Mary Ann Redmond, Langosch, Cooley, Mattacks at Bethesda Blues and Jazz Saturday eve

Mary Ann Redmond/Photo by Michael McDermott

Local jazz star and soul vocalist, Mary Ann Redmond, will perform at Bethesda Blues and Jazz Saturday night with Paul Langosch on bass, Jay Cooley on keys, and special guest on drums, Dave Mattacks.

Redmond has something to please all with her specialities in rock, blues, soul, jazz, pop, and she plays guitar.

Langosch, who teaches jazz at Virginia Tech, played bass for Tony Bennett for 20 years.  Cooley has a following from his many experiences with area greats, playing, directing, and writing.  

Mattacks has played with Elton John, George Harrison, Jethro Tull, Cat Stevens and has recorded five CDs with Sir Paul McCartney.

A resident of Great Falls, Redmond, 55, has won 23 Wammies (Washington Area Music Awards) including three in 2013 for female rhythm and blues vocalist, song of the year, "Love Me Anyway," and songwriter of the year with Todd Wright. 

Another night of great music at Bethesda Blues!

Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club, 7719 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD/Photo by Marc Rubin

What:  Mary Ann Redmond, Paul Langosch, Jay Cooley, and Dave Mattacks at the Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club

When: 8 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 17, 2015.  Doors open at 6 p.m.

Where: 7719 Wisconsin Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814

How much: $20 at the door or online.

Future shows: Please check out the calendar.

Food and drink: The dining area has a $10 per person minimum which can be applied toward any item on the menu. Check out FAQ here. And here's the menu. I have found the food (beet salad: yummy) and drinks, good and reasonably priced.

For more information: 240-330-4500

Getting there: The Bethesda Metro station is about 1.5 blocks away, and parking is below the building (free on weekends). See directions.

To read about past shows, please click Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper Club.

patricialesli@gmail.com 

Andrew Card in bed with George and Barbara Bush

Andrew Card at St. John's Episcopal

Church, Lafayette Square/Photo by Patricia Leslie

That's what he said Sunday at the Adult Forum at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C.

Andrew Card, 67, chief of staff for George W. Bush, was the guest speaker at St. John's, where he held the 150 or so audience members fascinated with his "behind-the-scenes" look at what it takes to be the president's COS.

Andrew Card at St. John's Episcopal

Church, Lafayette Square/Photo by Patricia Leslie

He also served in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and just today began a new job as president of Franklin Pierce University. He was the person in the "iconic" photograph of September 11, 2001 who told President Bush in a classroom of second graders in Sarasota, Florida, that the U.S. had been attacked.

In-between flights and trips advising George W. Bush on his 2000 presidential race, Card said Bush called and told him to go to Houston to visit Bush's parents who were longtime friends of Card.  ("I was much closer to his parents" than he was to George W. Bush, Card said.)

He followed George W.'s directive and went to Houston, arriving at the Bush home before George H.W. and Barbara got there (out campaigning). When they rolled in at 11:30 p.m. (Barbara) and midnight (George H.W.), peanut butter and honey sandwiches were on the late-night menu.

Andrew Card at St. John's Episcopal

Church, Lafayette Square/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The next morning, Card got up and got dressed and soon heard a knock on the bedroom door.  There stood the former first lady who expressed surprise that Card was already up and dressed.

"'Come and have coffee,'" she said, and invited Card into the first couple's bedroom. "'Join us,'" she said, and Card did. The Bushes invited Card to "'lay down with us'" in the bed which Card did. (!)

Card said the television was on, and the couple was "chattering away."

In a few minutes, the former president got up, and Card got up, too, but the former president told Card:"'No, stay there with Barb.'"  And Card did as he was instructed:  "I got in bed with the first lady." (What do you say when a former president gives orders?)

The Bushes told Card to "'take good care of our son.'" Card was still unaware "the son" was tapping Card to become his chief of staff.

For the 2000 presidential debates, Card was sought as a negotiator for the particulars of the debates which took him from his job at General Motors far longer than the expected several afternoons. Arrangements took two and a half weeks.

Describing the debates, he said Al Gore violated terms of the third debate in St. Louis when he left his podium and walked into George W. Bush's "space," and Bush just looked at him and won it.

When Card eventually got home after seven weeks on the campaign trail, his wife, Kathy, a United Methodist minister whom he met in fifth grade, asked if he was married to her or to George W. Bush.

At that moment at the Card household, the telephone rang, and it was the candidate calling again. (The Cards are still married.)

Andrew Card at St. John's Episcopal

Church, Lafayette Square/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Card compared being the chief of staff for the president to a marriage, but working for the president is a lot more demanding since the COS is on call 24 hours a day/seven days a week.

It's a job "designed by the needs of the president," and "you also serve the first lady" and her staff.

Schedules, motorcades, gardening, laundry, the "care and feeding of the president" all fall under the jurisdiction of the COS.

"Can the president find time to eat, sleep, and be married?" 

"It's a great privilege and honor" to be the chief of staff, Card said.  "It's an ultimate experience" which can't be called a job since it's not 9 to 5. 
 
Card said he did not agree with every decision George W. Bush made. "The president should never make an easy decision," and "if so, the chief of staff is not doing his or her job." (Throughout his talk Card was always quick to use masculine and feminine pronouns and correct himself when he forgot.)

Every decision should be "brutally" tough to make, and the president needs to obtain lots of opinions. Being COS is "a management challenge."

The time passed quickly at St. John's where Card never once took position behind the podium which was brought out for him, and no one (save the moderator) seemed to notice the hour was ending, leaving time for only one question:  How do you maintain your enthusiasm?

Earlier in his talk, Card talked about his ceaseless optimism.  "I start every day with faith," welcoming the new dawn at 4:08 a.m. and  Philippians 4:8:

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.

He also quoted a passage from Ecclesiastes about God's time which may have been 3:11:
      Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.

To be a chief of staff, "you have to be an optimist....I wanted the president to realize the privilege that was given to him....Optimism is critically important."  If a leader is not optimistic, he or she is hard pressed to get "followers" to go along with the program. 

"Every day was a good day.  You can't have a bad day when you're the president." 

Card said St. John's is "a very special place," a place where he has worshipped many times.  He grew up Roman Catholic, he said.

Wikipedia says "the average term of service for a White House Chief of Staff is a little under 2.5 years," and the person who has served that position the longest is John R. Steelman who held the position for the entire administration of Harry S Truman (six years, one month). Andrew Card is the third-longest serving COS (five years, three months) after Steelman and Sherman Adams, who was Dwight Eisenhower's COS (five years, nine months).

Card was born in Holbrook or Brockton (two reports), Massachusetts and graduated with an engineering degree from the University of South Carolina.   He attended the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and was first elected to public office in 1975 when voters sent him to the Massachusetts legislature.

I wanted to ask him if he is writing a book.

Next up at St. John's Adult Forum:  Mack McLarty, President Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff, January 18, 10 a.m.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Movie review: 'Mr. Turner' is looong and laborious

Timothy Spall is J.M.W. Turner in Mr. Turner by Sony Pictures Classics

 

Oh, please.  This is another one of those movie critics' movies, the kind they like and write about for each other.  Rather like that depressing cat movie of last year.

At Rotten Tomatoes, this may come as a shock, but the critics have given Mr. Turner a 97, while we the people who count, who rate, who provide the ka-ching, ka-ching, ka-chang, chang gave it a 61.  That's a big spread. 

We the people tend to ignore the critics and for good reason!  They've got their favorites, and we've got ours, and this ain't one. 

Who do you trust? 

Oh, sure, Timothy Spall does a fine acting job as J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851), the painter, as do all the women in the film (Marion Bailey, Dorothy Atkinson,  Ruth Sheen), and I have no doubt Spall will be nominated for an Oscar, but acting,  beautiful scenery (like Turner's art), and period costuming (by Jacqueline Durran) can't carry the ball without a playbook. Those who come and pay to see movies would like some action, please, a story line featuring more than a joyless, moody artist harrumping and grabbing about.  The script is languid, rather like Turner's pace, a little faster than a drunken slug on New Year's Eve.

(In this role, Spall is proof positive that when it comes to sex appeal, looks don't matter.  Position and money are what counts.)
 
It's another movie, ho hum, which treats women as second-class citizens, but in the 19th century, I don't think they were citizens at all. Women meant nothing to Turner except when he "needed" them. Grrrummmmmpppp.....or is that grrooppe? 
 
Turner is not as good as another film about an artist (Big Eyes) which is pretty miraculous that two films are out at the same time about the lives of artists, but Big Eyes was a pleasant surprise, and coming soon,  a review of it. 

The fact that I had to hold my head at a 125 degree angle the whole time at E Street trying to see Mr. Turner certainly made matters worse.  It was the 5 p.m. show last Saturday, and the theater was all booked except for the very front.  Yeeks.  Terrible seats.  I poked the guy next to me who was about 12 going on 35, and voiced my complaint, and naturally, he agreed. I couldn't tell if those in the front three rows had neck cricks or were fast asleep. 

Producers:  Where is the movie on strong women?  Why do we always have to play second fiddle and be your pawns?  I want to see Joan of Arc take on the British, Tina stomp on Ike, Queen Isabella of Spain rule the world, and Catherine of Russia dish it.  You go, girls! 

I can't wait to see the new woman vampire film.  Eat'em up!  Let's go!

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

'Downton Abbey' costumes at Winterthur

If you missed Winterthur's splendid Downton Abbey costume exhibit which closed Sunday after a 10-month run, here are some photos of the display. The former home of Henry F. du Pont (1880-1969), Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library in Winterthur, Delaware will re-open to the public March 1 when spring starts up.

 

Let yours blossom with a day trip up to Winterthur, less than two months and about two hours away, north on Interstate 95.  (Take $16 for tolls north and about $12, heading home.) Winterthur has a garden calendar, too. An excellent day trip from Washington combines Winterthur and Brandywine River Museum, the home and studios of N.C. and Andrew Wyeth, just six miles from Winterthur.  Would you believe they both have places to eat and to shop?/Photo by Patricia Leslie 

 This is one of the gowns worn by Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Maggie Smith in Downton Abbey, in the gown above/Photo of a photo by Patricia Leslie

An array of finery, including Maggie Smith's gown, at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A summer's day at Downton Abbey and at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library/Photo by Patricia Leslie

"Oh, Bill! Am I ever gonna see my wedding day?" Worn in Downton Abbey/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Close-up of the wedding dress above/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Downton Abbey gowns at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Close-up of the dress on the left, above/Photo by Patricia Leslie

"M'lady, where are your gloves?"  "In the case where I left them." A label at the Winterthur show quoted Emily Post from 1922:  "Ladies always wear gloves to formal dinners but take them off at the table.  Entirely off....Both glove and fan are supposed to be laid across the lap, and one is supposed to lay the napkin folded once in half across the lap too, on top of the gloves and fan."/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Downton Abbey gowns, three  of the 40 costumes in the show/Photo by Patricia Leslie

From Downton Abbey/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The wife of Henry du Pont was Ruth Wales du Pont (1899-1967) ("the best thing that ever happened to him") and this is her "quite heavy" travel case (of alligator or crocodile and carried by the maid) made c. 1920 in England.  Among other items, it contained an address book, ink well and sketch pad, 10 gold-plated and capped cosmetic bottles, an ash tray, photo case, clock, thimble, needle case, shoe horn, button hook, two lipstick cases (one with a lipstick), hairbrush,  combs, hair pin box, soap case, two toothbrushes, a mirror and jewelry box/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Downton Abbey gowns/Photo by Patricia Leslie

This is what you wear for a wedding proposal.  Mine were a trifle removed from these/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Downton Abbey gowns/Photo by Patricia Leslie

 

What: Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

When:  Opening for the 2015 season on March 1

Where: 5105 Kennett Pike (Route 52)
Winterthur, DE 19735 (Winterthur says Google Maps sometimes gives incorrect directions, so it recommends MapQuest.)

Admission: Members are always admitted free. Adults, $25; seniors and students, $23; children, 2-11, $5, and no charge for children under age 2.

For more information: 800-448-3883 

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library/Winterthur

Free Hindemith sonatas concert Wednesday at St. John's, Lafayette Square

 

Composer Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), age 28/Wikipedia

Iris Lan will play the complete organ sonatas of German composer Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) in a free performance at St. John's Episcopal Church on Lafayette Square on Wednesday, beginning at 12:10 p.m.

The program, part of St. John's First Wednesday series, is scheduled for just 35 minutes, a rare opportunity to hear the complete sonatas by one composer at a single concert.  The sonatas are based on old folk songs.

Hindemith, also a violinist, teacher, and conductor, learned to play the violin when he was a child.  When he was 19, he was chosen assistant leader of the Frankfurt Opera Orchestra, and he gained an international following at age 27 when some of his compositions were played at a Salzburg music festival.  

He had a rocky relationship with the Nazis who criticized his music but thought they could use him as a tool. In 1935 he was hired by the Turkish government to reorganize its musical education program which he achieved to worldwide acclaim, and his influence is still experienced and appreciated there today, according to Wikipedia.  Hindemith became an American citizen in 1946 and taught at Yale University, before returning to Europe in 1953 where he died in Frankfurt, near his birthplace.

Juilliard-trained Lan, a renowned Harvard University graduate, is the organist at Manhattan's Church of St. Andrew and a former choir member at St. John's.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C./Photo by Patricia Leslie

 
St. John's, known to many Washington residents as the yellow church at Lafayette Square, is often called the “Church of the Presidents.” Beginning with President James Madison, who served from 1809 to 1817, every president has been a member of St. John's or has attended services at the church. A plaque at the rear of St. John's designates the pew where President Abraham Lincoln often sat when he stopped by the church during the Civil War.

All concerts start at 12:10 p.m. (with an exception in April), and last about 35 minutes. Food trucks are located at Farragut Square, two blocks away, for those on lunch break.

Who:  Organist Iris Lan plays Paul Hindemith's sonatas

What: First Wednesday Concerts

When: 12:10 p.m., January 7, 2015

Where: St. John’s, Lafayette Square, 1525 H Street, NW, at the corner of 16^th, Washington, D.C. 20005

How much: No charge

Duration: About 35 minutes

Wheelchair accessible

Metro stations: McPherson Square (White House exit), Farragut North, or Farragut West

For more information: Contact Michael Lodico, St. John's associate organist and choir director, at 202-270-6265 or 202-347-8766

Future dates and artists of the First Wednesday Concerts are:

February 4: Lena Seikaly, jazz vocalist, with the Dan Dufford Trio performing works by Duke Ellington and friends

March 4: Jared Denhard, bagpiper, assisted by Michael Lodico, St. John's organist and choirmaster, performing Pipes and More Pipes

April 19 (Sunday), 4 p.m.: Spring Concert by St. John's Choir

May 6: The U.S. Air Force Strings accompanied by Benjamin Hutto performing a Handel organ concerto and other pieces

June 3: Benjamin Straley, organist at the Washington National Cathedral


patricialesli@gmail.com

Yuletide at Winterthur

If you missed this year's Christmas finery at Winterthur, the former home of Henry F. du Pont (1880-1969) in Winterthur, Delaware, now's a good time to make a New Year's resolution to get your tickets early for next season.   This picture is a close-up of one of the Christmas trees at the museum where tickets are timed for entry/Photo by Patricia Leslie

An aerial shot of Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, a portion which du Pont opened to the public in 1951.  The "premier museum of American decorative arts"  has 1,000 acres, 175 rooms,  and 90,000 objects made or used in the U.S. between 1640 and 1860.  Winterthur (pronounced "Winter-tour" and named after a DuPont ancestral home in Winterthur, Switzerland) is only six miles from Brandywine River Museum which operates N.C.'s and Andrew Wyeth's homes and studios in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.  A wonderful day trip from Washington is a visit to Winterthur and Brandywine,  about two hours up Interstate 95.

The public entrance at Winterthur/Photo by Winterthur

One of Winterthur's Christmas trees/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The dining room at Winterthur/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Paul Revere urns in the dining room at Winterthur/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Winterthur's hors d'oeuvres room/Photo by Patricia Leslie

From a Winterthur Christmas tree/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The card room at Winterthur where playing bridge was de rigueur/Photo by Patricia Leslie

If you are lucky, you'll get to hear a pianist play carols during the Yuletide tour at Winterthur/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Winterthur's "basket room" of Christmas gifts, all set for unwrapping/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Most of the Christmas trees at Winterthur are artificial, but not this one in the green house extension off the main house. Uneven branches and natural drooping add to the tree's appeal/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A room for the housekeeping staff at Winterthur.  In the boxes on the wall are sounds of summons/Photo by Patricia Leslie

A room for the housekeeping staff at Winterthur/Photo by Patricia Leslie

What:  Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library

When:  Monday - Sunday, 9:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Where: 5105 Kennett Pike (Route 52)
Winterthur, DE 19735  (Winterthur says Google Maps sometimes gives incorrect directions, so it recommends MapQuest.)

Admission:  Members are always admitted free.  Adults, $25; seniors and students, $23; children, 2-11, $5, and no charge for children under age 2.

For more information:  800-448-3883

patricialesli@gmail.com

The New Year's Eve Concert at St. Columba's

St. Columba's Episcopal Church/Photo by Wayne C. Fowler

At the New Year's Eve concert at  St. Columba's Episcopal Church,  there were several crowd favorites.

Prelude and Fugue in A Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is one of the composer's "most famous and celebrated works," and organist J. Reilly Lewis gave the audience what it longed to hear in dramatic fashion. 

Rose Lamoreaux rendered beautiful selections from "The American Songbook," and even if you don't especially like "sing-alongs," the concert ending with the "sing-along" to "The Gloucestershire Wassail" was fun.

The church crowd, no different from most, warmed up to the music it knew best, like Lamoreaux's "Embraceable You," which she delivered with an operatic voice which seemed as natural as candles burning brightly at Christmastime.

"The 12 Days of Christmas" is not heard much anymore, ("Hallelujah!  Hallelujah!"), but Lamoreaux sang a well-received comedic version, although some of the words were inaudible at the back of the church.

John Hurd, St. Columba's director of music, accompanied her on the piano, and the combination suggested a pleasing piano bar. 

With eyes closed to some of her selections, a Pat Boone movie came to mind, a name unknown to millennials, no doubt, but where were they?  Not in church on New Year's Eve, that's for sure.  The youngest person seen or heard was a baby at the rear of the church who gave a couple of quick shout-outs during the concert.

Truly, the best part of the evening was saved for the last since the first part of the program seemed a weird assortment with no hint of celebration in the air.  Perhaps, the programmers had heard the newscasters all label 2014 "a terrible year; an awful year," and they followed suit.

Opening the concert was Grand Dialogue in C by Louis Marchand (1669-1732), "a good representative of the early French organ school" which church organist, Diane Heath, played splendidly, but "funereal" is a good adjective to describe most of the contents.

Concerto No. 6 in D Major by Antoni Soler i Ramos (1729-1783) for organ (played by Lewis) and harpsichord (Ann Colgrove) was at times energetic and joyful, but that the composer was a monk came as no surprise since the mix of instruments promised a more pleasing outcome than what was enjoyed.

The most beautiful piece of the evening was "The Beatitudes" by Arvo Part (b. 1935), sung by The New Year's Eve Chorale whose names were omitted from the program. Judy Dodge, St. Columba's director of music emerita, conducted.
 
The writer of the excellent program notes, Cathy Kreyche,  was recognized for her skill and concise descriptions of music histories and biographies. 

Thirty minutes before the program began at 6 p.m., the church's pews were already about two-thirds filled, and concertgoers continued to drift in 40 minutes after the music started.  

When the concert ended around 7:15 p.m., all were invited to a champagne reception at the church before partiers headed out into the evening to renew auld acquaintances and welcome new ones, and maybe, a new year that's not so "awful."

Inside the church, arrangements of greens with small pine cones and tiny white carnations stood tall at the end of every other row of pews, and one wished the candles in their centers had been lighted to complement the seasonal setting.  Large green wreaths festooned with big red, velvet ribbons hung on the walls above heaters where members of the audience laid their coats for post-concert warmth.    

About 250 attended the concert which charged a "suggested" $20 per adult.  The money will be used for the church's music program, said a staff member.

The concert is held annually, a wonderful tradition for the end of the year.

St. Columba's, located in northwest Washington at 4201 Albemarle Street, has more than 3,000 members.  It was founded in 1874.

patricialesli@gmail.com