The Paramount Theater was open for the inauguration this morning. They opened at 7. Sadly, I dilly-dallied around the house a little longer than normal, and on the way there, we dropped off the dogs at day care. There were some folks obviously streaming to the theater, but not nearly as many as I expected. This was a good sign.
I headed into the theater and as I did, someone handed me a couple commemorative cards. I grabbed them, thanked the lady, and headed inside. A big line in front of the bar. People, people, people -- get control of yourselves...
I bypassed those folks and headed straight for the door on the first floor. I heard the usher tell the folks in front of me there were only a few single seats available, but that there may be some seats on the 3rd floor balcony. As they turned to leave, I approached the usher and told her I was looking for a single. She said there might be one or two near the front of the stage. Cool. I headed down the aisle, toward the front of the theater, scanning for a possible empty seat as I made my way down. Nothing. The place was packed. I even made it to the front of the theater. Zilch. Zippo. Nada.
I turned and beat a hasty retreat to the lobby. The crowd was buzzing and every time a shot of the soon-to-be first family (or Biden and spouse) appeared, the place went wild. Wow, what the hell have I gotten myself into?
Also worth noting: when bush or cheney appeared on screen, they got a nice healthy booing. How appropriate that DICK was in a wheel chair. The story is that he hurt his back while packing some boxes. I don't believe this story for a second. The last couple of days, I've seen several stories talking about the fact that the outgoing president and incoming president have teams devoted to unpacking EVERYTHING, putting it all into their respective spaces, and having all the boxes, wrapping, etc. gone by the time the family gets to the new home. Why would it be any different for the V.P.s? I suspect DICK couldn't bring himself to stand for the new president. What a poor sport, but given who I'm talking about, not surprising.
I scooted my way up to the 2nd balcony (why sit on 3, when you can have it on 2?). When I got there, and looked up, all I saw were people in seats. Not a single empty (non-reserved) seat to be found. I walked up the side aisle, scanning desperately for that one lone seat, but there was nothing. I eventually found myself on the 3rd floor balcony, and started making my way up. Whoa, I spotted what appeared to be an empty seat. I asked the gal sitting next to it if it was empty and she said yes! Woohoo! I made my way to it and just as I was about to sit down, the gals sitting in the row in front of this seat said, No, that seat's not empty. I looked at the chick how said it was and she said she was wrong and that it was reserved. Thanks for nothing...
I left the aisle and found myself working my way up to the last rows of seats. Nothing free to be found anywhere. I finally found myself at the very back of the theater, in an aisle behind all the seats. I was truly in SRO-land... This kinda sucked. I looked around, and found an open spot next to a wall. I quickly scooted over to get my place, set my briefcase down, and started peeling down. I had dressed for the eventual walk to school, and the bus ride home. It was in the low 30s this morning, so I was pretty bundled up, and now I was a steamy, sweaty mess...
Tops off, I dug into the camera bag, as I intended to document this historic occasion. I dug out the camera, and started trying to take some pictures. They were a complete disaster, and I didn't take a single one that is worth showing. I hate that camera. I guess I was going to have to record this event in my mind. I'll be lucky if I remember tomorrow that I'd even gone.
The screen they set up for the audience was pretty damn big, and the picture was nice and clear. I was amazed when they show the Washington Mall. A truly astounding number of people gathered there to witness one of the most significant events in American history.
In short order, here's how the event played out (order may be off a little).
- Aretha Franklin came out and sang America The Beautiful. She looks like a house on legs, but the voice is still pretty good.
- Biden was sworn in. Lots of cheering in the theater.
- Warren came in and gave a prayer. A fair amount of booing from the theater audience.
- A musical performance was given by... Hmmm, the only ones I recognized where Itzhak Perlman and Yo Yo Ma. The piece was a new composition by John Williams and was very forgettable.
- Obama was then sworn in. Lots of cheering! Bush is out, we have a new president.
- Obama gave his acceptance speech. Very inspirational.
- A woman came out to give a poem.
Time for me to fly.
I suited back up, headed out of the theater, and up the hill to school.
I'm once again a sweaty mess, but am so glad I made it out to witness this event.
Tonight, there will be beer!
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