Germany Unity Day

I was wondering what their fascination was with Country Roads at Thursday's German Unity Day Party:

All the good things you would expect were available in plenty at the annual “Day of German Unity” party hosted by the embassy in Washington: Heaps of sauerbrauten, vats of good beer, oom-pah music, and for the first time this year, D.C. singer-songwriter Bill Danoff.

For decades, Danoff’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” — a 1971 hit for John Denver — has been a sing-along favorite at Munich’s Oktoberfest, a nostalgic touchstone bound to bring Germans to their feet whenever it’s played.

Why? “I have no idea,” Danoff, 67, told us. “I’ve never been to Germany” — though he’d never been to West Virginia either before he wrote his ode to the Mountain State.

Ask German natives why they get misty-eyed over a song about the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge, what cultural resonance they find in it, and you’ll get a quizzical stare: It’s a really good song, don’t you think?..

Danoff and his band had barely finished before an exuberant emcee rushed to rejoin him on stage.

“Mr. Danoff!” he pleaded. “Could you take us one more time to West Virginia?”

Danoff took a second to process this. They wanted him to do the song, again? He did. The crowd went wild, again. And as we drove away, we heard a familiar tune wafting up from the embassy grounds: Yes, they’d coaxed yet another “Country Roads” out of him that night.

Celebrating German Unity

On Monday, Steve was invited to a celebration at the German embassy commemorating the 21st anniversary of German reunification.  We had no idea that it was such a massive event--over 2,000 guests, ample food, and a bar including a great German draft beer. There were speeches and videos. Eric Holder--whom has been much in the news as of late due to the "Fast and Furious ATF" scandal-gate--offered some remarks.

These embassy events are such a contrast to the rather staid lawyer events I'm usually attending. It reminds me that there is an entirely different Washington that exists away from K Street.  A Society Washington, an old school Washington, a DC where there are a different form of celebrity that might make the pages of the Washingtonian.  We were honored to have attended, particularly celebrating something as momentous as this.  I remember the Cold War and that glorious night when the Wall came down.  And now it's been over twenty years since the two halves became whole. Who would have thought it?