It was in the name of cycling...

Alright, I have a confession to make. I missed the fireworks on the 4th of July. Yes, I am in the nation’s capital, one of the best places to be on the 4th, and I didn’t see a single fireworks display. But you must also understand that I am a huge cycling fan, and the Tour de France began on the 4th. I chose to watch the prologue time trial stage in Monaco instead of seeing fireworks (or Barry Manilow for that matter). However, I made up for it by going to Alexandria’s 260th Birthday Party at Oronoco Park near the Waterfront area in Old Town.

Earlier in the day, I was able to go to the National Museum of American History, the highlight being the pop culture section where the Museum had the infamous Stephen Colbert painting of a Stephen Colbert painting of Stephen Colbert standing next to his fireplace above which hangs a painting of himself, as well as Dorothy’s ruby shoes from “The Wizard of Oz”, Apollo Anton Ohno’s speed skates he wore when he won the Olympic gold medal at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, Kermit the Frog, and most importantly, the puffy shirt worn by Jerry Seinfeld in the second episode of season five, titled “The Puffy Shirt”. The Museum also had a great section on Presidents, my favorite being about Presidents in the movies as they showed an episode of The West Wing in the short film about it.

I went back to Alexandria in the early evening just in time to sing “Happy Birthday” to Alexandria and to see the Mayor pass out cake to people. I wish my mayor gave out birthday cake. The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra was also there, and gave a great performance until they cut the “1812 Overture” in half at the end. As a percussionist and pianist who played in the Virginia Youth Symphony Orchestra for six years, I was appalled that an orchestra as good as the ASO would cut the 1812 in half. That’s taking the easy way out. But the Marine cannon battalion present were fantastic and set off the cannons right in time with Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece.

Oscar the Grouch and the Puffy Shirt

NOTE TO ALL ORCHESTRAS: DON’T TAKE THE EASY WAY OUT. SOMEONE WILL ALWAYS KNOW YOU DIDN’T PLAY THE ENTIRE 1812.

It was really cool to see the entire City out celebrating and a bunch of kids had bought light sabers from the street vendors and were having an epic light saber battle in the middle of the field. If it hadn’t looked weird, I totally would have challenged some 12-year old to a light saber duel. I highly recommend the Alexandria birthday party, almost over the national 4th of July celebration, as it is less crowded and there is more of a community feeling to it, as opposed to being hot and crowded on the Mall for hours waiting for the real festivities to being.

The Alexandria Symphony Orchestra (NOT playing the entire 1812 Overture) and the fireworks display behind them