01/08/10 Andy Sullivan and his band Dirty Bomb rock out for charity at the second annual Journopalooza held at the National Press Club.

I normally do all I can to avoid entering the Press Club for anything other than press conferences because I find the bar there to be one of the most depressing places on earth – a place where bitter old-timers bloviate about things like Army McCarthy Hearings. I have to admit, however, that this was a fun event. It was a battle of the bands contest between bands made up of journalists. I came out to support Andy who’s a reporter at Reuters and his band sounded great.  The other three groups were: Charm Offensive, Nobody’s Business, and Suspicious Package.  It was a charity event because (according to the press release)  “Our profession is in financial trouble. Trouble that can only be fixed by rock n’ roll.” Proceeds from Journoplaooza II go to The Committee to Protect Journalists/Journalist Assistance Program, The Eric Friedheim National Journalism Library, and Reporters Without Borders.

It was also a blast to hang with a bunch of friends I haven’t seen in a long time – Noelle, Tommy, Shannon, Stephanie, Kate and on and on.

Video snippet here.

01/08/10 Congrats to Deborah Ayorinde!  The lovely model and Howard University grad was on TBS’  “Meet The Browns” on Wednesday night. She’s now living in Atlanta and has signed up with one of the city’s top talent agencies (Atlanta Models & Talent). She says working with Tyler Perry Studios was an awesome experience: “It was pretty nerve-racking to be working with people that I had grown up watching on television (i.e. Terri Vaughn, Alfonso Ribeiro, etc.) but everyone was so kind and helpful and I learned a lot. Hopefully it won’t be the last time I get to work with them. The episode I am in has aired on television but people can watch it on TBS.com (I’m not exactly sure when it will show up but I know you can watch full episodes of Meet the Browns on TBS’s website). For updates on what I’m up to and my future projects, people can follow me on Twitter (yes, I gave in lol) at Twitter.com/DAyorinde.”

[I took this photo of Deborah at an Open Studio shoot. My next Open Studio will be on Saturday 01/16/09. It's a great deal if you need a head shot for a web page or comp card or acting CV or an "About The Author" blurb, etc. ]

01/06/10 My brother Tim gave me the 11 DVD set of The World At War for Christmas. Fantastic gift! If you haven’t seen it, this is one of the finest documentaries ever produced. Narrated by Lawrence Olivier, using hundreds of hours of original footage and dozens of interviews with key figures – even the title credits are riveting. I remember watching it as a boy on WETA. I stuck the first DVD in last night to see the opening chapter. Here it is. The program begins by telling the story of what happened at Oradour-sur-Glane, a small French village close to the city of Limoges, in 1944 and uses the incident as an allegory for the barbarity of the 2nd World War.

642 inhabitants of Oradour-sur-Glane were brutally murdered and the town was set ablaze by the Waffen-SS on June 10th 1944. The French decided to leave the town exactly as it was that day. I’ve been there and it’s haunting. It is something like being in Pompeii but instead of capturing the calamity of a natural disaster, the collapsing town is an accusing finger pointing at evil.

Here are some photos I took of the town on 02/18/92. No kidding. 1992. I keep good records. I was 10 at the time.*

* This is a deliberate falsehood.

[Entrance to the village. Note sign with time-line of the massacre at left.]

[Main street - the houses have been left to crumble.]

[This is the rear of the church which the women and children were herded into before being murdered.]

[Altar in the church.]

[Rusted hulk of a Citreön left exactly where it was that day.]

Here are some of my favorite photos from November 2009.

11/28/09 The Old Chatham Sheepherding Company is the largest sheep dairy farm in the United States.

11/17/09 Preview of  “Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China’s First Emperor” exhibit at the National Geographic Museum.

11/30/09 Q&A with actor Morgan Freeman following a showing of his new movie “Invictus.”

11/07/09 The pond on Ryan Farm.

11/24/09 Aladdin the Christmas camel arrives at Mount Vernon.

11/02/09 Partisan pooch at a rally for GOP candidate for Governor of Virginia, Bob McDonnell, in Old Town Alexandria Va.

11/18/09 Education Secretary Arne Duncan (left) and NEA President Dennis Van Roekel roll up their sleeves and don chef’s hats to serve lunch at John Adams Elementary School in Alexandria, Va.

01/04/10 Co-authors Greg Jaffe and David Cloud sign copies of their book The Fourth Star following a talk about the book at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington, DC.

01/04/10 Just chatted with my friend Kate Michael and she told me that her blog K Street Kate was voted Metromix’s “Best Local Blog” and the party to celebrate will be at Current on Friday, January 22nd, 8-11.

Congrats Kate!

[Above portrait taken on 04/22/09.]

Here are some of my favorite photos from October 2009.

10/11/09 Lead singer Martin Johnson of the band “Boys Like Girls” at the Hard Rock Cafe Washington, D.C.

10/04/09 New US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer exit St. Matthew’s Cathedral at the conclusion of the Red Mass.

10/30/09 My niece Ella demonstrates Batgirl’s combat moves.

10/13/09 Outside the “50 Most Powerful People in DC” party.

10/08/09 Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard visits Noyes Elementary in NE Washington, DC.

10/08/09 “Capture the Moment” party atop the Park Place Apartments.

10/13/09 Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar with members of the National Museum of the American Latino Commission, including actress Eva Longoria-Parker.

10/30/09 Anna’s Halloween Eve II at Maté in Georgetown.

10/16-10/20/09 Bridal Week in NYC: Day 1,  Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4.

01/01/10 Parking lot in Red Hook, NY.

Here are some of my favorite photos from September 2009.

09/05/09 Harvest moon over the Hudson Valley.

09/06/09 Georgia

09/02/09 Bartender Jack Winston (on left) and revelers who wished to remain anonymous attend a party at the Axis Bar & Grill on U Street in D.C. Wednesday night to celebrate the release of former Rep. Jim Traficant (D Ohio) from 7 years in prison.

09/16/09 End-of-summer BBQ at Mologne House on the grounds of Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital.

09/17/09 Robert Demeria [Manager, Gvt Affairs Fairfax Co. Chamber of Commerce] explains the ground rules before Virginia’s gubernatorial candidates Bob McDonnell (R) and Creigh Deeds (D) squared off in a much anticipated debate.

09/10/09 My friend Anna models an outfit in a fashion challenge at Neiman’s Chevy Chase.

09/07/09 Storage shed behind Sunnyside - the home of author Washington Irving.

09/23/09 Barry Glassman (on the right) and Teatro Goldoni’s Chef Enzo Fargione in Teatro’s kitchen on Celebrity Chef Night, an annual charity event to benefit the National Brain Tumor Society.

09/01/09 Angry man wearing a “Chairman Maobama” t-shirt yells at Rep. Steny Hoyer (D MD) during a town hall meeting on health care reform at the North Point High School in Waldorf, MD.

09/30/09 Grand slam homer by Justin Maxwell to win the Nationals’ last game of the season. You can see the ball just to the left of the Washington Post sign.

Here are some of my favorite photos from August 2009.

08/31/09 Nephew Kieran’s 1st day of Kindergarden.

08/15/09 Over 100 muralists painting a wall larger than a football field in the Edgewood neighborhood in Northeast DC.

08/04/09 Dawn at Kitty Hawk Pier with Kimberly

08/30/09 Senator Ted Kennedy comes down from Capitol Hill for the last time.

08/16/09 Walish Gooshe Spring/Summer 2010 designs by Greg Taylor at K Street Lounge.

08/06/09 The sun sets on the huge dunes called Jockey’s Ridge in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

08/25/09 Tim and Vicky clowning around at Midtown Loft

08/27/09 Charity fashion show at L2 in Georgetown produced by my friend Indrid Ellmore.