A Capital Fourth!

Washington has to be the best place in the world to celebrate July 4th. A two-hour parade (filled with more international groups than American ones), impromptu appearances by George Washington and Ben Franklin themselves, a cultural festival, a concert hosted by Tony Danza with Dierks Bentley and the National Symphony Orchestra in front of a national TV audience, and then a massive fireworks show over the Washington Monument. Pretty impressive. I heard that a colleague and I made a guest appearance on the broadcast of the concert, so maybe we can use that leverage to get our way with the top dogs. The thunderstorms that came through late afternoon moved on just in time for the concert and fireworks.

The most impressive performers, though, were a group of about 15 trombone players (and their back up tuba, drums, tambourine, and washboard players) that were performing on a street corner across from the Navy Memorial Metro. Geeez. It was like your typical Metro performers times 15 that were actually good, and they made a killing. They are called International House of Prayer and perform at a bunch of different places around the area.

So, I have to go back to the parade. The very last group in the parade was about 200
Hare Krishnas, complete with dancers, people chanting their religious lyrics (“Ha-re! Ha-re! Krishna! Krishna! Krishna!”), complete with a mega-float with Hare Krishna “elders” in full Hindu garb. There were Indian people, young people, old white guys, a whole mix. I wanted to run out there and yell, “No, Jesus is the way and the truth and the life! Call upon HIS NAME!” But…I probably woulda got shot by the cops. Was definitely an opportunity to turn a day of celebration into a sincere moment of prayer for a lost nation that is seeking answers, but often in the wrong places.

The D.C. area is so full of international people (you seriously cannot go to a single food service place where the servers do not speak Spanish or an Asian dialect as their primary language). More on the immigration debate later…