Deep down, you know that it's not possible for one jolly fat guy and eight flying ruminants moving at what would have to be six hundred and fifty miles per second, three thousand times the speed of sound, to visit the home of every girl and boy in the world. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that’s 91.8 million homes (presuming that he doesn't handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children) in thirty one hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west.But you just wanted to believe it was true... SO MUCH.
Live or Memorex? Some Music for inauguration taped
WASHINGTON – The classical music played for millions of people watching President Barack Obama's inauguration was not the live performance it appeared to be.
Unless you were one of the fortunate few sitting within earshot of the celebrated performers, what you heard was a recording made two days earlier.
Cellist Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Itzhak Perlman, pianist Gabriella Montero and clarinetist Anthony McGill made the decision a day before Tuesday's inauguration to use a previously recorded audio tape for the broadcast of the ceremonies.
Carole Florman, a spokeswoman for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, said the weather was too cold for the instruments to stay in tune. "They were very insistent on playing live until it became clear that it would be too cold," said Florman in a telephone interview Thursday night...
Deep down, I knew the sound was too good, the weather was too cold. But I still wanted to buy it, hook, line and sinker. Next you'll be telling me that John Williams lifted entire sections of the piece from Copeland's Appalachian Spring.
"...It would have been a disaster if we had done it any other way," Perlman told The New York Times, which first reported that the music was taped on its Web site Thursday. "This occasion's got to be perfect. You can't have any slip-ups."Ummmm..... PRESIDENTIAL OATH OF OFFICE anyone?
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January 23, 2009 at 8:18 AM
I KNEW IT! I sat there watching that and said ... outloud ... How can they be playing that in such cold weather with every pitch in perfect order. In my relatively small area of smartness about stringed instruments, I kept thinking those strings should be frozen or, if not, certainly on their way there. But the thought of them *playing* a piece that was pre-recorded... who knew?
January 23, 2009 at 8:37 AM
Ahh... I see Mr. Obama's administration is off to a flying start. He signs an executive order to be "more transparent", then later that same night has to re-do the oath and won't allow TV cameras inside the room to record the re-oath... And now it's been uncovered that this was recorded? Oye.
January 23, 2009 at 9:23 AM
I can't believe I'm about to say this (being from NJ and raised not to trust anyone), but are we starting to look for faults in Pres. Obama already (not you specifically, but us as a nation)? So what if the music was taped! So what if he messed up his lines! So what if he redid them in a more private moment (and without a Bible)! And what's with the article referring to him as "Mr. Obama", he's President Obama now! Maybe instead of nitpicking at all of the things that are going wrong we focus on what's going right, this would be a better world to live in!
(Sorry. I'm supposed to give a talk on Pres. Eyring's conference talk on unity this Sunday, and I guess I've been thinking about it lately.)
January 23, 2009 at 9:56 AM
I think I'll take pre-recorded musical numbers, flubbed oaths and a do-over without a Bible over the last eight years of what we've had. As Scott points out, these are small beans compared to the huge things President Obama and the American people have been tasked with fixing in the next four years.
January 23, 2009 at 10:16 AM
@DC: Eh, perfect, schmerfect.
@all: I think I might have unintentionally made it seem like this post was about the new president when in fact, it's about the crushing disappointment upon finding out that my hero, Itzhak Perlman, bow-synced (well, he didn't lip-sync, right?). For a violinist, that's way worse than flubbing the Presidential Oath.
January 23, 2009 at 10:17 AM
@Scott: Oh, leave it to you to bring in the voice of reason. Actually, my oath of office comment was directed at Justice Roberts who, I read, felt it wasn't necessary to practice the 35 word oath and is the one who screwed it up. Obama, to his credit recognized the mistake and tried to fix it. But the fact remains that the president takes office at 12 noon on Jan. 20, oath or no oath. Two other previous presidents have repeated the oath because of similar issues, Calvin Coolidge and Chester Arthur. If Obama was trying to hide something, it was probably a poor choice to repeat the oath with photographers and reporters present, huh?