Toby’s brings on the boomer nostalgia
“Took a walk and passed your house late last night. All the shades were pulled and drawn way down tight. From within, the dim light cast two silhouettes on the shade.” If you read that sentence and feared a stalker, then most likely you don’t recognize the lyrics of “Silhouettes,” a 1957 song by The Rays. However, if you broke into song, then Jersey Boys, the current musical... READ MORE
When a planner retires from all planning
It’s always great to run into an old friend you haven’t seen in an age and a half. So it went recently for me and my old pal Marcia. The Big M (as I and her other close pals always called her) spent her career as a tax preparer. She did returns for the high and mighty, but also for hundreds of others. Because of her accuracy, her promptness and her sunny disposition, she was the... READ MORE
Songs and stories honor their ancestors
For the vocal ensemble “Jubilee Voices” — one of several vocal groups that comprise the Washington Revels — singing is much more than artistic expression. It’s a way to honor the 12 to 15 singers’ African American ancestors and preserve stories rarely told. For the vocalists’ enslaved ancestors, singing was a “life force that sustained a people,” said Andrea Jones... READ MORE
‘Merry Wives’ features a youthful Falstaff
“What is honor? A word. What is in that word ‘honor?’ Air.” So maintains Sir John Falstaff, Shakespeare’s rotund, vain, drunken and “sanguine coward.” A standout character in Shakespeare’s Henry IV plays, Falstaff commands sole attention in the comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor performed by the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in a delightful outdoor production in... READ MORE
The best (and worst) pop song earworms
Has it happened to you? It has to me. Some rip-roaringly overconfident young person will announce that he has just discovered a new singer. “Some guy named Paul McCartney,” he will proclaim. “I hear he played in a band back in the day.” Or maybe it’ll be “some guy” named Fats Domino or Buddy Holly, both huge stars in the 1950s. Today’s kids prove two very old truths:... READ MORE
Rock musical ‘Hair’ brings back late 60s
Decades after its 1967 premiere, the rock musical Hair is seeing a revival, and with it come many of the staples of the era: Transcendental Meditation, ecology, LBJ, psychedelic aesthetics, the first lunar landing, and general confusion about the best way forward for youth of the time. Hair began as a New York production. After a four-year run on Broadway, it soon spread to theaters... READ MORE
Honoring volunteers for decades of work
For each of the past 25 years, Montgomery County, Maryland, has honored two older adults with the annual Neal Potter Path of Achievement Award for their lifelong commitment to volunteer service. The awards, named after former County Executive Neal Potter, are co-sponsored by the Montgomery County Commission on Aging and the Beacon Newspapers. This year, the county selected Bruce Adams ... READ MORE
Historians capture voices of Woodstock
Woodstock didn’t even happen in Woodstock. The fabled music festival — seen as one of the seminal cultural events of the 1960s — took place 60 miles away in Bethel, New York, an even smaller village than Woodstock. It’s a fitting misnomer for an event that has become as much legend as reality. An estimated 450,000 people converged on a swath of land owned by dairy farmer Max... READ MORE
Author crafts novel from life experiences
Maryland author Jean Burgess sang and danced with a swing band in the 1970s, performed in and directed plays in local theaters, taught drama and acting to high schoolers, and earned a Ph.D. in educational theater from New York University in 2002. Now, at age 68, she’s had her first novel published. The book, That Summer She Found Her Voice: A Retro Novel, follows the life and hard... READ MORE
When a rational decision really hurts
As the old song says: regrets, I’ve had a few. Home runs I never hit. Millions I never earned. Not doing enough to make the world a better place. But at 3 a.m. (when I often do my best thinking), my mind regularly returns to The Radio That Almost Was. Way back when, before it was overwhelmed by partisan politics, I worked as a radio talk show host. One of my best gigs was on... READ MORE
Arts 2024
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