Stevie, Usher, & Shakira celebrate the beginning of a new era at the Lincoln Memorial on 1.18.2009.
Attention — all patriots…. As it was in 1774 when the first delegates were arriving on horseback to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, when self-rule was an as-radical-as-they-come idea (European countries and those of the Far East were ruled by a king, an emperor, a shogun). A Declaration was under construction, composed in three days by a reticent, shy, talented man with lofty ideals named Jefferson, who wrote alone in a single hotel room on Market Street.
Revolution was in the air then and the spirit of revolution seems to be making a return.
Gather round, all ye chicks, dudes, codgers, youngsters, crones, yuppies, gangstas;, homegrrrls, gen x-y-z’ers – hear ye, hear ye – patriotism is now cool, happening, epicentral.
Patriotism is making a come back.
Inauguration festivities have begun. The Obamas and Bidens took the train from Philly to D.C. and in the damn-serious cold of yesterday, but the crowds were huge and enthusiastic, with people lining the route, waving along the way.
This afternoon, the We Are One concert brought together, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, not only a crowd that filled the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument, but also a bevy of artists — Stevie Wonder, James Taylor, Shakira (who gets my vote for best outfit ;^), Beyonce, U2, Sheryl Crow, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, John Cougar Mellencamp, and others — demonstrating, by the supporting return of so many artists, that art is so very, very political. From the crowds that gathered yesterday, this administration has begun, already, possibly the greatest healing experienced so far in this country, by and for the people. Just in time.
Truly, America continues to be the greatest experiment in Democracy in known history. Pres.- elect Obama’s term for the healing part of his vision is, “American Renewal” & I’m feeling it, are you?
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
Participate! Washington hasn’t rocked like this since, well, 1999…
P.S. Oh, and if you didn’t yet get the Barak Obama Top 10 iPod list, here it is! :
Barack Obama’s iPod
- 1. ‘Ready or Not’ Fugees
- 2. ‘What’s Going On’ Marvin Gaye
- 3. ‘I’m On Fire’ Bruce Springsteen
- 4. ‘Gimme Shelter’ Rolling Stones
- 5. ‘Sinnerman’ Nina Simone
- 6. ‘Touch the Sky’ Kanye West
- 7. ‘You’d Be So Easy to Love’ Frank Sinatra
- 8. ‘Think’ Aretha Franklin
- 9. ‘City of Blinding Lights’ U2
- 10. ‘Yes We Can’ Will.i.am
