Publisher’s Notes August 2018 It is August and the Dog Days of Summer! Check out this issue for an explanation. As the GOP looks for ways to gut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, we celebrate our Seniors this month in our special feature. Look into the future in our feature article and read about some seniors who are embracing their age. After a stellar career in the aviation sector and building and selling a business, read why Dr. Tulinda Deegan Larsen is hip on UAV’s in our Business Profile. Captain Martina Jones tells us about her adventures in circumnavigating on M/Y Ocean Pearl in the Personality Profile. The annual Governor’s Cup overnight sailboat race from Annapolis to St. Mary’s River in St. Mary’s county takes place last month. Read about the darkness and the uncertainty of your surroundings of night sailing in The Joys of Overnight Racing in the Bay Section. In Grapevine this month, Nancy Bauer takes us on a historical tour of Spotsylvania County and the Fredericksburg Trolley vineyard tours. Sarah Becker takes a look at the history of space exploration beginning with the signing of the National Aeronautics and Space Act in 1958 in her Bit of History column. If you are looking for a crab cake or a lobster roll that won’t break the bank, jump on the water taxi and make the trip to National Harbor and see what The Gastronomes have discovered at National Harbor in Dining Out. If the summer heat gets you down, check out this month’s Road Trip to Valley View Farm and Winery in the mountains. The temperature up there is usually 10 degrees cooler than it is in the city. And it is peach season and this is a place where you can pick your own. For our readers…
Players Announced for the 8th Annual Polo Classic The National Sporting Library & Museum (NSLM) is excited to announce players for its 8th Annual Polo Classic, to be held Sunday, September 9, 2018 at Great Meadow in The Plains. This year’s event will again include two top tier matches, the Founders Cup and the Mars Cup; a parade of the Orange County Hounds; an honor guard; the St. Andrews Society of Washington, DC Pipes and Drums; and an historic carriage driven by staff from Colonial Williamsburg Coach & Livestock. Actress and avid equestrian Bo Derek will throw in the ball for both matches. Nacho Figueras, John Gobin, David Greenhill, Bill Ballhaus, David Tafuri, Kip Hayes, and Danielle Quinn will play in support of the event in the featured Mars Cup match. “We are thrilled to have these top tier players participate in the Polo Classic. They bring excitement and expertise on and off the field, and help make this event fun and festive for attendees,” says Event Chair Jacqueline B. Mars. The earlier Founders Cup match will again see a team from Dubai, captained by Steve Thompson, veteran player and founder of the Dubai Polo Academy, playing against a British Military Team, captained by Major Mark Cann, Director of the British Forces Foundation and the Combined Services Polo Association. Proceeds from the Polo Classic support the NSLM’s mission of preserving, promoting, and sharing the literature, art, and culture of equestrian, angling, and field sports. “The National Sporting Library & Museum presents the history and beauty of equestrian sports on an international stage and I am honored to again take the field in support of this local Middleburg organization!” said Greenhill Winery & Vineyards owner and returning player David Greenhill. Funds raised in 2017 enabled the NSLM to offer over 90 public…
Al Chadsey – Local Legend Comes to Old Town By Bob Tagert For those of you who have been in this town for the past 50 years like myself, we can remember a time when D.C. was really crazy, Georgetown was the hot spot and the Golden Triangle was becoming the new hot spot for places to meet old friends and make new ones. Luigi’s or Gusti’s were the hip restaurants where you could get a dinner for two of veal parmesan, a side of pasta in a red sauce and a bottle of Mateus or Lancers Rose for a grand total of about $25.00. All these memories came flooding back when I recently sat down with Al Chadsey, the new General Manager of Union Street Public House. Back in those days, circa 1974, Al was a bartender and then manager at the extremely popular Beowulf restaurant and pub. He soon after invested in his own restaurant and bought The Embers a few blocks from Beowulf on 19th street N.W. Chadsey and his 5 partners eventually changed the concept and Pierce Street Annex was born. Pierce Street grew in popularity over the years as did the other neighboring watering holes…Flaps, Rumors, Apple Pie and Sign of the Whale. The pace of life just seemed slower back then. Celebrities would visit D.C. and there would be no entourage. “John Denver would come to town and play the Cellar Door and then stop at Pierce Street and we would play backgammon till the wee hours of the morning,” Chadsey tells me. “Arnold Schwarzenegger would stop by and we even had Ted Danson and Rick Springfield (when he was Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital) as a guest bartenders!” Happy Hours seemed to last longer back then. In those days the bartenders would…
By Lani Gering Captain Martina Jones From Fair Winds to Following Seas Over the years we have been very fortunate to be in the “right” place at the “right” time. Thanks to a chance meeting with our pal Shaun Sheehan on Union Street in Old Town Alexandria a couple of weeks ago and the offer of a cold beer at the Old Dominion Boat Club, I was lucky enough to meet Captain Martina Jones and her husband Braun. Shaun and I joined Tina, as she prefers to be called, Braun and another couple on the upper deck and as the conversation progressed I found out that she is a US Coast Guard 100 ton Master (her husband is also a 100 ton Master). This translates into the fact that she is qualified to caption a vessel that weighs 100 tons – that’s a lot of boat! To look at Tina, one would never guess that this beautiful, tall, svelte, brunette would be someone who aspired to motoring a boat of this proportion down the Potomac let alone almost all the way around the world. Tina is an Army brat whose family is from Indiana who spent her childhood in Central and South America and Braun is a Navy brat and a Naval Academy grad who spent much of his childhood in Japan where his father was a Naval Attache. They both ended up in Alexandria – as most career military families gravitate toward the Pentagon at some point – where they eventually met and married. Braun introduced her to the wonders of sailing when he took her out on his Annapolis-based 43’ Mason sailboat (she tells me that he knew she was a “keeper” when she didn’t get seasick) where they sailed the Chesapeake and surrounding tributaries as well as…
Zoran Madzirov – The Bottleman As those of you who read my columns know, I am always looking to discover amazing music and performers. I have found such in a Macedonian percussionist, composer, and inventor, Zoran Madzirov. Affectionately known to his fans as “Zoran the Bottleman”, Zoran unfortunately recently passed away in 2017. But with the help of his loving family, his music and his inventions will not only live on, his legacy will only grow. Zoran grew up in a musical family, first learning to play ‘jazz’ drum techniques through lessons with his father, then taking up the piano, the trumpet and finally other forms of percussion. His music studies continued both in Munich (where he first designed his own invention, the “Bottlephone”) and at the University of Cologne, Germany. Known in his home country as “The Maverick of Macedonian Music”, he developed a revolutionary concept of a solo percussion act during which he played unique versions of great classical excerpts, by composers such as Stravinsky, Mozart, and Vivaldi on graduated tuned bottles. I have had the pleasure of getting a preview of his music soon to be released in the US, but you can experience Zoran’s music and performances by simply typing in his name “Zoran Madzirov” on YouTube. There you will find a 100+ videos of his performances. His performances weren’t just regular performances, they were each and every one “an experience”. Zoran had that state of mind that he wanted to entertain people, and that’s what he did. What he did was pure magic. A fan who had the pleasure of listening to him performing “The Nutcracker” by Tchaikovsky, described the experience to me as “It felt like magic. You could feel the beauty of the sound just flying around the whole concert…
Gregory Dreher Bond 45 149 Waterfront Street National Harbor 301-839-1445 Bond45.com Gregory serves the Bond 45 Cup Cocktail for Two House-made pineapple infused vodka, passion fruit nectar, lime juice, agave & habanero tincture How did you get started in the bartending business? My first month in the service industry landed me managing/bartending a Honduran restaurant in Leesburg, VA. It was formally known as Chimole. Oddly enough my friend/boss’ mom owned the place and needed me to fill in after a family emergency. What is your biggest bartender pet peeve? Since my first couple days at Chimole, I’d have to say the thing that drives me craziest when bartending is the lack of acknowledgement some people give when sitting at a restaurant…Like, how can I help you if you don’t look at me or leave a little room for chit chat…HELP ME, HELP YOU…Isn’t that why we’re all here?? What is the best/worst pickup line you’ve over heard at the bar? You know, I’d have to say the best pickup line I’ve heard is still reverse psychology. I’ll tell you, you don’t want me, I’m a bad guy, and for some reason, it always works, smh. Reverse psych is the way to go! What is the cleverest thing a customer has done to garner a FREE drink from you? While I think the most unattractive romantic gesture is wanting free stuff, you shouldn’t flirt and simultaneously be nudging at handouts… Seems needy. Just letting your natural personality and sense of community come out at a bar is always the best way to grab a drink on the house. That’s really what bars are for, sharing a meal/drink/perspective with a couple of strangers as opposed to sitting at a table. The connectivity to one another gravitates to…
By Lani Gering Some of My Favorite Places! Not unlike many other months, here I sit wracking my brain trying to come up with subject material for this space. It isn’t like there aren’t tons of things going on in the area – like the second floor of the MGM Casino opening up and Summerfest winding down at the Gaylord – but I wanted to make this column a little more personal. I decided that highlighting a few of the things in and about the Harbor that rate high on my “favorites” chart would be the thing to do. These are in no particular order. – The statues on American Way with Marilyn Monroe and Rosie the Riveter topping the chart. I absolutely think all of the works of art, including the quotes etched into the walkway, on this main drag are impressive every time I walk by. – The Belvedere Lobby Bar in the Gaylord Hotel. Since the first time my partner Bob and I had our first vodka gimlets while watching the nightly fountain and light show, it has remained one of our go-to places. The bartenders and servers are top notch and the place is beautiful. They also have music on some evenings to add to the experience. – The Flight Deck and the Capital Wheel. The Wheel is another of my go-to places when company comes to call. Now that you can take an adult beverage purchased at The Flight Deck with you on the ride, it’s even more fun. The Flight Deck on its own is a great place for a beer or a glass of wine and the perfect place to watch the sunset and all the activity on the water. – Bond 45. From the first day they opened the doors almost 10…
By F. Lennox Campello Sometimes an exhibition is so cool and important, and captures a slice of art that no one else thought of capturing before, that one must just cut and paste what the creator describes… word for word. Here we go, with some of my words sprinkled into the storyline. For many artists, making the transition from gallery to public art is about growing awareness of their work, and larger paychecks. For D.C. arts legends Rockne Krebs and my good friend Sam Gilliam, public artworks were not only an important component of how they made a living, but a compelling motivator in their artistic development. Rockne Krebs (1938-2011) was a sculpture wunderkind, whose early success was compounded by timely experiments with technology. Krebs’ career started with Plexiglas and aluminum sculptures that exploded the viewer’s sense of their own location, and in 1968 Paul Richard wrote in the Washington Post that Krebs early work, “exhibits an intensity and restraint that is rare indeed.” In 1973 Krebs began to create “Sculpture without object” – primarily works made with lasers. His first experiments (in DC) turned into city wide installations across the country, and globe. This new exhibition features public artworks built and unbuilt; proposals never funded, and proposals and documentation of works that came into being. American legend Sam Gilliam (1933 – ) is a planetary artistic legend who stretched the definition of painting via his color-washed canvases removed from the stretcher. In 1971, Paul Richard in the Washington Post wrote that Gilliam’s swooping canvases, hung from walls and ceilings, “have the look of revolution, old conventions overturned, the past abandoned.” Gilliam’s early success opened the door to public art commissions, and a DC gallerist then connected Gilliam with architect Steven Spurlock to help the artist with his first proposal…
August 2018 Ongoing through October Fitness on the Potomac On the Plaza Participate in FREE fitness classes on the Plaza. All classes run from 7-8 pm with Saturday morning Yoga that runs from 10-11 am. Mondays – Cardio Blast Tuesdays – Kickboxing Wednesdays – Zumba Saturdays – Yoga Farmers Market Returns American Way Sundays through December 23rd 11am – 3 pm Community Foodworks has pulled together many local vendors for the Market this summer. Local farmers and food producers will be offering fresh produce—apples, locally-baked breads, humanely-raised meats and dairy products, as well as coffee, eggs and more. Vendors may vary during the season. Ongoing Through September Summer Fridays Are Back! On the Plaza 4 pm- 8 pm Start your weekend right with Summer Fridays at National Harbor! Play Corn hole, Connect Four, Giant Jenga, hula hoop, hopscotch, and more with family and friends. Enjoy performances by Bobby McKey’s, giveaways, and listen to the DJ spin your favorite summer jams. And of course, joining us means you get front row seats to the best sunset view in the DMV. Get your cameras ready and your flip flops on! Movies on the Potomac On the Big Screen At the Plaza Nothing says summer like an evening under the stars—and there’s no better way to enjoy the season than movie nights at National Harbor. Pack your chairs, grab food to go from one of our delicious dining establishments, and meet us at the Plaza screen for a free evening of fun! Date Night Movies – 7 pm 2nd – Victoria and Abdul 9th – Transformers: The Last Knight 16th – Before I Fall 23rd – The Blindside 30th – Mean Girls Family Night Movies – 6 pm 5th – Maleficent 12th – The Little Mermaid 19th – The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe 26th –…
By Bob Tagert Skylark Drone Research – Dr. Tulinda Deegan Larsen Up in the Air and Flying High! Staying with our “seniors” theme for August we thought it appropriate to write about the youngest 64-year-old we know…Dr. Tulinda Deegan Larsen. I am lucky to know Tulinda personally as she is married to one of my best friends, Carl Larsen, who is also Tulinda’s official drone catcher! And that is the subject of this article…the ability to remake ourselves. Dr. Larsen is the Founder and CEO of Skylark Drone Research and just launched her first book…Six-Word Lessons For The Drone Hobbyist. A new life…yes, but it took the first life to get here. I first met Carl in the late 70’s and we became good friends. After a few years Carl reunited with high school classmate Tulinda and they got married in 1982. While Carl was teaching me to sail in the early 80’s Tulinda was putting her economics degree to use when she became staff economist for the US Department of Transportation; Director, Vice President Regional Airline Association and President of Alaskan Air Carriers Association all while also getting her certification as a single engine pilot in Alaska. After marrying, the couple moved to Sea Cliff, Long Island where they raised their two children, Bryce and Jenny. Time was spent with the kids and their 41-foot Catalina Morgan Classic sailboat. Life was good and Tulinda continued her “rise” in the Aviation field. They had also moved their boat to Kent Island in Maryland on the Chesapeake to extend their sailing year in a warmer climate. After Bryce and Jenny had graduated from college, Carl changed jobs and the couple moved to Annapolis where Carl took a position at Anne Arundel Medical Center. While trying to decide where to live the…
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