40 minutes until the free concert began, I managed to get a seat right under the facing (from six miles) stage. When the show got underway the screens worked fine, and I could hear, but hear what? Do you mean to tell me I braved all these elements and rushed to hear lacklustre music? That's what it was.

The best selections: "A Tisket, A Tasket" and "Groovin'". The female who performed "scat" stole the show, if it could be stolen. I nodded off and upon awakening, joined some others stealing away before the end.

The Crowd: 97 percent, Caucasian; Average Age (no joke): 60; Dress: Whatever plus