Poor guy can’t help answering the phone
The phone rings. The digital screen says UNKNOWN CALLER. My wife and I exchange glances. Thus, the ballet begins — again. “I’m going to answer it,” I say. “Don’t answer it,” she says. “You’ll just encourage them to call again.” “Might be Hollywood,” I say. “You know it isn’t Hollywood,” she says. “One way to find out,” I say. And I lift... READ MORE
Murals turn Richmond into free open air museum
Hungry for art? Due to the coronavirus, the VMFA is closed, art exhibits and festivals are cancelled, and galleries are shuttered. It’s hard to get your visual stimulation fix. But RVA is home to an incredible collection of street mural art, accessible all day, every day. From three-story murals to tiny gems tucked in alleyways, murals have popped up in the Fan, the Carytown... READ MORE
D.C. insider turned film writer
As Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, K.C. Bailey never imagined she’d one day be writing and producing a feature film. She spent her days working on nuclear weapons nonproliferation policy during the waning days of the Cold War, wrote books on arms control, disarmament and UN weapons inspections, and regularly testified before Congress. “Every week, I’d brief Senate and House ... READ MORE
Crazy about a Gershwin musical revival
Though the end-of-year holidays are over, it’s not too late to experience some of that seasonal spirit at Arlington’s Signature Theater, where the revival of Crazy for You continues through Jan. 14. The musical originally opened in 1992 as a brand-new production largely inspired by George and Ira Gershwin’s 1930 musical Girl Crazy, and featuring other songs by the famous... READ MORE
Artist retires, rekindles dream
This past August, LeeNan Hayden Manzari was watching “Project Runway” — the long-running fashion design reality television show — when to her amazement, her painting of a flamenco dancer flashed on the screen. She’d submitted it online to the show’s Remake It Work contest, where fans of the show submit artwork inspired by the program. But she never thought it would... READ MORE
What do you have to say?
From two brothers reuniting to co-author a novel to a former newspaper publisher recounting her career during the turbulent ‘60s, budding authors have been finding it easier to break into print over the last decade. While it’s harder than ever to make it out of the “slush pile” in traditional publishing houses these days, a revolution in self-publishing means that... READ MORE
Goodbye to a quiz whiz
Back in 2005, "It's Academic" host Mac McGarry ferried me around the NBC channel 4 studio, introducing me to news anchors and other luminaries before settling back to talk about his more than 40-year career as host of the high school quiz show for a Beacon cover story on him. In the weekly show, teams from three local schools compete with lightning-fast velocity to answer... READ MORE
Catching up with KC and Melissa Etheridge
During the disco music-fueled days of the mid- and late-1970s, KC and the Sunshine Band was ubiquitous, getting down tonight on every top 40 radio station across the country.At the same time, nascent rock star Melissa Etheridge was honing her guitar skills in her small Kansas hometown and would burst onto the national scene in 1988 with her first album.The Beacon caught up with both KC and... READ MORE
Rubbing shoulders with celebrity
Last week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Feinstein, who sings classics from the Great American Songbook by such composers and lyricists as Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern and Cole Porter in concert and shares information about these musical legends on his shows on PBS and NPR. Feinstein grew up in Ohio in the 1960s and ‘70s, the same as me, and shared how he came to be... READ MORE
Creating a show about aging parents
Soon after my last blog post about the dearth of older characters on TV and realistic story lines for them, I interviewed Amy Lippman, creator o the YouTube show, “Ruth and Erica.” The show, which is presented in seven-minute snippets, follows 40-something Erica, played by Maura Tierney (currently also in the CBS hit “The Good Wife”), who is grappling with... READ MORE
