Inaugural Concert: Largest Crowd Ever?

Looks pretty cold--I guess the huddled masses were at least blocking the breeze for each other...

I'm glad to be watching from Florida.

Thanks for the eye-witness accounts, Joel. You're very high tech and 21st century.

So, I didn't quite get the eagle thing. Too excited from U2's performance. Was the eagle supposed to take off and fly, or did he just have somewhere else he'd rather be?

Do they get it back when they leave?

I see that Joel will be kittish for the next day or two. Nice pictures.

Eagle thing sounds neat. In general, eagles on exhibit are injured birds that can't go back to the wild. Not sure what the status was on this one.

We central Floridians get to see eagles fairly frequently, plus gobs of ospreys and, inland, crested caracaras, the bird on the Mexican flag.

The Memorial is looking lovely as ever. My impression is that architects often rate it and its surroundings (reflecting pool, bridge, assorted berms and trees) as the best official edifice in Washington.

Thinking of official edifices, the ones in London seem to get covered in scaffolding and get their masonry repaired or refaced every now and then. In the US, we don't seem to have that mentality. A year ago, I noticed the House wing of the Capitol had shed a big windowsill, and the the tops of the columns at the Supreme Court were wrapped up, evidently because pieces of marble had fallen.

So...looking at the Memorial....I wonder how long until its magnificent stonework needs replacement? Maybe by the time that happens, the replacement will be made of plastic composite.

*big sigh*

Found this about the eagles from a blog:
"And now we get a visit from "Challenger," a bald eagle from the American Eagle Foundation. He's presented in front of a full-dress military guard, eyes alert and wings spread. And here's another eagle, "Mr. Lincoln." He also flaps around in front of Abe Lincoln's knees inside the Memorial."

Ok, that's what slyness was referring to when I was trying to calm down. Here's a pic:
http://flickr.com/photos/usatoday/3207009307/

Speaking of Eagles...

I'm speechless.
Ladies and gentlemen, Your Arizona Cardinals are Super Bowl bound.

bc

How did Cardinals wind up in Arizona? Did they use to be in St Louis, or is that only baseball? Very confusing.

I was hoping for an all-Pennsylvania Super Bowl. Bummer.

The St. Louis Cardinals moved to Arizona 20 years ago, seasea. Their post-season activity has been, shall we say, minimal. Congrats to them for making it.

Mudge, I am so sorry about your Eagles. The sportscaster on our local news just kept repeating that the Cardinals were going to the SB while shaking his head in disbelief.

That was some concert. I called a friend at the beginning to be sure she knew about it; she was already on her third tissue. I was crying at the end. I’m glad we visited the area last fall as it made the distances and surrounding familiar.

I remember JFK’s inaugural when I was 13 and how excited I was about it. Back then it was more that he was young and from Massachusetts than any other reason. Now I can be excited for my country. We’ve been through a very long eight years and I am looking forward to some big changes for the better.

Yes, that really was some concert. Extra kudos, BTW, to the set decorator. I thought that statue in the background was cool, and the big columns 'n' everything.

Lot of steps, though, leading down to the big pond.

Those eagles distrubed me a little, I was afraid they would get hurt when then were flying, also seems so unnatural to try to fly when they are attached.

The visual of an eagle being released to fly freely would have been great - if impractical.

A pair of bald eagles has returned to my area - hoping they will nest, it has been a long time since bald eagles called my area home - pushed out by urbanization.

Shriek, HBOCanada is grouped with the Movie channels on my cable package, if you have the movie channels try there, it will be repeated at 7:00 tonight and again at midnight.

Tina Brown on 44:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article5542522.ece

For anyone who missed the concert earlier, HBO and HBO.com are showing it again now.

A couple of years ago I was in Chicago at a Cubs game at one of those party houses across the street from Wrigley Field the onew with bleaches on the roof. After someone sang the National Anthem to open the game, a bald eagle flew around the sky above the baseball field. I truly thought it was a coincidence until a friend reminded me that it was Memorial Day, and the eagle landed on a handler's gloved arm.

Nonetheless, it was thrilling.

Psst Joel... grammar check on this:

"If I hadn't been late I wouldn't walked in with Denzel and Beyonce et al."

Thought the Eagles were going to do it. But you know those big bird's talons can't get a grip on those little cardinals.
Now watching Pittsburg on mute. Can't stand to listen to Simms and that other motormouth. Half the time they are talking about somebody back in '58 whilr the paly is going on.

Wow, what a scene. Since some of us simple folk do not have HBO, we have to rely on these here still-pictures and verbal descriptions. Both of which Joel has supplied with characteristic fine form.

After spending so much time on the road over this campaign, to be able to get a great spot at this big show right here in your back yard must seem pretty sweet.

Quiet, please. I'm in mourning.

I was more worried of the handler than the eagle, dmd. That bird is around the same weight as a ladies' bowling ball.

As we saw, the eagle had room on his jesses to take off a little and return.

Birds are always readjusting their balance on perches, and they have quick reflexes.

I still can't believe a bald eagle is only as heavy as a bowling ball. Even the smallest bald eagle is over half my height in body length, and their talons would be as long as my fingers about.

RD,

If you have cable, you should be able to see it on unscrambled on HBO. You can also see it on HBO.com. I don't have cable and am watching it on my computer. They are repeating it later tonight.

At least you can type. Aren't you watching the Steelers?

Thanks pj! I didn't know that. (Obviously) Of course, the only television with cable is being monopolized by my wife and son because of that Steelers/Ravens Football Contest. But I will check out HBO.com.

Simple folk, RD? On the vast Padouk Estate? I think not.

Was your 7:38 directed at me, bh? Yes, I'm watching the Steelers. And my period of deep mourning is over. (I'm a quick recuperator. We native Fulldullfyans are long accustomer to heartbreak. In fact, we have come to routinely expect it, and when it comes, as it almost always does, we say, "Oh, yeah. How 'bout dat? Screwed again. Wonder what's in the fridge? Oh, look, Terminator 2 is on channel 35. We have wonderful powers of rebouncebackitude.)

Hi, Yoki. You having a nice day? First weekend in your new digs; I'm guessing yes. Feel a bit sorry for you Canucks; you gotta go back to work tomorrow morning. Lots of us (local to DC) Murkins got two more days off.

I'm just fine, my friend. But I'm not in the digs, I just located them yesterday! Feb 1 or a few days later, before I am installed in all my state. Not long, and a clear path from here to there. Wonderful!

If I sound a little euphoric, from time to time, dear Boodle, please understand that I have my heart's desire with independence; something I thought I never would have.

Wheee!

I've been reading Langston Hughes for the last few hours.

I, Too, Sing America
by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

In that case, I still have time to fax you a housewarming present. Hmm. Have to think about it. (But I already have a good idea. Would you e-mail me your new address?)

Hey, has anybody yet seen that 5-hour-long 2002 version of Dr. Zhivago, starring Keira Knightley and Sam O'Neill? Any good? It's just now started on one of my satellite channels and I'm debating whether to make such a commitment to it.

Believe it or not, my next comment has been held 'for review.' The offending comment?
Langston Hughes' poem, Let America Be America Again.

Nice one, thanks for sharing Maggie O'D.

(Durst we refer to you as Maggie O'D still?)

Oh, I hope we durst!!

Wikipedia on the Elvis Presley FBI files.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FBI_Files_on_Elvis_Presley

You certainly can. I can't remember exactly how I became 'ricochet' but I do remember how difficult it was to register Maggie O'D in the New Regime.

As for 'Let America Be America Again' I re-read it, and it doesn't seem to have any trigger words in it.

Go figure. Maybe it's just censorship, pure and simple.

*sigh* I'm watching it again, just had to hear the music another time. It's even better the second time around.

No, Mudge, I do not recommend the Dr. Z with the neo-cast. I do, however, recommend Atonement, which is out on cheapie DVD now. You can enjoy Kiera Knightly in a better flick.

In Dr. Z, you will keep pining for Julie CHristie.

Maggie O Day
Rick O Shea

Very musical, those names....nice to hear from you and lovely choices for the day.

I've been pining for Julie Christie for 40 years, CP, what's another five hours.

Saw the move Atonement, thought it was "OK." Hated the book (well, the first, 60 or 80 pages, all the further I got).

The KK Lara seems a lot more...willing... than the JC one. And much less innocent and naive.

Yes mudge 7:38 was directed at you. The game wasn't exciting enough to keep me awake after a big steak taco and some nice red. Did wake up time to see the oscar winning preformace of the steeler punter. Now maybe I will be awake for the second.

Q: Did Lincoln's inner circle do the right thing when they secretly moved the president-elect on a series of night trains into Washington, D.C., from Philadelphia, disguised him, downed transmission lines, and transported him as an "invalid"?

A: Before the journey from Springfield, Mary Lincoln had already received several anonymous letters, warning that if her husband tried to take office, he would be assassinated. The letters were decorated with skulls and crossbones. Just before Christmas, she had received a letter with even more graphic artwork--a depiction of Lincoln with a noose around his neck, his body covered in tar and feathers, and his feet chained together. Even Tad Lincoln had received a grotesque black-faced doll in the mail. These pieces of hate mail prompted all incoming mail to be turned over to a secretary.

General Winfield Scott thought that in order to deter an assassin, Lincoln's family should accompany him on the train trip. Mary Lincoln didn't depart from Springfield with Lincoln on Feb. 11, but had gone to St. Louis to do some shopping. She did join him the following day, on his birthday, Feb. 12, in Indianapolis and from there the family traveled together.

When Pinkerton advised Lincoln in Philadelphia to make alternate travel plans because of the alleged assassination plot, Lincoln did tell Mary. She was to travel on behind Lincoln on the inaugural train with their three sons and entourage. When the train, without Lincoln aboard, crossed the Mason-Dixon line, young Robert Lincoln, enrolled at Harvard, led a chorus of "The Star Spangled Banner."

When the Presidential Special, with Mary, children, and entourage aboard arrived at Baltimore--the city where it was alleged that Lincoln would be assassinated--more than ten thousand people crowded the Calvert station. The throng was not aware that Lincoln was not on board. Those assembled at the station gave three terrific cheers for the Confederacy, three more for Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and prolonged groans for Lincoln. Some men managed to board the train and searched the railroad cars for the man they called "that bloody Republican" and the "Black Ape."

Colonel E.E. Ellsworth, was not so fortunate when his regiment passed through Baltimore less than a month later. Ellsworth had been Lincoln's military aide in Philadelphia. A Copperhead mob attacked when Ellsworth's regiment, the 6th Massachusetts Infantry, marched through Baltimore on April 16, shooting the commanding officer and killing him. Ellsworth would die a little more than a month later, his death making him the first conspicuous casualty of the Civil War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_E._Ellsworth

On Feb. 23, after Pinkerton and Lincoln arrived at 6 a.m. in Washington, and after Pinkerton took a hot bath and downed a big breakfast, Pinkerton went to Lincoln's suite where, before Seward and a Congressional delegation, he was formally thanked by Lincoln for his services. His day was not yet over, for he caught the 3:10 p.m. train to Baltimore. It was at Annapolis Junction that Pinkerton caught up with the rest of Lincoln's entourage.

It was a damp day when Mary Lincoln and fellow travelers finally arrived in Washington on Feb. 23. She would arrived in the capital just as she would leave it a little more than four years later--without her husband.

Look, all of us have been pining for Julie Christie for 40 years, no matter what our gender-identity. The Lara character is just one of those who is universally wonderful. Not to mention Yuri!

Mudge, book Atonement is odd endeavor, perhaps a art novelist's novel. The ambition about truth telling, destruction, unforgivable acts, life arc within war dislocation....

the movie is fine and perhaps confirms that film and visual can tell this complex simultaneity of this and the shifting perspectives....

the sound, the sound, the lovely, lovely sounds of the film....and James MacAvoy looks like the men in my family and extended cousins... so seldom are pale-skinned, short people celebrated in film.....

and the moments of engaged contact are I believe, plausible and in this, very honest

Speaking of Julie Christie, _Heaven Can Wait_ was on today. Now that is a romantic ending!

dbG - I loved the movie "Heaven Can Wait."
This was one of those very rare remakes that held up to the original. As a young teen it defined romance for me. The musical score can bring me close to tears even today. It is one of the things that motivated me to try to break out of my role as a skinny uber-geek. (Try, that is...)

And it made me dream of one day meeting someone like Julie Christie.

Thanks, pj, for bringing me up to date on football news. 20 years ago, eh? I had no idea.

News flash about Pete Seeger's hat:
http://socklady.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/pete-seeger-in-a-socklady-hat/

I'd say your attempt was pretty successful, RD.

You are so sweet dbG!

But Julie Christie *still* won't return my calls.

That's only because she doesn't know you the way we do.

Joel had much better seats (if seats is the right word for the place we stood for three hours) than we did. We were one-third of the way between the WWII memorial and that tall obelisk thingee.

He's also right on the money about grimacing. Bruce looks like he needs a little more fiber in his diet.

That's great that you were there, yellojkt! Did Mrs yellojkt love U2? The Postrock guy said they sounded "off", maybe because a speaker went out. They sounded great online, to me.

Did you enjoy it, Yello? I hope you could hear. From the comfort of my den, the music was awesome.

barack obama will be our president in two days. yay!

I scraped my 01-20-09 sticker off my car today. I wish we could scrape away the last eight years that easily.

We had great sound and a direct view of the Lincoln Memorial. We couldn't actually see anybody on the stage unless there were over ten of them and they all wore red. But the jumbotron showed us what we were missing.

We also came home and watched the HBO rebroadcast to confirm what we saw. HBO had more sound glitches than we did.

My wife did all for Bono and he delivered. Sure, it would have been more comfortable. But it's like Woodstock. I can say I was there.

dmd, thanks for posting that old article about obama. that was interesting.

and thanks everyone for the heads up on the hbo online broadcasts. caught part of it before, will try for more now.

Goodnight, dear Boodle.

'Mudge, I will, just as soon as I'm in and can find a gift from you.

All is well.

evening all
I'm bummed my boys lost,but we had a chance at the end just couldn't do it.So our great season comes to an end. Congrats to the Steelers and good luck in the Super Bowl.

purplewithenvy

SCC: All of it.

I'll try to boodle something coherent tomorrow.

Nice wrap-up of the concert here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/18/AR2009011802447.html?hpid=topnews

Seems I was not the only one bewildered by the eagles.

This about Pete:
"Another historical highlight arrived with Springsteen joining 89-year-old folk singer Pete Seeger to lead the crowd -- the president-elect included -- in a singalong of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." Seeger made sure to include stanzas of the song not often sung at events of this official magnitude, including protest sentiments and references to Depression-era poverty. "

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me;
Sign was painted, it said private property;
But on the back side it didn't say nothing;
That side was made for you and me.

In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple;
By the relief office, I'd seen my people.
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking,
Is this land made for you and me?

God loves us so much more than we can imagine through Him that died for all, Jesus Christ.

Good morning, friends. Happy MLK Day. I'm suppose to attend a lunch in honor of Martin Luther King today. I hope I'm up to it, still have the cough. I really want to walk this morning, but will see.

I saw some of the concert, sleep overtook the rest. There seemed to be a lot of people at that mall. A lot. Everyone wanting to be a part of history. It is great.

Sorry about the game, Mudge. Yoki, you sound ready for life. Prayers, hugs, and good thoughts your way.

Love the poem, Maggie O.

I've been up for awhile now. I took the cold medicine, and it zapped me. I needed the sleep. It has warmed up here a bit. Have a great day, folks.

Martooni, Scotty, Slyness, and everyone, hope it's warm where you are.*waving*

Time to consider the walk or coffee.

Not too bad here, cassandra, just the normal winter chill. :-)

Yesterday was one of those days where I wish I had picture-in-picture. The bits of the concert I saw were very inspiring, and I'm glad to hear that young lady behind the Obamas finally woke up! *L*

The games were quite entertaining, although I was disappointed to see the Iggles and the Ravens fall short. It's good that McGahee seems intact after that big collision late.

Oh, and 'toon? Please talk to your friends about having a little decorum at the game -- people forget the TV microphones can hear them when they start chanting "Bull Spit" after a legitimate pass interference call. *L*

*yet-another-chore-filled-day-with-a-delightful-lunch-break-planned Grover waves* :-)

Morning, everybody, and happy Monday. Cloudy here, with the forecast for snow. That will put a quietus on my plans to party and watch the Inauguration, I'm afraid. We'll see what happens.

If you only saw the concert on TV you missed the very inspiring invocation by The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson:

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/faith_and_politics/gene_robinsons_prayer_for_pres.html

He reverses many of the usual platitudes to great effect.

Good morning, Boodle, Cassandra, all.

I wonder what the day before an historic inauguration is called? It really deserves it's own moniker.

I looked around some overseas blogs last night, the whole world minus a couple of regions looks to be celebrating with you. Imagine tomorrow in Nairobi!

I have a busy day ahead, and will to it. Have a happy Inauguration Eve.

Good morning, you all.

We got back home from a very nice brunch just in time to watch the whole concert. It was wonderful, every single act. The speakers were real troopers, considerating the weather; Tiger Woods is not an orator but he did quite well. I just could not stop watching, one great entertainer (sometimes two or three together) after another. I did not know Garth Brooks could lead a crowd so well, althought I knew John Melloncamp could. Josh Groban continues to be my favorite singer, glad he was there. Wonderful songs! Obama & Biden were good, too.

I need to check previous boodles as I see no fashion comments. Both Mrs. Obama's and Mrs. Biden's outfits were classy, they made their best efforts for the public, I was proud of them both.

'morning all. Geez Yoki, get back to bed silly woman it's still the middle of the night for you.
The cold has finally abated. We're back to snowy weather though. That should be good news for DC as well this local warming.

Yoki

In this case we call the day before, Martin Luther King Day. In that we celebrate his life and work.

Slyness

I didn't walk this morning, we actually have ice and a dire prediction for snow tomorrow. The temps here are suppose to be in the 50's today, but I believe that's going to be a climb, as everything is looking kind of "white" this morning. I hope you get to do your celebrating despite the weather.

Hey Cassandra!

You beat me here by several hours! Not fair.

Came by to wish everyone a most contemplative MLK day. Isn't it amazing that we have two days like these--back to back.

Very briefly, I think it is so amazing that Obama beat someone who, at times in the past, seemed not to support the holiday, if my memory serves me well enough.

It has to be one of the most wonderful times here for everyone to pull together. There is a national gasp for fresh air. There is a sense of hope that we haven't had in a while.

The oddest feeling is one of moving forward rather than charging folks for the crimes that they committed. In a land where we spends tens of thousands of dollars throwing people jail for some victimless "crimes" such as using marijuana, (no connection with the moniker "weed" with the stuff on any level) and even more money keeping them incarcerated (50K a year according to some estimates), I see our new President elect not making a big deal about the terrible misuse of power.

Here, I am, a person who has done my little part to find justice for folks in the civil rights movement in the past, who now seems to agree that our cue should be taken from the transition in S. Africa and just move beyond this (after freeing the scapegoats of the Iraqi trials that sent some of our soldiers to prison for doing what the White House asked). Let's just move on.

(cont. rant)

After all, it was our own people who elected our current and departing President and who stood by and even supported his actions and, many, even today, who support using waterboarding, a little gift from the Spanish Inquisition, as a method for gaining knowledge or extracting confessions.

What these times call for is communication and teaching AND learning from one another.

After all, the next four to eight years are just loaded with all sorts of challenges. Our infrastructure is decaying. Our people have lost their retirement savings and their pensions. Most middle aged people don't have pensions and their wealth, if you call that has turned into an "upside-down" mortgage. REAL unemployment and underemployment rates are at astronomical levels and what we do about our dependency on foreign resources... petroleum and OUR CASH ... is still just being formulated.

Let me wrap up my little spelching by suggesting that the real sense of locality and community and commerce will re-emerge.

Further, we have to learn about letting people recover from failure... to forgive and to support. This is going to come about in new forms of business and innovations in "credit."

Our very lives are going to be transformed by the way business is evolving around us. Think of it! Circuit City declared bankruptcy this past week because not one business thought it was worth buying up the chain at even a small minimal payment. That's 550-ish store with well over 30,000 employees and a massive customer base.

Not one dime was offered.

Hopefully, in each area, there will be one or two new stores that are locally owned taking the place of the Circuit City patrons. Hopefully ... or, better yet, local folks with competing stores to Circuit City who have dumped everything into their business to stay alive, will come back to profitability.

Let's hope that, little by little, we all learn to support our community and our fellow Americans with our business and our charity.

What you can do is remember one important fact, certainly, what Dick Cheney, Bernie Madoff and the Corporate denizens of Circuit City all have in common is that their money has long since been sent off-shore.

The next time you see one of those Dick Cheney pics with that little smirk on his face, now you know why.

As we used to say in the day, "So long folks, it's been real!"

=== weed

'Morning, Boodle. Yawn. Well, it's supposed to be a holiday. Why aren't I sleeping in? Because I have to telecommute today -- and it's all my fault. I'm so backlogged at work, I volunteered. Serves me right.

Let's see, looking at the ol' clock on the wall (well, the corner of my computer screen), I see we've got about27 and a half hours left for the *&^%$# Bush administration, and not a damn moment too soon, either. 27 and a half hours for Bush to issue whatever pardons he's gonna issue (I just know he's gonna do it, the only question is how man, and will he include Cheney and Addington and Yoo).

I think at 11:56 today we all ought to start chanting the final 24-hour countdown, going out in the street and yelling out the windows, like the scene in "Network."

A few weeks ago Loomis (not to mention a lot of people in the gay community) were all bent out of shape because Obama picked Rev. Rick Warren to give tomorrow's invocation. (I agree that Warren's a jerk, but I disagree that it has much significance.) That being so, I wonder how many people today realize that the guy who gave the invocation yesterday at the concert was Bishop Robinson, the openly gay Episcopal priest who has caused so much commotion in the that church? So looking athe the old tote board here on the two most important invocations given at Obama's inaugural events, 50 percent of them have been gay. Interesting.

Furthmore, I wonder how many people (of whatever orientation and/or belief system) know that the chorus singing behind Josh Groben yesterday was the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington (D.C.)? An entire chorus of gay men, right there on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. So if Loomis and anybody else are looking for some symbolic gestures from Obama, I suggest you find it right there, yesterday,on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

OK, my peeps, I happen to know my own personal ready room has a toasted raisin bagel and cream cheese awaiting me upstairs at this very moment.

Let's get them airborne, squadron! Magnetos: On. Clear! Spin that prop and pull those chocks.

*sigh* I'm back from the walk to a message that my oldest aunt had a stroke last week. She will be 91 in March and has lived independently since my uncle died in 1997. So I'm off to make a hospital visit.

Cassandra, lots of frost here this morning. It looked like a young snow, as my daddy would say. Not terribly cold, that will be later today.

A freeze is likely here, Wednesday night. Not nice. Gotta start bringing orchids in tomorrow.

Not that a freeze is a big deal compared to things like the Financial Crisis. Prescient columnist Ambrose Evans-Pritchard at the Telegraph is wondering whether a Biblical Debt Jubilee is needed. A Financial Times columnist, Willem Buiter, suggests that the British government simply buy all the banks.

It's scary out there.

Good morning all. Happy MLK Day for us 'mericans.

Yes you Canadian types. It's *another* Federal Holiday for us.

Today will probably be spent cleaning up the house. Vacuuming, dusting, and, just to keep things crazy, a bit of carpet shampooing.

Foggy here today at the bottom of the hill. Still gauging the bike ride downtown because I feel a cold descending upon me.

RD, come to my house next. I will tip you and feed you lunch. You can take my tree down, too.

I will be busy taking upon the science faire laboratories in the dining room and living room. I shall require CPBoy to take down the basement portion of the testing chambers. I believe I can turn in my science faire gear, because I may be done as a SCFair project manager. Huzzah!

CqP, why don't you just lease your house out for logging?

mudge,
I did know those things only because I was doing some due diligence google searching to tag the pictures I took at the concert.

DCist had mentioned that the Gay Mens Chorus of Washington was going to be performing. The other big ensemble groups that performed were a mostly female black gospel choir that backed Bruce Springsteen, a children's chorus that backed Garth Brooks, and the US Naval Academy Glee Club. By process of elimination that left the hundred or so nattily dressed guys backing Josh Groban and Heather Headley as the prime suspects.

The symbolism is doubly emphasized because the song they were singing was "My Country 'Tis of Thee" after a video tribute to Marian Anderson who had sung at the Lincoln Memorial after being blackballed by the DAR at Constitution Hall.

btw, the GLBT community is in a snit over the fact that Robinson's invocation was not shown as part of the HBO coverage since it took place just before the official start time of 2:30.

My pictures of the concert are here:

http://flickr.com/photos/yellojkt/sets/72157612685532421/

Good morning, y'all. Slyness, I'm sorry about your aunt.

I'm glad to hear Bishop Robinson gave the concert invocation. As an "okay-with-that" Episcopalian in an "okay-with-that" cathedral parish, I just don't understand why it matters. Our parish traded several congregants with the Fancy Conservative parish in town about that time. They didn't leave the Church (too conservative for that, I guess) but quietly Don't Approve. Being Episcopal they Suffer in Silence and with Civility.

Nice exposition Russianthistle. I saw the concert twice yesterday (on computer and the big TV, latter was better) and Obama's speech three times. I told the Boy that I believe so many people support Obama because we think he is telling us the truth about the difficulties ahead, and asking for our help. [Like FDR did.] I think the last few years people have been desperate to contribute something, to feel in some way that they are participating in the life of the country and its governance. W suggested we all go shopping but we can't afford that anymore and it didn't give one that nice glow of participating in a larger polity. I think we are all just relieved to have someone who asks for our help and proud to think we can help. This seems to me one of the healthiest parts of this election.

We would be engaging in a public service activity today but the Boy is finishing a History Day project, so recycling will have to do.

Whoops. New Kit.

I have the strongest urge to knit something red white and blue. Surely our nations are going to have a better working relationship with your new president.

For those of you still working on unrequited longings for Ms. Christie, do watch 'Away from Her. A marvelous performance.

jkt, I especially liked the long shot of Seeger/Boss moment with children's choir. The crowd and the multiple screens with the red setting of the grays of the day.