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Wednesday, December 02, 2009
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Hi
Getting set for St Louis and LA. Will any of you be making the scene in LA? I guess Michael McClure will be reading in the second half accompanied by Chrles Lloyd - fantastic!
Meanwhile - Laurence and i did have quite a time of it it the White House last week. No, we didn't spot the party crashers . . . but we did talk to Rep John Conyers for some time before the gig. He remembered me (vaguely) from past events and from his ongoing love for jazz. We also spoke with WH spokesman Robert Gibbs, who seemed very genuine, relaxed and self-effacing. There were a number of important huddles we did not try to break into into - one featuring John Kerry, Colin Powell and Richard Lugar, another featuring David Axelrod and several cabinet-level secretaries. I did say hi to Valerie Jarrett on behalf of my father-in-law, who knows her from Chicago.
Hillary Clinton was in the receiving line along with the VP, the prime minister of India and, of course, BHO and MO. They were in an adjoining room with "The President's Own" Marine Band doing the official welcoming. That was not to be part of our experience as performers, however. Laurence and I had some red wine and enjoyed ourselves.
Then we waited in our "ready room" - The Map Room of the WH - with our handlers - one from State Department and two fro WH staff, and also our management team from NYC. Our handlers were there to make sure we could get from points "a" to "b" without being accosted for ids at every portal.
Marvin Hamlisch conducted the National Symphony, and Laurence and I came on about halfway through for "Nature Boy". It seemed to go off without a hitch. We actually had in the rhythm section the great Clayton Cameron playing drums and Rickey Minor, whom I knew a bit from Recording Academy work. One quick number (stretched out a bit, I admit) and I was done. Laurence stayed on to play three charts with Jennifer Hudson: "The Very Thought Of You", "What a Difference a Day Makes" and L. Bernstein's "Somewhere". He played great, of course, and made more of the arrangements than they really offered.
We all stayed in place after coming on for final bows according to a security directive. BHO and Prime Minister Singh both came on stage to thank all and sundry. I must I didn't mind being introduced by the president over the mic with the words, "And of course, we had to have my homeboy and homegirl, Kurt Elling and Jennifer Hudson, come and sing for us - so let's thank them."
Our photo op was arranged for after the guests were leaving. So Laurence and I waited in a narrow WH hallway as many guests were exiting. That was when people like Katie Couric and Michael Bloomberg saw us and came over to thank us personally and spend some time visiting. Bloomberg seemed particularly impressed, as did director M. Night Shalyman, who was pretty effusive. He was disappointed that he just missed our gig in Philly, where he lives.
Then, finally, Laurence and I were escorted behind a partition where we had our photos taken with the first couple. They were very welcoming and informal, clearly remembering me from our past meetings and joking about the house, Chicago days, and asking after my family. I'll post the photos as soon as they arrive from the photographers.
Anyway, I feel good about our little contribution to the evening, even though I didn't really get to sit down and eat with the guests as I had expected. Laurence was great to have along, as always, and we picked up another important experience together.
I'll try to get pictures posted this week.
KE
Note: As soon as photos are available I will attempt to display them here, or at the very least, link to them. Please join us in congratulating Kurt and Laurence on this well deserved recognition by coming by the kurtelling.com/forum page and leaving some love! -Rev The KE Team
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