The Washington Post - 20.02.2020

thursday, february 20 , 2020. the washington post eZ M2 B3

some cases I heard the songs the minute they were presentable.” Sometimes he even heard them before that. When mcCartney first strummed “A World Without Love” f or him, it didn’t have a bridge. “Paul had abandoned it,” s aid Asher. The Beatle was generous enough to finish the song and give it to Peter and Gordon, for whom it went to No. 1. “Yesterday” was born on Wimpole Street, too. mcCartney

where mum was a classical musician, dad a physician and Peter a philosophy student? Said Asher: “Paul’s an incredibly brilliant, adaptable, inquisitive, curious person who could more than hold his own in what was to him a somewhat different, possibly more intellectually challenging, environment. He’s a complete genius. There you go.” Asher has spent his life around great art — and even helped create some himself. Where does art come from? “I’ve never had any doubt: inside your head,” he said. “I think a lot of people don’t feel that way.... At the Grammys, God gets thanked more than any particular record producer.”

record-setting Asher produced Linda ronstadt’s sublime 197 4 album “Heart Like a Wheel,” s ome of which was recorded at Track recorders in Silver Spring. Asher wasn’t here for those sessions, which probably involved Little feat’s Lowell george and engineer george Massenburg. But here’s an odd synchronicity: Years ago I picked up “Peter and Gordon’s Greatest Hits” in the dollar bin at Joe’s record Paradise. The previous owner — a certain Sue Miller — had inked her name on the cover. As I was researching this column I came across a Te en page in the Evening Star featuring a letter from a reader complaining the paper hadn’t covered the duo’s appearance in sufficient detail. The letter- writer signed her name “Susan miller (The future mrs. Peter Asher).” Sue, sorry you never married Peter. Do you want your record back? [email protected] Twitter: @johnkelly

 for previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/john-kelly.

on the evening of
June 24, 1964,
Washington was
engulfed in Peter
and Gordon-
mania. midway
through the
British duo’s
performance at
the Alexandria
roller rink, a
desperate Jack alix, DJ at WEEL
radio, halted the music and
begged the crowd to please stop
pushing.
“I do remember it was a good
gig, where the audience was
crazy, with screaming girls
throwing themselves at the stage
and all that stuff,” said Peter
asher, calling from his malibu,
Calif., home.
That was back when teens
adhered to the practices
recommended in a training film
called “A Hard Day’s Night.”
on Tuesday, Asher will return
to Alexandria to perform at the
Birchmere. Next Thursday, he’ll
be at rams Head on Stage in
Annapolis. The show is called
“Peter and Jeremy.” Jeremy
Clyde fills the role of Asher’s late
partner, gordon Waller, and
Asher fills the role of Clyde’s
retired partner, Chad Stuart.
Asher said the pairing makes
sense. Back in the day, people
were forever mistaking the
groups for each other.
“I get to sing [Chad and
Jeremy’s] ‘A Summer Song’ and
‘Yesterday’s Gone,’ and he gets to
sing [Peter and Gordon’s] ‘A
World Without Love.’ Even the
order of the names was solved.
He’s always been ‘and Jeremy.’
I’ve never been ‘and Peter.’ ”
The real “ands” that matter

with Peter Asher are the ones separating all the things he’s done: child actor and pop star and A&r director for Apple records and manager of James Taylor and producer of Linda ronstadt.... “I like doing stuff,” Asher said by way of explanation. “I’ve always had a lot of energy. Even now, at 75, I still wake up raring to do things and think of things to do. And part of it, of course, is luck.... What all these various things have in common is that when I see a path to something interesting, I’ll take it.” oh, and author. Asher’s book “The Beatles from A to Zed” was published last year. It employs a gently alphabetical structure to riff on the work of the fab four. The book is wonderfully discursive, bouncing around on the page like a stereo signal ping-ponging in the headphones. one minute Asher is explaining how the introduction in 1958 of U.S.-style parking meters to London led to the Beatles song “Lovely rita,” t he next he’s examining an obscure 1992 george harrison tune called “ride rajbun” and wondering whether Oscar Wilde ever played cricket. (Asher rather doubts it.) Asher was well-prepared to write about the Beatles. His sister Jane was engaged to Paul McCartney. for a few years, mcCartney even lived in the Asher family’s home at 57 Wimpole St., London. Asher got to hear Beatles songs before they were Beatles songs. “I was not there while they were writing songs,” Asher said. “That’s a fairly private art. In

P eter Asher’s legacy is in

decades of remarkable

musical partnerships

John
Kelly's

Washington

woke up one morning with the melody fully formed. Certain he must have accidentally stolen it from somewhere, he went around singing it to people. “The first person was probably my mother,” Asher said. That was Margaret asher, who happened to have taught oboe to Beatles producer george Martin. There’s oboe on the Peter and Gordon song “If I Were You.” Was that mum? “No,” Asher said. “We went

with the oboe session player du jour. I’m not sure why not. It would have been kind of cool. But the reason the oboe is there, undoubtedly, is her. I had grown up surrounded by oboes and their sound. Clearly I either had to start hating the oboe or loving it. I loved it — and still do.” How, in a country as class- obsessed as England, did a lower-class guy like Paul mcCartney fit into the bosom of a family as posh as the Ashers,

courtesy of apple records

dan coston

T OP: Peter asher, second from right, at eMi Studios with John Lennon, left, and george harrison. asher was a witness to the birth of the Beatles’ success. his sister was engaged to Paul McCartney, who lived with the ashers in London. McCartney wrote “a World Without Love,” which was a hit for asher and his partner gordon Waller when they were the duo Peter and gordon. righT: asher, left, now performs with Jeremy Clyde, formerly of Chad and Jeremy. They will appear next week at the Birchmere and rams head.

according to the Charles County Sheriff’s office. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The sheriff’s office said the shooting “was not random and appears to be drug-related.” Darryl Edward freeman, of Waldorf, was arrested Wednesday on first-degree murder and other charges in connection with the slaying, the sheriff’s office said. He is being charged as an adult, they said. The shooting remains under investigation. — Martin Weil

Virginia

21 dogs found dead at Dinwiddie property

Authorities said they found 21 dead hunting dogs, along with one still alive, at a kennel behind a home south of richmond. The Dinwiddie County Animal Control agency said the incident unfolded friday when they received an anonymous request to check on the welfare of some animals. Animal-control officers went to the home in the 12000 block of Boydton Plank road and found a kennel with 10 dog pens and a “running area.” officials said the dogs were a hunting breed often called Walkers or Walker hounds. There is an ongoing investigation into the “circumstances of the deceased dogs.” Their remains will be examined to determine the cause of death by an animal health laboratory in Lynchburg, according to the statement. Animal-control authorities said they charged the dogs’ owner — floyd mcNeil maitland — with two felony counts of animal cruelty. officials said he may face additional charges, depending on the investigation. — Dana Hedgpeth

maryland

$1.3 million for Tipton,

Hagerstown airports

Two maryland airports will get
$1.3 million in federal funds to
help improve safety and
infrastructure at their facilities.
U.S. Transportation Secretary
Elaine Chao said the money is
part of an approximately
$520 million investment the
Transportation Department is
making to improve airports
across the country.
H agerstown regional Airport
in Washington County will
receive $1 million, which will be
used to pay for a terminal
building and expansion. Tipton
Airport, near fort meade in Anne
Arundel County, will receive
$300,000 to fund the expansion
of an area to park aircraft.
for the Hagerstown airport,
the money comes after it sued
the Transportation Department
last year over the department
allegedly pulling back on
funding the facility.
federal officials had argued
that the Hagerstown facility
didn’t meet necessary numbers
of passengers to get funding
under a subsidy program. Plus,
they said, the region’s larger
airports — Dulles and Baltimore-
Washington International
marshall Airport — adequately
serve the area.
— Dana Hedgpeth

Teenager fatally shot

in Charles County

A 17-year-old was arrested in
the fatal shooting of another
teenager Tuesday night outside a
home in Charles County, the
sheriff’s office said Wednesday.
Bradley Alan Brown, 17, was
shot about 7 p.m. in the 3100
block of Warehouse Landing
road in the Bryans road area,

local digest

results from feb. 19

district
day/dc-3: 8-9-5
dc-4: 4-9-1-2
dc-5: 2-7-4-5-1
night/dc-3 (tue.): 3-4-9
dc-3 (Wed.): 6-8-5
dc-4 (tue.): 4-7-7-1
dc-4 (Wed.): 7-9-2-4
dc-5 (tue.): 8-2-9-5-8
dc-5 (Wed.): 0-5-4-1-9

maryland
Mid-day pick 3: 7-6-5
Mid-day pick 4: 7-6-6-4
night/pick 3 (tue.): 7-5-5
pick 3 (Wed.): 8-1-4
pick 4 (tue.): 3-2-8-6
pick 4 (Wed.): 5-1-0-3
Match 5 (tue.): 2-21-22-29-37 8
Match 5 (Wed.): 1-16-26-28-30 6
5 card cash: 9d-5c-Qh-7h-7d

Virginia day/pick-3: 0-4-4 pick-4: 7-9-1-5 cash-5: 16-18-23-26-33 night/pick-3 (tue.): 4-9-7 pick-3 (Wed.): 2-0-0 pick-4 (tue.): 1-6-4-1 pick-4 (Wed.): 0-1-1-4 cash-5 (tue.): 3-6-14-19-30 cash-5 (Wed.): 7-8-9-26-33 Bank a Million: 4-8-10-19-32-3 7

multi-state games Mega Millions: 6-12-39-61-70 **4 Megaplier: 3x powerball: 10-12-15-19-56 †19 power play: 2x cash 4 life:4-11-13-14-54 ¶3 *Bonus Ball **Mega Ball ¶ cash Ball †powerball

for late drawings and other results, check washingtonpost.com/local/lottery

lotteries

“to hearing from a broad range of stakeholders.” “A s Board Chair, I share the view that community trust is absolutely essential for any police department to be e ffective,” S med- berg said, adding that the board has full confidence in metro Tran- sit Police C hief ronald A. Pavlik Jr. and police l eadership. The hearing was a regularly scheduled review of metro’s over- all performance, but it was domi- nated by discussion of metro Transit Police. Several former transit officers testified about a department culture where they felt pressured to make arrests and where complaints from black and Hispanic officers were ignored or resulted in retaliation, including demo- tions, poor assignments and firings. “There are officers who are put under investigation, under in- creased scrutiny, they are given undesirable assignments, they a re transferred,” said Tiffany Wash- ington, who worked for the department for 18 years before, she said, she was fired last April for medical reasons. “Numerous types of retaliation.” A former assistant chief said officers had arrest “quotas” they were expected to meet each quarter. Pavlik told council members that the officers lied in their testi- mony and said the department has worked to improve community relations, including partnering with schools. He noted that the department receives fewer than 100 c itizen complaints a year. “I wish they had taken an oath like I did today,” Pavlik said of the former officers who testified. “Some of what they said wasn’t truthful.” The Washington Post reported last week that metro Transit Police in one district held a contest last summer that awarded officers points for arrests and other enforcement actions. metro said the contest was unsanctioned and limited to about 50 officers who worked the day shift in fort To tten in District 1. officials said the competition was ended as soon as superiors found out about it. Pavlik said he learned of the contest from an officer who was concerned it would reinforce perceptions of targeted enforcement. Pavlik said the contest was created by a lieutenant in charge of the day shift who was trying to motivate her officers. Te stifying Wednesday, metro General manager Paul J. Wie- defeld called the contest “unac- ceptable.” “It was not sanctioned by us at all,” Wiedefeld said. P avlik has said the department does not use arrest quotas. How- ever, former assistant chief rod- ney Parks told council members

hearing from B1 Wednesday that judging officers chiefly on arrests a nd tickets was a long-standing practice when re- viewing performance. “Why does it still exist after so many years and so many police chiefs?” asked Parks, who said he was fired after 11 months for what metro Transit Police said was his performance and what he said was his refusal to endorse department procedures. He told the council he had come to the department from D.C. police where he had r etired a s an assistant chief. Both Parks and Washington are contesting their firings. metro said it c ould not discuss the nature of the dismissals as the transit authority does not comment on individual personnel matters.

metro has acknowledged t hat it requires officers to meet performance standards that include a minimum number of arrests an- nually but said that it’s so low — six for day-shift officers, for in- stance — that it does not drive officers’ decisions. Pavlik told the council that h e is studying whether enforcement actions w eigh too heavily i n evalu- ating officers’ performance, but h e stressed that they are also judged on positive interactions, such as attending community e vents. He gave council members a rundown of the summer contest, saying once he learned of it, he ordered a n investigation t hat took four days. He said he viewed the incident as isolated and left fol- low-up to commanders in District 1 to handle. He did not discipline the lieutenant who created the contest, nor did he order training

because of it. Because the contest was limited to one section in a district, Pavlik said, he didn’t feel the need to send departmentwide notices until news reports of the contest broke last week. Then, he said, he sent out a departmentwide message with a hyperlink to The Washington Post story and warned officers not to engage in any such c ompetition. Pavlik said his message was, “This is not what we should do a nd that we should focus on o ur jobs.” He said he saw no need to drop charges made during the contest period or rescind tickets or citations issued because he compared enforcement statistics to previous years and the contest didn’t result in spikes. District 1 day-shift officers arrested 24 adults and two juveniles and issued 681 tickets and 65 citations during the contest period, according to metro. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) said the police department’s response to residents’ concerns about the “game” have been “dismissive, opaque, and decon- textualized from the harmful ef- fects even an isolated incident could have on current and pro- spective riders.” Said Allen: “Contact with the juvenile or c riminal justice system — either through the use of force, the issuance of a citation, or an arrest — profoundly affects riders, their families, and their communities, harms police-community relations, makes officers less safe, and i s not a ‘game’ t o be trivialized. “[metro’s] board of directors must investigate recent incidents, but more broadly, must wholly reevaluate the agency’s oversight structure for [ transit p olice].” Allen said he also supports the creation of an independent, exter- nal, civilian complaint review panel, which he said should be made of representatives from maryland, Virginia and the Dis- trict who have no affiliation with law enforcement. He said metro should regularly publish data, broken down by jurisdiction, of incidents involving force, police stops a nd a rrests.

Until then, he said, complaints about officers’ conduct in the Dis- trict should be reviewed by the District’s office of Police Com- plaints. White said he intends to intro- duce a resolution seeking the full council’s backing for a civilian review board. He said his office has had “fruitful conversations” with Pavlik and metro board members about t he proposal. Ultimately, however, it will be metro’s call. A metro spokesman said Wiedefeld deferred comment to Smedberg because it’s a policy matter. “I hope that I will have the partnership of [metro’s] Board and management team in making [police] data transparency and civilian review of complaints a pri- ority t his year,” White said. White noted that allegations of the contest were first brought to him after a council hearing last year and that a letter he sent Pavlik questioning him about its authenticity went unreturned. requests to meet with Pavlik to discuss allegations of abuse from D.C. residents have also gone unreturned, perpetuating a percep- tion that transit police ignore seri- ous concerns from communities of color, said Nia 2X, the D.C. branch president of the National Action Network, a civil rights or- ganization founded by the rev. Al Sharpton. “Nothing has occurred,” she said. “I’ve reached out to him in numerous phone calls and a letter that wasn’t returned. We are talk- ing about abuse of a uthority.” Pavlik was n ot asked to respond to claims that the department wasn’t responsive, but he did say his lack of response to council members w as an error on his part. The police department has been taking steps to ensure its internal investigations are impar- tial, even hiring non-law-enforcement supervisors for the first time, Pavlik said. He denied that promotions or assignments were used to punish officers for speaking out, saying a collective bargaining agreement has strict standards for how officers rise t hrough the ranks. While he indicated an openness to the idea of a review panel, he said the union c ontract a lso limits how officers can be disciplined. He s aid he has thought o f bringing in independent representatives from all three jurisdictions to review his agency’s internal affairs department and procedures to ensure investigations are fair. Allen said he would like to help bring all the parties together to discuss oversight. following the hearing, White said the department needs work to help move it into an era where residents demand more transparency from l aw e nforcement. “It’s time for them to jump into 202 0,” he said. [email protected]

Council members seek review board for Metro police

Justin george/the Washington post Tiffany Washington, seated at the table, was one of several former Metro Transit Police officers who condemned the department’s culture at a hearing on Wednesday.

“Community trust is

absolutely essential for

any police department

to be effective.” Paul c. smedberg, Metro board chair

The Washington Post - 20.02.2020

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