Hey Everybody!!
We are back home from Washington DC, our nation's Capitol and a truly memorable July 4th celebration!!! What a blast we all had (no pun intended)! 
This year, as we celebrated the 232nd anniversary of the birth of our nation, my Daddy was invited to perform at a very special concert honoring America. This production was broadcast live to tens of millions of people throughout the United States and the world. The frenetic activity behind the scenes was an example of controlled mayhem to say the least. Famed producer Walter C. Miller and his staff of dedicated, hard working professionals somehow made the impossible possible and produced a seamless program that will be an enduring work of art. Every single member of the crew that I met was so competent and accommodating. In addition, our publicist, Maureen O'Conner from Rogers & Cowan was on hand to help us out. Maureen has a knack for keeping a cool head during times of crisis and handles complex details as effortlessly as my Daddy plays the piano.
The night before the live broadcast a dress rehearsal was scheduled which probably had 100,000 people in attendance. Believe me this in and of itself was a great show but in all honesty, the live performance on 4th of July takes the cake and had a special energy all its own. During our time in DC, JLL was feeling
fantastic and the band sounded great. We all think JLL did a tremendous job! I have received a record number of phone calls and email messages since the program aired on PBS. Everyone is bragging on my Daddy and quite frankly, I absolutely love to hear that!!!
As I have written in previous editions of my blog, backstage access is always a privilege and a pleasure that I am fortunate to enjoy. This event was no exception. We had a chance to meet and visit with some of the other talent on the program. Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton was on hand. I saw Scott strolling along several yards in front of me and couldn’t help myself from shouting over to him and waving.. Here is an athlete that I have greatly admired for years. In the early 1980s, Scott won four consecutive U.S. figure skating championships as well as four consecutive World Championships and of course the gold medal at the 1984 winter Olympics. He came over and visited for awhile. Scott was incredibly down-to-earth and could not have been more sociable and engaging. He is a true gentleman. Over the years and aside from skating, I have followed Scott’s courageous battle against testicular cancer and a benign brain tumor. I have also been deeply touched by his selfless contributions to the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital here in Memphis. He is a resilient champion and a truly special man. He had his darling little boy Aidan with him who just happens to be the spitting image of his Dad.
And speaking about the Olympics, as many of you know, this year the summer Olympics will be held for the first time in Beijing, in the People’s Republic of China, August 8 to August 24. I saw online that the slogan for this year’s Olympics is “One World, One Dream.” I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy the competition. In Washington, we had a chance to see many of the athletes who were getting ready to go to the Olympics and represent America. In a very straight-forward way, I was very proud of these kids.
Back at the show….Huey Lewis came over to us right after he got off stage still dripping with sweat and looking pretty good if I do say so. Huey is a powerhouse performer and his talent seems larger than life when he is out in front of an audience of almost a half a million people. Offstage, I found him to be a sweet, humble and respectful individual as he spoke with my Daddy for a few minutes before they had to drive us to the stage on a golf cart for JLL to get ready to perform.
While in DC, I also took the opportunity to do a little sightseeing with my good friend Doug who happens to live in the area and knows his way around the district. I saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial Wall, and the new National World War II Memorial, recently dedicated by President Bush in May of 2004. All are amazing sights to see and for me, a very emotional experience. It was wonderful to be there in Washington during Independence Day and celebrate America's birthday while acknowledging and paying homage to the countless men and women of the U.S. armed forces who have fought to defend the freedom we sometimes take for granted in this great country of ours. Doug also took JW Whitten to see the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial Wall. JW is a veteran of that war and knew several of the boys who died in the conflict and now have their names permanently inscribed on the memorial wall. I can't imagine what that must have been like for him.
Ending on a playful note, after JLL’s performance of Great Balls of Fire, I genuinely appreciated the incredible fireworks presentation so much that I seriously considered including it as a special feature in all of my Daddy’s upcoming performances. OK, cooler heads prevailed and on second thought, I realized that the logistics would present a wee bit of a challenge for most venues but you have to admit, that display of inspired pyrotechnical artistry was awesomely cool! 
If anybody missed it it's already posted on YouTube so go and check it out.
Stay cool everyone and stay tuned.
Phoebe Lewis
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