Leroy's Art Blog

Hey, I just looked back at my own blog posting of the 20th (is that incestuous? narcisstic?). That picture of Mama Zuma ... that HAS to be a direct copy of Daisy Mae, Li'l Abner's sweetheart as created by Al Capp. Wow. That goes back a looong way!!!!

The Kennedy Center Millenium Stage presents a free concert at 6:00 every evening. Free shuttle from the Foggy Bottom Metro Station. I took in the show this evening.

It was the Czech singer Ondrej Havelka and his 14-member big band, the Melody Makers, doing jazz and popular songs from the 1920s and 30s (!). Sweet saxophones, trumpets with mutes, tuxedos. Ondrej did tap-dances during the show. The female singer wore a tight black gown with long gloves and didn't move around much on-stage....
Boogy Woogy: Beat Me Daddy, 8 to the Bar
Hammerstein & Kern: Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine
Hoagy Carmichael: Am I Blue
Waiting For the Sunrise
Sweet Sue
Etc.

It was pretty good, although it felt to me like a parody of a US culture from the past that no longer exists. Familiarity, Loss, Nostalgia, and Irony in that it was a Czech group presenting this pean to a USA musical period that no longer exists. All the more strange because of the various cultures I have been immersed in over the past few years. It brought home how our culture - most cultures, I suppose - changes and develops over time.

!

Wow, I bought this pkg of potato chips to go with my sandwich today - guess I was a sucker for the package featuring a sexy woman. But these were the hottest chips I've EVER eaten, they really STUNG.

Then I read the back of the package:
Mama Zuma's Revenge.
Get too close to Mama Zuma and you will get burned. This woman is determined to scorch everyone in her path. Mama Zuma's weapons are the hottest jalapeno and habanero peppers this side of the Rio Grande. Since she lost the love of her life in a bizarre and tragic potato peeler accident (!), Mama Zuma has been hell bent on burning every mouth she kisses with her special brand of passion.

After reading that, the sting on my lips was worth it. Viva Mama!

Washington is so full of great things going on. My hotel is right across the highway from the Iwo Jima Memorial. Last night as I was leaving to go eat, the shuttle driver mentioned that every Tuesday night the Marine Corps Band and Drill Team perform at the Memorial. So I went there - it was a very impressive display of precision marching, rifle drill, commemoration of the war dead, celebration of the Marine Corps.

The guest of honor for the Review of the Guard happened to be the Senator from New York, Hillary Rodham Clinton. I hung around a bit after the program, enjoying the pageantry, and so had a chance to shake the lady's hand as she left the parade grounds. Her eyes are very blue, and set off even more by the blue jacket that she was wearing.

Schedule for today: A lunchtime jazz concert at the Corcoran Gallery, and a World Music concert this evening at the Millenium Stage of the Kennedy Center. And, there is also a Doctor's Appt. in there too, to keep my enjoyment of the city legitimate.

I'm still in DC, with free time on my hands to enjoy the many cultural events, friends and family in the area. A great opportunity to catch up on things that were largely missing iduring my sojourn in the "third world."

There was a choral concert at the National Cathedral on Saturday. The major work was the Bach Magnificat. The Cathedral is very impressive, heroic in all its dimensions and design. Unfortunately, cathedral acoustics do not favor the intricacies of the Magnificat, and I would have preferred to hear the work in a much less grandiose setting. I guess singing all those years with the Philadelphia Choral Arts Society has made me too critical of things like that.









On Sunday, I attended the Arlington UU Church, along with Shari and her family. After lunch, we took in an afternoon street festival on a beautiful, warm sunny day.

Our group included cousin Natalie, Allegra, Manuel Jesus (MJ), Shari - and, not shown, the photographer (me).








Monday evening I attended the premier screening of the National Geographic program The Great Inca Rebellion, which will be broadcast on PBS, June 26th. It was an amazing presentation of new forensic archeology that establishes a major revision in the story of how just a few Conquistadors were able to so completely overwhelm the combined Inca armies in Peru. After the screening, the archeologists and producers were there to discuss the work and answer questions from the audience. What a surprising and delightful evening! It left me wondering about the history of the Maya, in Guatemala. My feeling is that they have been much more successful in maintaining their unique identity through 500 years of subjugation than the Peruvian Inca.





Finally, this woman was so joyfully engaged with what was on her laptop in a Cafe this evening, I couldn't resist taking her picture.

Whenever I am in DC, I seem to end up taking yet another photo of our spectacular Capital Building. What a magnificent structure!

I had a day with free time, and so was back in the Smithsonian complex for a few hours, on a beautiful day.











The Washington Monument, as seen from the National Gallery of Art














I like the wall structures of Frank Stella a lot.















But the portrait of Mme. Picasso has to rank as one of my very favorite paintings.













In the evening, the Washington contingent of people who served in Tanzania in my group got together for drinks and conversation.

l. to r: Jacob, Matt, Yours truly, Charles, Heidi, and Tamara.

My time in Guatemala has come to an abrupt halt, as the Peace Corps brought me to Washington DC for consultations. I was sorry to leave my friends there, especially John and Nidal, Victoriano and the rest of the family that I had been living with. And unfortunately, I did not have time to really transfer the data from my computer to the Municipality before I left. I can still do that by email, but am afraid that without explanation, a lot of its significance will be lost.




Nidal is in Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan for two months to learn Q'iche' and plan a thesis project for her return in January. Wendy and Nancy are delightful family members, and John is the PCV who will be in the community for two years, working within the education system.




It is very friendly and welcoming here in Washington. There are other PCVs from Ethiopia, Cape Verde, and the Ukrane. And the staff have been interested in the business training I organized in Tanzania and my GPS work in Guatemala. There are also a couple of people I served with in Tanzania who live here in Washington, and I hope to make contact with them, soon.

I've been put up in a very comfortable hotel here, with even kitchen and laundry facilities. This is such a total change from the spartan PC field sites and hanging out in hostels when off-site. I got to the Kennedy Center for a concert of the National Symphony, Leonard Slatkin conducting Mahler's first symphony, and a new commissioned harp concerto of all things.

My first impression on returning to the USA is how ordered, clean and efficient everything is here. No trash, no wasted space. It is also very impersonal. On the streets most people are talking with cellphones plugged into their ears. But even without that there is no eye contact, everyone is in their own very private world. The Metro is almost freaky because it is so quiet. Nobody talks, and everyone is buried in something to read - the newspaper or a book.

Over the weekend I went to Philadelphia and stayed with Phyllis and Bill, old friends. Philadelphia looks wonderful - new buildings, Rittenhouse Square, it felt great just to walk arond and look at things. I'd hoped to hear the symphony here too, but they are already on the summer break. I went to the Unitarian church on Sunday, and received a very warm greeting. All those hugs were rejuvinating.





I just like this picture, and had to include it, as the finale for my Guatemala pictures. It has been tough in some ways, but I regret leaving.