Musical freshman may augment congressional rock band

Congress’ very own rock band will be adding a professional to its ranks — at least on a part-time basis — now that John Hall, late of the soft-rock combo Orleans, has made his way to Congress from New York’s 19th District.

The co-writer of the ’70s hits “Dance with Me” and “Still the One,” Hall would be the second Democrat in the Second Amendments, the country/rock outfit that plays a number of gigs each year in D.C. and around the country. In 2005, they even played the Farm Aid festival as a warm-up act early in the day.

Rep. Colin Peterson, D-Minn., the nominal frontman of the group, sounds like he’d be happy to add another alpha male to the group.

“I talked to him,” Peterson said. “He said he would be happy to be a utility infielder for us if he has the time. I got the sense he didn’t come to Congress to be in another rock band.”

Hall’s spokesman, Tom Staudter, said the new congressman’s “attitude is ‘let me get a few months under my belt to figure out what I’m doing before I bring my guitars down with me.’”

That said, Staudter allowed that he thinks the Second Amendments “would love to have John as a part of the band.”

Something of a musical polymath, Hall plays guitar, bass and drums, and can sing. Staudter said he learned the French horn when he was 6 years old.

But it could be in yet another role that Hall really brings something to the band.

“He’s a good songwriter,” said Peterson. “We’re working on a CD; we may be doing some recordings, and he says he’s got some songs.”

No word on whether Hall would also be willing to pose in the nude on its cover, as he did on Orleans’ 1976 album “Waking and Dreaming.”

But recordings aside, Peterson said they’ll have the opportunity this year to play as many gigs as they like, including perhaps a concert to promote biodiesel fuels with Willie Nelson.

“We get a lot of requests,” he says, but it’s difficult to honor even a fraction of them for two reasons: equipment and help.

“We’ve got good equipment, but it’s a lot of stuff,” he said. Bass player Dave Weldon, R-Fla., brought his Econoline van to D.C. this year to help. But even still, whether staff volunteers to help haul it or they need to raise money to hire someone, they run into the barrier of ethics regulations. “We’re trying to find a soundman or roadie to help us,” he said.

Washington snapshots

Straw poll status

Liberal Web site DailyKos (www.dailykos.com) is running a straw poll for potential Democratic 2008 presidential candidates and John Edwards leads the pack, followed by Sen. Barack Obama and Wesley Clark. And look out Hillary: Rep. Dennis Kucinich is ahead of her as of this writing.

On the Republican side, GOPBloggers.com is hosting its own straw poll for Republicans and Mitt Romney is ahead of Newt Gingrich (second) and Rudy Giuliani (third).

Grieving for McGreevey

For those holding their breath for former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey’s talk show career, keep holding: A spokesperson for Bravo told Yeas & Nays that there still is no movement on Joan Rivers’ pilot show, “Joan Rivers’ Straight Talk,” which McGreevey appeared on for the pilot shoot.

Doing their business simultaneously

Yes, that was Charlotte, Rep. Steny Hoyer’s 15-year-old English springer spaniel doing “her business” Tuesday outside of one of the windows near where Hoyer, D-Md., was simultaneously holding his weekly press briefing. Dogs and their owners really are alike …

Remembering Paul Tsongas

It was 10 years ago today that Massachusetts Sen. Paul Tsongas passed away. Recalling his friend and colleague, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., told Yeas & Nays, “Paul was a great humanitarian, a courageous politician and a study in real character who loved Massachusetts and lived his Lowell values every day. We all miss him tremendously and our thoughts are with his family today as we celebrate his memory. He was gritty and real, and unapologetically honest.”

Just in time for the new Congress

The United States Department of Agriculture recently updated its report, “Information Resources on the Care and Welfare of Rodents.”

What happens in the ‘no-spin’ zone

Tonight marks a seminal night in cable television history: Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly and Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert will appear on each other’s shows. This, of course, is noteworthy because there’s perhaps nothing these two men enjoy more than ridiculing each other. So, what will happen when the two cocksure talking heads face off? You’ll have to tune in to “The O’Reilly Factor” and “The Colbert Report” tonight to find out. In the meantime, Yeas & Nays can tell you what’s on O’Reilly’s Media Mix.

What CD are you currently listening to? The Mamas & The Papas, “Golden Era Collection”

What’s the last movie you saw? “Letters from Iwo Jima”

What book are you reading? “Next” by Michael Crichton

What’s the first Web site you check in morning? I read the paper in the morning.

What’s your favorite TV show at the moment? “60 Minutes”

Frist’s retirement list

Don’t think that former Sen. Bill Frist is going to coast into retirement. In the latest issue of Newsweek, Frist gives the magazine his “3 Things To Do Before Death”:

“Continue yearly trip to African regions without health care to perform needed surgery.”

“Fight AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, and work to provide clean drinking water to poor areas.”

“Treat heart problems in gorillas at D.C.’s National Zoo.”

This sort of ambition almost makes running the Senate look easy in comparison ...

Think tank

“Obama: Hype or hope?”

“Sixty percent hope, 40 percent hype — but you can’t win by hope alone.”

– Bill Press, “The Bill Press Show”

“Hype. While Republicans Condi Rice and Colin Powell get Secretary of State, Democrat Obama gets a puff piece in TIME magazine, a pat on the head, and told to get out of Hillary’s way.”

– Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform

“The question itself is a comment about how stale the Democrats, and the media, think their bench is; so Obama gives the party — and the media that covers these things — excitement, along with the thought that a young man from Illinois has done it before.”

– Bill Bennett, “Bill Bennett’s Morning in America”