On May 20, Dan Balz will deliver Columbia's Pringle Lecture. The following day, NPR's Terry Gross will receive the school's highest honor, the Columbia Journalism Award and also be the school's main graduation speaker.

At the Newseum last night, Washington celebrated John Harwood and Jerry Seib's new book, "Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power." This suit and tie crowd was sorta interesting, because just floors below was the Center for American Progress' rocking party, creating quite a juxtaposition:

In his remarks, Harwood romanced Washington:

• "This is my city and I love it."

• Although people think of Washington as calculating, politicians "are making it up as they go, just like the rest of us." Washington is a place where "people try to make sense of crazy situations."

Seib romanced, well, Harwood:

• "My relationship with John is the most satisfying professional relationship I've ever had."

Oh, and other people, including Rahm Emanuel ("a good friend of mine"), Al Hunt and booze, concluding his remarks with "Get something else to drink .... CNBC is paying for it so what do I care."

CNBC also paid for some nice LL Bean swag bags, too:

If you want a sense of how different the Center for American Progress party was (just floors below Seib/Harwood), here's what was in their swag bag:

(Yes, that's Jim Beam, Jack Daniels and aloe vera)

Anyhoo, loads more photos from Seib/Harwood's party after the jump...

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Join these fellas at the National Press Club for a World Affairs Council event launching a national tour of "A Century of Headlines."

From the release:

Join us for a panel discussion on the future of journalism in an increasingly corporate media environment. The event includes the screening of "A Century of Headlines," a fascinating retrospective examining the role played by the NPC in critical international events and commemorating the centennial of the National Press club, the world's leading professional journalism organization . The evening marks the launch of a national tour of the film meant to promote discussion of the First Amendment and freedom of the press.

Panel:
Gil Klein, National Press Club Centennial Project Director (Moderator)
Jim Brady, Executive Editor Washingtonpost.com
Bill Kovach, Founding Director of the Committee of Concerned Journalists
Susan Page, Washington Bureau Chief USA Today
Bill Plante, CBS News White House correspondent

Wednesday, May 21, 2008
6:30-8:30 pm Followed by a Light Reception
Conference Room B1
1800 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
This Event is Open to All at No Charge

It's First Friday is hosting Christopher Hitchens at its happy hour tonight at Union Pub (begins at 5:30).

We'll be at kstreet lounge tonight so please come by and say hello. Click the below graphic to rsvp.

We'll be at kstreet lounge tomorrow night so please come by and say hello. Click the below graphic to rsvp.

We stopped by Johnny's Half Shell Thursday night to celebrate the duo-birthday's of Senate Republican Conference Communications Director Ryan Loskarn and Doug "I don't really like to talk about the specifics of my job" Heye. Who was there?

Reporters: Lauren Whittington, Tim Burger, John Stanton, Carl Hulse, Emily Heil, Jackie Kucinich, Erin McPike, Martin Kady, , Patrick O'Connor, Paul Kane, Serafin Gomez, Griff Jenkins, Anne Schroeder Mullins, David Freddoso, David Corn, Heather Smith, Richard Miniter, Adrienne Ross, John Stanton, Dan Reilly. (We missing anyone?)

Flacks: Rob Collins, Chad Scarborough, John Goodwin, Ken Spain, Brian Walsh, Dan Ronayne, Blain Rethmeier, Kevin Madden, Shannon Flaherty, Josh Holmes, Brad Dayspring, Moira Bagley, Ron Bonjean, Sara Rose and Hilary Perry.

More after the jump...

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More after the jump...

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Homeboy spent a considerable portion of his comedy routine at last night's Radio & TV Correspondents Association dinner ripping on MSNBC.

Comparing MSNBC to CNN, Rocco called MSNBC "Paris to CNN's Nikki" (Hilton).

"You know it's bad when MSNBC is one of the charities on 'Idol Gives Back'."

He said that if White House Correspondents Association is CNN, the Radio-TV dinner is MSNBC.

Not that CNN was spared. Rocca said that CNN calling itself the "best political team in television" is like calling yourself the "prettiest girl in accounting."

On Amy Holmes: "The chick who auditioned to be on 'The View'."

On Fox: "A revolving door of blondes." "Someone finally taught the Swedish bikini team how to read a teleprompter."