The opportunity to reserve tickets for the Oct. 27 Silver Owl hoot is going, going...

Time is short for making reservations for the Owls' hoot at the Club, at noon, Saturday, Oct. 27. Be there or be square.

The event is open to all Club members and their guests, not just Silver and Golden Owls. Tickets, at $30 per person, can be reserved by calling 202-662-7501 or e-mailing [email protected]. Free parking will be available less than two blocks from the Club at the PMI lot on G Street, N.W., between 13th and 14th Streets (you must bring your parking ticket to the Club to be stamped).

The hoot will celebrate two "golden ages" - of American presidential politics and of American swing music. Just 10 days before the national election the Silver Owls will be saluting the lighter side of American politics. A highlight will be a "quiz" on the activities of U.S. presidents and presidential candidates at the Club through its 104-year history.

The afternoon's star attraction, however, likely won't be Woodrow Wilson, Dwight Eisenhower or Jimmy Carter, but our own NPC president, Theresa Werner, leading a troupe of swing dancers in all the glorious music and classic steps of the Big Band era, including the jitterbug. Theresa and her friends stopped the show with their performance at her inaugural party in January.

The event also will include the announcement of preliminary plans for creating a new, third, and even more senior species of wise birds, those who have been loyal members of the National Press Club for 60 or more consecutive years. The new species will be called Platinum Owls, even longer roosted at the Club than the original two species - the Silver Owls (25 or more years of unbroken membership) and the Golden Owls (50 or more years). The initial "flock" of Platinum Owls, to be inducted next spring, includes 48 members.

The festivities will get underway at noon with a cash bar reception in the Holeman Lounge, followed by a sumptuous buffet lunch in the Ballroom. Music will be provided by the Griff Kaz Trio, a jazz ensemble led by trumpeter Griffith Kazmierczak.