Inauguration Day 2009 - Chaos, Wonder, Excitement (part 1)

Hello Again,

Excuse me for not being exactly chronological, but I wanted to post my thoughts about Inauguration Day before I comment on some of the other elements of our adventures in the Nation's Capital...

One of the group woke up at about 6:40 AM on the 20th and kindly announced the time. As we were hoping to leave by about 7:10-7:15 for the Metro train, it was a bit of a rude awakening. I took what I call a "2 minute warning" (a pro football term, for those of you who don't follow the NFL) shave & shower and threw on a bunch of layers and my improvised hachimaki (the night before, Beth brought a bunch of white dishtowels we converted into hachimaki, inscribed with "TAIKO FOR OBAMA" in Sharpie). Karen, thinking ahead, had brought one of O.N.E.'s winter happi coats, which she wore outside her jacket and other layers. This, combined with her electric blue muffler, made for quite the unique Inaugural outfit.

We boarded the Red Line Metro train at Silver Spring station....within minutes we were gradually compressed into one big human sandwich, as more and more passengers squeezed into our car with every stop. The pack was noteworthy enough to warrant filming by a TV cameraman at one stop, though it was impossible to determine the station he worked for. We briefly debated changing to the Yellow Line when we disembarked at Gallery Place, but one look at the sea of humanity completely obscuring the platform convinced us to abandon the notion. March onward, taiko foot soldiers!

After a variety of false starts & seeking information/advice from various security personnel, we eventually charted a zig-zagging, indirect course toward the National Mall. (One noteworthy detour found us walking into a tunnel; people heading in the opposite direction informed us the way had become blocked in some way or another. I didn't mind reversing course, as it seemed as if we were descending into a cave...) Eventually we made it to the National Mall and sought out a suitable location to view a Jumbotron screen, which turned out to be a spot next to the reflecting pool - it could have doubled as a skating rink in the Arctic chill gripping the region.

We arrived in time to see the House & Senate leaders take their places, as well as the living former Presidents Carter, Bush 41, and Clinton.....Aretha Franklin - and her hat ....Justice John Paul Stevens administering the Oath of Office of the Vice President to Joe Biden.....the stirring performance by Itzhak Perlman & Yo-Yo Ma....Chief Justice Roberts administering (with a fumble) the Oath of Office of the President to Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States of America. The stirring, powerful oratory of President Obama's Inaugural Address. What a gift to have such a skilled orator as President, in this age of instant transmission of words and images.

Thrilled, but, by now chilled, the poetry reading and other final elements gave us an excuse to head for someplace to warm ourselves. A rapidly-filling cafe provided a haven from the unrelenting wind & cold and we warmed ourselves on soup, coffee, tea, sandwiches, and other treats. While the seats weren't big enough to accommodate all of us & our gear, and the food wasn't anything spectacular, it was WARM!

Inauguration Day, Part 2 to follow

Inaugural Concert, January 18th

I caught the 10:00 AM bus from South Station and enjoyed an uneventful ride to the cavernous Port Authority in NYC. I hailed a cab & then received a scenic tour of the Upper West Side en route to the hostel where my travel companions were staying (they went to NYC on Friday to see On Ensemble in concert, and I was meeting them on Saturday), but I made it there in good time. We festooned the rental minivan with DC or BUST!! signs and red, white & blue ribbon streamers and embarked upon our big trip in high spirits.

Kudos to the crew for a well-provisioned ride...even though the fresh fruit became frosty fresh fruit overnight in the frigid Manhattan air. (Hope you enjoyed the alliteration in there.) Our indefatigable drivers Beth, Karen and Matt cheerfully delivered us to Silver Spring, MD - home base for our DC adventures.

Sunday's focus was the Inaugural Concert at the Lincoln Memorial. Outfitting ourselves with cold-weather gear and percussive devices, we rode the Metro & then walked to the National Mall, stopping along the way for some cool Inaugural buttons. Once on the Mall we began to play, which in turn began to turn heads our way. A Fox affiliate's crew filmed us and briefly interviewed Greg, but we don't know which city the "Fox13" crew came from...maybe Tampa or Memphis? It was interesting to observe passersby and note how much attention you can get from banging on drums, shakers & a cowbell.

We missed the opening moments from the concert; by the time I took my first photo, Denzel Washington was addressing the throng. We heard "Lean On Me" as we approached the Washington Monument; we settled on a spot just past it, and enjoyed the words & music awhile before relocating to get closer to a jumbotron during Garth Brooks' performance. The rest was pretty good, and a favorite moment for me occurred when Pete Seeger came out to lead everyone in several verses of "This Land Is Your Land" - surely Woody Guthrie was somewhere, smiling, while that song reverberated around our Capital. On that note, I'll stop for now. I'll check in a day or two later with another installment.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone,

or, as the Japanese say,

Minna-san, Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu!

Well, I'm really happy to be able to report the DC trip is ON. 5 of us from Odaiko New England (4 Community Members, 1 student) plus two others are renting a minivan and driving down on Saturday for the MLK weekend and the Inauguration. Of course it's going to be chaos piled on top of bustling crowds stacked on top of insanity scattered atop confusion. (One might say that currently describes Wall Street...) But to experience all that? I still can't believe it's truly going to happen.

We've got places to crash...I think. Hopefully our hosts can tolerate these interlopers from Massachusetts! We're still trying to figure out what events we might be able to get in to/check out/participate in while we're there. But we'll get that all sorted out.

Of course I'm bringing my camera....and a notepad. Have got to keep a journal for all this stuff, then translate it into something coherent for my blog!

* * * * * *

And now for something completely different....

I finally got a Skype account & a decent little web cam (as did my Japanese fiancee). Can't believe we had spent such a long time without this arrangement - it's great to be able to video talk with each other over the 'Net. Though it's a bit crazy - we're probably averaging 2 hours & 15 minutes per chat. Plus, we have to take into consideration the 12+ hour time difference between Boston and Tokyo!

Well, that's enough for now. I have taiko member rehearsal tomorrow night, and of course it's bitterly cold in Boston the next coupla days....the dojo will probably be freezing. As good a reason as any to vigorously drum. : )