Baby, It Was Nice & Warm Inside
Baby, it was cold outside.
Inside, the pizza was hot and the ambiance warm as 110 members of the Georgetown Business Association and others gathered at the newly expanded il Canale on 31st Street for the GBA’s monthly reception on Wednesday.
Although Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser had an unavoidable conflict elsewhere in town, three of her representatives attended, including Logan Circle resident and ANC Commissioner John Fanning, her newly designated Ward 2 liaison. The others were political activist Terry Lynch and Teodora Dimitrova, whose specialty is sports planning.
Fanning was a mayoral appointee in three administrations from 1995 to 2000 and again in 2007 – 2010, working in both the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations & Affairs and the Department of Parks and Recreation.
There, too, was major political player Brett O. Greene, CEO & president of American Management Corporation, a premier government relations and consulting firm for non-profit and government entities in the DC metropolitan area. He was an early supporter of Bowser’s winning candidacy.
Il Canale owner Joe Farruggio and GBA president Riyad Said welcomed the packed house as guests dined on salmon & beef pastas, pizzas Napoletana, antipasti, and cannoli.
What occurred next was a notable isn’t-this-a-small-world moment.
At one table sat professional entertainer Joe Coleman, who once sang with the famous musical group The Platters, and his wife, Vanessa Weaver, both friends of Farruggio. At the next table was Italian-American blogger Oscar Bartoli, his wife Franca, and their friend Italian Melo Cicala, a builder who helped construct the il Canale expansion project.
Finally, the Italians were introduced to Coleman and Weaver by this Georgetown Dish blogger.
Immediately, Bartoli and Coleman broke out in an impromptu, very robust Italian song. Cicala then related that in a previous life as a booker, he brought the original Platters to Italy to perform. Now let’s see: how many degrees of separation is that?