Jim Kimsey Debuts “Verlin Jack” at a Memorial Day Party

There were all kinds of music events available to
Washingtonians over the Memorial Day weekend, but a special group of
friends
were on hand for the debut performance of an unlikely
country-and-Western crooner: Verlin Jack, who sang songs about his life,
including a memorable drinking bout in Cuba with Fidel Castro.
Jack is more commonly known as
Jim Kimsey, cofounder of AOL. In Verlin Jack
mode, Kimsey was Western from the top of his head to the tips of his
toes: black shirt
and jeans, black alligator boots, and a big ol’ belt buckle
bedecked with a large V. He was backed by his band, the Hired
Assassins.

As singers are apt to do, between songs he told stories, including a corker about
Fidel Castro. He said he’d had a couple of
occasions to visit the Cuban leader. “I was told about his dehydration
during the day so that
he could drink all night. I stayed in my room at the National
Hotel and dehydrated all day, so I could out-drink Fidel.” Once
they got together it became a mano-a-mano duel to see who would
“break the seal” and use the restroom first. “I wish I’d worn
a darker shade of trousers,” Kimsey said, and then launched
into a tune dedicated to Castro, with the lyrics, “I’m gonna wait
you out.”

Guests filled the tented penthouse terrace outside Kimsey’s office on Pennsylvania Avenue adjacent to the White House. Among
Kimsey’s assorted older friends was
Ronan Farrow, the 24-year-old offspring of
Woody Allen and
Mia Farrow. Farrow is a youth adviser to Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton and knows Kimsey through their work with Refugees International; the two collaborated on several tunes, including the one about Castro.

The view was spectacular; ditto the heat. Large fans and pitchers of sangria were on hand, as well as two Southern buffets
of ribs, corn pudding, and barbecue chicken.

Verlin started a little tentatively, but by the second
and third songs he was in his groove, breaking into a dance with one
of his backup singers. Most of the tunes were about drinkin’,
lovin’, and workin’, plus a couple of Leonard Cohen covers.
Alas, nothing about owning the most expensive house in the
metro
area!

Eventually he called up his “lunch buddies” to join him—a
chorus of middle-aged men in sports shirts warbling “That’s Amore,”
the only non-Western song in the playlist. But then, Kimsey’s
friends know that as much as he channels Verlin Jack, there’s
a side of him that’s Dean Martin, too.

Carol Ross Joynt