I was looking forward to watching the Inaugural Concert with my son this afternoon. Really looking forward to it. I'd heard that it was being broadcast on HBO, but I'd also heard that it HBO would let non-subscribers watch it for free.
It wasn't obvious to me, though, how, as a non-HBO subscriber, I would be able to watch it, so I paid very close attention to the channels I do get -- CNN and MSNBC, among others -- in the hour leading up to the concert. The talking heads kept alluding to the upcoming concert, in ways that led me to expect they would be broadcasting it.
The first sign that something was amiss came when, during the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner, the talking heads just kept on talking, saying things like 'people are holding their hands over their hearts . . . they seem to be very moved . . . .' And then, at the conclusion of the National Anthem, the reporters abruptly cut away from the concert entirely, explaining that the Presidential Inauguration Committee had sold exclusive rights to broadcast this extraordinarily, historically, inclusive "We Are One" concert at Lincoln Memorial to HBO. So those of us who hadn't had the foresight -- or the financial wherewithal -- to subscribe to HBO (or to one of the cable or satellite dish companies that had worked out an agreement with HBO) would not be able to see or hear it.
I spent the next couple of hours on-line trying to figure out how to get access to the concert. The HBO website told me that, if I registered for HBO.com, I would be able to watch the concert on-line, so I took the time to register, giving them all manner of personal information, including my birthdate and the name of my first pet, only to be told that I could not have access to this particular HBO program -- not this afternoon, not when it was rebroadcast later this evening, not ever.
At the end of the program, and at the end of my rope, I discovered that one could hear the audio portion on NPR, so I went to npr.org only to find this message: "Now Over: NPR's coverage of the special inaugural celebration has finished. The concert will not be archived online. However, you can see photos from the event by clicking the link below."
I didn't want to see photos. I wanted to hear the concert. I'd happened to call a friend (who has HBO, but who lives almost half an hour away from me) near the end of the concert. She was moved to tears and couldn't talk, but she soon called me back. "It was incredible." she said, "Pete Seeger just sang "This Land Is Your Land. "
I, like so many of my generation, grew up with that song. When I was a kid, I heard Pete Seeger sing it in my hometown and it changed my life. In high school I spent a week on the Hudson River on the sloop Clearwater singing it with NYC schoolchildren. After 9/11, in reaction to my son telling me his kindergarten class had started a patriotic ritual of singing "God Bless America" and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, I brought my guitar to his school and taught the kids that song. I sang it with them every week for months.
Years later, I volunteered for Obama with my son, who's now in high school. We had a house party for Obama. We made phone calls. We canvassed door to door. We stood on the street with posters. On election night, we joined friends -- grandparents, grandkids, black, white, gay, straight -- and jumped and screamed and cried tears of joy as Obama's victory was announced.
Today, I was finally getting over the sting of Obama's inviting Rick Warren to give the Invocation at his inauguration on Tuesday. I was hoping that hearing Bishop Gene Robinson give the Invocation at today's Inaugural Concert would return to me the unalloyed joy I felt on election night, the thrill of knowing that, finally, we had a president who was committed to including everyone. But the Presidential Inauguration Committee decided to sell the property rights to the Inauguration Concert to HBO, depriving millions of citizens of the chance to see it.
I was, finally, able to find a YouTube video of Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen rehearsing the song for the concert. You might still be able to find it on the web, if the HBO copyright lawyers haven't taken it down. (Did HBO also buy the rights to the rehearsal footage?) But it's choppy, so, if you want to hear all the lyrics, go listen to Woody Guthrie's original recording, especially this verse:
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.
The recording's in the Smithsonian, and, last time I checked, it still hadn't become anyone's private property. Someone should've told the Inauguration Committee that it, like this land, was made for you and me.
Why would people complain if they didn't sell the right?
One thing people are forgetting is that Pres Obama doesn't support same sex marriage either. So why does it surprise you that that was more than likely not a huge issue when selecting Rick Warren? This is a big country with hundreds of languages, multiple lifestyles and millions of unique viewpoints. Not everyone needs to be represented . . . if they were, I'd hear people crying - "oh there's the token transgendered drag queen, there's the token Southern Conservative Baptist minister" and people would think that the administration was placating people by having them represented in some Inaugural concert/ ceremonies.
Be happy that a President is in office to whom many of us can relate and feel 'at home' with but can't change the world in 2 days in office and is not Mr Perfect. He has flaws as well and he also has his own likes and dislikes, which may not
The least HBO could have done was share the feed with broadcast stations.
And the Presidential Inauguration Committee should have INSISTED on it.
For shame.
There was a network, that paid good money;
So you can't see what, they find so lovely;
A celebration for all the world to see;
That show was made for you and me.
And to the posters who think its nothing to subscribe to HBO, I'm on a limited budget, and get limited cable, which is only 18 dollars a month. To get HBO, one has to first subscribe to basic/expanded basic, which is what, around here like 65 bucks a month, and then you add the extra on top. Just too rich for my blood, even in good economic times.
A sample of Obama's presidency? I think so.
Thanks for highlighting an angle most have overlooked.
Every speaker at every event, throughout these 4-5 days cannot be broadcast. HBO had the right to decide what parts would be commercially viable. No introduction was, Here is ____, a black guy. Here is ____, an asian/caucasion mix. Introducing, _____, a genetically pure white girl. Introducing _____, an asian/black mix guy. It is absurd to introduce the gay choir or, the some gay, some lesbian, and one sort of slut but mostly abstinent choir. By taking offense because your particular group is not specifically recognized misses the point. Obama touched in his speech every minority I could think of, but I'm sure he missed some.
Lay down your arms. Obama and his administration will not be perfect, we are perfecting until the end of time. I will not refuse to help anyone based on sexuality, gender or race. I plan to work against prop 8 next election cycle, even though I'm not gay...and I won't be mad if a gay person sits at home and does nothing. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and criticize. Get to work and be the change we are waiting for.
What about you?
What about people who have no televisions or computers or internet access? Shouldn't someone have bought them a way to see the concert too??
(Yes, you would have to already have cable or satellite for this to work, but since you mentioned you were watching CNN and MSNBC, I am guessing you already have one of those services.)
You literally spent hours researching this and never once tried tuning your TV to HBO???
But, as I've said in response to other commentators, that's not my point. My point is that the Obama Inauguration Committee promised a truly inclusive inauguration and seemed to be following through on this by inviting Gene Robinson to give the invocation at this inaugural concert, in part to compensate for having invited Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration tomorrow. But then they made the determination not to broadcast that portion of yesterday's event.
Of course, I'm thrilled that Obama and not McCain will be sworn in tomorrow. But support for a candidate--or for a President-elect—should not require compromising one's commitment to equal civil rights for all, including those in the LGBT community.
i had planned to join the Obama team in devoting MLK day to public service by working at our local food shelf today. Instead, I ended up spending my day attempting to educate the Obama Inauguration Committee about true inclusivity. MLK taught us that a dream deferred--too long--is a dream denied, and, for our LGBT friends and allies, I fear we may have reached that point.
I too would like to contact them about their silencing of Gene Robinson at the concert yesterday and other ways in which they mishandled the broadcasting of this otherwise promising event.
Or do you mean that you were educating them by starting this blog discussion today? I like your points and appreciate the discussion, but would also like to complain to the Obama inauguration people directly. (It looks like the change.gov comment function has been shut down.)
Thanks!
One can also now watch and hear Bishop Gene Robinson's remarkable invocation on YouTube--if one has high-speed internet access, that is, and the time to seek it out. In contrast, anyone with a TV or radio will presumably be able to hear Pastor Rick Warren's inaugural invocation live tomorrow. Why is this a problem? See:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/the-news/reporting/jason-linkins
Perhaps that is because as a white, heterosexual, middle aged high school teacher, I am all too aware of the misery of many gay and lesbian teens. I see kids struggling with sexual identity every day. Why struggling? Because they feel unacceptable. After both the Pastor Rick Warren and Bishop Gene Robinson affairs, it will be a little harder to tell them that they're wrong.
Two years ago, the sister of a former student, an accomlished young AA woman, came out to her family soon after graduating from college. Her parents, together with their minister, renounced her and refused to have anything to do with her as long as she continued to identify herself as gay. She committed suicide. Of course, her story is only one of far too many. The suicide rate of gay and lesbian teens and young adults is tragic.
As for bridge-building, well, that is one thing, but it's quite another thing for Barak to seek to flatter a malicious bigotry that threatens the well-being of so many of our most outstanding young people. I'm sorry, but I believe this casts a pall over these historic events. And if it doesn't, it ought to.
Bring it home to you. Be the change.