Brad Keywell, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod and Kim Keywell
One of the biggest nights in DC are the Kennedy Center Honors, and this year’s group of honorees had no shortage of talent or star power. Honored Sunday night were Meryl Streep, Neil Diamond, Barbara Cook, Yo-Yo Ma and Sonny Rollins. The show was packed with star studded performances and speeches. Famed screen writer Nora Ephron even declared that actress Meryl Streep, whose movie, Iron Lady, where in which she plays Margaret Thatcher, comes out December 16th, should also play Hillary Clinton. Ephron said to Clinton from stage about Streep, “you met her tonight, and I’m sure you thought she was charming, but she was just soaking you up.”
After the ceremonies, there was a moment when all traffic stopped at the Kennedy Center Honors dinner to watch actress Anne Hathaway hug Kennedy Center Honoree Barbara Cook at a table that included Patti Lupone and Glenn Close. Inches away, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stopped to chat with political stars David Axelrod, Delaware’s Senator Chris Coons,Governor Markell and Groupon Co-founder Brad Keywell.
The Kennedy Center Honors will be aired December 27th on CBS.
White House Staff such as Social Secretary Jeremy Bernard, Mayor Cory Booker and more came out to to celebrate Jennifer Siebel Newsom‘s documentary Miss Representation, which is about imaging and cultural perspectives on women and girls in the media. The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year and has been since been seen by millions around the world. Siebel’s husband, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom, Secretary Hilda Solis, Regina Hopper, Eve O’Toole, Chief of Protocol Capricia Marshall and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) were also in attendance.
Check out the photos and and full story by the Huffington Post’s Christina Wilkiehere.
California’s Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom gathered with friends and supporters after a spectacular day in Washington
The President, in between his Congressional negotiations, met with World Series Champions, San Francisco Giants. Joining them in the East Room were former San Francisco Mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom, as well as current Mayor Ed Lee, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Baseball legend, Willie Mays, was also in attendance who “was just a 23-year-old out-fielder the last time the Giants won the World Series, back when the team was in New York.” President Obama said, “even though there have been some great Giant’s teams since them, none of them had brought a championship back to the Bay Area.” This was a special team indeed, as Obama quoted manager Bruce Bochy, who once called them a bunch of ‘misfits and cast-offs’ and then looks around at the unique team, but then said the “one thing they know, is how to win.”
The President ended his talk with wishing the Giants the best of luck, ”unless the White Sox are in the world series, which right now is not a sure thing” and was then presented with a signed bat, custom glove and jersey #44.
Gavin Newsom, was also in town to discuss his upcoming release of California’s Economic Growth and Competitiveness plan–state’s first plan in a decade–meeting with the Center for American Progress, Brookings Institution, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the State Department, and the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and stopped by 701 Pennsylvania Avenue with friends such as Eve and Peter O’Toole, Marc Adelman, Reta Jo Lewis, Dan Maldonado, Evan Ryan, Francisco Sanchez, Maria Teresa Kumar, Neil Albert, Patricia Daley and Paul Glenchur.
Junior Statesmen Foundation and Junior State of America alumni and friends gathered at the Arlington home of Dan Meyers and Kevin Latek last week to hear a presentation from the CEO of the Junior Statesmen Foundation, Jeff Harris. The event was held to raise awareness of the Junior Statesmen organization, which provides opportunities to educate high school students on the American political system throughout the DC area.
“Our challenge is getting high school students to be excited about their government, their chance to participate, their chance to make a difference,” said Harris. “JSA is all about giving high school students the skills, the knowledge that they need to become active, involved participants in our democracy for the rest of their lives.
Mike McCurry, the former Press Secretary to President Clinton and JSA alum, co-hosted the “friendraiser” along with fellow JSA veteran Dan Meyers, Rich Galen, Sarah Hoffman, Junelle Cavero, Andy Green and Tammy Haddad. He told the gathering that his first and only political campaign was through the Junior Statesmen of America Foundation while he was still in high school. McCurry ran for the position of Junior Governor of California, which he won.
“[JSA] is a program unlike some of the others that I think many [people] are familiar with… this one actually allows people to be involved, get involved, and really learn by doing,” said McCurry.
Dan Meyers joined the JSA when he was a student in Ohio. Today, he serves on the JSA board and sees it as his way of giving back to the foundation for the support it gave him throughout his high school years.
“The foundation is something that is very close to my heart,” Meyers said. “It’s something that inspired me to get involved in politics.
Guests included JS Board members Doug Bailey, Chris Dunn, JSA staff alum David Mark, Susan Sher, the former FLOTUS Chief of Staff, Jessica Stuart, Junelle Cavero, CEO of Blue Knot Strategies LLC; the divine Chris Edwards, wowed the crowd with the families fabulous Edward Marc Chocolates.
The annual Easter Egg roll at the White House brought stars from Hollywood and families from around the country to the nation’s lawn. Festivities kicked off with a soulful, acoustic version of the National Anthem by Colbie Caillat (which you can see her sing in the video above) and a Presidential introduction of the Easter Bunny and the First Family. Malia and Sasha Obama then made a rare public appearance to read Maurice Sendak‘s classic book, Where the Wild Things Are (video below).
President Obama and First Lady Michele Obama then read Chicken Chicken Boom Boom (with an extremely well behaved Bo Obama at their feet). The President also shot some hoops with kids on the basketball court while thousands of other guests enjoyed performances by Greyson Chace and Willow Smith or played with their food with celebrity chefs like Spike Mendelsohn. There were also tennis, football, and yoga games, appearances by a variety of cartoon characters such as Charlie Brown and Clifford, and some of the most cherished photo-ops any family could have. All went on without a hitch thanks to the months of planning by White House Staff and the leadership of the Director of the White House Visitor’s Office, Ellie Schafer. For photos more photos of the Easter Egg Roll go here.
Dir. of White House Visitor's Office Ellie Schafer directing people into the annual Easter Egg Roll
Looks like MSNBC will have plenty of vino flowing at their White House Correspondents’ Dinner After Party to be held this year at the Embassy of Italy.
Fishbowl DC’s Matt Dornic posted the invite from MSNBC President Phil Griffin, the first official one of the WHCD season.
Those attending will have a donation made in their name to DonorsChoose.org.
Susan Sher at a luncheon in her honor at The Jefferson Hotel in Washington,DC
New Washington friends and old Chicago pals gathered at The Jefferson Hotel to honor Susan Sher. Sher came to Washington with the Obamas serving first in the White House Counsel’s office and for the last 18 months as the First Lady’s Chief of Staff. Connie Milstein, Hilary Rosen and Tammy Haddad hosted the luncheon, which included David Axelrod, Kevin Sheekey, Julianna Smoot and Patrick Gaspard.
Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren (with his wife, Sally) saluted Sher’s West Orange, New Jersey roots as the other jersey girls, Anita Dunn and Hilary Rosen, proudly cheered him on.
While not a jersey girl, Manhattan-born Connie Milstein, is the proprietor of The Jefferson and invited the guests to raise their glasses to “thank Susan for her service to the nation.”
David Axelrod, who leaves Washington at the end of the month, praised Sher for her always-cool leadership and integrity. Axelrod said he was already making Chicago plans with Sher and Julianna Smoot, the White House Social Secretary, who announced this week she would go back to Chicago as Deputy Campaign Manager.
Other guests included Milstein’s husband, JC de La Haye Saint Hilarie, Linda Douglass, Rabbi David Saperstein, Anne Fleming, Alan Solow, Susan Davies, Danielle Grey, Maude Baggetto, Ted Greenberg, Danielle Borrin, and Holly Page.
The luncheon crowd dined on Tomato soup, Cod, Coq au Vin and Chocolate Brulee and everyone walked out with an anatomically correct White House chocolate bar. Click for photo gallery
Gordon Brown, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and wife Sarah, were in Washington this weekend to launch his U.S. book tour. The Browns were greeted by top politicos, global financial leaders and media types at a stately affair held at the Jefferson Hotel. The party was co-hosted by long-time friends Connie Milstein, owner of the Jefferson Hotel and her husband, J.C. de La Haye St. Hilaire, and Ted Greenberg & Tammy Haddad.
Brown charmed the A-plus crowd, including the Obama Administration’s David and Susan Axelrod, Austan and Robin Goolsbee, Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley, Bill Burton andLaura Burton Capps, Stephanie Cutter, Bruce Reed, Eric Lesser and Katie McCormick Lelyveld, as he had a little fun describing his post PM life as well as giving his assessment of the global economy.
Here are Brown’s comments as reported by Politics Daily on AOL –
“In brief remarks, Brown — among the first world leaders to rescue troubled banks at home in 2008 — warned that “for the time in 200 years, America and Europe are being out-produced, out-invested, out-traded and out-exported” by other nations, and that the solution to the global crisis was to tap into a billion middle class consumers in Asia who in 10 years will have twice the buying power as Americans.”
Brown repeated that same message on ABC News “This Week with Christiane Amanpour” saying that while Asia and China had to consume more, “Europe’s got to reform its markets. America is prepared to invest in the future, while doing its fiscal consolidation. And that would mean, in my view, that you would have this exit strategy from a crisis based on high growth and high employment and not low growth and what I fear is high unemployment for a decade.”
The former prime minister — who earlier in his career spent a decade as finance minister — warned that the immediate danger “is that people cut back in education, which is vital for the future, that people cut back on their international contacts, because they think the solutions lie in national answers to their problems, when they lie in global cooperation. And I think the danger is, you have a ’30s-style protectionism where people relapse into currency wars, as we’re seeing, or trade wars or banning takeovers that have got cross-border ramifications, or simply a protectionism in of the mind, where anti-immigrant sentiment gets to the point that we’re not really talking to each other in a way that means that we have a coordinated world.”
A crowd formed around media celebrities including new CNN host Piers Morgan and his wife Celia Walden, Arianna Huffington and Glee’s Matthew Morrison.
Notables in the crowd: Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of World Bank; Ambassador Capricia Marshall; Alan Greenspan and Andrea Mitchell; Terry McAuliffe; Rima al Sabah, Bob Barnett and Rita Braver; Bruce and Bonnie Reed; Robert and Ellen Bennett; Hilary Rosen and Kate Harold; Sam and Danielle Feist; Dan and Rhoda Glickman; Shelby Coffey; Anita McBride; Sally Quinn; NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, and the BBC’s Rome and Amy Hartman.
“Beyond the Crash” is published by Free Press/Simon & Schuster.
Watch the Gordon Brown US Book Premiere Party hosted at historic Jefferson Hotel
Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, is celebrating the publication of his new book, “Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalization” at an exclusive party this evening in D.C., with remarks expected by Gordon Brown, as well as co-hosts Tammy Haddad & Ted Greenberg and Connie Milstein & J.C. de La Haye St. Hilaire.
WHC Insiders can watch the event starting at 5:30pm and see Gordon Brown’s remarks here on WHC Insider at approximately 6:00pm.
Update: If you missed the LIVE feed check out the video below:
From Second City to the Kennedy Center, Tina Fey still leaves them laughing.
The Emmy – Golden Globe – Screen Actors Guild – People’s Choice award-winning writer, producer, actress, and comedienne took home another statue Tuesday night: the 13th Annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. As only the third woman to receive this award (Whoopi Goldberg and Lily Tomlin round out the trio), Fey is also the youngest (she’s 40, for those keeping track).
She is the creator, star and Executive Producer of NBC’s 30 Rock, now in its fourth season and spent nine years as head writer and cast member on NBC’s Saturday Night Live. But perhaps it is her eerily good impression of Sarah Palin that most folks are familiar with (even doing a little bit during a recent appearance on Late Night with David Letterman).
While accepting the award at a star-studded event at the Kennedy Center, Fey thankedSarah Palin, the former Alaskan Governor, for her success. Palin wasn’t in the crowd, but spotted in the President’s box were David Axelrod, Stephanie Cutter and Susan Sher.
Fey’s husband, producer/composer Jeff Richmond was by her side while co-stars, colleagues and friends were on hand to pay tribute to Fey including former Mark Twain winners Steve Martin and Lorne Michaels; Date Night co-star Steve Carell; former Weekend Update co-anchor and now host of his own show, Jimmy Fallon; Mad Men and 30 Rock guest star Jon Hamm; Baby Mamaco-star Amy Poehler; 30 Rock co-stars Jane Krakowski and Tracy Morgan; and the indefatigable Betty White.
Alec Baldwin who plays Fey’s “mentor” on 30 Rock appeared in a video as Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain. He wasn’t the only one people couldn’t stop talking about: people were commenting on the remarkable resemblance between Steve Martin and David Rubenstein, President of the Kennedy Center. Also spotted at the gala were National Symphony Orchestra Board Member Connie Milstein and guests Austan and Robin Goolsbee.
The event raised $1.3 million in ticket sales which will go to the Center, the largest total in the prize’s history. PBS will air the program on November 14, 2010.
Some of the world’s top champions on the front lines in the fight against global poverty gathered at the National Building Museum in Washington on Friday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Africare.
The 2010 Bishop Walker Memorial Dinner, the nation’s largest annual fund raising event for Africa, honored three leaders, including a lifetime achievement award to His Excellency Nelson Mandela; the Bishop John T. Walker Distinguished Humanitarian Service award to Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Managing Director of the World Bank, and the Corporate Award to Rex Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of the Exxon Mobil Corporation.
The crowd cheered as the daughter and grandson of Nelson Mandela accepted his award, thanking the work of Africare and challenging those in the audience by stating Mandela’s legacy is now in their hands.
Africare is the oldest and largest African-American led non-profit organization specializing in African aid. In the last forty years, Africare has delivered over $1 billion in assistance and support to over 36 countries in Africa, in more than 2,500 projects.
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the former Nigerian Finance Minster, stirred a rousing round of applause as she called for the audience to “stop thinking of aid as aid: we must think of aid as investment.”
All eyes and cameras were on Christy Turlington Burns dancing in the front row with Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, managing director of the World Bank, to Emmanuel Jal’s music. Jal is a Sudanese former child soldier turned hip-hop artist and activist who along with Christy, was at World Bank headquarters to support the Bank’s Adolescent Girls Initiative.
World Bank President Robert Zoellick and Managing Director Ngozi Okonjo-Iwaela hosted the event marking the second anniversary of this unique initiative which co-sponsored by the Nike Foundation. The program highlights the global struggle with maternal mortality and actress Anne Hathaway, Haitian Finance Minister Ronald Baudin and girls from around the globe who have have been empowered by this special program all spoke at the event. Dr. Iwaela described how the World Bank will ultimately work with all Bank member countries to implement the Adolescent Girls Initiative.
A standing room only crowd watched history unfolding as the Pentagon opened its doors to premiere a very personal film for the military: the new HBO Documentary Film WARTORN 1861-2010. The film chronicles the history of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder through the eyes of American servicemen and women, and their families.
It was a poignant evening as the families featured in the film walked their own red carpet to share their experiences with PTSD. The film is executive produced by James Gandolfini and HBO Documentary Films President Sheila Nevins. Ms. Nevins attended the premiere, along with filmmakers Jon Alpert, Ellen Goosenberg Kent, Matthew O’Neill, Lori Shinseki and Sara Bernstein.
Opening remarks were made by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen, U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George W. Casey, Jr. and HBO Co-President Richard Plepler. A special panel discussion followed the screening to bring attention to the serious efforts of the military and the Veterans Administration to help fix these problems. The panel was moderated by Doug Wilson, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and Tammy Duckworth, Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs| Department of Veterans Affairs. Panelists included General Peter Chiarelli, U.S. Army Vice Chief of Staff; Dr. Kathleen Chard, Director PTSD and Anxiety Disorder Division | Cincinnati VA Medical Center; Lt. Col. Gregory E. Harbin (Ret.), Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom; Paul “Buddy” Bucha, Medal of Honor Recipient; Gregory Goldstein, Headquarters Marine Corps Combat and Operational Stress Control Program Manager.
The audience included the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, the First Lady’s Chief of Staff Susan Sher and Darienne Paige, White House liaison.
WARTORN 1861-2010 premieres on HBO this Veteran’s Day: November 11, 2010.
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