Massachusetts Music
Grammy award winning producer Quincy Jones, center, Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., left, and country music singer-songwriter Brett James, right, join other recording artists on stage to sing “We Are the World” at the conclusion of the GRAMMY’s on the Hill Gala Dinner and performances at the Williard Inter-Continental Hotel in Washington, Wednesday evening, Sept. 5, 2007. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
No, your eyes were notfooling you Wednesday night: That really was Sen. Ted Kennedy onstage singing the 1980s do good/feel good/sounds awful song “We Are the World” alongside legendary producer and songwriter Quincy Jones, Rep. Marsha Blackburn and John Rich, half of the popular country duo Big & Rich.
Audience reviews of Kennedy’s performance ranged from “Oh my God” to “Oh my goodness.”
But it was that kind of day in Washington. Yes, even though Congress has only a 19 percent approval rating, even though there’s an ongoing debate over the future of the Iraq war, and despite the fact that colleagues are getting busted in airport bathroom stalls, pols still managed to sing at the top of their lungs Wednesday.
The occasion was the annual “Grammys on the Hill” event, a day of music advocacy in which myriad musicians and artists petition politicians to advance the interests of recording artists everywhere.
In the afternoon, you could have seen Reps. Mary Bono, Connie Mack, Steve Cohen, Adam Schiff, John Lewis, Paul Hodes and John Hall all sporting big smiles and bigger voices as they belted out “America the Beautiful” with recording artists Bebe Winans and Keb’ Mo’ in the Cannon Building’s Caucus room.
But the really good stuff was to come later that evening at the Williard Intercontinental Hotel, when Rich surprised the audience gathered for the Grammys on the Hill Gala Dinner by suddenly strumming “We Are The World” and imploring Jones, Kennedy and Blackburn to get onstage (Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who was in attendance, luckily escaped scrutiny).
Music must truly be a uniting force: More than a few audience members noted that Rich is an outspoken Republican and Kennedy a liberal lion.
“Tonight’s event proved that music really is the great uniter in all of humanity,” said Neil Portnow, president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Or perhaps Rich let Kennedy off the hook because, like himself, the Massachusetts senator is Big and Rich.
