By Bob Tagert Jamey Turner An Orchestra in a Suitcase If you are ever walking along King Street and Union Street you might hear beautiful music in the air. If you follow this unique sound it will bring you to Jamey Turner as he plays his “Glass Harp” in front of Vola’s High Tide Lounge. You will be amazed at the music that is created by rubbing the rim of a glass with slightly wetted fingertips. We have all, at one time or another, rubbed a wine glass while sitting at a table, but Jamey plays a table full of glasses, each revealing its own note. Jamey grew up in Montana and Colorado where he learned to play the clarinet and played it professionally in military bands. He is also accomplished on the piano, musical saw and his own invention: the wrench harp, wrenches of various sizes suspended on a frame and stuck with hammers. He has appeared on the old Johnny Carson Show playing his saw as well as his glass harp. Over the years Jamey has performed at such recognizable venues as The Kennedy Center, Disney World, National Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Washington National Cathedral, Today Show, Good Morning America, Busch Gardens, Wolf Trap National Park and the opening of Universal Studios in Tampa, Florida and many more. Jamey attributes a lot of his success to his wife Mary of 44 years. “Mary was all around music and her dad, Dr. Harry Fletcher lived in the Virginia area and had an incredible music collection, so we moved out here to be around him about 30 years ago,” he tells me. Today the 77 year old Jamey Turner and Mary live in nearby Mount Vernon. Although he performs at corporate events, schools and a variety of venues, he…
Carson the Wonder Cat! By Adrienne Usher When the ladies at E&E Rescue asked me if I would consider taking on a feral barn cat at our new farm in West Virginia, I said sure – feral cats are really low maintenance, right? Within 3 days, Carson was watching me (with those Paul Newman blue eyes!!) from the loft in the barn, looking hungry, so I added him to the feeding routine. Within 30 days, Carson was on the patio, sitting in the kitchen window, and most surprisingly, Luke (OTC Cover June 2015) was not chasing him away! So, I brought out a can of yummy smelly cat food, and within seconds, the “feral barn cat” was in my lap, purring like a motorboat, wanting his belly rubbed! That was four years ago and since then, Carson has become the most important member of our clowder! Prior to his arrival, we had a group of “only cats” – think of adopting “only children” and asking them to adjust to having siblings, something that wasn’t exactly working. Enter Carson. He exudes love, friendship, and wants the same back. He plays with everyone, snuggles with almost everyone, and never leaves my side if I don’t feel well. Now, don’t get me wrong, there was a reason they thought Carson was feral…he is terrified of going to the vet, so we never take him alone (our cat BOB is Carson’s “vet-buddy”); nail clipping/flea treatment day takes inordinate planning to catch him; no one can give him meds, not even the vet. Carson is a lynx-point Siamese, and his feelings get hurt very easily. He’s fiercely protective of his siblings, and hates it when the other cats fight. He doesn’t like change, and when he’s “in,” he’s “all in.” For example,…
POLO TIME: Games to watch, places to play by Julie Reardon Not long ago, polo was virtually non-existent in Northern Virginia, even in the horse country in Loudoun, Fauquier and surrounding counties. There were a few small clubs and private fields, but no place where the average person could go and watch a game and stomp a few divots between chukkars. In a region famous for horses and horse sports, it seemed a glaring omission. In the mid-1990s, Great Meadow introduced summer twilight arena games under the lights. Arena, or indoor polo as it’s also called, is very spectator friendly: it’s easier to follow the action since it’s played in an enclosed, smaller area, and fans can get closer to the action. Field, or outdoor polo, pits two teams of four players each against each other on a grass field on about 10 acres, or three times the size of a football field. Arena teams are three players each, playing in a much smaller, enclosed area, making it easier to follow even if you’d never seen a game. Twilight polo was an immediate hit and a good fit for the area’s residents, who love any sport with horse and/or hound. Friends invited friends, and the popularity spread quickly. For the players, the management and facility attracted nationally ranked tournaments and the best indoor players in the country to the Virginia countryside, ensuring top quality sport. Fans loved being close to the pounding hooves and resounding thwack of a mallet hitting a ball, the games featured plenty of fast paced action in a social setting. That many of the players were wealthy and/or professionals from different countries did not escape the notice of young singles and professionals from the metro area, who braved Friday rush hour on I66 to…
King Street Cats Adoption Calendar for June 2017 For details please see our Website: http://www.kingstreetcats.org Or contact us via email at: contact@kingstreetcats.org King Street Cats 25 Dove Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 Every Saturday and Sunday from 1.30pm-4.30pm Petvalu Bradlee Shopping Center, 3652 King St, Alexandria, VA 22302 Saturday June 3 and Sunday June 4, and Saturday June 17 and Sunday June 18 from 1pm-4pm Petco Unleashed 1101 S Joyce St, Arlington, VA 22202 Saturday June 3 and Saturday June 17 and Sunday June 18 from 1pm-4pm Petco Unleashed 1855 Wisconsin Avenue, Washington, DC 20007 Saturday June 24 and Sunday June 25from 12pm-3pm The Dog Park 705 King Street, Alexandria, VA22314 Saturday June 10 from 1pm-4pm Natures Nibbles 2601 Mt Vernon Ave, Alexandria, VA 22301 Saturday June 10 and Saturday June 24 from 1pm-4pm Are you or someone you know free during weekday mornings? King Street Cats is looking for weekday morning caregivers and vet taxis to transport our cats to the vet. Please email: contact@kingstreetcats.org for details. King Street Cats is looking for foster homes! You provide the spare room and TLC and we can provide food, litter and all vetting. Please email: contact@kingstreetcats.org for details.
By Chris Anderson Bob Dylan: Triplicate This year marks 55 years since Bob Dylan released his first album, a low-key self-titled affair that consisted mostly of folk standards, with a couple of original songs sprinkled in, just enough to give the world a taste of what was to come. What came next was a slew of albums full of poetic songs, clever songs, some of the greatest songs ever written, songs that people will be discussing for hundreds of years. Many of his 38 studio albums feature that kind of magic; I’d say probably the majority of them. He hit a few stumbling blocks over the years, whether it was a rash of uninspired albums or brief detours into unfamiliar territory, but Bob usually bounces back from those weird spells with some stroke of genius. For example, his disastrous 1970 double album, Self Portrait, quickly gave way to that same year’s beautiful New Morning, or when he emerged from his controversial Christian period with the exquisite, Mark Knopfler-produced Infidels. Or when Oh Mercy followed those really awful albums he did in the mid-80’s. It’s just one of those things that happens in Dylan’s world. Currently, it seems, we are in one of those weird spells – the detour kind. For the last several years, Dylan has been focusing more on his singing than anything else, and released a couple of albums of his interpretations of classic standards, most of which had been popularized by Frank Sinatra. When the first one, 2015’s Shadows In The Night came out, we thought it was cute – well, actually, at first we were terrified, but then we heard it and thought it was a bit adorable. Bob was trying something out and, despite the world’s initial reservations, it wasn’t half…
By Steve Chaconas Oh no, not another tie! Dude, don’t get Dad another tie! He might wear it…only when you are in town or when you mention it. He really dreads having to tie one on for you! It’s Father’s Day, put a bit of thought into the gift for the guy who was always thinking of you! This year, tell Dad to take a hike! The first step begins with comfortable, rugged and stylish footwear. Chaco’s men’s Yonder combines work boot durability with heritage hiker styling. A sturdy ChacoGrip™ block outsole offers performance tread to tred where other treads won’t. Chaco’s LUVSEAT™ footbed guarantees all-day comfort. Full grain leather upper with a rolled collar style, topped off with waxed cotton laces with embossed metal hardware, takes Daddy’s little piggies off road and across town. chacos.com The perfect sock? SmartWool’s Indestructawool technology construction system keeps Dad afoot in comfort. Identifying trouble areas, SmartWool has created the virtually seamless toe, a bi-elastic fit system to keep socks from slipping and bunching up. Unique mesh zones on the top of the foot increase breathability. This sock has a foothold on comfort and durability. Smartwool’s new PhD Hunt Medium Crew socks are as ideal for fishing as for hunting, making them Dad’s sharpest socks in the drawer. smartwool.com Legendary sandal-maker Teva takes Dad back to his foot roots. Teva’s Original Universal Premier sandals are constructed with water ready, durable, and quick drying polyester webbing. A perfect fit is secured with hook and loop Universal Strapping System, allowing easy on and off. Dad will step lightly on a contoured EVA footbed supplying arch support. A rugged Durabrasion Rubber outsole takes what the terrain can dish out. Perfect for water activities: fishing, canoeing, amphibious hiking. teva.com Keeping feet dry…
June 2017 9th Annual Taste of Del Ray Food Festival June 4 from 1-3 p.m. Admission: $10 adults; $5 children Mt. Vernon Avenue http://www.visitdelray.com Mark your calendars, clean your palates and prepare to taste some of the yummiest flavors ever at the 9th Annual Taste of Del Ray, sponsored by the Del Ray Business Association. Top neighborhood restaurants will participate in this delicious competition taking place at the Pat Miller Neighborhood Square and the adjacent United Bank parking lot, located at the intersection of Mount Vernon Avenue and Oxford Avenue. For ticket information, visit www.visitdelray.com. Frank Lloyd Wright 150th Birthday Celebration Picnic Series & More June 8, July 12 and August 27 Admission: Varies Frank Lloyd Wright’s Pope-Leighey House 9000 Richmond Highway http://www.woodlawnpopeleighey.org Celebrate world-renowned American architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s 150th birthday at the only Frank Lloyd Wright house open to visitors in the D.C. region—the Pope-Leighey House! Located just 10 miles from Old Town Alexandria, the Pope-Leighey House is the perfect showcase of one of Wright’s “Usonian” style modest homes that he began designing in the 1930s. Visitors are invited to celebrate the anniversary all year long. First up, on Wright’s birthday on June 8, visitors can enjoy Cupcake tours during the day and a special 150th Birthday Picnic & Party fundraiser in the evening, which will include birthday cake from some of the region’s best cake makers, cocktails, music, a unique auction and much more. On July 12, the hilarious cocktail theater troupe Picnic Theater Company will present their version of Noel Coward’s “Hay Fever” in front of the house (picnic dinner available), and on August 27, the Pope-Leighey Picnic Series ends with a mid-century modern, family-style back-to-school picnic (Loren Pope was an education reporter and author) on the grounds of the house. Stay tuned…
Chef Megg Baroody Meggrolls 107 N. Fayette Street Old Town Alexandria 571-312-0399 http://www.meggrolls.com By Chester Simpson About the Chef: Meghan is a native Alexandrian and graduate of TC Williams high school. She was a student-athlete at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art. After college, she stayed in Alexandria and worked as a bartender at Tallula/Eat Bar in Arlington. She then moved to Chadwick’s in Old Town, where she served and entertained guests from behind the bar while pursuing multiple creative outlets, including voice acting and freelance portrait and mural painting. It was during her time at Chadwick’s that she ramped-up her love for cooking and turned a fun hobby into the unique and creative concept that Meggrolls is today. When did you first become interested in cooking? Why did you decide to pursue a culinary career? Cooking has always been a hobby of mine. When I was a kid, I used to stand on a chair in the kitchen and help my dad cook dinner. Both of my parents shared time making dinner for me and my 5 older siblings. Mom has more of a comfort food-style– when it comes to thanksgiving, she’s the boss! The little details are what still make her dishes so tasty and memorable. My dad’s style is a bit more refined. He gets a kick out of building the flavors in a gumbo or making the perfect risotto. I’ve definitely learned a lot from them both. To be honest, Meggrolls came about as a happy accident. I used to make late-night snacks and bring them to my bartender boyfriend, and he’d share them with his regular guests. One night, I made traditional Chinese egg rolls, and as he was eating one he suggested…
Waiting for The Winds of Winter By Miriam R. Kramer Do we currently need “prequels” and “successor series” to the television juggernaut Game of Thrones? HBO and most viewers would say yes. George R.R. Martin, author of the wildly successful fantasy series of books A Song of Ice and Fire and inspiration for the worldwide hit HBO series Game of Thrones, has announced at least four and possibly five pilot scripts set in the world he has created. While not penning them outright, he plans to collaborate with the writers assigned to each. The last book in his series, A Dance With Dragons, was as absorbing as its predecessors. Published to great fanfare in late 2011, it shot to #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers List. In the meantime, the television series, which has released a season every year since it began in 2013, has chronologically passed the books. Both Martin and the showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have carefully stated that parts of the show are now different from those in the books. Fine. Translating books to TV or film can make them separate but equally binge-worthy. All things considered, Weiss and Benioff do an excellent job: they have to adapt the series while dealing with Martin’s time-management issues, so I can’t fault them. The series is a smashing success: the theme music is perfect for the books, the actors are well-cast, the blood and guts satisfy, and many of the computerized visuals, such as the graphic of the Wall, are spectacular. So far the two diverge well. Yet from knowing the books thoroughly and watching the series I’m sure I can accurately guess a number of the developments true for both, in particular one concerning Jon Snow. So the series…
Dog (and Cat) Days in the Virgin Islands by Jeff McCord “She’s a West Indian sled dog,” I would explain to bewildered island children. “You know, the kind of dog that pulls sleds in the snow and lives with Eskimos.” These were kids who had never seen snow, however. My white Siberian husky, whom I walked daily in their neighborhood, was nearly as exotic to them as a polar bear hunting on the banks of the Potomac River would be to you. All they really needed to understand, though, was that the dog loved children and had the softest, fluffiest fur imaginable for petting and hugging. Molly the husky had moved with us to the island of St. John from Fauquier County more than seven years ago. Far from being disoriented by the alien, otherworldly tropical fauna and flora, this dog- who had been born on a Spotsylvania farm and spent her first six years in the Virginia Piedmont – thrived from day one on the island. Whether chasing (and occasionally catching and dispatching) iguanas, wild chickens or confronting wandering cows and pigs, she adapted seamlessly to her new life. At the ripe old age (for a big dog) of 13, she recently passed on to a presumably better place — leaving behind our earthly paradise of palm trees and coral beaches. On the laid back Virgin Islands Molly left behind, most humans take good care of their dogs and cats. They are prized members of small, somewhat isolated American and British communities vulnerable to the vagaries of nature and buffeted by seasonal population changes. With all the coming and going, and the sad reality that not all humans are as animal loving as we would wish, there is a need on each island for animal rescue groups. On St….
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