courtesy of www.changethenextday.org

This Saturday, February 20, at 6pm, the Lincoln Theatre will host a FREE, one-time screening of Marching Band, a documentary that captures the spirit of the 2008 Presidential election through the young and talented students of the University of Virginia and Virginia State marching bands.

While the film centers around the Obama campaign, politics is not the focal point. The film really tells the story of these two collegiate marching bands, the kids who love playing music and marching, and their experiences of the change facing their country and themselves.

After the screening, there will be a reception featuring some of the best organizations in D.C., where attendees can learn how to make change in their own neighborhoods and get further involved in the D.C. community. There will also be a Q&A with co-directors and producers Annie Miller and Helena Cotinier.

This is a ticketed event and seats are limited, so visit www.ChangeTheNextDay.org to get your complimentary ticket and if you’ve got some extra $, donate it to the Lincoln Theatre, so other local community members can attend the screening.

Below, get a sneak peak of the documentary by watching the Marching Band trailer.

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The Glenn Beck/FreedomWorks 9/12 DC Taxpayer Rally was on Saturday, with conservative Tea Party activists congregating in Washington to protest various things like healthcare reform, federal taxation, government deficit spending, and the President being a Stalinist Nazi Fascist Kenyan Hitler. They drew a healthy-sized crowd, by many accounts much larger than the 30,000 names registered online by FreedomWorks. DCFD estimates are said to be in the 50,000-70,000 range.

Given these numbers it seemed a bit unrealistic for a much-cited article from the right-wing Daily Mail to claim “up to two million.” This AP photo does show an impressive crowd gathered from the edge of the Capitol Lower Terrace to just west of East Capitol Circle/1st St NW/SW, filling up the entire Capitol lawn:

But that’s a wide angle shot from right behind the hedges by the Grant Memorial, much closer to the Capitol than the depth of field makes it appear. Let’s pull back a bit farther, past Grant Memorial, the Capitol Reflecting Pool, and 3rd Street, to the National Mall itself:

Not much going on in that afternoon photo, despite some protestors’ claims that the National Mall was solid with people up to the Washington Monument. In truth, the FreedomWorks event had permits only for the Capitol Grounds and not for the National Mall, prompting speakers to urge those in attendance to pull in closer to the Capitol, an announcement which at one point led to some grumbling.

Before arrival at the Capitol the real bulk of the crowd was contained in the march down Pennsylvania Ave NW, which filled up the avenue and lasted three hours, captured in this timelapse taken from an overlooking building:

Based on the density and duration of the march, rally organizers’ and supporters’ estimates range anywhere from “hundreds of thousands” range to about 1.5 million — but Penn Ave NW is much narrower than the National Mall, and fills up with people a lot faster, even for smaller marches. (This hasn’t stopped supporters from claiming that this narrow view of the march is proof that the crowd extended to the Washington Monument, even though the camera was closer to Freedom Plaza.)

Going back to the National Mall, here are two past DC rallies: the 1995 Million Man March, for which the NPS lowball estimate was in the 400,000s, and higher estimates went to 850,000:

And an aerial shot of the 1997 Promise Keepers march, for which estimates run from 500,000 to a million:

The Million Man March clearly extends well past the National Gallery of Art’s West Wing, and the Promise Keepers easily stretch from Capitol to Washington Monument. (Coincidentally, the aerial view of the Promise Keepers event continues to be passed around by somewhat more credulous linkers as being of the 9/12 rally, despite the clear absence of the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and the older configuration of paths around the Washington Monument.)

Now, here’s the crowd at the Obama inauguration in January, an event which NPS estimated had 1.2 million to 1.8 million in attendance:

For comparison, here’s a photo of the 9/12 rally at its peak, taken more or less from the same vantage point as the inaugural photo above, the Upper Terrace of the Capitol looking west towards the Monument:

Lots of people gathered on the Capitol lawn, around the Reflecting Pool, and reaching a few blocks down Penn Ave NW and Maryland Ave SW. Farther down the grassy Mall you can see the crowd thin out, well before reaching the tents of the National Black Family Reunion, on the Monument end of the Mall.

David Shuster tweeted his estimate that the rally had under 50,000 people, since the crowd didn’t go past 3rd Street, but considering that they had to pack in on the Capitol Grounds to keep from overflowing too much onto the Mall, and Penn Ave NW was clogged for up to a good three hours, I think the upper reaches of the DCFD’s 70,000 esimate are good; if the grounds around the US Botanic gardens, Senate Parking Garage Fountain, and Constitution and Independence avenues were packed, too, maybe even up to 100,000 is possible — a significant number.

Matt Kibbe of FreedomWorks has since apologized for misrepresenting the “two million” crowd estimate as having come from ABC News, and the official FreedomWorks recap says “hundreds of thousands,” which is a reasonable statement if they got up to 100,000. This, of course, hasn’t stopped 9/12 rally supporters from continuing to insist on two million, or even “2 to 3 million.”

As a useful visualization tool, Philip Bump of Mediaite depicts the difference in rally crowd estimates in terms of pixels.

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Dairy Godmother tweets “President Obama and his daughters just left. Pres. had a hot fudge sundae and daughters had vanilla cone and brownie sundae with sprinkles.” and “Malia had a brownie sundae with a housemade brownie, van.custard, hot fudge, whipped cream and cherry. Then she gave her whipped cream to dad.”

Happy Father’s Day, Mr. President.

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He’s just twelve hours older than the presidency he’s named after, but the Ringling Brothers’ newest Elephant calf is named Barack. While the President might rather have a few donkeys named after him rather than the traditional mascot of the Republican Party, it’s nice to see another endangered species add some numbers to their herd.

I suppose you could make some sort of joke about similarities in parentage, as currently, the Elephant Center isn’t sure which of their donors was the father just yet.

But that would be in poor taste. So we won’t make that joke.

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Click through this link for the most amazing full-screen high resolution picture of the inauguration. It’s incredibly entertaining, plus you can play fun games like  “find Beyonce” and “I didn’t know W had a side table!”. Plus, if you were lucky enough to have a seat up close, you’ll be able to play the most fun game of all – “find me!”

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So the Balls have (mostly) come and gone, but I think it’s still worth sharing advice of what I did right, what I did wrong, and what I wouldn’t do again when it comes to Inaugural Balls.

First there is the getting there. Matt and I struck out for our ball around 6:30 p.m. and snagged a taxi on Clarendon. We headed into the city, down L until about 17th street when we hit a SERIOUS traffic clusterf*ck that never let up. We made our way down L to about metro center when our driver gave K a shot, and around 12th we wound up in the middle of ball-apalooza. We finally disembarked the taxi, forty dollars later, around Union Station. We walked to the lobby of my office where I made Matt switch coats with me. I was wearing a cape-style coat with arm holes that acted like wind tunnels. I recieved many compliments on it, but that “chic” coat, as heavy as that sucker is, was like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. Lesson learned: Take Metro, wear a warm coat, and if you’re going to drive, take Constitution.

We arrived at the Ball, checked my adorable-yet-useless coat and I decided to forgo my heels, and not to change out of the fancy pointy-toe flats I had worn for walking. This proved to be sheer brilliance on my part, as no one looked at my shoes, and I stood the ENTIRE time. I also heard a tip that I want to pass on – if you’ve got a long dress, wear leggings underneith. You could even wear sweatpants and no one would know. My boss, an old-time republican, said his wife used to head out to the Texas ball wearing a cowboy hat, boots and leggings to get to the ball. Lesson learned: Wear flats, plus add on some warmth cause no one knows what is under your dress. If you get to wear a tux, well aren’t YOU all warm and comfy?

Mulling around the ball, there was a dinner buffet and open bar. Yes, I know, most balls didn’t have such luxuries, but we were a little off the beaten path at our ball. I loved every minute of it, plus the bar made my favorite champagne cocktail. I was one happy little girl. Lesson learned: Eat, drink, and be merry.

‘President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’
courtesy of ‘acaben’

Now, Obama didn’t come to my ball, but I hear from our readers and flickr contributors that a well placed dancing spot will earn you some fabulous pictures once the President enters the room. Lesson learned: Think where you mingle. Strategically choose a prime location.

We wound up dancing to a cover of Tiny Dancer, which was simultaniously hilarious and amazing. We were also able to assess the fashion of some eighty-year-old ladies who clearly had not exited the 1980’s and were rocking sequins only seen these days at the drag queen race. Lesson Learned: Make it what you can – there are few occasions when you can see Washington’s true sense of style (or lack thereof.)
All in all, I had a wonderful time at our ball.

How about you reader? What did you learn? What would you do differently if you had the chance for a do-over? Do tell.

Unless otherwise noted, photos in this post courtesy of flickr user Needlessspaces.

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Leaving work yesterday, I walked up Massachusetts to Union Station, and wound up pushing my way through a barrage of Obama swag, and screaming sellers. One seller was on his cell phone telling another person “come down here, there are tons more people here!”

I was offered a poster of shirtless Obama, a 2009 Obama calendar, first family mouse pad, and more tee shirts than Joey wore when he was being Chandler. There was everything, literally EVERYTHING I could want with Obama’s face (though I didn’t spot the coveted Obama Flip Flops). There was a woman pushing a walker trying to sell tees 4 for $20, and another guy hawking the hard-to-find WaPo election day paper.

Did anyone else experience this crazy Obama-market? And I swear I read somewhere (can’t remember!) that street sellers were going to have to cease selling Obama’s image on everything – cookies, money, vanity plates – after the election. Does anyone else remember that?

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In case you were under a rock yesterday, we had us an Inauguration yesterday. Our 44th President was sworn in on the steps of the Capitol while an estimated two million people witnessed it and the following parade.

Our prolific area photographers were out in force yesterday; many of them you’ll recognize from prior visits to the Flashback. I encourage you to check out our Flickr feed, as all but one of the following shots came from it. And for images around the world, check out a special Flickr section that features some great shots taken by photographers outside our Beltway.

Many, many thanks to our regular pool contributors; you guys made my job extremely hard today with all the great photos. Keep it up!

‘Hope’
courtesy of ‘primplan’

’she has stories to tell’
courtesy of ’spiggycat’

‘bleachers’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

‘Touch’
courtesy of ‘primplan’

‘the very scary but not secret service’
courtesy of ’spiggycat’

‘Inauguration: Reception’
courtesy of ‘christaki’

‘waiting.’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

‘Porta Pottys’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

’second family’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99′

‘Welcome!’
courtesy of ‘cruffo’ (from Monday’s concert)

”
courtesy of ‘erin m’

’snapping a pic’
courtesy of ‘queencodemonkey’

‘The line forms early’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

‘wrong-way parade’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99′

‘almost to beer’
courtesy of ‘volcanojw’

‘Flags at the US Capitol’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

‘alien pointer’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99′

‘090120-A-3715G-200′
courtesy of ‘jim.greenhill’

‘farewell to a president’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99′

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With most of Union Station’s Grand Hall reserved for tonight’s inaugural ball, and the Metro station and rail concourse already packed to capacity, the crowd entering Union Station had to be divided into Metro, Amtrak, and MARC/VRE riders. Confusion reigned outside as the Columbus Circle road was closed off, forcing people to circle around sidewalks and fences and clumps of National Guard and MPD personnel.

How was it for you?

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CNN is reporting that Senators Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Teddy Kennedy (D-MA) were both taken from the Luncheon at the Capitol (see, Kaspar, got that one right.) after suffering medical emergencies. CNN suggests that Senator Kennedy was having a seizure, and that it was unclear the extent of the medical difficulties that Sen. Byrd was experiencing.

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585,281 people had ridden Metro as of 1pm today, which means we’ll probably eclipse the record some time around 7pm today, if my math is right. I would bet we’ll clear 1.3M people by the time that Metro closes tonight.

Update: The 4pm graphs are out for the Metro, and they’re up to 806,000 riders for the day. At 4pm. So, by now (5pm) it’s likely that record has been topped, and it’s probable that they’ll be well over 1.3M riders for the day.

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There’s a Brand New WhiteHouse.gov this afternoon. The transition hit right as the clock struck noon, and the place is already pretty mobbed.

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Congratulations, President Obama, and welcome to your new home. Today, it’s a new Capital, though all the streets are the same. The Wordle above is a representation of the prepared text of your First Inaugural Address, which I enjoyed deeply.

Here are the three paragraphs that we should all take to heart:

So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America’s birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:

America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

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No, not today. Well, not yet anyhow. Monday was the highest ridership day of all time on Metro, serving 866,681 riders.

Today, however, will definitely set the record, as over 200,000 people had gotten into the Metro system by 7am. Amazing.

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As a friend of our twittered this afternoon, he spent $80 on 5 hours worth of parking for a meeting in Northwest DC. While supply & demand are certainly market forces at work in our fair town this week, I can certainly see this being a bad case of usury. Ouch!

Any other sky-high prices out there that you’ve seen? $6 for a Half Smoke at somewhere other than Nationals Park, perhaps? $40 for a sweatshirt at somewhere other than the Smithsonian Museums Gift shops?

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We caught these ads last night at Gallery Place, and this big banner was part of a series of ads hawking bookcases and dressers and a big ol’ sale down at Ikea. I admire the timeliness of the ad, but I’ve got to ask: Did y’all really want to commercialize the Inauguration in such a way? Kinda creepy to use the peaceful transfer of power of a nation to sell cheap ass furniture.

But that’s just me, I guess.

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The folks at Bold Progressives want you to know that there are some tickets you just shouldn’t have to buy. They’ll be raffling off Inauguration tickets this week, all you have to do is enter. Why free? Well, I’ll let them explain: “Because the inauguration shouldn’t only be enjoyed by those with tons of money. Everyday progressives who worked hard to elect Obama deserve a chance to enjoy the inauguration.”

So there you go. No ticket yet? Sign up!

Got a spare ticket that you can’t use? Get in touch with them, they’re looking for more tickets to add to their stack.

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I was sad this morning when I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to go to the show on the Mall this afternoon. I was deeply moved by the music selections, though, which I heard on the radio. Starting off with Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man was a brave and daring choice. I’m watching the concert on HBO this evening, late, and seeing everyone down at the show, I’m proud of this city, and its ability to handle a large crowd like we did today. Tuesday will only be like Sunday, but more so, surely, and there’s a possibility that things won’t go as planned, but today was a decent rehearsal.

We left our car at Pentagon City around 5 to head up to Petworth to meet visiting Our PDX blogger Brett, and had a crush of people on the yellow and green lines coming from the concert, but everyone was really in good spirits, and were behaving themselves. Sure, there’s a bit more standing to the left on the escalators than we’d all like, but what can you do? Our trip back down to the Improv was just as smooth, as was our trip back to Pentagon City I was deeply impressed by Metro’s staff, who were everywhere, visible and polite, and working to keep things going.

It was incredible to me to see such a packed city on a Sunday night, but I was pleased at how happy everyone seemed. Welcome, everyone, we’re glad you’re here. Hope you have a good time.

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Another pleasantry was the overall vibe coming from everyone, working or attending the concert.  Everyone was smiling, laughing and almost dare I say it skipping.  They were of course bundled up, but I have no doubt that the cold was the last thing on their minds.

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