Capitol Steps Times 2

As I’ve mentioned before in this blog, the best things that Washington, DC has to offer are free.  Smithsonian museums, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, the monuments, and bike trails along the Potomac don’t cost a red cent to enjoy.  This summer I’ve become aware of another freebie, evening concerts.  In the past month I’ve been treated to concerts by the US Navy and US Army bands on separate evenings on the west steps of the Capitol.  Sitting on the steps with the Capitol dome behind you and the expanse of the National Mall in front with the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial lined up in the distance, while listening to the Battle Hymn of the Republic is a special experience. 

This past weekend my daughter paid me a visit and she, a close friend of hers, and I got to hear the Army band in that venue.  However that was not the only “Capitol Steps” experience to be had that weekend.  The night after the Army band concert, my daughter and I took in a performance of the musical parody troupe of the same name.  The Capitol Steps perform each Friday and Saturday night at a theater in the Ronald Reagan International Trade Center which is just a few blocks from the White House.  The Steps have been performing since 1981 and if you like political comedy, they will not disappoint.  No one in power is spared being made fun of.  During the two hour show, we saw musical numbers that poked fun at President Obama, Sarah Palin, Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Boehner, Anthony Wiener (that one is just too easy), the TSA, the Supreme Court, the Tea Party and many others.  Part of the show we attended was recorded for broadcast on National Public Radio on July 4.

I really can’t do the troupe justice by trying to describe the humorous lyrics in print, but you have to trust me, hearing duets by Michelle Bachman/Sarah Palin and Sonia Sotomayor/Ruth Ginsberg will make you laugh out loud.  The musical numbers are very current and they have a never ending supply of material in Washington.  The Capitol Steps travel around the country and if they come to your area, you won’t regret seeing them.  Their home page provides details.  Here’s a sampling of some of their songs.

Anthony Wiener: http://www.capsteps.com/sounds/weiner-itsybitsy.mp3

Obama on Osama: http://www.capsteps.com/sounds/osama-underthesea.mp3

Kim Jong Il:  http://www.youtube.com/user/CapitolSteps#p/u/19/tsP6m7_GVVI

Roars for Rory

They say that the crowd roar at a US Open is unlike that of any other tournament.  I got the chance to hear that roar this weekend at Congressional Country Club, and the experience was truly special.  Rory McIlroy, the 22 year old phenom from Northern Ireland, the lad who blew the Masters two months ago with a final round of 80, entered the final day with an almost unprecedented 8 shot lead on the field.  Rory had a chance Sunday to destroy a major championship field like Tiger Woods did in the 2000 US Open, or to collapse again like he did at Augusta. 

The US Open, one of golf’s four major championships, is truly “open” in that anyone with a 1.4 handicap index or better may try to qualify for a spot in the field.  Every player who tees it up in the Open has to play their way in.  The big guns qualify through various criteria; world golf ranking, high finishes in majors, etc.  Journeyman tour pros have to qualify along with amateurs through a series of local and sectional tournaments for the remaining spots.  So while the tournament is almost always won by a top player, there is a chance for a regular guy with a great golf game to compete with the best for the trophy.  Guys like Bud Cauley, formerly a member of the University of Alabama golf team, who made his professional debut memorable by making the cut and cashing his first check.  Patrick Cantlay, a 19 year old freshman at UCLA, not only made the cut, but played in a late group on Sunday after finishing three rounds at one under par.  His final score of even par would have earned him about $97,000.  However Patrick is an amateur so he had to be content with earning the admiration of the golf world for his excellent play.

My son joined me in DC this weekend and we spent 19 wonderful hours Saturday and Sunday walking the course, watching great golf, and relishing the experience.  We were one of many father/son pairings sharing the day together and it doesn’t get much better than this for a golfer on Father’s Day.  I won’t forget it and knowing my son, he won’t either.

 Sunday’s atmosphere was exciting and a little tense as most of the crowd was getting nervous for McIlroy.  We found a spot in the bleachers behind the practice range about an hour before the final group teed off and the crowd erupted with applause as Rory walked onto the range to warm up.  He seemed almost too loose to me as he laughed and joked with his agent and caddy in between towering iron shots.  I can’t fathom how a 22 year old can deal with the pressure he was under with thousands of spectators watching from the perimeter of each hole and millions more on TV.  I have a 9 handicap and I don’t think I could have made contact with the ball on the first tee in that situation.  But we pay money to see these pros because they can perform under pressure, sometimes.  Rory answered all the questions by birdying the first hole, and generally played flawless golf for the rest of the round.

To avoid the crowd following the final group, we staked out a spot on the 11^th fairway near where the players hit their second shots.  ESPN radio earpieces (a nice free perk from the tournament) kept us up to date on McIlroy’s progress and he made it through the front nine two under par.  We heard the first great roar from the crowd surrounding the 10^th hole when Y.E. Yang, McIlroy’s playing partner hit his tee shot on the par 3 about 4 feet from the hole.  The gimme birdie would bring Yang within 7 shots of the lead.  But then Rory countered with a shot that landed behind the hole and spun back to less than a foot away.  The roar from the crowd on 10, the US Open roar, signaled that Rory had effectively iced the tournament.  Cheers followed McIlroy up the 11^th fairway where we watched him hit a perfect 300 yard drive and a long iron to the safe side of the green to set up a par.  Five more pars along with a birdie and a bogey and Rory McIlroy finished off his masterpiece of a final round 69.  The 8 stroke margin of victory was the most in a US Open since Woods’ epic performance in 2000.

Now the inevitable comparisons with Tiger begin.  McIlroy will never have to answer questions about the Masters collapse again, but the media will speculate as to whether he is the next “Tiger”.  One thing is for sure.  Rory McIlroy is great golfer and at 22, is poised to become the number one player in the world.  He also seems like a genuinely nice young man and is gracious in every interview.  He’s the best of a contingent of foreign players who are currently dominating world golf.  It used to be that golf fans in this country rooted against non-Americans, especially in “our Open”.  But we’ve gotten used to the great foreign players over the years and now can embrace them the way we do American champions.  If anyone at Congressional was rooting against McIlroy this past weekend, they were doing it quietly.  The deafening roars clearly identified the people’s choice and the way he answered the call made the 111^th US Open an historic tournament and a great memory for a father and a son.

The Age of Aquarius

NASA got a needed shot in the arm Friday morning at 7:20 AM Pacific time when a Delta II rocket carrying the Aquarius spacecraft was successfully launched into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.  The recent failures of two Earth science missions due to launch vehicle defects added to the tension before the launch, but the Delta II performed nominally and we now have a satellite that will spend the next three years measuring the surface salinity of the world’s oceans.  Ocean salinity is affected by rainfall, evaporation, freezing or melting ice, river discharge, currents, and a host of other parameters.  Aquarius will provide a complete map of the salinity variation in the Earth’s oceans each month and enable better understanding of the world’s fresh water cycle.

Fresh water, the most essential ingredient for human life, is often taken for granted, but shouldn’t be.  Did you ever think about where our water comes from and how much control we have over the source?  People in drought prone areas do.  It can be discomforting to realize that our source of fresh water, mountain snow melt and rain that moves downhill filling rivers, is completely dependent on relatively consistent weather patterns.  As for control, we have none.  The Earth giveth and can also taketh away.

We’ve certainly experienced a wild weather year so far and debate continues as to how our energy consumption habits may or may not affect the world’s weather.  Are we damaging the Earth by continuing to burn hydrocarbons at current rates?  The late comedian George Carlin used to say in one of his routines that “the planet will be just fine” and “when the planet is done with us, it will flick us off like a dog shakes off a flea”.  George was right.  The Earth has experienced trauma in its 4.5 billion year history that makes whatever damage we may be doing now look insignificant.  Consider the asteroid that hit the Earth around 60 million years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs by changing the weather and killing off their vegetative food sources.  Hiroshima’s and Nagasaki’s explosions were no more than a firecracker compared to the bang caused by the asteroid.

Current theory suggests that the moon was created by a glancing asteroid blow that caused Earthen material to be ejected into space.  Gravity caused the material to collapse on itself and formed the moon.  Do you think our best bomb shelters would protect us from an event like that?  However neither of these events killed the Earth.  Our planet recovered after a few million years, but things were not the same as they were before.  The Earth evolved and so did species that were able to adapt.  Good thing for us since we may have never arrived if the dinosaurs had remained on the top of the food chain. 

So while we don’t need to worry about destroying the planet, we do have to worry about destroying the delicate balance of conditions that enable us to live on it.  If the Earth heats up too much and it quits raining and snowing where we expect it, all the political arguments that get us so stirred up will seem like tempests in teapots compared to the calamity that will ensue.  Here’s hoping that Aquarius will help us understand our precious water cycle better and provide solid science to guide future public policy.

The Other Washington Monument

Anyone who has sat on the left side of an airplane on final approach from the south into Washington DC’s Reagan National airport has seen a tower just beyond Old Town Alexandria and probably wondered, what is that?  That is the George Washington Masonic Memorial, the other Washington monument in this area.  As much an edifice to honor Freemasonry as the nation’s first President, the Memorial is an imposing structure set on hill about a mile and a half from the Potomac River and the heart of Old Town.

Since I’ve seen the Memorial many times from the plane, a visit has been on my list of things to do.  Climbing the hill on my bicycle was a challenge, but I was rewarded with a beautiful view of Alexandria and the Potomac River beyond.  The hillside below the structure contains a well cared for garden with a massive rock and gravel Masonic symbol at the center.  Entry into the Memorial is free; at least the first two floors, and inside a large bronze statue of George eyes you from the end of a large hall flanked by 40 ft. tall columns.  The sculpture depicts George wearing his Masonic apron and medallion.  Murals depicting Washington at prominent events cover the walls on either side of the hall.  The floor below contains a number of rooms with exhibits of Masonic history such as stones from the White House, tools of masons, and tributes to famous members of the brotherhood such as Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Jackson, and Harry Truman.  One room contains photos of officers of the Alexandria Lodge, dating from the present all the way back to George Washington.

The Memorial is worth a visit; it will take no more than an hour, and is very close to the King St. Metro station. If you are in good walking shape, the trek down King St to the Potomac River will offer you an abundance of pubs, open air restaurants, and shops lining the most prominent cobblestone street of Old Town Alexandria.