Obamas rockin’ White House with music series
updated 5:14 a.m. MT, Tues., Oct . 20, 2009
WASHINGTON - Michelle and Barack Obama sat one table over from J. Lo and Marc Anthony, and all four of them were rocking in their seats as Sheila E. shook the house — well, really the tent.
The latest installment of the White House music series was too big for the East Room, so a high-wattage assortment of Latin musicians sent pulsating, can’t-help-but-bob-along rhythms tumbling out of a giant tent on the mansion’s South Lawn.
As it happens, music of all sorts — rock, jazz, country, classical — has been busting out of the White House all year long.
Presidents have long used the White House as a platform to showcase the best of music and the arts: Chester Arthur staged the first formal East Room concert in the late 1800s.
But the Obamas are demonstrating a commitment to use the White House to promote the arts in a huge way. And they’re not just tapping safe, living legends: Fresh faces like bachata band Aventura and Mexican pop sensation Thalia (who lured Obama on to the dance floor briefly) shared a stage with gray eminence Jose Feliciano at last week’s Fiesta Latina.
The Obamas’ musical push started on Day One, when the Wynton Marsalis Quintet played for a private inaugural celebration party of 100 at the White House.
A month later, the White House brought in Earth, Wind and Fire to entertain visiting governors. And days later, the Obamas hosted an East Room tribute to Stevie Wonder that featured Tony Bennett, Martina McBride and Wonder himself. The president called it “the most accomplished Stevie Wonder cover band in history.”
