Remembering the most wonderful place to go to concerts

I don't know if there was ever a better place to see concerts than the Cellar Door.

For 16 years, from 1965 to 1981, this little hole in the wall club in Georgetown attracted some of the top musical talents in the country. It had a capacity of only 163, so it wasn't going to attract big crowds and it wasn't a big enough room for full bands to play. Still, most of the best singer/songwriter types played there, including Jackson Browne, Jimmy Buffett, Jim Croce, John Denver, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and a long list of others.

The word was that performers enjoyed playing the Door so much that they would accept less than their usual fee. I don't know if that was true, but it was an amazing place to see concerts.

I saw Linda Ronstadt there twice, and I was so close to the stage when I saw Rita Coolidge perform that I could literally have reached out and touched her.

I saw some pretty fair comedians there as opening acts, Gabe Kaplan and David Brenner among them, and I saw the late Steve Goodman there as an opening act for someone I have long since forgotten.

It has been 32 years since the club closed, and I understand there's a fast-food franchise on the original location. Still, more than half a lifetime ago, I have some wonderful memories.

The one show I will never forget was in 1973, when I saw legendary folk singer Phil Ochs in his final appearance in the D.C. area. Ochs was in a really bad place at the time, and his voice was almost gone. He rasped his way through some of his most wonderful songs, and what was really wonderful about it was that nearly everyone in the audience really loved his music.

We made him sing three encores before we let him go.

Three years later, he was dead by his own hand.

I'm not sure, but I think that was the last concert I ever saw at the Door.

***

A bizarre take on the George Zimmerman trial, courtesy of Crooks and Liars.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made a big splash in her first two days on Twitter.

The big story in show business this week is the impending opening of the latest Superman movie, "Man of Steel." Of course the real question is whether Hollywood will ever get past its remake/sequel mania and start making good original movies.

A look at how the media establishment has become way too conservative in its reaction to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden

Tim Tebow may have signed with the New England Patriots, but the chance that he'll ever play quarterback as long as Tom Brady can walk is slim indeed.

For those folks who just don't want to believe that about Liberace, The Onion comes through with an explanation.

I was always a huge "West Wing" fan, and because I liked Aaron Sorkin's writing, I watched both seasons of "Sports Night" and the only season of "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." Now the first season of "The Newsroom" is out on DVD and I find myself wondering -- other than "West Wing," will Sorkin ever do another television show that isn't about television shows?

Au revoir till tomorrow.