So I’m just giving
thumbnails and links.
Click for bigger
pictures.
She’s wearing a
blue hat.
“When I walked out onstage and saw the crowd I started to cry. I’ve never seen or felt anything like that before, Mommy… The whole Mall full of people cheering… And there was the President, fifteen feet away… When we finished singing and started walking back to the tent, we were all crying…. I’m trying to walk back to my dorm now. Can you hear me over the shouting? … I think I’ve walked around the dorm a bunch of times… I’m not sure where I am… It’s hard to see. We keep getting stopped for motorcades. Eventually I’ll end up at my dorm…”
If you’ve just tuned in, UD‘s kid, a female personage, eighteen years old, is singing (she’s an alto) in the chorus at the first inaugural event, the big public concert at the Lincoln Memorial.
UD just caught up with her for a rushed cellphone chat on her way to today’s rehearsal.
“We’re singing America the Beautiful [If you can sing this, thank an English professor.] with Beyoncé and The Rising with Bruce Springsteen. We rehearsed with Beyoncé yesterday… What was it like? Minus one degree! I’m putting on many more clothes today… Yeah, security’s pretty tight… You have to get there via these special buses… I’m in a hurry because I have to get to the pick-up point by noon… How am I? Exhausted. But the sound the chorus makes — it’s wonderful.”
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Another update: She’s somewhere behind him, freezing her tail off.
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Another, Really Important, Update: Just finished a longish conversation with the child, and you can see her in the video. Occasionally. She’s in the front row behind Springsteen, to the very far right. In the first few seconds, you can see her – white hat, playing with her scarf. Then she’s out of camera range. She comes back into range at the very end.
She’ll be standing in the same place tomorrow. You should have a very clear view of her throughout the Springsteen song.
And yes. I know you’re a lot less interested in tracking my kid than I am. I’m just excited, and I want to share this.
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Mr UD’s out shopping for her. Chorus members have to wear black ear muffs and white scarves tomorrow.
More from my exclusive interview.
“Five of the kids in the youth chorus [La Kid’s in the adult chorus — the youngest member.] went to the hospital with hypothermia yesterday. I mean, we’re standing there, it’s nighttime, it’s insanely cold… Some of the kids were just in hoodies…. When the wind whipped up!
Springsteen was really nice. Met with us, chatted with us, and I’m in a couple of group pictures with him. He said he liked the sound we made. Told us to be way loud tomorrow.
We’re going to be in tents tomorrow, watching the show on monitors when we’re not onstage. Which sort of sucks. But it’s worth it to get to be part of it. Today, I didn’t remember any of the hassles involved in taking part — just the greatness of being up there, doing this thing… ”
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Viewing details.
What La Kid looks like.
… so I can’t really talk.”
UD tries to call La Kid.
She’s in rehearsal.
The spoiled ‘thesdan theme has gotten totally out of hand.
You know. The University Diaries theme involving the ridiculous privileges accruing to UD’s kid. It’s gotten totally out of hand.
Here’s who she’s singing with in a few days. She’s already had one rehearsal with the chorus.
Recording artists Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am and Stevie Wonder are scheduled to play the opening celebration, which will be free and open to the public.
Um. Words fail me.
Madoff hits George Washington University.
UD‘s about to see Legally Blonde – The Musical, at the Kennedy Center, with her kid.
The Presidential Inaugural Committee has been mum, but sources tell the Post’s Lena Sun that Bruce Springsteen will perform at Barack Obama’s inauguration week welcome event Jan. 18 on the National Mall. The event will be on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and open to the public for free.
La Kid will be part of the chorus for the event.
… UD helped Jerzy Soltan write an essay of Le Corbusier reminiscences for this book (Soltan, Mr UD’s father, was a Corbu disciple).
English was Soltan’s fourth language. His son’s girlfriend was just the person to turn Soltan’s rather raggedy prose (full of exclamation marks !!! and ellipses ……. ) into something chic.
I loved doing it. The story of Soltan’s discovery of Corbu, and the way Soltan, fresh from six years in a prisoner of war camp, simply appeared at the door of Corbu’s Paris atelier — it’s quite a thing.
The latest big biography of Corbu – Le Corbusier: A Life, by Nicholas Fox Weber – quotes a great deal from that essay, UD‘s pleased to say.
…will sing at the opening
ceremony of the Obama
inauguration events. She’ll
be part of a chorus at the
steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Obama will be in the audience.
Sunday January 18,
around 2:00 PM.
I dedicate this yearly post
On the newly-done UD
To the drink I drink the most
And most adore: tea.
Coffee revs me up to teach.
Tea’s greater reach
Summons the muse.
I could go on about the brews
I steep and sip… bergamot-rich Earl Gray,
And Lady Gray (a less-known mix)
The milky chai you fix
In complex, subtle ways:
Honey, sugar, cardamom seed …
The way its sweet smoke, freed
To float around the room
Mingles with the smoke of a candle,
Also scented, to make romantic the gloom
Of an autumn night. Imagine sandal-
Wood coming off the pillar, and the fruity
Spice of Marco Polo, a moody
November evening, an aromatic log
In the kindling, and … the blog.
The blog, redesigned, beside the fiery
Hearth, hard by a porcelain cup,
Calling out for up-
Dates of University Diaries.
Before I settle
To sessions of bloggy thought,
I rise and return to the kettle
To brew another tea I bought:
Snowberry Pumpkin Ceylon…
Oh ship of tea, sail on!
All Thanksgiving praise
To oxidized haze,
To heat rising up from the swirl,
The pot scorched out,
Its Asian spout
A crackled pearl.
A hymn to the leaf serene.
A hymn to the black and green.