(Bettye LaVette photo by Kasra Ganjavi, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License)
Bettye LaVette - the lost voice behind "Let Me Down Easy" - as obscure & hip as an R&B singer can get. And she's singing for the President-Elect. He's right: all things are possible ...
... and she's singing with Jon Bon Jovi, of all people. Who does a great job with her on the Sam Cooke's "Change is Gonna Come." She smiles approvingly when he reproduces Sam's phrasing on the title phrase. And there's just a trace of the hair band boy in his vocal. Not too much ....
Bruce and "The Rising" sound way better with a gospel choir. It makes those lyrics come alive. He's really gotten to be a great songwriter since that first flawed album or two. Talent and relentless hard work ... wish I'd thought of that ...
Where's 'Retha? (UPDATE: She's singing at the Inauguration itself -- which is the only acceptable reason not to have the Queen herself at the concert.)
Loved Herbie Hancock up there with Sheryl Crow and will.i.am, throwing a touch of discordant bop behind their lovely cover of Marley's "One Love." And since Bob took the choruses from "People Get Ready," I feel as if Curtis Mayfield was there too. As he should have been and would have been, had he lived - poet of freedom, justice, and civil rights, Mr. Move On Up.
It was inspiring to see Pete Seeger up there at 89 years of age, leading the crowd in the forgotten/banned "socialist" verses to "This Land is Your Land" - even including the one about the "Private Property" sign not meaning anything. Proudhon with a Guitar ...
And Garth Brooks did a great job, gave his all as always. Glad he sang "We Shall Be Free." It took guts for him to write and perform that for the country market when he did. But I think he left out the gay rights verse.
But where's 'Retha?
Some of those readings really worked, too. The Tom Hanks was perfect. Jamie Foxx worked the crowd a little shamelessly, but that's OK. Marisa Tomei got the Reagan quote: Did she draw the short stick?
Jack Black was there, but he did not launch into a Tenacious D number. Which allowed the Secret Service to stand down just a little ...
Hippest looking people there: James Taylor. Samuel L. Jackson. Maybe Usher (I must have that coat.) And JT's singing and guitar playing were quintessentially tasteful and restrained. Tasteful and restrained is, in the end, also the hippest.
U2. Did good, especially on "Pride." A shout out to Israelis and Palestinians ... a little envelope-pushing there ... they've turned into a tight band along the way, haven't they?
I'm going to assume that there were logistical problems involved in booking Aretha. Or that her car engine froze up somewhere in Michigan.
Stevie Wonder. Higher Ground indeed.
Oh, and the new President and Vice President carried their own, too. Listening to Obama's talk it occurred to me: This is the B-side. If this is the flip, what's the A-side going to sound like?
And I know he looks like America, part Africa and part Midwestern through his mother. But watching him groove to a couple of these acts it seemed: he's not from Kansas anymore. And Joe Biden -- Joe's a flawed and brilliant guy with a big, big heart. Isn't he?
Bruce was the soul of the day. Or was it Pete, looking like he was ready to chop some wood? Or Michelle, singing along with "One Love"?
Or was it the crowd?
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