A Passing Phase Or A Taste Of Things To Come?

Looking over the list of parties happening in the city over the course of this inauguration week/end, keeping in mind the Big Concert On The Mall yesterday, and knowing that the biggest Rock Star President Of Probably Ever will be sworn in tomorrow, one cannot help but think of all of the celebrities crawling all over our fair District. And then one is led to think, will D.C. become the next celebritropolis?

The beauty of the District is that we see so many powerful and famous people here that we're pretty jaded over the Cult Of Personality. I can't see why rockers, big ballers, Hollywood royalty, or any other person accustomed to the spotlight wouldn't feel comfortable playing in our little sandbox. They can come here and have pretty good assurance that they won't be hassled by the locals.

Yet this is Washington, D.C. We are known for our politics, our conservative lifestyle, our ... antisocial attitude. That's not really the petri dish of adulation and worship that private-life stars require to survive. It is that subconscious need to be harassed that keeps the rich and famous in places like New York City and Los Angeles.

Besides, do the citizens of D.C. really want any more prima donnas roaming around all leash-less and whatnot? It's bad enough that we have the President, Vice President, members of Congress, members of the City Council, various ANC commissioners, and transplants from NYC, LA, SF, Dallas, so on and so forth. How much more ego can be shoehorned into our 68.3 square miles of heaven?

Perhaps Barack-N-Roll will be the final piece in Washington's long, yet unspoken, quest for respect from the world's social elite. Perhaps with his coming, our city will attract the same level of snobbery that infests the boroughs of New York City and Milan, the districts of Paris, and the neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

Or perhaps, when this inauguration is over the kings and queens of culture will return from whence they came ... only to return for hearings in front of a Congressional board or as elected (or appointed) members of our Federal government.