Hollywood on The Potomac
May 12 2005
Hollywood on The Potomac
by Janet Donovan
"Celebrities and politicians spring from the same DNA." Jack Valenti
"If you can't be good, be colorful." Pete Conrad's motto.
So many authors showed up to celebrate Nancy Conrad's book about her late husband astronaut Pete Conrad that it seemed like the National Association of Book Sellers annual convention. The party was one last successful launch for the space cowboy who was celebrated by friends and admirers at K Street's Teatro Goldoni.
ROCKETMAN: Pete Conrad's Incredible Ride to the Moon & Beyond was released on May 3rd. Co-authored with screenwriter Howie Klausner (Space Cowboys with Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones), Publisher's Weekly described it this way: "a snappy, movie-dialogue feel to this biography of Charles "Pete" Conrad (1930-1999)".
Based on interviews conducted with Conrad by his wife before his untimely death, Rocketman is a candid insider's view of the greatest ride in history. "For Pete Conrad, it was all about the ride," she said.
Conrad suffered a lifetime battle to overcome the shortcomings of dyslexia, so it was fitting that Sally Smith, Founder of The Lab School of Washington, was there to offer congratulations. An author of multiple books herself, she is most noted for her 1981 book, No Easy Answers, which has sold over 65,000 copies and is a primer in the field of learning disabilities.
Weighing in on new books was Craig Crawford, the ever colorful MSNBC & CBS Early Show political analyst who's getting even with Attack the Messenger: How Politicians Turn You Against The Media due out in the fall. CQ Publisher Bob Merry's new book Sands of Empire due out next month examines the misguided concepts that have fueled American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. Political talk show host Bill Press has one in the mix as does journalist Beth Solomon. So many authors, so little space......
Time Magazine's affable Matt Cooper could be writing his tome behind closed doors, very closed doors. Despite his optimism, the closer it gets to a "Free Matt Cooper" going away party, the more intimidating it becomes. This is no laughing matter for Cooper who refused to reveal his sources in the Valerie Plame affair.
The party was a send off for Nancy's national book tour. Enjoy the ride!
Photo by Neshan Naltchayan. Bill Press, Beth Solomon, Nancy Conrad and ABC's Chris Berry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOLELY MOLELY!
Get a grip!
By the way some describe it; Armageddon is synonymous with Laura Bush's remarks at The White House Correspondent's Association Annual Dinner and we're all on a swift boat to purgatory because the First Lady made a few off color jokes and the audience loved it. Count me in for both.
The short version goes like this: Laura Bush snatched the podium from G.W. in a well orchestrated maneuver and went on a joke fest expressed in terms more familiar to desperate housewives than a First Lady. She then invoked the names of Condi Rice and Karen Hughes and Lynn Cheney in a scandalous Chippendale scenario. "God forbid." Religious conservatives went ballistic.
"In an official statement, one 'pro-family' advocacy group warned that Mrs. Bush's jokes at the President's expense were in violation of the Biblical command that wives respect their husbands." The Swift Report. Huh? Make that a double.
So who are these people anyway? Oh, now I remember........ people like Jimmy Swaggert,the disgraced televangelist that got caught doing, well you know, $35 dollar hookers? Or perhaps the likes of Jim Bakker, another televangelist who funneled a nifty six figure hush fund to silence a tryst with a church secretary?
No damper on this party though. The WHCAD is truly one of Washington's most amusing events and in a political town, that's hard to come by. Missing from this year's guest list was the omnipresence of the 'outsider' the "5 minutes of famers". In short, we could have used the Runaway Bride.
The before and after parties were the best part of the weekend starting with Hardball's Executive Producer Tammy Haddad's annual smooze fest and Cristina and John McLaughlin's elegant brunch at the Hay Adams. And for those of you who didn't get into the Bloomberg party, who cares? As Ann Klenk, also a producer on Hardball would say "They know where to find me."
Well, don't know who wrote the First Lady's speech, but he's/she's probably checking out the classifieds.
Sightings: Goldie Hawn, Mary Tyler Moore, Queen Noor, and Richard Gere. Oh, and that's me in the pictcha with gossip guru Matt Drudge. Photo by Pat Ryan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHEN SALLY MET BEN
The number of podium couples at The American News Womens's Club's Annual Gala was one coupling short of Elizabeth Taylor's marriages. There was Sally and Ben, Judy and Al, Kathleen and Chris, Elsa and Bob, Alexandra and George, Richard and Richard and Mary and James; well, you get it.
The sock it to you power couples were there to roast and toast the superrstars of The Washington Post, former executive editor Ben Bradlee and his wife Sally Quinn, author,commentator and doyenne of the Washington social scene. They were each honored with ANWC's Helen Thomas Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Don't know if by her choice or theirs, but Helen was not at the A-List podium, definitely a mistake for this otherwise incestuous group. While there was much good natured bantering going on, it was mostly amongst themselves.
Kudos to Alexandra Stephanopoulos for putting the time and effort into a great video with George and Richard Cohen for tossing out the newsier gossip on Sally and Ben even if Mary Matalin retorted that he was there with his favorite date: himself.
If only the evening had included the audience it would have been a great night!
Photo by Neshan Naltchayan. Elsa Walsh, Sally Quinn and James Carville.
Well, gotta go now, the Swift boat is coming to get me. So, that's all folks.
YUP. THAT'S ALL!
Hollywood on The Potomac
by Janet Donovan
"Celebrities and politicians spring from the same DNA." Jack Valenti
"If you can't be good, be colorful." Pete Conrad's motto.
So many authors showed up to celebrate Nancy Conrad's book about her late husband astronaut Pete Conrad that it seemed like the National Association of Book Sellers annual convention. The party was one last successful launch for the space cowboy who was celebrated by friends and admirers at K Street's Teatro Goldoni.
ROCKETMAN: Pete Conrad's Incredible Ride to the Moon & Beyond was released on May 3rd. Co-authored with screenwriter Howie Klausner (Space Cowboys with Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones), Publisher's Weekly described it this way: "a snappy, movie-dialogue feel to this biography of Charles "Pete" Conrad (1930-1999)".
Based on interviews conducted with Conrad by his wife before his untimely death, Rocketman is a candid insider's view of the greatest ride in history. "For Pete Conrad, it was all about the ride," she said.
Conrad suffered a lifetime battle to overcome the shortcomings of dyslexia, so it was fitting that Sally Smith, Founder of The Lab School of Washington, was there to offer congratulations. An author of multiple books herself, she is most noted for her 1981 book, No Easy Answers, which has sold over 65,000 copies and is a primer in the field of learning disabilities.
Weighing in on new books was Craig Crawford, the ever colorful MSNBC & CBS Early Show political analyst who's getting even with Attack the Messenger: How Politicians Turn You Against The Media due out in the fall. CQ Publisher Bob Merry's new book Sands of Empire due out next month examines the misguided concepts that have fueled American foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. Political talk show host Bill Press has one in the mix as does journalist Beth Solomon. So many authors, so little space......
Time Magazine's affable Matt Cooper could be writing his tome behind closed doors, very closed doors. Despite his optimism, the closer it gets to a "Free Matt Cooper" going away party, the more intimidating it becomes. This is no laughing matter for Cooper who refused to reveal his sources in the Valerie Plame affair.
The party was a send off for Nancy's national book tour. Enjoy the ride!
Photo by Neshan Naltchayan. Bill Press, Beth Solomon, Nancy Conrad and ABC's Chris Berry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
HOLELY MOLELY!
Get a grip!
By the way some describe it; Armageddon is synonymous with Laura Bush's remarks at The White House Correspondent's Association Annual Dinner and we're all on a swift boat to purgatory because the First Lady made a few off color jokes and the audience loved it. Count me in for both.
The short version goes like this: Laura Bush snatched the podium from G.W. in a well orchestrated maneuver and went on a joke fest expressed in terms more familiar to desperate housewives than a First Lady. She then invoked the names of Condi Rice and Karen Hughes and Lynn Cheney in a scandalous Chippendale scenario. "God forbid." Religious conservatives went ballistic.
"In an official statement, one 'pro-family' advocacy group warned that Mrs. Bush's jokes at the President's expense were in violation of the Biblical command that wives respect their husbands." The Swift Report. Huh? Make that a double.
So who are these people anyway? Oh, now I remember........ people like Jimmy Swaggert,the disgraced televangelist that got caught doing, well you know, $35 dollar hookers? Or perhaps the likes of Jim Bakker, another televangelist who funneled a nifty six figure hush fund to silence a tryst with a church secretary?
No damper on this party though. The WHCAD is truly one of Washington's most amusing events and in a political town, that's hard to come by. Missing from this year's guest list was the omnipresence of the 'outsider' the "5 minutes of famers". In short, we could have used the Runaway Bride.
The before and after parties were the best part of the weekend starting with Hardball's Executive Producer Tammy Haddad's annual smooze fest and Cristina and John McLaughlin's elegant brunch at the Hay Adams. And for those of you who didn't get into the Bloomberg party, who cares? As Ann Klenk, also a producer on Hardball would say "They know where to find me."
Well, don't know who wrote the First Lady's speech, but he's/she's probably checking out the classifieds.
Sightings: Goldie Hawn, Mary Tyler Moore, Queen Noor, and Richard Gere. Oh, and that's me in the pictcha with gossip guru Matt Drudge. Photo by Pat Ryan.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHEN SALLY MET BEN
The number of podium couples at The American News Womens's Club's Annual Gala was one coupling short of Elizabeth Taylor's marriages. There was Sally and Ben, Judy and Al, Kathleen and Chris, Elsa and Bob, Alexandra and George, Richard and Richard and Mary and James; well, you get it.
The sock it to you power couples were there to roast and toast the superrstars of The Washington Post, former executive editor Ben Bradlee and his wife Sally Quinn, author,commentator and doyenne of the Washington social scene. They were each honored with ANWC's Helen Thomas Award for Excellence in Journalism.
Don't know if by her choice or theirs, but Helen was not at the A-List podium, definitely a mistake for this otherwise incestuous group. While there was much good natured bantering going on, it was mostly amongst themselves.
Kudos to Alexandra Stephanopoulos for putting the time and effort into a great video with George and Richard Cohen for tossing out the newsier gossip on Sally and Ben even if Mary Matalin retorted that he was there with his favorite date: himself.
If only the evening had included the audience it would have been a great night!
Photo by Neshan Naltchayan. Elsa Walsh, Sally Quinn and James Carville.
Well, gotta go now, the Swift boat is coming to get me. So, that's all folks.
YUP. THAT'S ALL!
