Monday, June 06, 2016

Summer concerts at Bethesda Gateway Building

Summer in downtown Bethesda means outdoor live music. One of several concert series around town is in the outdoor Willow Garden Theater at the Bethesda Gateway Building, located at 7201 Wisconsin Avenue. Every Wednesday from noon until 2 PM this summer, enjoy a free concert, sponsored by Guardian Realty. 

There are several great restaurants within walking distance from which you can carry out a lunch, including Panera Bread which is right at the concert location. The new Pi Pizzeria is on the next block, as well.
Click photo to enlarge
schedule

97 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is the Sambal food truck across the street open then also? Been meaning to try it out.

Poppy said...

Robert, since you are a recording artist, have you ever expressed interest in playing at one of these concerts?

Elm said...

That has to be the most "progressive" use of the term "recording artist" anyone has ever used. Have you ever listened to his music? It sucks.

Rugby said...

10:34 AM What are your credentials as a rock critic?

Robert Dyer said...

11:02: About the same as his credentials as a journalist. The clown couldn't play my guitar parts even if he took his Adderall and smoked crack first.

Anonymous said...

Think I'll pick something up at the Farmer's Market and enjoy the music. If I can find parking.

Poppy said...

@10:34 that is not very nice of you. No, I have not heard Robert's music. But, I do intend to fix that. I have instructed our domestic to add some of his songs when she makes the daily dinner playlist on apple music before leaving for the day. I'll have more to say on the topic tomorrow.

Elm said...

http://robertdyer.fanspace.com/revenge.htm

-------

When asked to describe the album "Out For Revenge" in 2000, Robert responded..."Poetry and passion...life, death, and explosion. It's what I'm up to at the moment"

Anonymous said...

As a music teacher (albeit grade school) I have to say this isn't great. It's got a few moments but yeah....

Bertha said...

@11:14 if I bring some treats, can I play your guitar parts?

George Hayduke said...

It sounds like "This Isn't Over" was written after one of Dyer's losses to Hans Riemer? Seriously, listen to the song on Youtube. I'd post a link, but I think that violates the comments policy?

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Who else thinks Dyer's closet is full of black trench coats? He seems like that kind of guy to me.

Anonymous said...

Just wait- Dyer is gonna be rockin his guitar all night when Westwood Square opens.

Anonymous said...

I would be shocked if Dyer was not a virgin

Anonymous said...

And explosion?

Rugby said...

Notice how we never see a picture of Dyer below chest level?

I think it's because he's not wearing any pants.

Rugby said...

Polka explosion!

Anonymous said...

@11:58 and/or Robert, how does one become a member of the Robert Dyer "Revenge Club"? That sounds ominous! All trolls better take notice!

Anonymous said...

"The clown couldn't play my guitar parts even if he took his Adderall and smoked crack first."

Sick

Rugby Elmenthal said...

"Four Montgomery County-based companies, including three in one Bethesda office park, made the annual Fortune 500 list released Monday.

All four—No. 60 Lockheed Martin, No. 195 Marriott International, No. 406 Discovery Communications and Nov. 472 Host Hotels & Resorts—were on the list of highest earning companies last year and were rated higher this year."

Thank you, MoCo Machine!

Robert Dyer said...

9:27: None of those companies moved here since the MoCo political cartel took over. In fact, it's been nearly 20 years since a Fortune 500 or major corporation moved its headquarters to Montgomery County. Good news: Bill Turque used the term "moribund" to describe the economy of eastern Montgomery County. It's not just me anymore - the word is getting out - MoCo economic development is indeed moribund where it counts.

Robert Dyer said...

George Hayduke, that song was written and recorded years before Hans Riemer ever arrived in MoCo with his carpetbag in hand.

Anonymous said...

How many Fortune 500 companies moved into NoVa in the past 20 years? Or any state I'm curious? Might help give us a better metric.

Anonymous said...

Do you know who first used the term "carpetbagger"? Southerners who didn't like the meddling Yankees who told them they couldn't own slaves anymore.

Anonymous said...

Of Montgomery County's four Fortune 500 companies, three of them are purely private sector companies which started here and gradually grew to make the Fortune 500 list.

But Dyer believes that the only way to "create jobs" is to poach the headquarters staff of defense contractors.

Anonymous said...

@ 11:02 AM - What are your credentials as a critic of rock critics?

Anonymous said...

Another definition of a carpetbagger: (Oxford)
A political candidate who seeks election in an area where they have no local connections.

Poppy said...

Robert, as promised our domestic placed a handful of your songs in our dinner playlist. While it is not my particular taste in music, we congratulate you on recording your own album. Having a vibrant local music scene is very progressive.

Robert Dyer said...

5:39: That's Hans, alright.

Anonymous said...

Relative newcomer here. How come all the personal attacks and disparaging of Han's Riemer? Is there a relevance to the topic at hand?

Anonymous said...

@6:02 Robert has decided that Hans is his arch enemy. People here just egg him on.

Anonymous said...

Riemer is of the mind-set: "You voted for me, I'll decide what you want and tell you to accept it."
When they voted for him it was "I understand the community, I will represent what you want."

Anonymous said...

@6:02 Robert got schooled by Hans Riemer in the last two elections for County Council, he is a very angry elf about that situation

Anonymous said...

@ 5:39, 6:23 AM - Yet Riemer was reelected, whereas Dyer was rejected twice.

Anonymous said...

Robert Dyer is Daedalus, to Hans Riemer's Hercules.

Anonymous said...

Real question and Dyer ignores it to go on a Riemer rant instead.

#dodgingdyer

Robert Dyer said...

6:42: Where's the rant - the real story is that "moribund" is catching on as a descriptive term for MoCo economic development, and has made the leap from this site to the mainstream press.

#moribund

Anonymous said...

Mr. Dyer:

"Bill Turque used the term "moribund" to describe the economy of eastern Montgomery County. It's not just me anymore - the word is getting out - MoCo economic development is indeed moribund where it counts"

Only a completely clueless idiot who use the term "moribund" to describe Montgomery County's overall economy, and yes it's still just you. Bill Turque was not referring to the entire county.

Parts of east county - beyond the Beltway and south of Olney specifically - do collectively have a relatively depressed economy compared to west county, but so does SE DC, Southern PG, South Arlington, and the entire southern half of Fairfax.

Does that mean though that all of the District, Arlington, Prince George's, and Fairfax have "moribund" economies? For that matter every metro area in the United States must have a "moribund" economy. Any freshman Econ 101 student would know the obvious answer.

You may have some valid points, but when you follow them up with this "moribund" nonsense, you totally discredit everything said prior.

Anonymous said...

#moribund is trending

Robert Dyer said...

7:05: Well, you just quoted me saying he was referring to the eastern part, so how was I wrong regarding that statement? In reality, it applies to the whole county. Put aside the companies that were already here 20 years ago. Put aside the federal jobs and County government jobs. Put aside biotech. Put aside residential development. The rest of economic development countywide is indeed moribund when you take those few pieces away. Private high-wage job growth has been in the toilet for years. Not a single major corporate hq has moved here in nearly 2 decades.

#moribund is indeed trending. It's a major development when the Post writes that any part of fabulous MoCo is "moribund." This is progress.

Anonymous said...

Dyer you birdbrain, of course if you put aside every single other industry the economy is moribund.

#birdbrain

Anonymous said...

So or aside everything our county does well? Well sure if you take everything out you can call it moribund. Lol.

So about that baseline comparison to other states and areas.../??

Anonymous said...

How many Fortune 500 companies have relocated their headquarters to San Francisco since 1996?

Anonymous said...

Hasn't he said personal attacks and disparaging isn't allowed in this blog? That's all I've been reading, especially when Dyer keeps attacking Riemer.

Anonymous said...

Or any other state? Inquiring readers would like to know as to form an educated opinion about your statements. Thank you.

Robert Dyer said...

7:49: No, I specifically said to put aside federal jobs - which the County has the dumb luck of benefitting from, our successful biotech sector, and the building of housing - that's a small fraction of what goes into the Northern Virginia, New York City or Texas economies.

#moribund

Anonymous said...

God created Hans Riemer for the sole purpose of defeating and humiliating Robert Dyer at every turn.

God is Great! (repeat 4 times)

Anonymous said...

"I specifically said to put aside federal jobs"

And what about federal contractors, too? This would eliminate most of NoVa's "miracle".

Anonymous said...

Montgomery County has lost all of its Blockbuster Video outlets, CD and Tape stores, Video Cassette Player repair shops, Automat diners, Kodak film processing kiosks, typewriter stores and 1-900 number services.

#moribund

Anonymous said...

@ 8:23 AM - And Circuit Citys, Egghead Softwares, CompUSAs, dine-in Pizza Huts, catalog showroom stores, and all but a handful of TV repair shops.

And you can't buy a copy of PC Magazine or PC World anywhere in MoCo.

Anonymous said...

MoCo's Moribundity disappears when you take away Greenhill.

Anonymous said...

The fact that Montgomery County could not attract a Service Merchandise shows just how bad things are.

Poppy said...

I know everyone here is mentioning obsolete products to tease Robert, and I need to weigh in and say that you're not being very nice to him.

But all joking aside, I did not go to Geneva this year as I normally do in the late spring, so I was not able to load up on Swatches for the kids from the Cointrin airport Hour Passion boutique.

So, I decided we would have to get our Swatches locally this year, and wouldn't you know it, Montgomery County had nothing to offer us! We ended up having to go to Tyson's Corner to find a halfway usable Swatch Boutique. So, as far as fun, casual watches for the kids are concerned, we certainly are one moribund economy here in the Monty!

I hope Westwood has the good sense to come to our aid. A Swatch store would be a perfect fit for the new development. Even better if the developers manage to attract one of the new Hour Passion concept stores!

Anonymous said...

Dyer:
"the dumb luck of benefitting from, our successful biotech sector, and the building of housing - that's a small fraction of what goes into the Northern Virginia"

Dumb luck??? This county and state has poured years and millions of dollars of investment into building our biotech economy, and you refer to it as "dumb luck?"

8:16
"And what about federal contractors, too? This would eliminate most of NoVa's "miracle"."

This exactly. Northern Virginia's economy is totally dependent on the defense and contracting sector. Take away the Pentagon, Mark Center, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Airbus, Leidos, CACI, CSC, et al, and you know what's left? Practically nothing.

Dyer clearly doesn't realize that Fortune 500 headquarters make up a very tiny fraction of the economy and employment in Northern Virginia, aside from Capital One. Hilton's global headquarters occupies one of the smallest (new) office buildings in Tysons.

And let's not forget Northern Virginia's failures to retain these Fortune 500 companies over the past decade alone:
Exxon Mobil
AOL
Sprint Corporation


If Northern Virginia's economy is so wonderful. Why is Crystal City half empty? Why do Loudoun County and Fairfax County have higher vacancy rates than Montgomery County?

This is the type of "superior economy" that Dyer wants to import into Montgomery County? I'm glad our current council isn't this nuts.

Anonymous said...

"Dyer clearly doesn't realize that Fortune 500 headquarters make up a very tiny fraction of the economy and employment in Northern Virginia"

He also clearly doesn't recognize that the headquarters staff that he so covets, comprises less than 1% of the total staff of the typical Fortune 500 corporation.

Anonymous said...

Also, SAIC just fell out of the Fortune 500 this year.

Anonymous said...

9:51 Well someone's got their panties in a bunch today. But of the 15 local Fortune 500 companies (per Fortune Mag) 2 are DC, 4 are MD, and 9 are NoVa. MD could do better. Even RI has 4.

Anonymous said...

It's the same tone as Dyer so yeah 9:51 isn't much different than Dyer.

So over the 20 year period Dyer cites, how has everyone else done in gains and losses?

And btw MoCo has 4 or the 4 are spread around MD?

How many does each county in NoVa have?

Anonymous said...

Maryland has had a run of bad luck, being on the wrong side of M&A's. Coventry Healthcare, Constellation Energy, and Black & Decker were all Fortune 500 companies that merged with companies in other states.

However, we notch a win in that category if Marriott stays in Maryland after merging with Starwood.

The only failures for Maryland/Montgomery County were not attracting Hilton and Northrop Grumman, and they're not really failures if you look at it from the prospective of the average taxpayer. The VA Governor took a lot of flack for the $$$ handouts distributed to get those two. As council-member would Robert be willing to pay to play?

As stated above, headquarters have very little effect on the local economy. Northrop Grumman is headquartered in Virginia, but probably has just as many employees in MD. The only exception are for companies like Marriott and Capital One which are more centralized, and those aren't the type that move very often.

Anonymous said...

So why does Dyer keep saying NoVa is better?

Anonymous said...

@ 1:55 PM - Because Dyer was born there, then carried to Maryland in a carpet bag.

Anonymous said...

Ha but seriously I don't necessarily disagree with him but his logic doesn't seem to compute and he hasn't provided any supporting evidence or answered any followup questions.

Elm said...

Why did George Leventhal say restaurants in NoVa are better than MoCo?

Robert Dyer said...

8:14: Are you from ISIS? They have the same position on U.S. defense spending as George Leventhal, coincidentally.

Robert Dyer said...

8:16: Nope, contractors are private, and therefore remain part of the Virginia miracle. They have the direct highway access to the Pentagon and Dulles we have refused to build.

Robert said...

"8:16: Nope, contractors are private, and therefore remain part of the Virginia miracle. They have the direct highway access to the Pentagon and Dulles we have refused to build." - Robert Dryer

Why does private versus government make a difference again, can you explain that?

Aren't Dulles and the Pentagon in VA?

Isn't the Pentagon government so they would be excluded from your definitions and calculations?

And same with IAD in a way since it is owned by USDOT. And operated by WMAA by the way so MD and DC jointly operate the airport with VA.

Anonymous said...

#dodgingDyer won't answer any question or face any facts that don't agree with his opinion.

Robert Dyer said...

3:48: Private vs. federal makes a huge difference, because federal jobs are just plunked down by the government. Democrats help Democrats at all levels. Private jobs are the ones that only grow because of the business climate in a particular jurisdiction. Hence, they are the only accurate measurement of elected officials' economic development performance.

I did exclude the Pentagon for NoVa - but private contractors who work with the government do count. I'm not counting jobs at the airport, I'm counting the private jobs in NoVa that are there BECAUSE of the airport access.

Robert said...

This answer is a bit unclear to me.

How are government jobs plunked down by the government? Don't they sign leases wherever they want? And MoCo and NoVa both compete for their business, right?

What does "Democrats help Democrats at all levels" mean and have to do anything with this?

So private business is the "only accurate measure" - nothing else matters? Can you help better define the metric? You seem to imply regularly it's simply the number of Fortune 500 companies added in the past 20 years that matters.

So the airport could be considered "plunked down" in VA by the government as well, so all those jobs in NoVa "because of the airport access" could be construed as a result of government as well as you suggested

Robert Dyer said...

5:19: Government doesn't get hit by tax burdens of a jurisdiction the way private business does. By locating federal jobs in MoCo, the government is spending more than it would have to in other jurisdictions. So, except for a case like NIH, where location of a major existing campus matters, there is a political patronage element to locating federal jobs.

MoCo was supposed to benefit from Dulles like Virginia - but its foolish leaders failed to build the bridge over the Potomac to provide highway access to Dulles. That was their stupidity, not the feds'. In fact the feds were going to pay 90% of the cost of building the freeways that the morons in MoCo and DC turned down.

The metric is, how many private sector high-wage jobs do you add? How many major corporate headquarters do you have?

Robert said...

The property owners who lease to federal government do pay taxes though, and that's a win for MoCo if they are attracting federal government to situate here instead of NoVa. All the employees contribute to the local economy as well, with housing, retail use, etc.

Oh neat I did not know about the Feds offering to pay for the freeway. Is there a link to somewhere I can read about it?

Sure I understand one metric is how many private sector high wage jobs are added, and another metric is how many major corporate headquarters there are. But certainly those are but two metrics in a long list of metrics.

Speaking of which, how many private sector high wage jobs did MoCo add versus NoVa? Or any other region in the nation? Someone posted some numbers on how many corporate headquarters MD, VA, and DC have, but you always mention how many Fortune 500 headquarters move in - what's the comparison for MoCo and NoVa? Or other regions in the US? So we can compare how MoCo fares compared to other areas.

Anonymous said...

Fortune 500 corporate headquarters in NoVa - 9

Average number of employees working in Fortune 500 corporate headquarters - 500

Total number of Fortune 500 corporate headquarters employees in NoVa - 4,500

Total population of NoVa (Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax County) - 1.2 million

Percentage of NoVa population working in Fortune 500 corporate headquarters - 0.375%

Total population of NoVA (Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax County PLUS Loudoun County and Prince William County) -1.3 million

Percentage of NoVa population working in Fortune 500 corporate headquarters - 0.346%

Anonymous said...

@ 5:55 AM - "[Y]ou always mention how many Fortune 500 headquarters move in - what's the comparison for MoCo and NoVa? Or other regions in the US? So we can compare how MoCo fares compared to other areas."

@ 8:06 AM (Tuesday) - "How many Fortune 500 companies have relocated their headquarters to San Francisco since 1996?"

Zero. Yet San Francisco is doing just fine.

Anonymous said...

Awesome. Do you know MoCo's numbers for comparison? Thanks!

Anonymous said...

And Dyer has left the issue yet again.

#dodgingdyer

Anonymous said...

Dyer said:

"Private jobs are the ones that only grow because of the business climate in a particular jurisdiction."

Private jobs are the ones that are lost when a recession hits

^Fixed it for you

Anonymous said...

@ 9:51 AM, 12:34 AM -

NoVa:

-AOL - all or nearly all staff moved out of NoVa.

-Exxon Mobil - all or nearly all staff moved out of NoVa

-Sprint - all or nearly all staff moved out of NoVa.

Maryland:

-Black & Decker - (Towson, not MoCo) - no longer corporate HQ, but division staff remain.

-Constellation Energy - (Baltimore, not MoCo) - no longer corporate HQ, but division staff remain.

-Coventry Healthcare - - no longer corporate HQ, but division staff remain.

NoVa has lost 3 Fortune 500 headquarters, and most or all of the staff have left the area. Also, SAIC is no longer a Fortune 500 company.

MoCo, on the other hand, has lost only 1 Fortune 500 headquarters, and much of the staff of the merged company remains here.

Anonymous said...

So how come Dyer keeps saying NoVa is doing better than MoCo? Especially with his specific metric of Fortune 500 companies moving in or out?

Anonymous said...

And in the face of overwhelming evidence and logic, Robert Dyer has once again chosen to run away from the conversation.

Anonymous said...

When facts and logic raised their ugly head

Brave Sir Robert turned and fled

Brave Sir Robert

Brave Sir Robert

Brave Sir Robert...

Robert Dyer said...

9:25: How many Fortune 500s do we have? And how many does NoVa have? I rest my case.

Andrea said...

Rest your case for what? That in the singular metric of number of Fortune 500 companies in a given state VA (22) has more than MD (4)? Is that the only metric for a moribund economy? Because by that measure alone, then VA is quite moribund compared to IL (33), NY (47), Texas (52), and CA (54)

https://www.geolounge.com/fortune-1000-fortune-500-companies-state/

Robert Dyer said...

10:43: While I think we should definitely compare ourselves to those states, you have to consider that all of the states you listed are either far larger than Virginia and/or certainly have more major cities within their borders than Virginia. So, 22 is overachieving for VA in my opinion. Very impressive. No one would confuse Arlington or Manassas with New York City or San Francisco by any metric.

Maryland's Fortune 500 list is pathetically small, when we share many of the same potential regional advantages as Virginia, but our leaders deliberately don't capitalize on them. They don't win. They don't have the stamina and the energy. And they've proven they can't hit major league pitching when it comes to economic development.

Anonymous said...

So you're saying Hogan isn't doing a good job, that he deliberately doesn't capitalize? Hogan doesn't win? Hogan doesn't have the stamina and the energy? Hogan has proven he can't hit major league pitching when it comes to economic development? Because you just said that about Maryland and Hogan is the leader of Maryland.

Anonymous said...

All of Maryland's Fortune 500 companies are in MoCo, so it's not like Hogan can take any credit.

Robert D said...

But for a serious conversation, just link to Dyer's press release.

Anonymous said...

Blogger Robert Dyer said...
9:25: How many Fortune 500s do we have? And how many does NoVa have? I rest my case.

10:17 PM

What a completely idiotic way to measure the county's economic performance. Is the District's economy "moribund" as well? They only have half as many Fortune 500's as Montgomery County.

Anonymous said...

^ Let's not sweat this. Dyer can't possibly believe some of the stupidity that he posts. At this point he is simply trolling for responses and we keep taking the bait while he chuckles to himself.

Only a complete fool would think that MoCo's economy is moribund. Most thinking people agree that the state lags much of the nation in attracting private sector businesses, but 'moribund' is a term reserved for the economies in places like Detroit, Memphis, and St. Louis.

Placing MoCo in the same category as those three, with the ONLY evidence being the naive counting of F500's is completely asinine, especially in light of all the contrary evidence outlined by many above.

Anonymous said...

Agreed.

Anonymous said...

So Robert Dyer just trashed his beloved Hogan.

Robert Dyer said...

7:32: Sorry, Bill Turque just wrote in the Post that the eastern MoCo economy is "moribund." Do you think he's a "complete fool," too? The reality is, the MoCo private sector economy is moribund, and word is getting around the country. Companies want to go or start-up where business is booming.

Anonymous said...

I don't disagree with you. But from all the evidence being posts, NoVa is moribund too.

Anonymous said...

How does eastern Montgomery County compare to southeastern Fairfax County (the US 1 corridor)? The latter area is rather moribund.

Robert Dyer said...

11:00: Eastern Montgomery County is economically "moribund," according to the Washington Post. US 1 isn't moribund, but Fairfax politicians and developers want to redevelop it.

Robert Dyer said...

10:21: Is that why the tallest office building in the region is being built in Northern VA and not MoCo? NoVa is hardly "moribund."

Anonymous said...

So your two criteria for not being moribund are thus far:

1) must be building the tallest office building in the region.

2) must have attracted new Fortune 500 companies

Is that right?