Thunderstruck: Kennedy Center Nixes Its Lawyer’s Hard Rock Cover Band

Even the Kennedy Center’s top lawyer has rock ‘n’ roll dreams.

Elliot Berke, the general counsel for the Kennedy Center, last fall tried to book his own cover band the DePlorables to play at the center’s jazz-themed Speakeasy, according to three people familiar with the matter. The people, and others, were granted anonymity to speak candidly about a sensitive issue.

He wanted the DePlorables to play at the Speakeasy — part of the center’s rooftop bar that has been described as “afterhours jazz club hidden in the sky” — even though it’s a rock cover band made up of amateur musicians, they said.

Staff responsible for organizing acts at the Speakeasy ultimately rejected Berke’s requests, according to multiple people familiar with the matter, in part because they believed it was a conflict of interest.

Berke had no comment, but a Kennedy Center official denied that he ever tried to book his band at the Speakeasy.

“Programmers asked Berke about performing, but he did not think the band was the right genre and did not want the Speakeasy to be viewed as a vanity project for center employees,” the Kennedy Center official said in a statement.

POLITICO, however, has viewed evidence that Berke, who plays guitar for his band, did in fact attempt to get his band to play at the venue.

Outside of the Kennedy Center, Berke is the outside counsel for a number of top Republican politicians, including former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and does legal work for 80s musical acts like Asia and Night Ranger. His online bio for his law firm Berke Farah shows photos of him with Dave Grohl, Lionel Ritchie and others.

Berke did some legal work for the author of this article in 2018 and 2019.

Berke also pushed the center to hire the British prog-rock band Yes, which Berke represents, to perform at the Kennedy Center, according to two of the people cited earlier as well as a third person familiar with the matter. Others familiar with the Yes situation said Berke never directly engaged with the band during the negotiation process to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

Yes has not been booked and a spokesperson for the band said in a statement: “We ultimately had to decline the offer they made as we received a better offer elsewhere in DC.”

During Donald Trump’s second term, the president has attempted to transform the D.C. institution both culturally and physically. He installed close allies to key positions at the Kennedy Center, including placing Richard Grenell as interim head. Grenell, who served as Trump’s former ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence, has since stepped down from his role at the Kennedy Center.

In March, the Kennedy Center began laying off staffers ahead of a two-year closure for renovations. The center has also faced significant issues with its fundraising operation.

The center’s board, picked by Trump, previously voted to add the president’s name to the institution, calling it the Trump Kennedy Center. Congress, however, has not approved the change.

It’s not unheard for people directly connected with the Kennedy Center to perform there. Sammy Miller, the former senior director of music programming at the Kennedy Center and a professional musician, has played at least once at the Speakeasy he was in charge of organizing musicians for, according to a YouTube video the center posted late last year. Two of the people familiar with the matter said he wasn’t paid. Miller and his band also performed at the Kennedy Center in 2016.

When asked about his performance, Miller declined to comment.