President-elect Barack Obama

[mshray]

the classical piece (which I recognized as Copland, tho' John Williams was credited by C-SPAN) was quite, er, classy.

Hrm... every news outlet I've seen is calling that piece a John Williams composition called "Air and Simple Gifts" but it was clearly a rip-off of Copland's "Appalachian Spring" -- WTF?

I thought ABC credited it to Copland, and Williams did the orchestration.

If so, ABC is in the minority -- I keep coming across references to it as being Williams'.  My college radio station signed on every morning with 3 hours of classical music called "The Morning Concert", and "Appalachian Spring" was the opening theme music, so it's that rare classical piece that's burned into my brain.

First of all, Copland worked a 200+ year old hymn into Appalachian Spring called "Simple Gifts".  I've sung that in church (bet Geoff has, too).  I was tuned into MSNBC & Olberman inroduced it as composed by John Williams, and after he called it "a John Williams arrangement of an old Quaker hymn, clearly inspired by Aaron Copland."  I think that about covers it.

[urth]

Just got back from watching -- arrived at the conference room in time for Rick Warren; I must say his invocation was very much in tune with the spirit of the day. Then came Ree-Ree with her Sunday-go-to-meetin' hat for "My Country 'Tis of thee".  And the classical piece (which I recognized as Copland, tho' John Williams was credited by C-SPAN) was quite, er, classy.

Obama's speech was, i think, terrific (and, true to his daughter's request, short -- just about 20 mins). As an atheist, I was especially impressed when he said "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims... Jews and Hindus and non-believers."  We don't usually get shout-outs from the presidential podium. Can ah get an "Amen"?

AMEN!!! That was not lost on me either--more evidence that Obama will strive to include everyone, rather than the extreme exclusionary policies of the Bush administration.

I made note of the exact same thing - I watched the speech and pomp in Times Square with my friend/coworker Dan.  We thought it would be impossibly crowded, but apparently most New Yorkers were watching from their offices; it was a typical Times Square day and we were surrounded mostly by Euro tourists.

PS: LOL at Ree-Ree's hat.

Glad you were able to be up to see it (didn't you work the overnight shift last night?). Definitely a huge moment in history. Sarah and I watched it on the small set in our bedroom due to extreme glare on the screen of our bigger set in the living room (it's sunny here again today--oh darn).

Due to the lack of relevant content in today's '82 set, I'm sitting here listening to the November 4 Election Day set that I got from Wayback--many thanks!

[Lightnin' Rod]

Just got back from watching -- arrived at the conference room in time for Rick Warren; I must say his invocation was very much in tune with the spirit of the day. Then came Ree-Ree with her Sunday-go-to-meetin' hat for "My Country 'Tis of thee".  And the classical piece (which I recognized as Copland, tho' John Williams was credited by C-SPAN) was quite, er, classy.

Obama's speech was, i think, terrific (and, true to his daughter's request, short -- just about 20 mins). As an atheist, I was especially impressed when he said "We are a nation of Christians and Muslims... Jews and Hindus and non-believers."  We don't usually get shout-outs from the presidential podium. Can ah get an "Amen"?

AMEN!!! That was not lost on me either--more evidence that Obama will strive to include everyone, rather than the extreme exclusionary policies of the Bush administration.

I made note of the exact same thing - I watched the speech and pomp in Times Square with my friend/coworker Dan.  We thought it would be impossibly crowded, but apparently most New Yorkers were watching from their offices; it was a typical Times Square day and we were surrounded mostly by Euro tourists.

PS: LOL at Ree-Ree's hat.

Glad you were able to be up to see it (didn't you work the overnight shift last night?). Definitely a huge moment in history. Sarah and I watched it on the small set in our bedroom due to extreme glare on the screen of our bigger set in the living room (it's sunny here again today--oh darn).

Due to the lack of relevant content in today's '82 set, I'm sitting here listening to the November 4 Election Day set that I got from Wayback--many thanks!

I tried streaming it this morning, but I couldn't find a stream that didn't buffer every 20 seconds or so, which made it unwatchable.  I just read the full text of the speech.  As I am also an atheist, I apprecieate the non-believers reference as well.

[ggould]

the classical piece (which I recognized as Copland, tho' John Williams was credited by C-SPAN) was quite, er, classy.

Hrm... every news outlet I've seen is calling that piece a John Williams composition called "Air and Simple Gifts" but it was clearly a rip-off of Copland's "Appalachian Spring" -- WTF?

I thought ABC credited it to Copland, and Williams did the orchestration.

If so, ABC is in the minority -- I keep coming across references to it as being Williams'.  My college radio station signed on every morning with 3 hours of classical music called "The Morning Concert", and "Appalachian Spring" was the opening theme music, so it's that rare classical piece that's burned into my brain.

First of all, Copland worked a 200+ year old hymn into Appalachian Spring called "Simple Gifts".  I've sung that in church (bet Geoff has, too).  I was tuned into MSNBC & Olberman inroduced it as composed by John Williams, and after he called it "a John Williams arrangement of an old Quaker hymn, clearly inspired by Aaron Copland."  I think that about covers it.

the principal turned on the big video screen at our meeting in the middle of Warren's invocation, many teachers booed!  Did he say much?  Also, yes, I've done the simple gifts song, as Lord of the Dance, and am challenging my students to make up a rhyme/rap about science based on the tune:
http://www.dulcimers.com/tunes/simplegifts.mid

[mshray]

I should add that I was deeply moved by the quartet's performance.  Obviosly no accident that it comprised 3 men and a woman, a Jew, a Latina, an African-American & a Chinese-American (born in France no less).

[Tinka Cat]

time to close this thread? 

[RGMike]

the principal turned on the big video screen at our meeting in the middle of Warren's invocation, many teachers booed!  Did he say much? 

here's a link to the complete text:

http://www.clipsandcomment.com/2009/01/20/text-pastor-rick-warren-inauguration-invocation-january-20-2009/