Novelist Amy Tan shares bird obsession
Birdwatching has become a cherished pastime for many since the start of the pandemic, when people stuck at home for months looked out their windows for entertainment and immersed themselves into the natural world, many of them for the first time. Best-selling novelist Amy Tan of The Joy Luck Club fame is among about 45 million Americans the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has... READ MORE
If only I had spent more time at the office!
An old friend gets a new, bigger, better job. Handshakes and backslaps all around. But then, a minor thunderbolt. As he leaves his current job, Old Friend reveals that he has left behind 1,000 hours of unused vacation. Ancient Columnist Bob starts doing long division in his head. (The good news: He still can.) “That’s 25 weeks off that you never took,” Bob bleats. Old Friend... READ MORE
Local writer takes stab at crime fiction
Writer Andrew Madigan, 55, has had his share of odd jobs. The father of three from Springfield, Virginia, has been a janitor, construction worker, substitute teacher, baseball groundskeeper, temp and beer taster. He even did a summer stint in 1995 as a stand-in for Bill Murray, pulling long hours in place of the actor during camera blocking and lighting setups. Madigan, who went on to be ... READ MORE
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
