ok, so.....we watched the reprise of the hbo we are one concert on-line at 7:00 pm this evening....given that we opted out of both cable and dish reception..the two of us huddled around the pc screen......wow.....what an assembly of meaningful music and orators....tom hanks performing the vocals to the copeland piece about lincoln.....U2 performing one.......john cougar mellancamp and his little pink houses....josh groban singing my country tis of thee in the same spot that marion anderson sang it in 1939 having been barred from performing in the space controlled by the DAR......i was moved to tears by pete seeger, and his grandson and bruce springsteen singing the woody guthrie anthem...this land is your land as a sing-a-long with the thousands on hand around the reflecting pool.......pete seeger was part of the march on washington, and was on hand for mlk's i have a dream speech......i was not aware until i read the wikipedia summary of pete's life that he was a life-long protest singer, known for standing up for the common man...he wrote if i had a hammer,...and where have all the flowers gone...among others....he was sentenced to 10 years for contempt of congress for refusing to testify at the mccarthy anti-american hearings......he never served due to flaws in the indictment...... i also was unaware that he was the fellow who put the verses from Ecclesiastes 3:1 to music in a song made popular by the byrds...turn, turn, turn....
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
yes, there were many talented and deserving artists on hand on the mall to celebrate in the inaugural of president obama....but it cheered my soul to see the joy in pete seeger's face as he reminded us all that this land was made for you and me.....
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