“We Are One” Obama Concert (Unless You Don’t Have Cable or a Computer)

9:00 am By Maegan La Mala · Celebrities|Music|Obama inauguration|Politics|Washington DC

19 Jan 2009

Yesterday, in front of the Lincoln Memorial, was the biggest celebObama fest, the We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration At The Lincoln Memorial concert.

If you couldn’t get down to D.C., you had to have cable or internet access to see the patriotic sing along. I watched it streaming online.

The Obama familia looked fabulous and Malia Obama, the older of the two girls could be seen snapping pictures with her digital camera throughout.

To many of my twitter friends, it seemed like every celeb of color was invited to the event (although not many Asians and were there any disabled people) and well lots of celebs in general. A very unshaven Denzel Washington gave an introductory speech. Mary J. Blige, wearing winter white, sang “Lean On Me.” Jamie Foxx spoke. Betty LaVette duetted with Jon Bon Jovi. Marisa Tomei quoted Ronald Reagan. James Taylor, John Legend and Jennifer Nettles performed a song together.

Vice President-elect Joe Biden screamed a speech followed by an old looking John Mellencamp. Queen Latifah spoke. Josh Groban sang “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.” After the patriotic number, George Lopez and Kal Penn aka Kumar spoke. will.i.am and Sheryl Crow performed the worst rendition ever of Bob Marley’s “One Love.” Tiger Woods was a natural choice to speak on the armed forces followed by the US Naval Academy Glee Club and Garth Brooks singing “American Pie” and “Shout.”

Jack Black and Rosario Dawson spoke together, singing the praises of Teddy Rooselvelt. Stevie Wonder, Usher and Shakira sang Wonder’s “Higher Ground” reminding everyone that Shakira should not sing in English.

Samuel L. Jackson spoke of Rosa Parks (and explained it all like it was some sort of accident) introduced U2, who sang “In the Name of Love.” Bono must have let the cold go to his head because he announced that Obama’s becoming president was Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream coming true (ah keep waving that magic racism be gone wand).

Obama’s speech was led by the parading of two eagles who wanted to be anywhere but at the concert, as they tried in vain to fly away.

Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen sang This Land is Your Land, which made me and at least one other twitterRican throw up a little, cuz if you ever needed a U.S. imperial anthem, well here you have it.

Beyonce then sang the finale, “America”

I didn’t catch the show from the beginning, pero it seems like something was missing. Hmm what could it be? I’ll tell you in my next post.

Tags: Concert at Lincoln Memorial, Obama inauguration events, We Are One Concert

7 Responses to “We Are One” Obama Concert (Unless You Don’t Have Cable or a Computer)

towanda

January 19th, 2009 at 3:04 pm

I thought cutting from the footage of Marian Anderson singing to Josh Groban (who I can’t stand) was awful, and unbelievable.

Ben

January 19th, 2009 at 8:52 pm

Actually, “This Land Is Your Land” is anti-imperialist song. It’s a song about how essentially nobody owns America. The song was written by Woody Guthrie wrote it as a response to Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America”. Guthrie felt was jingoistic.

Lanza

January 19th, 2009 at 9:47 pm

I would like to respectfully object to the following.

You wrote: “Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen sang This Land is Your Land, which made me and at least one other twitterRican throw up a little, cuz if you ever needed a U.S. imperial anthem, well here you have it.”

Please, spend some time listening to the lyrics. “Cuz” the song ain’t no “IMPERIAL ANTHEM” — it is a radical, people’s anthem. I would love to spend some time showing you why the early folk movement — from Woody Guthrie (who sang about and was beaten up for migrant Latino workers and an ally of the much younger labor organizer César Chávez) to Pete Seeger — were VERY RELEVANT to Latinos and all people. This is something to learn about.

“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 shadow of the steeple I saw my people,
By the relief office I seen my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking
Is this land made for you and me?

“Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me.

Maegan la Mala

January 19th, 2009 at 10:13 pm

Gracias for your comments pero as that song was performed I couldn’t help wondering what Native Americans feel when they hear that song.

Ben

January 20th, 2009 at 2:10 am

Meagan la Mala,

I’m not American Indian so I can’t speak to your question. I was only responding to your post where you made your thoughts about the song clear. I’m not defending imperialism, I’m just saying that “This Land is Your Land” was not intended to be imperialist and in my humble opinion, it shouldn’t be misconstrued as a pro-imperialist anthem. It’s kind of like people who think that Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” is a flag waving, nationalistic song when it’s really an anti-Vietnam War song.

I would venture to guess that American Indians probably throw up a little when they see the Lincoln Memorial or any other memorial or building (like the White House) that the imperialists built on their land. I’d also venture to guess that they’d like that “This Land is Your Land” was written as a rebuke of “God Bless America”. I think that they’d agree with the message of “This Land is Your Land”- that Americans (all Americans) should be free.

Again, I’m not American Indian so it’s all conjecture.

la macha

January 20th, 2009 at 10:23 am

It’s kind of like people who think that Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” is a flag waving, nationalistic song when it’s really an anti-Vietnam War song.

I agree with you Ben, that the song is a complicated song–that it has a history, like Born in the USA, of being used by the far-right to mean almost exactly opposite of what it was intended to mean.

But at the same time, you can’t take away from the fact that when it was written, it was only but about two generations from the time that the Indian wars had ended and during the 1930′s and 40′s (the time the song was written), active detribalization was U.S. policy. (that is, requiring natives to work off reservation with the intention that once they were off the land, they wouldn’t go back, and the land that was rightfully theirs (through the Dawes act) could be reclaimed by the government.). Not to mention the fact that Puerto Rico and Guam were both colonized by the U.S. around the same time that the Indian wars in the U.S. ended–

So I think that the question of indigenous rights and even more specifically, land ownership, was right up on the front or at least the surface of U.S. national politics when that song was written.So to me, it either shows privilege in that Guthrie remained ignorant of the tribal issues happening right in front of his face, or it shows blatant lack of concern. Because I am a fan of Guthrie and his politics, I prefer to think it was a sign of privilege. Just like he’s only got one (very condescending) song in almost his entire song catalog that centers women laborers. I hope that was a sign of privilege rather than blatant hostility and/or sexism against women.

but just because I hope something to be true doesn’t make it so. I think This Land is a complicated song, just like Guthrie was a complicated singer–and I choose to understand him/the song in a sympathetic way because I have a very strong pro-union background and I grew up with his music.

Others don’t have that, and I think that they are totally justified in a not-so-sympathetic interpretation of him/the song.

Smitty

January 21st, 2009 at 2:45 pm

I dont agree, I thought Shakira’s part was pretty cool….she sure can sing in English. Also, I agree w/ lanza. Peace people.

VivirLatino

“We Are One” Obama Concert (Unless You Don’t Have Cable or a Computer)

7 Responses to “We Are One” Obama Concert (Unless You Don’t Have Cable or a Computer)

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