Thursday, Jan. 22 2009 @ 3:43PM
Attending the official inaugural balls in Washington, D.C. Tuesday night required you to be well connected or totally loaded. Not to mention that pricey gown you had to buy just to look acceptable with the big wigs.
So when I heard Top Chef season four loser Spike Mendelsohn was hosting a cheaper "Burger Ball" on Capitol Hill at his new restaurant
Good Stuff Eatery, I couldn't be happier to partake.
A ball where jeans are encouraged? Count me in.
Besides, I wanted to see what a crowd of poor Obama supporters looked like. Well, too poor or unimportant for the official balls, but still wanting to spend enough to feel like they matter. I found them.
I even scored an interview with Spike. Check out the video below.
Wednesday, Jan. 21 2009 @ 6:15PM
Yesterday
we wrote about the experience in the crowd at Barack Obama's Swearing-In Ceremony. Now you can see it for yourself. We had a standing-only spot right behind the Capitol reflecting pool.
Check out our video recap below.
Wednesday, Jan. 21 2009 @ 3:00PM
As the inauguration began, all eyes were on the ceremonies. Well, when you are in a crowd packed so tight you can barely turn around and can't really see anything of importance going on, the crowd becomes the entertainment for the afternoon. Just listening to the ceremony isn't good enough for our attention-deprived minds.
So while the big shots spoke, here is what was being said and discussed in the masses. The top hilarious moments in the inauguration crowd.
Wednesday, Jan. 21 2009 @ 11:45AM
I've made it back to Minneapolis in one piece and in need of serious recovery time. A long weekend of 4-hour (or less) nights of sleep, 8+ hours a day out in the cold and a serious lack of interest in nutrition will make even a young body cringe.
I am slowly developing a wicked cold and could use a couple ice packs for my knees and back. What have I become? Grandma needs a nap.
Don't worry, there are many more inauguration stories to tell. I will continue to wrap up coverage and tie up loose ends this week.
Was it all worth it? Totally.
Tuesday, Jan. 20 2009 @ 7:19PM
Both of Minnesota's wanna-be senators sent out fundraising letters today regarding Barack Obama's inauguration. Franken currently leads Coleman by 225 votes after the recount, but Coleman is contesting it in court.
Tuesday, Jan. 20 2009 @ 7:00PM
Photo courtesy of FredMiranda.com
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak was one of the lucky folks with a seat at Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony. While he was up front near the action millions of people came to see, Rybak says the real action was out in the crowd that came to see history happen.
Rybak took a moment by phone to talk to CP about his experience at the ceremony.
Tuesday, Jan. 20 2009 @ 6:30PM
The swearing-in ceremony for Barack Obama went as smooth as can be. Except for one slip up that had the crowd giggling and confused.
Did Obama forget his Oath of Office? Up too late studying his speech only to forget the oath? Nope, blame Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts who misplaced his words and made Obama look a tad foolish. Fist bump it out, kids.
Tuesday, Jan. 20 2009 @ 5:49PM
Made it to the swearing-in ceremony at 6 a.m. to stand in line. Our silver tickets got us a spot behind the Capitol reflecting pool, but we soon learned that these weren't special seats by any means. The line to enter stretched for blocks and turned into a crazed power walk when the gates opened. As the crowd started moving, people started to jump line, receiving boos from people who had been in line well before dawn.
Tuesday, Jan. 20 2009 @ 4:39AM
We'll be heading down to the National Mall in a couple minutes, (6 a.m. Eastern time) to get in line for our spots. We scored last minute tickets to the "Mall Standing Area" which is the ticketed area farthest from the stage. It's better than nothing! Gates open at 8 a.m. and the program starts at 10 a.m.
First text message alert this morning from the Washington Post says the trains are filling at the first stops on their routes and there are huge crowds downtown. These people aren't joking around.
This would be the moment to thank my wonderful friend Ahna for letting me stay in her apartment sharing her twin size bed. We only have a 10-minute walk downtown to get to our ticketed spot.
Cell phone service is likely to be nonexistent. Just during the concert with 400,000 people, my phone had trouble sending text messages and making calls was a total joke. Looks like we are on our own.
Wish us luck!
Tuesday, Jan. 20 2009 @ 1:11AM
While waiting in line to enter the Longworth House Office Building in Washington, D.C., we met Jaleice Johnson, a student at Cooper High School, and Estrella Seals, a student at Cherokee Heights Middle school. The two wrote the winning essays for a
We Win Institute contest about black excellence and received a free trip to Barack Obama's inauguration. The program's founder, Titilayo Bediako, took the girls on the trip.
Hear their story below.
Tuesday, Jan. 20 2009 @ 12:51AM
Think back to the most ridiculously huge wedding you've attended. Hopefully it wasn't your own. Now think about the receiving line you had to stand in to give the bride and groom a hug with a couple minutes of small talk. Now replace the wedding party with politicians.
Monday in the Congressional offices was like a mash-up of wedding receiving line and a really popular kid's graduation party. Snacks, excitement, talk of the future. And a whole lot of politics.
Rep. Keith Ellison and Sen. Amy Klobuchar spent the day moving more than 1,000 visiting Minnesotans through their doors for snacks, refreshments and self-guided tours of the cramped quarters.
Monday, Jan. 19 2009 @ 11:25PM
Monday can be explained in one word: waiting. Or maybe patience. These visitors have a lot of it.
Today was the day that all Congressional offices invited their constituents into the offices to pick up their inauguration tickets. Anyone can normally come into the offices, but this was the first and only day for most to make it to the office during regular hours. It was organized chaos at its best.
Lines for the three house buildings snaked around every side and every entrance. While I didn't need a ticket, I wanted to experience life inside the House buildings when they were bursting with energy. They are normally a pretty sleep place.
So I waited. And waited. For two hours. Worth it? Totally.
Monday, Jan. 19 2009 @ 9:50AM
Poor Vice President-elect Joe Biden didn't seem to get the memo. Barack Obama won the White House. It's officially time to take a deep breath and turn the voice down, Mr. Biden.
Although nearly a half-million people crammed into the space in front of the Lincoln Memorial specifically to cheer on their next president and vice president, Biden got more laughs and hilarious commentary than a round of applause. The guy is still just too excited about the job.
Monday, Jan. 19 2009 @ 9:33AM
After President-elect Barack Obama's Whistle-Stop Tour Saturday, official inauguration festivities kicked off Sunday afternoon with the "We are One" concert at Lincoln Memorial.
The gates opened at 7 a.m., but there was word of people getting there by 2 a.m. or 4 a.m. to wait for the prime spots in front of the monument.
Our journey to the concert didn't exactly go as planned. It seems to be a common theme among many who arrived just for the inauguration.
The concert was exactly what you'd expect: energizing, exciting, and pretty cheesy.
There is really no way to describe watching old ladies rock out to "Shout" or young guys in baggy jeans get into a serious sing-along with Pete Seeger. Obama is bringing us together with our guilty pleasure of pop stars!
Sunday, Jan. 18 2009 @ 8:57PM
Image by Dan Corrigan for City Pages
The funny sightings in Washington, D.C. are numerous as pretty much everyone who matters (just kidding everyone who isn't here) has come to the Capitol for Barack Obama's inauguration.
One blogger,
Matt Cutts, ran into Al Franken after a party. Someone asked Franken to record a "stay in school" message for a Florida classroom and Cutts recorded his response.
Get this: He studied, but he was still cool. We'd beg to disagree.
Sunday, Jan. 18 2009 @ 8:25PM
There are some Minnesotans who don't get out much. So when they take a trip half way across the country to see the nation's first black president get sworn in, they better have the weekend of a lifetime. For some, that involves wild jacuzzi orgies.
A Minnesotan who received tickets to the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday was one of many who posted an Obama-related ad on craigslist looking for some willing orgy participants. He even gave a shout out to Sen. Amy Klobuchar. How thoughtful! Perhaps his awesome abilities to win a lottery inauguration ticket will help him score in bed too.
Sunday, Jan. 18 2009 @ 11:00AM
There was an almost constant crowd of curious tourists checking out the inauguration space Saturday. And some of the clever local folks knew these visitors were gullible enough and just plain happy enough to be fooled into giving them a couple bucks. Everyone here is trying to make some spare change off of this.
This man takes the award for best inauguration shtick I've seen so far.
Sunday, Jan. 18 2009 @ 10:00AM
Washington, D.C. still seemed a little sleepy Saturday afternoon as the masses continued to trickle in. I decided to adventure down to the Capitol and the National Mall to see what was going on. I lucked out with a place to stay just a 10-minute walk from the Capitol, so I won't have to deal with the extreme crowds on the Metro subway system come inauguration day.
So what is there to see on the National Mall three days before the event? A whole lot of port-a-potties. Yeah, Barack Obama is making history, but so are these outdoor toilets.
Sunday, Jan. 18 2009 @ 9:00AM
I made it in one piece and haven't shed much clothing from the chilly Minnesota winter. It's cold here too! I will be updating Blotter occasionally this weekend with random tidbits and more often on Monday and Tuesday as events pick up.
I'm poor and battling it out with the journalism big wigs here, so my plans for the week are still up in the air. Cheap beer and free concerts never sounded so good. Expect my experience here to be much like the millions of others here just to take in the experience. No gowns or bottles of Cristal here.
Check out some views of the National Mall below.
Friday, Jan. 16 2009 @ 5:45PM
This evening I will depart from our shockingly cold tundra for a place with a little more reasonable winter temperatures. At least Washington, D.C. knows how to hover around freezing.
Instead of working from the confines of the City Pages office (or my couch during particularly cold days) my boss gave me the OK to fly out to the Capitol for the week to experience Barack Obama's inauguration in person.
But we won't be leaving readers behind. We've made it easier than ever to cyber-stalk while I am gone.
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