For the children of Washington’s boldfaced wonks, most Sundays are probably spent drowning out their parents’ policy talk with an i-something or other. But lazy Sundays are somewhat different for the kids of Twenty20, a boy band comprised of four sons of prominent past and present White House staffers.
Radio City Music Hall was apparently booked. So the crowd squeezed together in the back of the dimly lit restaurant to see the District’s version of One Direction belt out songs by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, The Killers and U2. They even threw some original songs in the mix — “Heart Thief” (for which they have a music video) and “Waiting.”
“I couldn’t be prouder,” said Secretary Donovan, who admitted the boys — all enrolled at Sidwell Friends School — were nervous. Sure, Twenty20 has performed in front of hundreds on the White House lawn, but in front of girls they see at school every day? That was new.
Sporting skinny pants, leather jackets and tousled hair, the boys looked every bit the professional foursome, even though none of them is old enough to drive a car. The band’s parents were all in attendance, snapping photos and cheering on their kids just as proud soccer moms do in states across the country. Wide-eyed fans took cellphone pictures (surely to go up on Instagram, possibly with the hashtag #Twenty20).
Two members of the indie rock band U.S. Royalty, Paul Thornley and Luke Adams, serve as mentors to the young group. They brushed off the idea that the kids’ parents’ clout had anything to do with their popularity. “[The political influence] doesn’t have any impact,” Thornley said.
“In a musician’s world, that doesn’t play a role. We just try to help the kids get better. It took a couple of months before we knew who their parents were,” said Thornley.
After the show, the band’s groupies, er classmates, mingled with the performers and got loaded on pizza and soda. A typical Sunday in Washington.