The July 4, 2024 Parade in Washington, D.C. in pictures!

Honoring the Folds of Honor in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

The Chaparral High School Marching Band from Las Vegas, NV in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

What would a parade be without the Clydesdales?  Thank you, Budweiser! In the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie
 

Troop 55 from Great Falls, VA, chartered by St. Francis Episcopal Church, National Capital Area Council in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Beauties on parade, July 4, 2024 Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Waconia High School Marching Band, Waconia, MN in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

He is? Representing the Netherlands in the Euro Bowl? In the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

This group represented areas in and around Seattle who not only played music but stopped to perform, too, in the the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

This group represented areas in and around Seattle who not only played music but stopped to perform, too, in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C.  

"Jump when I say jump! 

"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!""/By Patricia Leslie

These thirsties didn't get the message that D.C. had an areawide alert to boil water. At the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

In the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Bolivian dancers in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Would you walk a mile in these shoes?  She did in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Sikhs love America and marched in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Sikhs in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

John Marshall High School's Lawyers from Cleveland, OH marched in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

It'll be here before you know it but now you have the date for the 2025 National Cherry Blossom Festival: Mar. 20 - Apr. 13.  You sure about that late date? Climate change has the blossoms flowering long before March 20! In the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

The Gotta Swingers were dancin' in the street in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

What would a parade be without the Falun Dafa? At the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

The Falun Dafa had straight lines in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

George and Martha?? Couldn't be since vehicles weren't around in the 18th century. But who's counting? The 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Bring on the dogs! In the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

At the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

The Deuel High School Marching Cardinals from Cedar Lake, SD in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

The Dev Garjana Percussion Band from Chantilly, VA in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

At parade's end, crowds gathered to enter the cool Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. but no one jumped in the water (at last sighting)/By Patricia Leslie

A side show on 12th Street, N.W. after the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

A side show on 12th Street, N.W. after the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

A side show on 12th Street, N.W. after the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

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Avoid Play Airlines unless ...

What?  Never heard of it?  Nor had I but now you (and I) have heard of Play and here are a few details: 

You like being nickel and dimed to death?  Come on aboard! 

A charge for checked baggage?  Why, of course!  

How about a seat assignment?  Ka-ching! 

A carry-on fee?  Why, sure!

Coffee? Only three euros ($3.22) for instant!  Yummy!!

Water?  You want water on your long flight to help avoid dehydration?  Three euros, please.

Movies?  Transtlantic movies?  You must be kidding!  As I recall, the plane had no seat screens.

Communications? Contact with Play?  An AI penguin does the "talking."  Lots of fun!

Use of the restroom?  I'm not sure since I avoided anyone standing at the door with his hand or money can stuck out. 

Play reminds me of those other nameless US airlines which, by the time you total all the "extras" like a carry-on charge, make them more expensive than the higher-priced flights which have the costs built in.

It was one of those dumb times when I tried to find a cheaper price and find it, I did, but alas!  With a few "hiddens" added on which in the good ole USA, we call "bait and switch."

Praise God I did not choose Play to return from Europe. Instead, I rode Icelandair to Reykjavik to change planes.

There, Icelandair's pilot faulted Play for Play's errant use of a reserved gate which caused Icelandair's passengers waiting in line for 30 minutes to board for Dulles, to scramble to another gate, and once onboard, the pilot brought attention twice to Play's error. 

It caused us to be 30 minutes late to Dulles and created "a mess," for other flights, too, the pilot said over the intercom. 

To quote the adage:  You get what you pay for. Besides, any airline with a name like "Play" has got to be a joke.  It is!

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A 'dead man' returns to Alexandria

Isn't she beautiful?  Two men vie to claim "her" in Little Theatre of Alexandria's Is He Dead?  starring Lanny Warkentien as Jean-Francois Millet and the Widow Tillou /Little Theatre of Alexandria  

It’s the last week to see another delightful show at the Little Theatre of Alexandria by the maestro of words, Mark Twain who wrote Is He Dead?  in 1893 in the middle of deep depression after the death of his daughter, Suzy, from spinal meningitis. 

And yet during this dark, troubling time, Twain was able to write what's considered to be his best composition for the stage, Is He Dead?, a comedy, no less.

From left, Hanlon Smith-Dorsey is "Dutchy," Brendan Chaney is "Chicago," Zachary Litwiller is Phelim O'Shaughnessy, and Lanny Warkentien is Jean-Francois Millet and the Widow Tillou in Little Theatre of Alexandria's Is He Dead?  They are moving a casket loaded with bricks/Little Theatre of Alexandria

Mark Twain wrote plays?  Who knew?

You're not the only one who is surprised!  And he tried writing more than one!

Leave it to a scholar to bring this show to life only in this century  when Shelley Fisher Fishkin found it in the archives at the University of California at Berkeley and got it going on stage.  

But it wasn't a surprise to scholars.  Many of them had been aware for years of Dead's existence.

The story of this dead man is based on a fictional tale of a great but starving actual French painter, Jean-Francois Millet (1814-1875) who feigns his death with the help of his buddies "Dutchy," (Hanlon Smith-Dorsey), "Chicago," (Brendan Chaney), and Phelim O'Shaughnessy (Zachary Litwiller), the purpose to raise the value of Millet's art which will reduce the debt he owes to the evil collector, Bastien André  (Kirk Lambert), who, of course is in love with the same woman, "Marie" (Sarah Keisler) as painter Millet (Lanny Warkentien). 

 

Did you get all that? 

The place is, where else? Gay Paree in 1846. The sets (by Matt Liptak) are divine, mon chéri, to match the luxurious costumes (always fun to see, by 

Jean Schlichting and Kit Sibley). 

Upon Millet's "death," André buys up Millet's paintings and the value goes whoosh!  Just like that and Millet is freed of debt.

To hide himself after he "dies," Millet  becomes his sister, the Widow Tillou and naturellement, "she" becomes André 's new love interest.  And also that of Marie's father (Leo Mairena).

Who would have guessed?

But how is our hero supposed to come back to life and marry Marie?  Where there's a will, there's a way and Twain made it happen, of course!

With a dash of Shakespeare thrown in, the production is a romp in mistaken identities and other humorous deceptions to tell us something more about love and money.  (We can never have enough of either.)

 

Lies do not stand the test of time and is love more important than money? It depends upon whom you ask.

Other cast members are Alayna Theunissen as Cecile Leroux (Marie's sister), Justin Beland, Anne Shively, Justin von Stein and Beverly Gholston.

More production crew members are Eleanore Tapscott, producer; Joey Pierce, director; Margaret Chapman, properties; Allison Gray-Mendes, set dressing and

Adam Konowe, lighting.

 

Michael Page was fight choreographer; Sue Pinkman designed hair and makeup; Robin Worthington was wardrobe coordinator; Russell M. Wyland was in charge of rigging; Alan Wray and Crystina McShay, sound.

Melissa Dunlap and Micheal J. O’Connor are stage managers.

What:  Is He Dead? As adapted by David Ives 

When: Now through June 8, 2024, Wednesday - Saturday nights, 8 p.m.

Where: Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe St., Alexandria, VA 22314

Tickets: $21 (weeknights) and $24 (Saturday night) + $3 fee/ticket. 

Audience: General

Duration: About 2 hours with one 15 minute intermission

Public transportation: Check the Metro and Dash bus websites. Dash is free to ride and has routes which are close to LTA.

Parking: is free on streets and at Capital One Bank at Wilkes and Washington streets, a block away. Paid parking is available at nearby garages.

For more information: 

Box Office: 703-683-0496; Main Office, 703-683-5778 or boxoffice@thelittletheatre.com.

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I go da da for Da Da

George Grosz (1893-1959), The Guilty One Remains Unknown, 1919, pen and Italian ink drawing, collage on cardboard, the Art Institute of Chicago

What is dada?  It's everything in the name and...nothing! The creators desired it to implode and illustrate the absurdity of it all, with mechanical and complex machinery void of humanity but showcasing gibberish, confusion, and assault on everything modern in the time after the first World War. 

Early on Marcel Duchamp called Dadaism “anti-art.” Later, various artists argued over the origination of the name, more than one claiming credit.

NPR's Susan Stamberg quotes George Grosz who called Dada, "the organized use of insanity to express contempt for a bankrupt world."

The cover of Dadaism is a reproduction of George Grosz's, Republican Automatons, 1920, watercolor and pencil on paper, Museum of Modern Art, N.Y.

I loved the book, Dadaism by Dietmar Elger, published by Taschen (2022) which describes the movement in an introduction of several pages, followed by features on 12 of the most notable dadaists of the period between 1916 and 1924.

The movement is complex, confusing, and baffling, but it whets my appetite for the mysterious. 

I gathered through the pages that despite cultural and world upheavals, the artists still had fun while waging art war, concentrating on the "lost world," and the dissolution of systems, using art as their means to take out their anger, frustrations, and bitterness at what was happening around them.

Less than 100 pages, the book is printed on heavy coated stock, filled with full page color illustrations and on the facing page, a brief description about the artist of the featured work and his or her other renderings. (One woman, Hannah Höch, is included.) 

One of the two-page spreads with thumbnail photo of artist, Hannah Höch, a brief description of her life and works, and a sample of her art on the facing page which shows a detail of her Da Dandy, 1919, photomontage, private collection

In 2006 a Dada exhibition opened at the National Museum of Modern Art in Paris, and then traveled to Washington and the National Gallery of Art when it stayed for three months, enjoyed by a crowd of 175,000. Afterwards, it moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  

Some of the artists found in the book and the exhibition are Duchamp, Grosz, Raoul Hausmann, Francis Picabia, and Man Ray.

Multiple examples of their works are presented in Dadaism with those of Hans Arp, Johannes Baader, Johannes Theodor Baargeld, Max Ernst, Hannah Höch, John Heartfield,  and Kurt Schwitters.

For the 2006 National Gallery show, the Smithsonian carried an article about Dada, including this: "And for all its zaniness, the movement would prove to be one of the most influential in modern art, foreshadowing abstract and conceptual art, performance art, op, pop and installation art. But Dada would die out in less than a decade and has not had the kind of major museum retrospective it deserves, until now." 

Surrealism was its offspring.

Dietmar Elger (b. 1958), the author, has written many books about modern art and is considered one of the (if not "the") top experts on Gerhard Richter. Elger studied at the University of Hamburg and received his doctorate with a thesis on the art houses created by Schwitters.

Read more about dadaism at Artland Magazine. 

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Falls Church cheers 'Citizens Against Gun Violence'

'Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence' begin their walk in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

The McKinley Tech High School JROTC Phoenix Battalion gets ready to march in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

'Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence' walk in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

The name and age of one of the victims of gun violence remembered by the 'Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence' in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

'Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence' walk in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

The name and age of one of the victims of gun violence remembered by the 'Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence' in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

Her sign says: "Stop Gun Violence; Keep Our Kids Safe; Pass Sensible Gun Laws." At the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

This temple joined 'Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence' to walk in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

This church joined 'Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence' to walk in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

This little girl waved her flag while she and her parents watched the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

'Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence' walk in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

Since no one had a bowl, this pooch with tongue wagging licks up water on the wall which the presumable owners have poured for her from their water bottles, at the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

Parade watchers applauded the message of the 'Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence' who walked in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade. I can't recall parades when parade-goers all along the route consistently cheer participants which makes us realize our efforts are not in vain. Now, to elect representatives of like-minded beliefs and pass strong gun registration laws!/By Patricia Leslie 

At the judges stand at the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade, many of the judges stood and clapped for 'Concerned Citizens Against Gun Violence'/By Patricia Leslie 

Cub Scout Pack 657 walk in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

Head gear of a parade participant at the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

The John F. Nicoll Pipe Band play the bag pipes in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

A white pooch in the car ahead led the float for the 'Citizens for a Better City' in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

She may look uncomfortable but she was having a good ride with Bikenectic Bike Shop in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

More riders and dogs from Bikenetic in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

Girls Scout Service Unit 50-12 walk in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

More headgear seen at the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade/By Patricia Leslie 

NOVA Parks commemorated the W&OD Trail in the 2024 Falls Church Memorial Day Parade. Some 60 groups participated in the parade, watched by hundreds along Park Avenue. Retired Falls Church Police Chief Mary Gavin was grand marshal, and a good time was had by all continued the tradition/By Patricia Leslie 
 

Oppenheimer's biographer Kai Bird at the Aspen

Kai Bird and Marie Arana at the Aspen Institute, May 6, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

At a talk at the Aspen Institute earlier this month with Kai Bird, the co-author of American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, moderator Marie Arana revealed a story she had heard that day after talking with her brother George.

When he was a student at Princeton University, George was sometimes called upon to read to Oppenheimer (1904-1967) during the last weeks of the scientist's life as the "father of the atomic bomb" lay bedridden.

The readings were selected by "Kitty," Oppenheimer's wife who chose selections on ancient history.

Here! Here! The audience cried: There's a book there! We want a book! (Another one.)

But we came to hear Bird talk about his book he wrote with Martin J. Sherwin (1937-2021) and Arana interviewed Bird as part of the Klein Book series.

She said the film "does a good job, but doesn’t do the thorough job of the book."

Kai Bird and Marie Arana at the Aspen Institute, May 6, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

Bird FOIAed the FBI about Oppenheimer and received 8,000 pages in return while Sherwin received 50,000 pages.

For a long time, he resisted writing the book with Sherwin because “co-authoring is notoriously filled with pitfalls“ but "Marty" kept pushing. 

He was "very nice and very funny," Bird said and Sherwin told him that if Kai didn’t help, Sherwin's gravestone would read: "He took it with him."

It was a “wonderful collaboration" and the book came out in 2005, winning some prizes but never making it to the bestseller lists until the movie came out. 

It's an "amazing miracle" what’s happening to this 19-year-old book now, Bird said. It's become an international bestseller.

 Kai Bird and Marie Arana at the Aspen Institute, May 6, 2024/By Patricia Leslie

Bird and Arana have been friends for 30 years, both raised overseas and both, familiar with “”global spin."

Bird said he was a “fugitive" in his own country, ignorant about America but biographies led him to knowledge about the U.S.

The book took him and Sherwin 10 years to write, "a really long time," because "I couldn't stop researching....You get obsessed" with resources. (While he was working on Oppenheimer, he also was working on other books.)

He gave important details about Oppenheimer's life when the scientist was growing up, but he reserved most of his talk to the "tragedy" that belonged to Oppenheimer.

The "father of the atomic bomb" was a mysterious young man, “very bright" who gave a lecture to the New York Minerals Society at age 10, an age unknown to the group when it invited him but which kept its invitation after learning of his age.  The audience laughed.

Oppenheimer was “nerdy," "endlessly mysterious," “awkward with women," and "painfully conflicted" about his achievements.

The McCarthy era did its dirty deeds, stripping him of his security clearance as a suspected spy and accused him of being unfaithful to his wife. He became a broken man, disinvited by universities to speak. The FBI tapped his attorney's phone.

“They destroyed him" who "became the chief victim of the McCarthy era."

The McCarthy legacy has endured, Kai said, because we are still suffering the effects in the person of Donald Trump, an observation which brought approval from most in the audience.


He mentioned Trump's relationship with Joseph McCarthy‘s chief attorney Roy Cohn which haunts us today. Perhaps he was joking when, to audience laughter, he said his next biography would be about Cohn.

To ensure the science in the book was accurate, the authors sought the guidance of Jeremy Bernstein, a quantum physicist and New Yorker writer who corrected language.

Oppenheimer was "quite handsome in a magnetic way" who attracted women.

His met his wife "Kitty" when she was 27 and married for the third time but horsewomanship on a trip sealed their relationship.

Their son Peter is now in his 80s, "traumatized by the events of 1964." He never went to college but became a carpenter. Peter has three children and lives in Santa Fe.

Their daughter Tori, born in 1944, is "portrayed very well in the movie," according to Bird. She spoke Russian, French, and Spanish and wanted to become a translator at the UN but the FBI would not give her clearance. She moved back to the family's home on St. John Island in the U.S. Virgin Islands where she built a cabin and committed suicide at age 32 after a fight with her ex-husband.

In his homespur and down to earth style, Bird answered a few questions after his talk with Arana.

Years were spent trying to clear Oppenheimer's name from the tainted roster of the McCarthy era, and finally, President Joe Biden's secretary of energy, Jennifer Granholm achieved the almost impossible in December 2022 seven months before the movie was released, when she vacated the revocation of Oppenheimer's security clearance.

Oppenheimer admired the poetry of T.S. Eliot, a few lines from his poem Gerontion which Arana spoke to close the event:

Here I am, an old man in a dry month,

Being read to by a boy, waiting for rain.....

I have lost my passion: why should I need to keep it

Since what is kept must be adulterated?

I have lost my sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch:

How should I use it for your closer contact?


I must confess I have neither read the book nor seen the movie and now, can't wait to do both.

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Highly recommended: 'Your Table Is Ready'

Drugs, sex, rock ‘n’ roll… And would you like some food with that? 

That pretty well sums up the first half of Your Table Is Ready by Michael Cecchi-Azzolina.

If you can get past the initial soft porn (if that turns you off or on), this is one fascinating, fun book to read, especially if you are a New Yorker and you eat. 

Even if you're not a New Yorker, it's still a good read.

It's behind-the-scenes descriptions of what goes on at New York's fanciest restaurants, many managed and run by the author who had first-hand experience how they serve 'em up and save the best seats for the most money and cave to the reviewers.  

Everyone knows what the reviewers look like, right?  You'd better.  Stand guard, everyone, and turn on your earbuds for the first alert..err, warning:  They are here!

Who knew there was so much sex in restaurants? Only in New York City? I kept plugging away and gave it a few more pages before my appetite was whet. 

Surprise! Advance money makes a difference! Slip the maître d' an easy $100 bill (in the 80s and 90s; better up the ante now) and sit at whatever grand table they seat you. 

Who cares about reservations when it comes to money?  

The most famous arrived, like the hucksters Cecchi-Azzolina knew: Ivanka Trump, Trump, the mob, the FBI and more.

Many times I laughed out loud at this fast-paced, detailed description of what's happening behind the bar. 

Cecchi-Azzolina writes that 98 percent of the guests are fine, but it's the other two percent that "we in the business hate."  

Where do you stand?

Sex drugs and maybe some food, too, at New York's finest are what it's all about. Read it and eat!

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