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Showing posts from December 8, 2024

A Moment with the Great Jazz Performer - Betty Carter, 1982

In 1980, as a senior in college, I interned at the Kennedy Center in Arts Administration. The concept of studying at the Kennedy Center (KC) under some of the finest arts administrators seemed almost foreign to a young man who went to high school in Wolf Point, MT, on the Sioux and Assiniboine - Fort Peck Reservation. After my internship, I landed another job that fall in Washington, DC. In the early spring of 1982, Kool Cigarettes (part of the Brown and Williamson Tobacco Company) was sponsoring a one-day jazz festival at the Kennedy Center. I was asked to assist with the festival participants because I knew the entire building, including the intricate back hallways not known by the public and some of the staff. I had also served as an assistant backstage manager for the American College Theatre Festival, which held several performances at the KC yearly. Kool Jazz Festival Backstage Pass and Working Credentials I arrived early on the day of the Jazz Festival and received my backstage ...