Tom Hanks, Justin Timberlake & Jon Bon Jovi to Attend Joe Biden’s Inauguration

By: TJVNews.com

 

Within days the United States of America will usher in the 46^th president, but this time around the traditional inauguration celebrations will not have the same fanfare of those of yesteryear due to the socially distant world that we now inhabit because of the coronavirus.

 

The virus is also expected to upend the parades and much of the outdoor festivities as the National Mall in Washington will be closed to pedestrians due to tightened security because of potential threats of violence. Crowds are also urged to stay home because of the rapid spread of the deadly Covid virus.

 

According to report in the New York Times, Biden’s inaugural committee announced on Wednesday that “it would hold a prime time television event Jan. 20 featuring celebrities including Tom Hanks, Justin Timberlake and Jon Bon Jovi that aims to “showcase the American people’s resilience, heroism, and unified commitment to coming together as a nation to heal and rebuild.”

Hollywood celebrities, including Eva Longoria, Kerry Washington, John Legend, Kal Penn, and Debra Messing. Lady Gaga will sing the national anthem.

Also announced :

On Saturday, the celebration will officially kick off with “America United: An Inauguration Welcome Event Celebrating America’s Changemakers.” The inauguration committee said the concert will “celebrate America, reflect and honor our history, and highlight the incredible diversity of the nation.” It will feature appearances by anti-Trump celebrities Whoopi Goldberg, Netflix’s Atypical actor Nik Dodani, actress Cristela Alonzo, and actor Darren Criss.

Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) and Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) will also participate.

The Resistance Revival Choir is set to perform during the concert. As its name suggests, the ensemble, which consists of female and gender “non-binary” singers, was founded in opposition to President Trump. Also set to perform is the Grammy-nominated band Black Pumas.

Eva Longoria and Kerry Washington will serve as hosts for the Inauguration Day telecast, while Bruce Springsteen, the Foo Fighters, and John Legend are also set to appear.

As Breitbart News reported, Debra Messing will co-host a pre-inauguration fundraising event on Sunday with actor Keegan-Michael Key. It will feature performances by Carole King, Will.I.AM, James Taylor, Fall Out Boy, Michael Bivins, Ben Harper, and AJR.

Messing has promoted physical violence against President Donald Trump, saying in a tweet that she hopes the president gets raped in prison.  The event is filled with a plethora of far-left Hollywood types, and someone like Messing does not exactly promote “unity”.

 

Yet and still, this year’s inauguration will take on a very different look, tone and feel from those of his predecessors, as was reported by the Times.

 

Lina Mann, a historian at the White House Historical Association told the Times that “All inaugural activities follow a pretty standard series of events. You have the parade, you have being at the Capitol, you have the speeches, you have oaths, and then, of course, you have inaugural balls. Those have been standard for over 200 years. This will definitely look a lot different than that.”

 

Inaugurations and the attendant fanfare that is attached to them also represent s cultural touchstone as they project the signs of the times in fashion, entertainment, sports and music.

 

The very first inaugural ball was held by Dolley Madison, wife of President James Madison in the year 1809 in the new capital of Washington. This glittering soiree set the stage for future dazzling balls that morphed into the social event for the season,

According to Wikipedia, Mrs. Madison was noted for holding Washington social functions in which she invited members of both political parties, essentially spearheading the concept of bipartisan cooperation, albeit before that term was in use, in the United States.

While, previously, founders such as Thomas Jefferson would only meet with members of one party at a time, and politics could often be a violent affair resulting in physical altercations and even duels, Madison helped to create the idea that members of each party could amicably socialize, network, and negotiate with each other without resulting in violence.

By innovating political institutions as the wife of James Madison, Dolley Madison did much to define the role of the President’s spouse, known only much later by the title First Lady—a function she had sometimes performed earlier for the widowed Thomas Jefferson.

Twenty years after that, President Andrew Jackson hosted a public reception tied to his inauguration that saw 20,000 in attendance, according to the Times report. Because the president underestimated how many guests the White House could accommodate he had no choice but to escape from a window in the executive mansion, as the NYT report indicated.

 

The inaugural ball that President Ulysses S. Grant had in 1869, against his will saw revelers making merry until the wee hours of the morning

 

 

Fast forward to the 1960s. The glamour of the Kennedy era shone forth when President John F. Kennedy managed to get his Rat Pack pal, Frank Sinstra to perform at an inaugural concert and gala. Old Blue Eyes did not disappoint inauguration guests as he belted out some of the tunes that he is famous for,

 

Moreover, other notable entertainers of that era also volunteered their services to welcome the new president and a new and more promising decade. Among them were iconic singer Ella Fitzgerald, composer Leonard Bernstein, actor Sidney Poitier, singers Ethel Merman and Harry Belafonte as well as other A-List stars of the time on the entertainment scene.

 

The Times reported that a blizzard disrupted the festivities, but one report of the time

described the gala as “perhaps one of the most stunning assemblies of theatrical talent ever brought together through a single show.”

 

Two decades later, former Hollywood actor Ronald Reagan had a bevy of friends from the entertainment industry at his inaugural festivities. Stars such as Charlton Heston, Tony Bennett, Lou Rawls and Ray Charles performed, according to a NY Times report.