Ah, that one I was not familiar with. Okay, now it makes sense.
Ain’t that the truth, well Yusaf for me. As an acoustic musician in the early 70s I loved his stuff and played a lot of songs off Teaser and the FireCat, Buddha and the Chocolate box, Tea for the Tillerman, so many great songs.
I was at the rally and leaped out of my seat when Jon said Cat Stevens. There were a bunch of people Booing Colbert when he stopped him. When they all came out at the end and were singing “I’ll Take You There” he was really having a good time joining in and the lady singing.
We got in Friday night and I had to push my companion to get there early. We got there about 8:30 and the area right in front of the stage was already full but we got a nice grassy spot right next to one of the screens and speakers so it was pretty dam good.
The people and signs were freaking awesome. I’m sure they’ll be showing up on blogs soon. My companion is a member of NORMAL and used my sign idea,
LEGALIZE POT
Quickly before they check my fanny pack.
She had her picture taken about a hundred times, and we took one of the 3 wheel bikes back to the hotel and people were honking and waving and taking pictures as we rode through town. She loved it.
There were a few hateful signs like “God hates Glenn Beck Fans” and “Sarah Palin is morally bankrupt” but most were sincere , thoughtful, promoting being reasonable, or just plain funny. Lot’s of costumes too, including the best flying spaghetti monster I’ve ever seen.
Wow , I hadn’t heard that. We had people come in at 11:30 that said the lines to get on Metro were hours long and once the train was packed up town, nobody downtown could get off.
There were also rallies in over 1000 cities all over the world. We heard the Seattle rally was 4000 people. Definitely a lot of people sick of how the 24/7 news channels handle the news and politics and wanting some sanity. I’m not surprised they downplayed it and I wonder how badly they’ll dump on him for taking a few minutes to speak from the heart.
It was broadcast on CNN Sunday night and the quality of the music wasn’t as good. It seemed like whatever effects they were using, Reverb etc, weren’t being captured in the live recording. We were by one of the awesome towers and the music sounded great. John Legend, Roots, awesome!!!
I just got back from attending, and Yee-Ha!, had a great time. The Metro was sardine-packed, but everyone was decent and helped give each other space, consideration for folks with kids in tow, older folks, etc. When there was a incoming push from the open doors at one station, a big guy near the doors said, “HEY PEOPLE, this is about Sanity, ease off !!!”, and folks did. No pushing or shoving, nor grumbles.
We got a decent spot within view of the stage, and near a Jumbotron and speakers, so could hear the whole thing. The Wave thing was cool, to hear/feel it drift past with that many people, kinda surreal. Even though the crowd was shoulder to shoulder, everyone was well-behaved and smiling, not angry. There was a real sense of solidarity.
I’ve never been in a crowd that huge, and, being a small person, crowds are not usually very conducive to me being comfortable. But, it was amazing how easygoing everyone was. Looking out, forward, back…Yikes…and stunning to see that many people had come out on what seemed a joke two months ago. I got teary, yep, to see how many people were there; Can’t imagine how it must have felt to Stewart, Colbert, and crew.
I particularly loved : Colbert hiding shirtless deep underneath the stage, and coming up in a Chilean miner-style tube, going all Knievel jumpsuit popping out.
Yusef/Ozzy/O’Jays Train songs. Writing this was damn fine enough, but to actually get everyone onstage to make it happen in less than two months? Incredible! That’s some kinda production team! (On that note, the producers had hoped to Twitter as it happened, but had to give it up cause they were running around trying to make it happen) The O Jays were smooth and lovely.
Big Colbert puppet— wish they had brought it out into the crowd !
Stewart’s finale speech was excellent. One particular point he made that was wonderful that I don’t see up in the news today was his analogy of society as a traffic situation entering a tunnel: From h’yar
That was really the tone of the rally, whether Stewart realized it was happening that way right then. 200,000 and some citizens, all behaving and heartened by each other’s presence. Laughing and decent to each other, and laughing at creative responses to the insane hate-n-shout we’re tired of. Oh, and, gotta say, it appeared that there was very little trash left as people left. Amazing. Could be it came from the nice buncha etiquette rules posted beforehand.
Last night I saw a bit of the rerun on C-Span, and the one thing I’d say that wasn’t apparent on the TV was the crowd noise , laughter, and applause. Way diminished on the TV…It’s a case of you really had to be there. A crowd that huge has it’s own protoplasmic reverberation, and it was magnificent. My heart got two sizes bigger to be there.
I’ve got my fingers crossed that he’ll show up on the Daily Show to discuss the issue and do a song, maybe two.
I think the rally struck a raw nerve with the mainstream media.
That means it went pretty much as planned. Often the subjects of satire are the only ones that don’t understand the satire. And if the satire is really good, then the response to it will only further validate it.
The message was that news coverage by the MSM does not match reality. Even though Jon Stewart says that every night on his show, a rally lets people know that others agree with the message. It bypasses the media filter and lets everyone that at least 200,000+ Americans agree with the message.
Like Olives said up thread, I needed to know that there were other reasonable people in the country. It felt great standing in a crowd with them watching the show.
I remember when Yusuf started singing “Peace Train,” I thought, “Oh, this is a great song, but a little peace and love and hippy-dippy, maybe?” I didn’t want these folks to look like the left often looks: well-meaning, aging hippies without a practical idea in their heads.
And then Ozzy comes out with his “ALL ABOARD!” rock-and-roll scream, and it was so completely opposite Yusuf’s song that I just had to laugh – the Daily Show people knew exactly what they were doing all along! And then the sound of “People all over the world–!” and I instantly recognized that song too, and then the O’Jays come out in their red, white and blue shirts and start singing and dancing and having a wonderful time, and yes, the audience “joined hands” and started singing and dancing and having a wonderful time too. Awwww! 
I am sorry so many people turned back or bailed for a restaurant or just got lost in the crowd, but I am glad that it happened because the turnout was so tremendous. That’s really exciting! It seems like everybody had a great time, even if they were nowhere near the stage or even a Jumbotron. And I hope the Daily Show folks are really happy with how it all turned out – they deserve it. This was an Event. I wonder how much it is going to affect turnout Tuesday.
What was the deal with just calling Yusuf Islam “Yusuf”? Everybody else got introduced with their first and last names, so why not him?
Is this your friend?
‘Four Troups’ are singing God Bless America at the World Series right now. Big weekend for them.
That’s how he’s been identifying himself since he’s been doing music again. His latest album just says “Yusuf,” and that’s how he bills himself now.
Thanks.
I thought perhaps Jon would encourage people to get out and vote on Tuesday (especially since I’ve heard that the youth vote is expected to be lower than two years ago). But I never heard any direct mention of the election.
You could argue that Obama said it on Wednesday’s Daily Show and everyone at the rally would likely have already seen that.
Plus it’s absolutely clear that Stewart didn’t want to do anything political. It was held on the Mall not because it’s the political center of the US, but because it’s “neutral ground.” The entire theme of the show was sanity vs overblown fear and hyperbole, of which hyperpartisan bickering is only a part. I’m not sure either of them even mentioned the words Democrat or Republican.
I was thinking of going to the one in Seattle but when I was looking the Facebook page only had about 80 people signed up. I wasn’t going to take a day off from work, pay $300 for a hotel room to stand around with 40 or so people. Damn, I’d have gone if I knew it was going to be that big. :mad:
I was at the rally with my wife and we had a nice spot up at near-ish the front. I think the Roots at the beginning was about twice as long as would have been acceptable, but once they finished everything was amazing.
The crowd was very nice, although a couple people near me didn’t have much sense about personal space. A lady in shoulder to shoulder standing room only conditions put her purse on the ground like eighteen inches in front of her for instance.
The Mythbusters wave, and playing the crowd was terrific. Ozzy and Yusef and the OJs was very cool and Tony Bennett has some pipes.
Overall the whole thing was simply fantastic. Even the exodus at the end was great.
We’re leaving DC later today and couldn’t have had a better time. Unless The Roots and Legend had hurled themselves off the stage after two songs.
I’ve got to agree about The Roots and Legend being on a bit too long. Not my preferred kind of music, and I found myself getting bored and checking my watch. But once they were gone, the time just flew!
There was something in the air - I don’t know what it was but it felt congenial and decent, if that makes sense. I didn’t see pushing and shoving. I didn’t hear any voices raised in anger. I saw kids and teens and young adults and people older than I am. Even the sheriffs brought in from Charles and Prince Georges counties seemed to be having a good time.
And the cleanliness of the mall was amazing. I watched people put their garbage back into the bags they brought in. I watched people pass recycling to those closest to the bins. I was standing right by one of the center security aisles, and I watched crews carrying bags of garbage and recycling all afternoon. And as we left, I was looking down, but all I saw was grass and the ground. There was trash in 7th street as I moved along there in the throng, but not a lot.
I’m so glad I went. I’m not a political person, not affiliated with any party or movement, but I do agree that the frothing we see on TV is not representative of anything but the TV frothers.
And I still love Jon Stewart, even if he can’t sing!
I agree. Every time I got annoyed about something, I took a breath and reminded myself it was supposed to be a cooperative event, and the annoyance went away.
The only pushing and shoving I saw was a group of guys dressed in sombreros and ponchos with megaphones (the kind made from traffic cones, not electronic) making their way toward the front yelling, “If you don’t get out of the way we’ll take your jobs!” Once they reached the strong press of people near me where they couldn’t advance except by shoving their way through, though, they stopped, grumbled a bit about taking everyone’s job, then started posing for pictures.