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Monday, January 12, 2009

Politics / TV If You Like Him Then You Better Put Your TV On It

Posted by Eli Sanders on Mon, Jan 12, 2009 at 11:55 AM

You may have heard, but our soon-to-be president is holding a kind of concert/rally/motivational meetup at The Lincoln Memorial on January 18, two days before the inauguration. There will be songs. There will be readings of historic documents. The whole thing will be broadcast live on HBO.

And the lineup? It has arrived:

Musical performers scheduled for the event include Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder. Among those reading historical passages will be Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington. The Rt. Reverend V. Gene Robinson will give the invocation. Rob Mathes will be the music director and arranger for the backing band, which will support all of the artists. Additional performers will be announced as they are confirmed.

And, in case you're not up on the latest, the Rt. Reverend V. Gene Robinson? Totally gay.

Comments (16) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment

So, does the Rt. Reverend V. Gene Robinson forgive the choice of Mr. Saddleback, himself?

Posted by cunei4m on January 12, 2009 at 11:58 AM

Hmm, "exclusively by HBO," sez the Inaugural Committee. I hope CSPAN can pirate a feed somehow, that would be cool.

Posted by tomasyalba on January 12, 2009 at 12:04 PM

That musical lineup is so milquetoast i expected to see Vampire Weekend in there.

Posted by Max Solomon on January 12, 2009 at 12:05 PM

Hah - I read further and it's practically open access. Ka-phew, now I gets me some Renee Fleming:

"HBO will televise the event on an open signal, working with all of its distributors to allow Americans across the country with access to cable, telcos or satellite television to join in the Opening Celebration for free."

Posted by tomasyalba on January 12, 2009 at 12:07 PM

Sounds more entertaining than the inauguration itself...

Posted by Hernandez on January 12, 2009 at 12:10 PM

Does Bono think he is American now?

Posted by CommonKnowledge on January 12, 2009 at 12:12 PM

Barf-o-rama. I hope they all do a big finale together, it could be the funniest piece of garbage since "We Are The World".

Posted by Fnarf on January 12, 2009 at 12:19 PM

It's open access and will probably be a little more fun then the actual event on Tuesday considering it's at night and Reverend Saddle Back-fucktard won't be there. Also my boyfriend (as part of) the Gay Mens Chorus of Washington D.C. gets to sing some backup (for Renee I hope).

Posted by JasenComstock on January 12, 2009 at 12:19 PM

Ah, the mystifyingly random bolding continues . . .

Posted by Levislade on January 12, 2009 at 12:19 PM

sor' but i cannot deal, read - throwing up in my mouth, with JAMIE FOXX. go away! ok, so you won an oscar for your impersonation of ray charles and now we are subjected to your cd's? please.

gaw!

Posted by birdy num num on January 12, 2009 at 12:26 PM

birdy, if you donated $50K to the inauguration as he did you might have a shot at it too. Sorry if it's not you.

Posted by tomasyalba on January 12, 2009 at 12:33 PM

Jesus H Vomit. All that's missing here are Up With People.

Posted by heywhatsit on January 12, 2009 at 12:38 PM

I too am mystified by the random bold type. I cant stand Bono. I wonder if he will soon ask other countries to forgive our debt.

Posted by Fortuna Mandolin on January 12, 2009 at 1:01 PM

I was gonna mention the DC Gay Men's Chorus too but someone beat me to it. I'd go to this and since I live in philly area I could...hmmm

Posted by Jersey on January 12, 2009 at 1:03 PM

Up next: the oath of office is going to be administered by Harvey Fierstein, Ru Paul is singing the national anthem at 155 bpm, and there will be flat-bed truck floats with dancing go-go boys in the inauguration parade.

Posted by Andy Niable on January 12, 2009 at 1:21 PM

Thanks, Eli! I now know your favorite shitty performers in a lineup of shitty performers! Keep on using those <b> tags!

Posted by gillsans on January 12, 2009 at 4:29 PM