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The way we are
When Salem Al-Sabah and his wife, Rima Al-Sabah, fete one of their friends, they pull out all the stops. And that includes the guest list.
The Kuwaiti ambassador and his wife hosted a dinner Wednesday for the 63rd birthday of songwriter and composer Marvin Hamlisch, the only man to win an Emmy, an Oscar, a Tony and a Grammy. As the Pops Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra, Hamlisch was one of the first friends the couple made when they came to Washington in 2001.
And apart from the state dinner for Queen Elizabeth II last week, Washington rarely sees a more exclusive event. Among the 100 or so guests: Karl Rove, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (the two were standing about a foot away from each other for several minutes, but no, we didn’t see them speak); Cabinet secretaries Michael Chertoff, Alphonso Jackson and Carlos Gutierrez; George Stephanopoulos and Ali Wentworth; the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman; Justice Samuel Alito; AOL founder Jim Kimsey; and columnist Cal Thomas. (As dictated by protocol, husbands and wives were separated at different tables, so as to encourage mingling and conversation.)
After dinner, the ambassador gave a speech, into which he weaved several of Hamlisch’s lyrics.Then it was on to entertainment by J. Mark McVey of “Les Miserables” fame. Before playing some numbers himself on the piano, Hamlisch joked that, as they’re expecting their fourth child, the ambassador and his wife should name him “Marvin Al-Sabah.”
