My public leadership class had the best guest speaker today--the former president of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski!

He has a great personality, and he has done some really important things in Poland--helping to rewrite the constitution (the old one was edited by Stalin himself), leading Poland to join NATO and the EU, and working on various reunification projects throughout the country. Seriously--during his 10 years as pres., he did some major work.

He hung around for a while, too (as he put it, he's the ex-president, not the current president, so he has all the time in the world), beyond our normal ending time to answer our questions. He's charming and funny, and only 53! His daughter (who is 26) was recently on Poland's Dancing with the Stars, and apparently she was one of the finalists.

But really, where else would you get these types of opportunities?!

Tags: dc life, school

When we last saw our intrepid heroine, she was enjoying Opera. This week, follow her to a totally incredible concert by BRANDI CARLILE!!!

On Friday Katie and I saw Brandi Carlile perform at the 9:30 Club. We first saw her there when she opened for Jamie Cullum, and that performance was good, but this time she was amazing.

First, a half-hour set doesn't give her the chance to really do her thing. But when she's headlining her own tour, she shines. Not only has she improved her audience interaction (think teaching hundreds of people to sing in 3-part harmony) and stage banter, but she's added things that make a going to a concert worthwhile.

For instance, she (along with her bandmates) did an entire song completely unplugged-no amps for the guitars, no microphones for the vocals. The 9:30 Club is the exact right size for it--any larger and it would have been almost impossible to hear her. It also helps that her voice is very strong and can cut through a room much more easily than, say, mine would.

She also gave some really neat background on her life. She has country folk singers on both sides of her family, and she said that the dobro she brought on the tour was making its debut with her because after she started to become well-known, her great-grandmother called her and told her to come get her great-grandfather's dobro, since it now belonged to her.

Of course, she can't play it (apparently it's really complicated), but she has a new member of her band who can!

There were also some stories about her bus driver seeing UFOs and members of her band walking around her yard naked while composing songs, but you kind of had to be there.

She has added some great covers to her repertoire, including a rocking version of "Fulsom Prison Blues". Some of the songs just made me wish I had been able to smuggle in recording equipment so I would have more of her music to listen to!

Funny story from earlier in her tour: She's a huge Elton John fan, so the first time her tour passed through Atlanta, there was a guy waiting for her when they got off her bus. The guy worked for Elton, and he had a huge, beautiful bouquet and a bottle of wine from the year Brandi was born as gifts. She was so excited it took her a while to calm down. :)

Seriously. If she's coming your way, GET TICKETS!!! (this means you, Lindsay and David!)

Tags: concerts, dc life, music

One of the things I love about living here in DC is the number of opportunities to enjoy cultural activities, especially music. Originally my posts regarding my musical experiences of the past week were going to be just one, but then they were just too long, so I decided to break them up.

Last Sunday was the annual National Opera simulcast on the Mall. This year was "La Boheme," one of the greatest operas ever! And to top that, the weather was perfect--bright, sunny, and warm, completely the opposite of last year's cold rain.

It was also fun this year because of the company. Katie and I joined several other people from church, including Melinda, who sings with the Opera company on a fairly regular basis. She's a trip, and is great fun to hang out with. She was also great to watch opera with, because she could really comment on what was going on.

The opera itself was fantastic. The director has a background in film making, and so he approached the opera with that sensibility. He also took it into modern times, so the singers were wearing jeans and using modern cameras/camcorders on the stage. He also updated the Cafe Momus scene, complete with drag queens and whips... Some people didn't like the production, but I thought it was pretty cool.

Finally, the singing was great. In fact, the lead tenor who played Rudolfo was INCREDIBLE. His name is Vittorio Grigolo, but his nickname is "Little Pavarotti" and totally lives up to it. He debuted in professional opera at the age of 13! He's Italian, and he actually knew all the major tenor arias by the time he was 5! In addition to his major vocal talent, he totally has the looks to go with them. Unfortunately, the only recording he's done is a pop opera album. Which is fine and all, but that style doesn't really show off his true voice.

If you go to his website, however, there's a clip from when he participated in a West Side Story production--he truly takes the song "Maria" to a whole new level.

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On a different note, there was a mass email sent to members of a list serv of former Spartan Marching Band members asking if they wanted to be on the Alumni Band float for the homecoming parade. Unfortunately, people didn't read the entire email, so they just hit "reply" and sent their answers to the ENTIRE list!

Of course, this set off the inevitable flood of "quit sending me these things" emails. As a result, there have been a bazillion emails today over the list. But the best exchange came earlier today, when someone complained:

"I have received over 25 emails today. There is something WRONG!!!!!!!!!"

The reply:

"There must be something wrong. Because you should have received over 30 emails. You may want to check with your ISP, you are not getting all of your e-mail."

When people can get so much junk and still have a sense of humor, all is right with the world.

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Also, even though my boys lost on Saturday, I'm very proud of them. They made a GREAT game of it, and didn't give up. They'll still be able to pull out a great season!

Tags: dc life, football, humor, msu, music, smb