Tony's Diary Package — page 746

00,000/586,800 Joan Baez - I had a most extraordinary and memorable evening last night at the Kennedy Center. Joan Baez invited me to be her escort on the occasion of her receiving the Kennedy Center medallion for lifetime performance as a performing artist. Other awardees included Dick Van Dyke, Garth Brooks, Debbie Allen, and Midori Goto. Finally, I got to meet her in person after the year-long building up of our friendship via texts and phone calls. She is an absolutely amazing, warm an endearing person, and our friendship was cemented last night as it became clear that we really were, as I said, "meant for each other ". I got to meet her family including her son Gabe and her granddaughter Jasmine, who is an absolutely beautiful 17 year old girl, aspiring songwriter who will be entering college in Miami in September. Also present was Irwin Redlener who is the one who introduced me to Joan about a year ago. I was somewhat taken aback by the attention that was paid to me by all the celebrities who were there who are gushing to have their picture taken with me and to tell me how much they were appreciative of what I had been doing. A typical example was Garth Brooks's wife Trisha Yearwood who was just gushing to meet me. The same was true for many other people including co-award winner Debbie Allen and Broadway legend Chita Rivera, as well as Dick Van Dyke, another award winner. I got to escort Joan up to the stage to receive her award and I sat with her as she waited to go on the stage. after the awards ceremony we all went out to the outside deck of the Kennedy Center and had champagne and snacks. All in all, it was a spectacular evening PRESS: ABC - Good Morning America (Weekend Edition); New York Times: Jane Brody and Dr. Anthony Fauci on Staying Fit and Focused at 80. May 23, 2021 - Global - 166,300,000/3,400,000; USA - 32,900,000/586,800 Cases continue to come down. All 50 states have decreases: