When it comes to Bill Cosby it's THE FOOD!

Today's post is from Wolf Trap's Director of Program and Production.

This is Peter Zimmerman – I spend my days here at Wolf Trap smilin’ and dialin’ and booking all the great pop artists at The Filene Center and The Barns at Wolf Trap. My team and I then make sure all these great shows go off without a hitch, at least without a hitch any of you in the audience would notice! I’ve been doing this a long time, but for the past 13 years here at Wolf Trap.

Each individual artist that passes through our venues is incredible to work with. But today I’ve been asked to talk about Bill Cosby. The Doctor has been performing at Wolf Trap since 1975. His June 2^nd performance this summer will mark his 14^th show at the Filene Center. I have many great stories regarding Mr. Cosby. I’ll share one with you regarding: hoagies, a train and an intern.

Now I know a lot of artists, but dealing with Mr. Cosby is different. I usually deal with an artist’s agent or manager up until show day, and then with their production and tour manager the day of the show. I always get to spend time with the artist themselves, but with the Dr. it’s a whole different story.

Except for the contract negotiations, and a few logistical items, Bill Cosby deals directly with me, no handlers, before, during and after the show. He calls my office or cell directly to make arrangements for guests and all sorts of other details, but most importantly…food! Not the food for him, but the food he is bringing to us each time he performs here.

For his 2007 performance, he brought me THE best hoagie sandwich I’ve ever had. They are from a place in Philly. In August of 2009, he brought Ben’s Chili Bowl Half Smokes and a bottle of Chardonnay for my wife. Bill was scheduled to perform at Wolf Trap in August of 2009. Well, in May of 2009 I answered my cell phone and no surprise to me, it’s the Coz and his artfully paced, instantly recognizable voice: “Z…, this is Bill Cosby. And what would you be doing... at this very moment in time?” Having lunch with my wife and son, I answered. “And what... would you be eating?” Mexican, I answered. He continued “Well Dr. Z... Imagine... if a man... were traveling by train... from Philly to DC this very evening... and he’s carrying a present... for a man at Wolf Trap named Z.” He was coming to town for some function in downtown DC, and he brought me hoagies from Philly again! Then he said “Put your wife on the phone” and they talked for a while (about wine, the Pie Pie Cosby bit, and various other things).

Well I couldn’t go downtown that evening to meet him. “…then send someone in your stead; one of your delightful assistants.” I don’t know if you all know, but Wolf Trap has one of the top and most exclusive internship programs in the country (the only not-for-profit company rated by Bloomsberg BusinessWeek in their Best Companies to Intern list). Our 2 interns had just started their internship that week – so I walk up to Liz and ask if she has plans that evening, she said yes, so I turned to Cate and asked her. She had no plans. “…well I have an errand for you to run downtown, I think you’ll enjoy it…it falls under other duties as assigned in your job description.” She did indeed enjoy the assignment, A LOT, and Mr. Cosby remembered her well when she worked the show with me in August of that year. Happy ending is that both Cate and Liz are now full time employees at Wolf Trap, Cate Padgett in our Education Department and Liz Uyeda in my department - Program & Production.

I could go on and on with stories about Bill Cosby- but my recommendation to you:

Leave this blog . Get your tickets now. If you have your tickets, tell some friends- his show is amazing and he WILL make you laugh out loud.

Wolf Trap's 40th Season is Off the Ground...

Ok - You have no more excuses to wait on getting your tickets or making your plans for the summer. The season has officially launched this weekend. In case you missed it - The Fairfax Times featured some very nice coverage of the different shows that will be at Wolf Trap in the coming months.

If you missed Garrison this weekend, you missed two great ones. In addition to his rare treat of bringing classical music guest Paul Appleby on stage to perform with our own Kim Witman, (I'm sorry I don't have the video ready but promise to bring you some next week), he had The Wailin Jenny's who were terrific; did a special medly of Dylan songs for his 70th birthday; and even performed a special song about Wolf Trap. I always get a kick out of the sound effects from Fred Newman too.

Today is the much anticipated Annual Blast Off! and then it's Bill Cosby on Thursday. We'll have a funny story from our Director of Program and Production to share with you after the weekend break.

Until then - before we sign off - we want to say a special thank you to the men, women and their families who have made sacrifices for our country, as we celebrate Memorial Day this weekend.

Wolf Trap Opera Visits Lake Wobegon

As has been the tradition for the past decade – Garrison Keillor is opening Wolf Trap’s summer season with his beloved Prairie Home Companion this weekend. However this year, we have a rare treat in store for you, an alumnus from the Wolf Trap Opera Company tenor Paul Appleby (pictured right) will be joining the PHC band on stage for a few songs, and later accompanied by Wolf Trap’s own Kim Pensinger Witman on piano for a rendition of Lensky's Aria from Eugene Onegin.

Keillor has shown a soft spot for opera singers on a few occasions in the past, however it’s by no means the norm for his line-up of guest performers. Bringing out a tenor to join his crew of regular characters and guests demonstrates just how much he considers opera to be part of the American music scene. It’s an interesting side note that Appleby got his start with a Bruce Springsteen tribute band – the epitome of American rock and roll. This all fits together so nicely for Memorial Day weekend at Wolf Trap –America’s only National Park for the Performing Arts.

The other songs Appleby will perform (as of now) include:

Day After Tomorrow by Tom Waits and

An American Tune by Paul Simon.

Stay tuned for video from tomorrow night's show right here on the blog...

The Summer of New Music at Wolf Trap

I spent some time this morning building out my artist interview schedule for the summer (see Kathy Mattea interview here as an example), and it occurred to me just how many of our performers have new material. While many of our artists have had legendary careers and boast several hits, this sometimes precludes the release of new albums since they can often draw large audiences on tour by featuring their hugely popular, tried and true songs (i.e. Earth, Wind & Fire who sell out the Filene Center every year).

However, many of our artists have bucked this trend for summer 2011. If you have tickets for Brian Wilson, The Levon Helm Band, Elvis Costello, K.D. Lang, Huey Lewis & The News, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Steve Miller Band, Mary Chapin Carpenter or John Hiatt, you'll be treated to brand new tracks from their respective albums released either in 2010, or this year. Several have only been on the market for a few weeks.

Not to mention some of the younger artists on our schedule who are currently touring behind new records in Bright Eyes, Dawes, The Belle Brigade, Amos Lee, Parachute, The Goo Goo Dolls, Guster, and Jack's Mannequin.

If you didn't realize some of your favorite classic artists had new records, or are curious to hear fresh material from some bands you may not otherwise recognize, Wolf Trap has got you more than covered. It's a summer of great music, both new and classic, though I think it's especially fun to focus on the new.

Google Launches Game Changing Online Music Locker Service

Attention Android Users -- this is huge news for you! Google has unveiled its much anticipated online music locker service which allows you to upload your entire music collection to a "cloud" portal or locker and subsequently stream it from anywhere that provides an internet connection. This includes 3g and 4g, so there is no need to be tethered to wi-fi or any cables. For those of you who own Android phones, this gives you bragging rights over iPhone users because Apple has yet to unveil a proprietary music locker system of its own. Through Google's new service, you can listen to your entire music collection for free by streaming it from your locker, direct to your Android. This is particularly good news for those whose cars have blue tooth capabilities, allowing you to feed music from your phone through your car stereo. I can't imagine Pandora and its competitors are too thrilled with this innovation, to say the least.

Currently, the service is in beta, so you are required to request an invitation from Google to get started. You can also watch a tutorial video on the service featuring a standard product introduction from a Google employee with a robotic voice. Will the cloud be the next big thing in digital media? It certainly seems to solve a lot of problems, particularly with regard to the issue of how to make your phone a go-to device for music consumption and storage. This way, you can stream the new albums from Lucinda Williams, Amos Lee, Dawes, Bright Eyes, Guster, or any of the artists touring behind new records that are appearing at Wolf Trap this summer without using up precious memory on your phone. This ALMOST makes me want to get an Android, but I can't imagine Apple is too far behind on this one.

Hot Summer Shows in the D.C. Area (And Happy Cinco De Mayo)

Since there is a show almost every single day at the Filene Center this summer, I've been thinking a lot about how many incredible options there are throughout the D.C. metro area for summertime concert entertainment. I have tickets on-hold for several Filene Center shows, including Bright Eyes w/M. Ward and Dawes, Bela Fleck & The Original Flecktones, Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss & Union Station and Guster and Jack's Mannequin. These are some of the hottest tickets for summer 2011 at Wolf Trap in my eyes--Dolly Parton is sold out and Alison Krauss is well on its way--and we expect the others to sell like crazy, especially as we move closer to each of the performance dates. Some of the other popular venues around town are rolling out shows on a continuous basis, plus some of the more obscure ones that you might not normally visit. Below is a short list of some of the early summer shows I've got my eye on. Obviously we want you to always choose Wolf Trap, but it's good to know your options :)

Merriweather Post-Pavilion: Phish, 6/11 + 6/12, The Decemberists, 6/13, Animal Collective, 7/9

Verizon Center: Glee, Live in Concert, 6/9, Sade with Special Guest John Legend, 6/22

9:30 Club: Ryan Bingham & The Dead Horses, 6/10, Yeasayer, 6/16, The Feelies, 6/18

The Red Palace: Other Lives, 6/10, Kathryn Calder of The New Pornographers, 6/16

And in the spirit of Cinco de Mayo, here's an excellente Mexican music mix from NPR Music.