The event is over; the message will linger in the air. Earth was tilled, seeds were planted, and some will grow to blossom and fruition. For those of us with eyes to see, ears to hear, minds to reason, and hearts to care......Jon Stewart spoke a few of the most significant words of our time. "These are hard times, not end of times." "You go, then I'll go; you go, then I'll go........."

eileen!!!! were you there? some friends dragged me there...we were a tad late (after 12)...i felt like a tightly racked bowling pin! what an immense crowd! i am generally not fond of the thought, but it was a good crowd. lot's of us (gazillions) couldn't get inside the thing but we got up to the "fence" (did i hear ozzy osbourne?)...one guy lost his balance somewhat and started to fall backwards but hardly moved and he is like, "whew! thank goodness there were like nine thousand people behind me to catch me!" :)
we left early enough to get out to a signal (one of my friends had one of those hand held computer things with internet (see how high tech i am) so that we could actually hear and see the thing that kevin is talking about that was at the end of the program!

I was; I got down there around 10:30, met up w/a friend, and we managed to get close enough to kinda sorta see the jumbotrons and hear (although for awhile hearing was problematic -- till the crowd took up the "louder! louder!" call, which was great.)

I thought the best moment (or series of moments) was this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c80LnOvKayg

The video isn't complete, unfortunately -- can't find a complete one, but it's the closest I've found.

Sorta wish we'd heard all of Peace Train, but it was still a great train medley...

Salon has a good writeup that captures how the day was -- it definitely had its "clumsy and beautiful" moments:

http://www.salon.com/news/rally_to_rest ... television

The crowd was humongous -- I haven't seen a crowd that big since the 1976 bicentennial (but I didn't go to Obama's inauguration -- likely that was bigger). After the rally, we walked over to 7th street (or, rather, shuffled, because the crowd was so huge), turned the corner and just saw this mass of people for blocks and blocks in the streets ahead of us (closed to cars), decided to detour a couple of blocks and go up 9th and it was better, but still just all these people. Quite amazing.

I ended the day by going to see Tom Paxton & Janis Ian at the Birchmere, which was pretty laid back about the whole bag-searching thing (they barely looked). That was a great show.

Oh I wish I was there. Seen stuff All Night on Facebook. The vibes I got from Jon's ending speech were of love for all Mankind.

wow! thanks for the links elieen, it helped put together some crazily disconnected moments!

leo, what are you laughing at? :)

Sounds like fun! I wasn't there...I was in Columbus, Ohio with some Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum friends...people I've known for coming up on 9 years. They're like family...the family you choose. Lots of good times, good songs, gorgeous guitars, fancy picking and tasty harmonies. We've all pretty much decided that getting together once a year in Nazareth, PA isn't enough anymore. It's a lot like Blundering with good friends, only with Martins. Luckily, these people love autoharps, so I brought those plus a guitar and a lovely KoAloha uke that followed me home from Hawaii three weeks ago. Just got home (6pm) and waiting for trick-or-treaters. We don't get many these days...all the kids have grown up.

That sounds like so much fun the guitar thing. Every yr Mike & I would go visit his late sister and her family in Columbus, OH. Now that Mikes gone I don't get to go back there cuz it would be too hard traveling there alone. I feel like Sue, Agnes and the other blunderites I've met over the yrs are like blunder family. I have friends who are like family to me...