The DC Traveler

General Motors car designer Pierre Paul Andriani will present a look at automotive design and technological developments over the past century.
The French “auto sculptor” will address global design highlights, breakthroughs and trends, starting with the first major mass-production automobile, the classic Ford Model T. He will also discuss the rich history of French contributions to design of automobiles.
His online resume lists one of his accomplishments as being the Lead Sculptor for the interior “garnish and trim” of the Cadillac CTS.

To remind readers of some of the great, not so great and quirky looking French automobiles, there’s several classics, including …read more

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For you non-French speaking people (like me) that roughly translates to the Big Party of the French-speaking World.
French is the official language in 41 countries throughout Europe, Africa, the Caribbean and South America, and the second most frequently taught language after English. It’s also the official or administrative language of NATO, the World Trade Organization, the European Union, the international Court of Justice and even the International Olympic Committee. 
Visit the lands, taste the food and hear the music of 30 French-speaking countries as their embassies and governments present their respective cultures, people, traditions and culinary specialties.
The Casablanca Band will be performing …read more

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First discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493, he didn’t land on the island of Martinique until his fourth trip to the New World. The island was not colonized until almost 50 years later when a small group of French settlers started its first colony. The island has been a French possession ever since.
The island’s name Martinique, is a derivative of the native word for the island of flowers.
Napoleon’s Josephine, the daughter of a Martinique planter, was born on the island. And the 1944 classic Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall film (where the two first met and started their lifelong love affair) …read more

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If jazz violinists Jean-Luc Ponty and Stéphane Grappelli ever had a spiritual son, it would be Didier Lockwood.
Born in Calais, France in 1956, he initially studied classical violin. But after hearing the rock-blues of artist such as Johnny Winter and John Mayall in the mid-1970s, he started jazz-rock group. Developing his own style, his sound transitioned to jazz and improv as he used subtle jazz and fusion improv paired with his classical music training to make his amplified violin come alive.
He has toured with some of the greats of jazz, including Stéphane Grappelli, and recorded over 30 albums.  In 2001, …read more

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