Straight off her Amtrak train arriving from Newark, N.J., without security detail or entourage, Dionne Warwick made her way to the Rayburn House Office Building in Ugg-like boots, a fanny pack and baseball cap.
The platinum-selling artist didn’t put on much of a show Tuesday morning when she rolled up to the Hill to testify with the musicFIRST coalition for the Performance Rights Act.
“I just show up,” Warwick said, flailing her arms when Yeas & Nays asked about her casual attire.
Warwick started her testimony with full disclosure that she would not perform, but would simply read her petition that artists should be compensated for air time on AM/FM radio like satellite, Internet and cable music distributors already do.
The most candid moment of the hushed testimony was a reference to her 1960s hit, “Walk on By.”
“I’m sure you all thought that I walked on by with my little check in hand, I wish I had, but all I did was walk on by,” Warwick said on being short-changed by the radio industry.
After her four-minute spiel, she sat and fanned herself with her speech while the rest of the partners of the coalition testified, including Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.
Warwick stuck around after the event to talk to reporters and munch on crackers. She eventually slipped out of the conference room, meandering up to the main entrance with cigarettes in hand.
