Yesterday was another one of those days where I thought to myself more than once, “I love living in Vienna”. How the day started and how the day ended were at two opposite ends of the spectrum. But what they had in common was that living here in Vienna facilitated both activities.
The day started out with an early Metro trip into Washington DC. Since I both live in and work in Vienna, I’m not normally part of the 6AM Rush Hour to town. But it was an easy trip. Only 12 stops, 1 transfer and then we arrived at our destination – the Verizon Center. The Verizon Center is home to the NHL's Capitals, NBA's Wizards, and WNBA's Mystics and also hosts Georgretown basketball & other events like Disney On Ice. But we were there for the Youth Rally and Mass that were the pre-cursor for the Annual March for Life demonstration. Now this post is not meant to be political in any way. I know that this topic is one that people on both sides of the issue feel very strongly about. The point of sharing this is that going in to DC and seeing the tens of thousands of “regular folks” from around the country made me realize how grateful I am that we live in Vienna – just far enough outside the city to enjoy “small town life” and just close enough that I can go there anytime I want to express my political opinions to the leaders of our country.
We saw signs and flags from groups of people who had traveled long distances, ridden busses for many hours, just to be able to exercise their constitutional right to assemble – folks from Michigan, Vermont, Florida, Arizona and more. And after the March, they got back on their busses for a LONG ride home. All I had to do was take a 20 minute Metro ride.I love living in Vienna!
The rest of the day was just a “regular” day – work, work, work. BUT, it was Friday. And this is where Vienna comes in again. One of the great things about our town is that we have an incredible variety of cultural opportunities right here in our backyard. And one of my favorites is The Barns of Wolftrap. The Barns is part of “Wolftrap National Park for the Performing Arts”. The initial 53 acres of land for this park was originally purchased (and later donated) by Catherine Shouse for $5,300 ( don’t you wish you could buy land around here for $100 an acre!) and she named the farm “Wolf Trap Farm”. From late May to early September each year, people enjoy the outdoor amphitheatre known as the “Filene Center”. (People like us who have grown up here just call this “Wolftrap”.) The Filene Center seats about 7,000 people. The Barns, on the other hand, is an intimate facility that probably only seats about 200 people. It is made up of two 18th century barns that were restored & rebuilt using only 18th century methods with hand -hewn beams & panels. It’s simply gorgeous and the acoustics are phenomenal.
So back to last night. We hadn’t been to the Barns in a while, so a few weeks ago we picked out 3 music groups we had never seen before, sent an email out to several friends (2 of whom are musicians who have performed at The Barns themselves) and asked for a recommendation. The name that got the most votes was Paul Cebar & The Milwaukeeans. So we bought tickets. The web site described the music as “"Afro-Caribbean, Afro-pop, and conjunto music, as well as the sounds of New Orleans, Motown, Memphis, New York and, yes, Milwaukee.” We've only ever met one person from Milwaukee LOL, so we didn’t quite know what to expect.
Well, it turned out to be a BLAST! Instead of setting the space up with rows of seats, The Barns was set up for a “general admission dance” – with the entire main floor free for dancing and seats available in the balcony so you could watch the show (or better yet the people – check out these folks who came “decked” out for the occasion - notice the hats!)
The band was fantabulous, very talented and so much fun. Great rhythms (thanks to both a drummer and percussionist) and they never stopped between songs (except for a quick intermission which we ALL needed after so much dancing!)
We met a ton of really nice people – most of whom have followed the band for years. But none of them were from Vienna. So after the show, when they got back in their cars to drive home to Arlington, Springfield, Silver Spring, DC, etc…we thanked our lucky stars again that we live in Vienna and only had to drive a couple of miles to get home.
I LOVE VIENNA!
PS – If you’re looking for a good show to see at The Barns, a very talented friend of ours (Deeme Katson) is singing with Grammy Award winning local artist Jon Carroll on March 5th. Tickets are still available.
Here's what they sound like:
YES WE CAN CAN--Jon Carroll Live
Jon Carroll MySpace Music Videos
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