Judge says Trump can’t add his name to Kennedy Center and blocks planned closure... Vandals defaced the Sign with paintball guns! Ha Ha!

A federal judge on Friday blocked the Kennedy Center from temporarily closing its doors for a yearslong renovation and said its board violated the law when it added President Donald Trump’s name to the historic performing arts venue.

US District Judge Casey Cooper concluded that the law establishing the center “makes crystal clear that the Center is to be named for President Kennedy, and it cannot bear any other formal name or public memorial based on the Board’s unilateral say-so.”

Source:

Vandals defaced the Kennedy Center 

with paintball guns! Ha Ha!

DON'T GO TO THE TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER - We Need a Universal Rejection of all the Trump Madness... Don't Buy a Ticket! Don't Buy the Crazy Crazy!

There are plenty of other places to go for amusement... I've heard live music at the Smithsonian... It was epic! Folklife Festival, PDQ Bach & a Gamelan Orchestra...

My favorite place for concerts was the Elegant Warner Theater... We saw Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Bob Weir, Kitaro and Weather Report... And Frank Zappa at the DAR Constitution Hall.

When I live there in the 70's and 80s there were small clubs that had music... The Wax Museum... I saw Edgar Winter there and Weird Al Yankovic with Dr Demento... And then there was the 9:30 Club... Root Boy Slim and The New Hope for the Criminal Insane... And there were Colleges: Georgetown, GWU & University of Maryland... (JGB, Herbie Hancock & Trouble Funk) ----> the really big shows were at RFK Stadium ( Paul McCartney, Grateful Dead), the Capital Center ( Michael Jackson, Black Sabbath) and Merriweather Post Pavilion ( James Taylor, Pat Metheny, Willie Nelson) ... And on the 4th of July they had the Beach Boys and the National Symphony Orchestra playing at opposite ends of the mall... Half a million people showed up... Fireworks! 

And it wasn't a whole lot of effort to drive to Philadelphia for a Grateful Dead show... JFK Stadium & the Spectrum. 

I just read the Washington Post Newspaper and they always had advertisements for interesting things to do... The USAF Airmen of Note or the Marine Band... That's your tax dollars at work!

Autobiography: When We lived in Washington, DC our Families would come to visit and... Every Woman wanted to See The First Ladies Inaugural Ball Gowns at the Smithsonian...

an Exhibit that I Had No Interest in... But Since They Asked, I drove and We Went! That exhibit is in the Same Building that has... Automata! Old Robots that were made in Germany as Part of Cookoo Clocks. Some are Life Size People that Dance... So there was Something for me to look at while they were looking at the Inaugural Gowns... and the Smithsonian Has... TV SHOW Props Like Archie Bunker's Chair from "All In The Family" and a M*A*S*H Tent... and Old Campaign Buttons...  The Next Building over has Rocks. and Mister Smithson Collected Rocks... His Collection was the First Part of the Smithsonian... The OPALS were the best... One was 4 Inches long in the shape of a Tree Branch... and my Uncle wanted to see the USMC Silent Drill Team Marching... That's another Event that I Never would have gone to... and we went to Colonial Williamsburg to see how People Lived 200 Years Ago. That Pace meant a lot to me Because a Paint Company Sold Housepaint in Official Colonial Williamsburg Colors... and I had just worked in a paint store for three years... Like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever... The Smithsonian has Many Traveling Exhibits. We went to see Chippendale's Doll House, that had scale model Chippendale Furniture in it... and a Japanese 3D Animated Movie "We are Born of Stars." - and a Gamelan Orchestra at the East Wing of the National Art Gallery (The Very Angular Stone Building with the GREAT ECHO) - and Leonardo Da Vinci's Silverpoint Drawings. - Buckminster Fuller's TENSEGRITIES. - Freud's Son's Self Portraits (they looked creepy with blotchy skin like looking in a mirror on acid)... I went to an installation of a TOTALLY MIRRORED HOUSE that we walked inside of and experienced infinite reflections... Every visit was different due to who else was in the room with you. In the West Wing (traditional painting) they had Classical Music Concerts. Connecting the East and West National Art Galleries is a Tunnel with a moving sidewalk ond thousands of tiny lights embedded in a silver colored wall and ceiling. I have heard that Recently they have made the lights BLINK in Computer Controlled Psychedelic Patterns. Waves... During that Time I Made Black and White Psychedelic Drawings in Ball Point Pen and Xeroxed them, Then took the copies and thumbtacked them to the wall of the National Art Gallery... Therefore, My Artwork has Hung at The Smithsonian... Sometimes the drawings would stay posted for Hours before a Guard Noticed them and Took them Down... There were MANY other ART Galleries, Shows and Museums in Washington DC. I Saw a Sculpture Called "The Awakening" that is a Giant Man arising  out of the Ground. You can see His Head, Arm and Knee but MOST of the Sculpture is Imaginary and Underground. and there was a JOHN CAGE Concert at the National Science Academy. Their concert hall is a curved room that looks like the inside of a lozenge or medical pill... That performance had a Lot of Cello playing Notes that were drawn on the Sheet music by running a pen around a round coffee cup... and in the middle of the performance, a guy had his cellphone ring... that's a kinda John Cage Type Random Sound... We also went to the Kennedy Center to see Handel's Messiah (boring), Beethoven's Ninth Conducted by Leonard Bernstein (EPIC) and an Unknown Japanese TechnoPop Group that used computers to play rhythm (they sounded silly - like a FUN Machine)... and there were Massive Rock Concerts on July 4th at the Washington Monument. 500,000 People ti see The Beach Bows with Jimmy Page and Joan Jett... at the other end of the Mall the National Symphony Orchestra was Playing and Being Conducted by Henry Mancini. 

It's Wonderful to Expand My Horizons by Driving Other People Where they Want to Go... and Sometimes It's Interesting! I drove to a Star Party way out in rural Virginia to See A Comet... with a Guy who owned a Fancy Telescope that Rotated a Complete Circle Once a Day... To Sync the Telescope With The Rotation of the Earth. I drove to an Indian GURU's Ashram with a Lady who was a Follower... and I Couldn't Understand a Word He Said... I Drove to a Hindu Wedding in the Bronx... I drove to a Laserium Show in Pittsburgh and a Hologram Art Gallery in Manhattan... and then there were the times I went alone... all the way to Key West Florida and then to Niagra Falls Canada... To Utah for the Rainbow Gathering and Seattle and The Deserts Outside LA... and Once, Coast to Coast on Highway 80 from Santa Clara to Washington DC (With my First Wife to Relocate for a Job) and then 12 Years Later, without my First Wife, I Came Back on Highway 40...

I guess that all that driving around is a part of The Past American Culture. History, Never to be Done Again... Like People Driving a Horse and Buggy... Quaint! Since Burning Gasoline Causes Global Warming, it Just Won't Be Much Fun to Cruise... Pointlessly Driving all over the Place For Fun... When will they stop having Auto Races? Indianapolis 500? Datona? Hundreds of Cars Getting NOWHERE Driving in a Circle... Polluting the Earth... Is That Fun? I did go to a Motorcycle Race in Laguna Seca Raceway once... REALLY LOUD... But I didn't go TWICE... It Seemed Bizarre... The High Point of the Trip was Listening to a Live Doors Performance in the Car as we went there... This was the Performance where Jim Morrison Scolds the Audience for Mis-Behaving at a Rock Concert. NOW, That's a Bizarre Concept, Mister Mis-Behaving Himself giving Free Advice... PFFFBT! and Now, I Don't Own a Car and Don't Go Anywhere... Unless Uber Drives Me... and THE $20 PRICE for a Short Trip always makes me Question IF I REALLY Want to GO... Maybe I'll Stay Home Instead...


Read more of my Autobiography at:
 http://gvan42.blogspot.com/2018/03/growing-up-in-los-gatos-california-in.html

Tourists! Do Not Visit the USA. It Really Sucks... We ARE a Dangerous Third World Hellhole... Crazy people with Guns running around all over the place... Calling themselves Ice Ice Baby Agents... DANGER - DANGER

In Washington DC the museums have been Whitewashed... They're so Bland that they're not worth visiting... Trump Replaced Dali & Picasso Paintings at the Smithsonian With Dogs Playing Poker and Elvis on Black Velvet. They removed the Hope Diamond because in the Trump era, there's No Hope!

The Smithsonian should tell Donald Trump "NO"... NO Censorship, NO Propaganda, NO Insanity, NO Rewriting History... The Smithsonian should display what they think is important without interference by Mad King Donald.

Charlie Kirk 2A Quote: "I think it's worth it. I think it's worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights." https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/charlie-kirk-gun-deaths-quote/

Virtual Journey: The Smithsonian and Washington DC.  Instead of Buying Gasoline and Driving There, Take this "Magic Trip" Instead! A Guided Tour to the Places My Family Wanted to See...

Scroll Down for My Favorite Pictures... When I Lived in Washington DC My Family would Come to Visit Often and I Was the Tour Guide... Taking Them Wherever They Wanted to Go. For Example: Aunt Roberta Wanted to See the First Ladies Inauguration Party Gowns... A Place I Had Never Heard of and Had No Interest in but... It was THEIR Vacation so I Took Them There!

Many More: 

https://www.vanityfair.com/style/photos/2017/01/first-lady-inaugural-ball-gowns

First Ladies Gowns Exhibit at the Smithsonian

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/smithsonians-first-ladies-collection/2/

While they were Busy, I Walked to the Next Exhibit. Automata Made in Germany. Robots Most Famously Used in Coo Coo Clocks... Some Have Dancing Couples... and are Quite Large... 

and I Loved the Political Buttons Collection.

and Uncle Harry Wanted to See the US Marine Silent Marching Drill... The Thing that Makes this Special is that Usually a Drill Sargent Shouts out Orders like Hup Two Three Four, Right, Left Present Arms and So Forth... Well, These Marines March in Complicated Patterns SILENTLY... 
VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CueyX_LtHeo

Ray wanted to Hear Jesse Jackson Speak at a Memorial March on Washington Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King. We were Standing about Half Way Back and there were Many Public Address Speakers all along the Reflecting Pool. Since Electricity Travels Faster than Sound... by the Time We Heard the Speech it was Really Echoey and I Couldn't Understand a Word... However, I was Moved Because Jesse Jackson Had that Classic Preacher Man Delivery... It was a Moving Experience... 

View from the Lincoln Memorial looking at the Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument

Identical Copy of the Lunar Lander - Air and Space Museum - The Real one is Still On the Moon. 

Outside of the Air and Space Museum
with the US Capitol in the Background 

This is the REAL Spaceship from Project Mercury.
The Botto is Quite Burnt from Traveling Thru Earth's Atmosphere. It's Interesting to See the Old Equipment... Way Before Computers.


There are Movies "The Dream is Alive" and "To Fly!" at the Air and Space Museum. It is Uplifting and I've Seen it Many Times. Featuring Narration by Walter Cronkite and SUPER CLEAR IMAX Films of Rocket Launches and Home Movies Taken by Astronauts While they Were in Space - and Most Importantly. Films of The Earth as Seen From Space... Heroic Music... Pacabel's Canon...

also... At the Same Theater there are Traveling Shows... I Remember a 3D Japanese Animation called "We are Born of Stars." EPIC.   

NASA MURAL 
by Robert McCall
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/100-years-ago-birth-of-space-artist-robert-mccall

There is a Great Movie on TV Called
"Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian." 
Were the Exhibits Come to Life at Night... Amelia Earhart Saves the Day by Awakening The Statue of Abraham Lincoln to Defeat the Egyptian Pharoah... That's a Tour well worth Taking!  

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At the National Art Gallery they Have Two Buildings. One of Old Masters and another of Modern Art. My Favorite was the Salvadore Dali Last Supper Painting. This Painting is in Its Own Dark Room... Since I Have Visited it Many Times I Noticed that The Same People were often there... Like it was a Church for Prayer and Meditation... a Holy Space.  

Alexander Calder Mobile at the Modern Art Wing 

of the National Art Gallery.

It Moves Around and Around Floating in the Currents of the Air Conditioning... one day They had a Gamelan Orchestra from Indonesia Playing in this room. Metal Bells, Xylophones Gongs Played by 20 People - in a very Echoey Space.

More Alexander Calder Mobiles

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Modern Art Wing - 

The Building was Designed by I M Pei... 

Between the Old Masters Wing and the Modern Art Wing is a Conveyor Belt That People Ride on. With a Psychedelic Light Show made out of Thousands of Light Bulbs.

Next to the People Mover is a Waterfall that is Part of The Mirrored Pyramids Shown in the Photo Below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUrCJfjg6mM

Here's a Link to a Video of that Waterfall. 

View of the Modern Art Wing of the National Art Gallery - and Glass Pyramids... above the Restaurant in the Basement... Near the Human Conveyor Belt Shown above.

My Favorite Painting in The Modern Art Building of the National Art Gallery is Picasso The Tragedy 
 
One Day I Took an LSD Trip There and Looked at All the Paintings... and This One Made Me Actually Feel Cold in My Body... True Synesthesia... That Night we all went to a Tangerine Dream Concert at the Fabulous Warner Theater.

So Many of the Other Paintings Seemed Trivial and Insignificant... Andy Warhol? SO WHAT? 
Roy Lichtenstein? Copycat... 

One Day I saw an Installation of a Full Size House Covered Entirely With Mirrors. We put paper Booties on and Walked inside and It was an Infinite Room. 

I loved the Giant Wall Hanging by MIRO.

For Decades I Thought it was a Portrait of a Cow but then one day I Read The Card Describing the Work of art and It said "Woman" - 34 Feet Tall - Hanging in the Main Room Under the Calder Mobile... 

https://www.nga.gov/collection/highlights.html

They Have Traveling Exhibits and It's Worth Your Time to ask a Docent or Guard What's Happening Now... I was lucky to see Original Leonardo da Vinci Mechanical Drawings... and they are Much More Impressive in real life that in a Book... 

The Other Exhibit that my friend Charolette made sure we went to was the Doll House by Chippendale. He made it for his Daughter and there is "Chippendale" Furniture in Every Room. 

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In the Old Masters Wing there are Four Paintings Called "The Voyage of Life" by Thomas Cole. 

Youth... 

Childhood...

Manhood... 


Old Age...

Now That's Some Art With Meaning... 
It Tells a Story... OUR Story!

They also Have Classical Music Concerts for free in the Old Masters Art Gallery. I saw "PDQ Bach" - a Classical Music Quartet of NEW MUSIC Composed in the Old Style by Chip Davis of Mannheim Steamroller and the Song "Convoy" 

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Natural History Museum:

This Stuffed Elephant Seems to Be
Charging at ME... Danger Danger!





In the Museum of Natural History they Have Many Stuffed Animals including this Walrus... 

and a Giant Whale...


In the Same Building... ROCKS!

The Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian. James Smithson was a Rock Hound and Donated His Collection. He Paid for the Building of the Smithsonian Museum.

I was more delighted with the Opals than the Diamonds

Tensegrities by Buckminster Fuller...
at the Hirshorn Museum. 

Quite Often the Hirshorn has very bad quality Paintings but I Have Found that I can Walk Very Quickly thru those Rooms and Move on to the Interesting Exhibits... I saw Lucian Freud Paintings there... Quite Good but Horrible!
I'm So Glad I Don't Live in HIS World. 

at the Hirshorn I saw an Andy Warhol Installation. 
It was a 3D White Sculpture of a Woman's Head.
They He Projected a Film of The Same Woman's Head onto the Sculpture... Quite "Creepy" but Insightful... She wasn't doing much but occasionally she would Talk... but not often... and there was no sound BUT... Excellent!

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Abraham Lincoln Sculpture inside
the Lincoln Memorial Washington DC

I've gone there Many Times including Once when a Boy Scout Troup was singing "America the Beautiful" and then after they were done, the Park Ranger said... "No Singing in the Memorial" - BUT - He Waited for them to be Done... That's an Educational Lesson there!

I also Marched in an Anti War Protest March from the White House to the Lincoln Memorial during the Presidency of George Bush the Father... 
There was a Parade Permit that expired at a Specific time and Anyone IN THE STREET Would be Arrested.
Well, About 50 People Intentionally Sat Down in the Street in order to Be Arrested... as a Part of their Experience at the Protest March... I was Standing on the Sidewalk watching the Jack Booted Storm Troopers haul the Anti-War Activists away on a Couple of Busses... MY CHOICE was to Not Get Arrested that Day... I Happened to be High on LSD That Day and Everything Seemed So Very Significant... Especially that Decision... I was interviewed by TV News... a Man on the Street Opinion...  and my Neighbor saw me and Later said that I was Babbling Like a Jackass... I Thanked Her and Said... If I Made You Unhappy, I Know I'm Doing the Right Thing!  

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

I have Visited the Wall but...
I Know No Names of People That Died in Vietnam.
One Traditional Way to Remember the Dead is to 
Make a Charcoal Rubbing of their Name...

The Wall as Seen from The Air. 
It's a Cronological List of the Dead.
At the Beginning of the Wall it is Very Short and then Near the Center it is Tall... then It Dwindles Down to be Very Short at the End. Just Like the Actual War... 

Jefferson Memorial

It's Right Next to The Tidal Basin with Paddleboats.

I never Rode those Boats because During the Times I Had a Wife or Girlfriend We Never Selected to Go... 
and During those Years when I did Not Have a Girlfriend I Didn't want to go alone... 
This is also where the Cherry Blossom Trees Are... a Gift from the Country of Japan. 



Lafayette Park Across The Street from
The White House...

At The Anti War Protests I Played the BIG Marching Band Bass Drum in a Drum Circle... The Owner of the Drum was tired of holding up that heavy Drum so he asked Me to Play it. At a Different Protest March I played the Frame Drum with Buddhists... They played a Very Odd and Difficult Rhythm. I asked Why and They Said It Intentionally Required my Totally Focused Attention... as a Tool to Make the Meditation Work. 

White House as Viewed from Lafayette Park 

Where I went to Many Protest Marches.

I Went to a NORML Protest of Marijuana Laws.

The Police DID NOT Arrest anyone for Smoking 

because that would make for a Bad Headline in the 

Newspaper... It started to Rain and I wanted to walk back

to my car and Get a Raincoat but... I couldn't Figure out

How to Cross Pennsylvania Ave... The Pedestrian Crossing

at 17th Street is Difficult to Figure out When It's Safe...

So I Went to a Museum and admired ART... 

A Couple of Hours Later, I was No Longer Stoned

and I was able to Cross the Street Safely.

Anti-War Protest in Lafayette Park Across 

the Street from the White House.

I met this Lady... Sadly, She was too Insane for 

me to Hold a Conversation With... 

But I Did Learn that She used to Protest with her Husband but He was Killed while trying to Blow Up the Washington Monument with a Truck Bomb... 

She's in the Movie Farenheit 911 by Michael Moore.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3417913/Woman-maintained-longest-running-act-political-protest-U-S-history-30-year-anti-nuclear-vigil-outside-White-House-dies-aged-80.html

Concepcion 'Connie' Picciotto maintained a peace vigil since 1981 in D.C.

Celebration of Trump's Defeat... 

Interactive Tour of the White House:

https://whitehouse.gov1.info/visit/tour.html

We went on a Tour of the White House with Aunt Roberta. 

She rolls around in a Wheelchair all the time so... We got to Take a Special Tour... We went to the Beginning of the Line or Tourists and were Let In First... then We Rode Elevators in a section of the Mansion that is OFF LIMITS to the General Public... I was thrilled to see Behind the Scenes... areas that had an Obvious "Employee" Look to them. 

MUCH MORE COMING!

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Other Journeys

~~~~~~ (~);-} ~~~~~~

Virtual Journey: Canada Tourist Guide & Autobiography. We Went on our Honeymoon to Vancouver, BC. We Rode a Bicycle built for Two in Stanley Park... and Many More Wonderful Places to Visit.

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/05/canada-tourist-guide.html

Virtual Journey: Eureka, Arcata, Trinidad - Visit Northern California's Coast. We Have Our Own Little World Here Behind The Redwood Curtain! https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/05/eureka-arcata-trinidad.html

Virtual Journey: Trinity Alps, CA, USA - Drive the Bigfoot Highway (299) From Arcata on the Coast to Redding in the Central Valley. White Water Rafting! Gold Rush Ghost Towns!

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/04/highway-299-virtual-journey.html

Virtual Journey: to the Star Wars Flying Motorcycles Redwood Forest on Hwy 36 in Remote Humboldt County, CA, USA - and the Bridgeville UFO Festival, The Town of Mad River. 

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/03/virtual-journey-hwy-36-remote-humboldt.html

Virtual Journey: Lost Coast, CA, USA on Highway 211 - From Victorian Ferndale to The Beach, the Mountains of Mateel to the Avenue of the Giants. Humboldt County. 

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/03/a-virtual-drive-thru-remote-humboldt.html

Virtual Journey to San Francisco - Boat Ride on the Red and White Fleet. Under the Golden Gate Bridge and Around Alcatraz Island... and MORE!

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/04/journey-to-san-francisco.html

Virtual Journey: The Smithsonian and Washington DC. Instead of Buying Gasoline and Driving There, Take this Magic Trip Instead! A Guided Tour to the Places My Family Wanted to See... 

https://gvan42.blogspot.com/2022/05/virtual-journey-smithsonian.html

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