If you had been in Dupont Circle on Sunday afternoon, you would have seen a peculiar sight. Three grown men, in the throes of exhaustion, throwing themselves into three seats in a random eating establishment, like a truckload of potatoes hitting a brick wall. We didn’t care what we ate; we didn’t care if we ever moved again. As we say in Maine, "Ma our dogs were barking!"
After a 10-minute lunch that we stretched out to an hour easily, we somehow scraped and crawled our way over to the Washington Monument for the We Are One Inauguration Concert which was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Why the Washington Monument? Well you see, apparently 750,985 other people had the same idea we did. After taking a south/southeast position adjacent to the WM, we were soon treated to a star-studded spectacle, including performances by Bruuuuuuce Springsteen, Beyonce, Josh Groban, Stevie Wonder, Usher, Shakira, U2, and Garth Brooks (who we all tentatively agreed gave the best performance, after singing “American Pie” and “Shout!”). Between each performance were speeches by pairs of celebrities. Here’s where it was confusing. I realize the whole point of Obama’s election is that We Are One, and different people should be able to get together, no matter their backgrounds, or professions. But in what lifetime would you ever see Laura Linney and Martin Luther King III giving a tandem speech, followed by Steve Carell and Jamie Foxx? It was getting to the point we were placing bets on what the next duo would be. Bets were closed when we realized Woody Harrelson and Louis Farrakhan would not be making appearances together.
Since we were so far back, we had to watch the concert on a giant Jumbotron screen, which was good because there’s nothing quite like watching Arlo Guthrie in HD. Then it was time for a speech from the man of the hour, President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama, who gave a short but eloquent speech. Then, all the celebrities and performers came back out on stage for a rendition of “This Land is Your Land,” prompting Byrne to bark out, “Did Tom Hanks get the memo that he’s not allowed to sing? In public? Ever?” After the concert ended, it was time to fight our way through the crowds for the better part of an hour. Yet screaming police car after screaming police car kept us alert while we fought our way to the metro station. It was here where we split up. Byrne and Brian stayed in D.C. and walked around a bit more, while I took off for Bowie, MD to have dinner with my Aunt Cathy and her family. I had a great time, and was even able to come back with some souvenirs, including a 6-pack of Obama cookies, to which my cousin Michael quickly retorted, “They taste like Hope and Change.” It was then back to the New Carrolton Metro Station for the longest possible train ride back to Woodbridge, but it was so worth it. I was supposed to write this blog when I returned, yet Lady Fall Asleep got to me first.
After a 10-minute lunch that we stretched out to an hour easily, we somehow scraped and crawled our way over to the Washington Monument for the We Are One Inauguration Concert which was on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Why the Washington Monument? Well you see, apparently 750,985 other people had the same idea we did. After taking a south/southeast position adjacent to the WM, we were soon treated to a star-studded spectacle, including performances by Bruuuuuuce Springsteen, Beyonce, Josh Groban, Stevie Wonder, Usher, Shakira, U2, and Garth Brooks (who we all tentatively agreed gave the best performance, after singing “American Pie” and “Shout!”). Between each performance were speeches by pairs of celebrities. Here’s where it was confusing. I realize the whole point of Obama’s election is that We Are One, and different people should be able to get together, no matter their backgrounds, or professions. But in what lifetime would you ever see Laura Linney and Martin Luther King III giving a tandem speech, followed by Steve Carell and Jamie Foxx? It was getting to the point we were placing bets on what the next duo would be. Bets were closed when we realized Woody Harrelson and Louis Farrakhan would not be making appearances together.
Since we were so far back, we had to watch the concert on a giant Jumbotron screen, which was good because there’s nothing quite like watching Arlo Guthrie in HD. Then it was time for a speech from the man of the hour, President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama, who gave a short but eloquent speech. Then, all the celebrities and performers came back out on stage for a rendition of “This Land is Your Land,” prompting Byrne to bark out, “Did Tom Hanks get the memo that he’s not allowed to sing? In public? Ever?” After the concert ended, it was time to fight our way through the crowds for the better part of an hour. Yet screaming police car after screaming police car kept us alert while we fought our way to the metro station. It was here where we split up. Byrne and Brian stayed in D.C. and walked around a bit more, while I took off for Bowie, MD to have dinner with my Aunt Cathy and her family. I had a great time, and was even able to come back with some souvenirs, including a 6-pack of Obama cookies, to which my cousin Michael quickly retorted, “They taste like Hope and Change.” It was then back to the New Carrolton Metro Station for the longest possible train ride back to Woodbridge, but it was so worth it. I was supposed to write this blog when I returned, yet Lady Fall Asleep got to me first.
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