Stellar line up for Spring Hoot includes Gridiron pianist and 'mystery' celebrity, May 1

Gridiron Club pianist John Fluck and a Mystery Celebrity Guest will join the Washington Post’s Dan Balz at the Silver Owls' Spring Hoot on May 1.

Balz, the political reporter and columnist for the Washington Post, will speak and take questions about the upcoming mid-term congressional elections and the outlook for the 2016 presidential election.

Fluck, a virtuoso pianist who can play just about anything, has been the pianist for Gridiron rehearsals and shows for many years. He will play during the sit-down Hoot dinner.

The Hoot’s Mystery Celebrity Guest will be announced at the Spring Hoot, which is open to all NPC members at $35 a person. The event starts at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 1, with dinner preceded by a cash bar.

Reservations are required. Call 202-662-7501 or sign up at [email protected]

Balz has been a reporter for the Post since 1978, and has served as national editor, political editor and Washington correspondent. In 2011, he won the prestigious Merriman Smith award of the White House Correspondents Association for excellence in political coverage under deadline pressure.

He is the author of “Collision 2012: the Future of Election Politics in a Divided America” and was the co-author, with Haynes Johnson, of “The Battle for America: the Story of an Extraordinary Election,” about the 2008 campaigns. He has appeared on television’s “Meet the Press” and “Washington Week.”