Planet Arlington and Cool Globes at the Smithsonian

At the Kennedy Center, an exhibition of "Cool Globes"graces the middle of the two main halls.

The "Cool Globes" are painted globes, each with a theme. One talked about how much water is wasted by junk mail. Another talked about 100,000 homes in the nation having solar. Another globe used tiny plastic beads to show that each small step helps the planet.

I had a problem with one of the exhibits. It had tiny faucet pins throughout the globe and talked about how much water is wasted. So its motto was "Save Hot Water." It should have said "Save Water (Hot or Cold)."

There were also "Cool Globes" created by celebrities, including Bill Clinton, Robert Redford and Oprah Winfrey. Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana touted wind power (Montana has an tax incentive to wind power companies that come to Montana). Mayor Rich Dailey had a globe that touted Chicago's excllent environmental programs and their efforts to become the greenest city in the nation.

The third annual Planet Arlington was held on Saturday, and on the grounds of the Iwo Jima Memorial.

Planet Arlington's crowd was fairly modest with approximately 3,000-4,000 people. It started with Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca. Lemvo is from the Congo and has created a salsa band. His music drew a number of dancers, including a group of young people in a line dance. Unfortunately, the sound equipment created feedback that could be heard by the audience throughout the first part of his set.

As the sets were changed, several acts went through the audience, including a line of belly dancers who were trailed by a line of smiling men (including one with a small baby in blue).

The second act was Yang Ying who played an erdu to acoustic music. To my ear, it was dance techno music. The erdu didn't change the sequence and at this point, many of the families began to pick up and go home for dinner.

I used the opportunity to wander through the booths that were between the concert and Arlington Cemetery. Honest Ade was giving away free samples of their product. There were several trailers that were selling food from Mexico and Latin America. One booth was selling African baskets, while another were trying to sell Rosslyn with chocolate-covered sunflower seeds.

The next act was Tania Saleh from Lebanon. Her intro stated that her lyrics used black humor to talk about the pressing issues of the day. While her accompaniment was very nice, the sound system had her mike too low. So the backup band drown out her voice.