Bennett keeps crowd warm for Wonder

We haven’t been counting, but it must be quite a long stretch of years since the last time Tony Bennett played as an opening act.

Yet that’s what happened Tuesday night on Capitol Hill as the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers honored Stevie Wonder with the inaugural ASCAP Troubadour Award.

The event featured a host of musical talent — among them Ashford & Simpson, India.Arie, Wyclef Jean, Wynonna Judd, Chaka Khan, Brian McKnight, Dianne Reeves, Smokey Robinson and Joan Osborne — paying tribute to the blind genius of soul.

But when it came time to keep the restless crowd at bay, as they waited for the headliner, event organizers turned to none other than Bennett. A note was passed along the representatives in the front row down to Bennett. Its message? “Stretch.”

It seemed more time was needed to prepare Wonder to arrive on stage, so the 80-year-old Bennett stepped up, to the delight of the audience, with an a cappella version of “Fly Me to the Moon.”

One song he didn’t sing: “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.” That one he reserved for the Speakers celebration for Nancy Pelosi held at the National Building Museum back in January.

As for Wonder, it’s probably no wonder he thanked only God in his remarks. Last July 4, Wonder said peace and unity must be a promise “to God and Allah” — a statement that didn’t sit too well with some attendees and TV viewers.

Rehberg clears Congress’ low bar

During Monday’s testimony of U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, Rep. Dennis Rehberg, R-Mont., took an aw-shucks approach to his commentary.

Spellings was there to defend the president’s proposed fiscal 2008 Education Budget, which includes funding for IDEA students (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act).

Rehberg decided to prove that he’s a man of the people (the people with disabilities, at least).

“I prove the fact that there’s no literacy test to run for office,” Rehberg self-deprecated. “I made the top half of the class possible, and then for me there is no top half.”

A lighthearted touch, for sure, but a Yeas & Nays spy at the scene thought the joke landed with a thud.

“Each member took their sweet time criticizing Secretary Spellings, but when Keith Hernandez look-alike Dennis Rehberg opened his mouth, he began admitting that he couldn’t read and was in the bottom of his class?!?” our spy reported. “John Kerry now has competition for worst comedic politician in D.C.”

Ouch.

Arts advocates love a Democratic Hill

The conventional wisdom holds that artists love Democrats (see: Woodstock, The Vote for Change tour).

So it should come as no surprise that Tuesday’s Arts Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill — a coalition of groups “in support of federal funding for the arts, humanities, and arts education,” according to a release — had an extra kick in its step now that Democrats control Congress for the first time in 12 years.

Event organizers noted that this year’s event had the highest turnout in its 20-year history.

Even Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., joked about the Democrat-Artist love in the room.

“It’s great to hear that this is the highest turnout ever for this event,” Slaughter said. “Is there something different this year? Is there something in the air?”

Dreyfus in town to promote civics education

Actor Richard Dreyfus blew into town Wednesday to meet with elected officials about projects affiliated with his political mission — to reinstitute the teaching of civics back into American public schools.

After arriving from Philadelphia, where he’s on the board of the National Constitution Center, Dreyfus had audiences with Sens. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., and Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.

Then it was off to dinner at Jackie’s in Silver Spring with his creative director, former BBC America producer Erin McCahill. The two are working on a documentary on democracy and civics, tentatively titled “Democracy as a Dickensian Tale.”

Thank you for smoking

Thanks to our nannies at the D.C. Council, social puffing on a cigar or cigarette is all but dead at the bars and restaurants of D.C. But solutions remain, especially for the enterprising pol.

Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., the guitar-playing and heavy-smoking chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, is holding a fundraiser tonight at U Street’s Chi-Cha Lounge.

“Apparently, they wanted to smoke,” said a source familiar with the $200-per-person, $1,000-per-host event.

Chi-Cha, you see, is exempt from the smoking ban because it has hookah pipes on its menu. While McCotter’s gang will probably stick to traditional delivery methods, we’ll be most grateful if anyone gets a photo of a bunch of Republicans huddled around the hookah, passing the pipe around.

Secretary Gates defines his down time

How do you relax when you run the world’s most powerful military?

U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Lee McMahon asked new Defense Secretary Robert Gates this week in an interview broadcast on the Pentagon Channel.

McMahon : “I have a question now that may bring us back to running with the Marines. We often talk at the Pentagon Channel to our deployed troops about what they do to relax in a combat zone. Given your high-stress job, sir, what do you do to relax?”

Gates: “Well, until for the last 35 years, I run every morning, but unfortunately, age has caught up with me and so now I power walk. It’s about the only time I get out of doors during the day, so that’s really important to me and, frankly, a treadmill bores me to death, so being outside is important. When I leave here, I like to backpack, fish, but I haven’t found a lot of spare time so far.”