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 Having got up at 6:30am on the 19th to get our equipment and clothes to the Peace Mural Ball, we were delirious upon sleep time at 7:30pm. After being tattooed that day, it was a relief to hit the pillow.  However, we were up six hours later at 130am on the 20th!!!!  Michael (my songwriting partner and I) stumbled out of bed running into each other and plunged into our snow clothes…I curled my hair hoping to prep for the performance that night (in retrospect this was futile as soon my hair would be a frozen ball of fluff), and next we were in the car on the way to pick up our third, Mr. Jesse Graham.  

Staying in Virginia, although cost effective, was not very time efficient, since it was a two hour drive to the Metro we would take into the city.  But I got our tickets the day before….Yes, my over obsessive tendency towards worry paid off hardcore, for as we were pulling up to said Metro station there were about 700 cars lined up. The rap song I was singing(“I Choose You” by Outcast) came quickly to an end and Jesse started with plans B C D and E, all of which consisted of us pretty much being awesomely shitty. Like cutting in front of cars or turning around and coming in from the other side (This next part however is awesome).  We figured maybe we could skip being crapheads and instead keep driving to other metro stops and after one, two, three, four stops, eureka! We found one that practically had our name on it, singing loudly “Oh Cheri” (that’s right, by Journey)…we parked!!!!

The real day was finally at hand (it was now 4:00am)….I was very excited and singing about how cold I already was and figured I should pee again (I had already peed three times in an hour.  Most of the day will be about urination, just a little foreshadowing).  Anyway, we got on the train, took our seats, and Michael looked over at me with his big eyes and says to me in that low accusing tone, “Megan you have the video camera right”, to which I answered  with all the pedigree of growing up in an actors household , “F*** no, you have it!!” and in a moment we were off the train racing angrily back to the car.  Tearing through the back seat, Michael and I shouting and cussing at each other, Jesse leans in and says, “Hey, um, guys…did you check the bag you’re holding..?”  Jesse started laughing at my redfaced irish anger tornadoing around me..because yes it was in the damn bag!!!  Now, back to the train we go.  I take my place on the floor, the guys stand for two or three stops.  Now more and more and more and more and more and more (you know, I don’t know how to describe 2 million people taking the subway…but picture the ants on the Planet Earth show. In fact, yes, those ants are a good description, just crawling everywhere, hold that image.  Lets keep Planet Earth in our heads for later references as well)We realized on the train that the three of us ants musing together are quite annoying …the other ant people around us recognized this too…it was weird.  You see, all us ants had been stationary in the train for about ten minutes with the dude who drove the train coming over the loud speaker saying, “the trains are moving slowly folks, but they are moving”.  Jesse and Michael decided we should depart the train and the ant colony then, and as soon as we got off, it swiftly sped away…of course!  Then we ascended up the elevator to the Mall entrance.  I must admit my heart sank when we got outside and it was still dark and cold.  There was a part of me that wanted to have fastforwarded time and it not be only 4:30 am, but 11:00.  Alas.  

Now outside, it was cold and I had to pee again, but the porta potties were on the other side of the street which was gated and blocked off for 40 blocks. It was like East and West Berlin.  There were people on both sides streets and of the cages, faces pressed to the edge, caught like refugees that just wanted to pee..”No way!!!!”, I said, ”Im gonna pee on the IRS building!!!!  Jesse really supported this and he kept taking strange ‘reading the paper criminal poses’ like in bank robber movies.  Wherever I would stop and begin to unzip he would pose, like that would divert attention and save me from being seen by the police who kept walking past everytime I was close to lettin’ it go.  I finally thought after walking back and forth with the boys and pointing out all the good spots “this is stupid I’m gonna get permission to pee” (mostly because I had almost been arrested three other times on this trip and figured the law was not on my side right now)…so I found a cop and asked him “Hello officer  how are you? I have a small problem. What happens if my pants happen to fall down and I pee all over that building over there?  I do happen to have toilet paper with me, is there any arresting that could follow, because we are here to see the show!”  He laughed at me, didn’t answer and looked away.  I told him I was serious…then he said he was serious and “yes I would be arrested.”  ”Damn!!!”  He did say there was a glimmer of hope for me and all of us urinators. It was now 6:45am and the gates were to open at 7:00am, which would give us access to the potties…Hooray!! Fifteen minutes I can wait! Fifteen minutes, right….wrong!!!!! Try waiting another hour and watching every damn police brigade from DC to Miami come through. I must say, for satires sake, it was hysterical because at first when the self appointed containment crew of three ladies at the front started telling us to make way for the cops” Move to the left…Move to the left” (we all hated them). There were lots of cheers and wellwishes I even asked if this was a part of the parade.  But then each time they would close the gate and reopen it for more police and those stupid “Move to the left” voices would ring out people started becoming disgruntled..to the point that after an hour and a half past when they were supposed to open the gate we were in our huddled mass trying to figure out ways to push down the gate.  I’m so glad I’m not the only person who’s anarchy is directly related to my temperature and bladder.  It was pretty astounding.

Now the gates come down…Hooray! Hooray! people are cheering and walking. It was the most amazing game of red rover ever played, 40 blocks of red rover…amazing!!!  I also noticed that we were all so close to each other that we were all walking, side to side waddling if you will..like the emperor penguins in Planet Earth.  It was weird and strangely natural.  When we got to the Mall, people were taking apart the metal barricades that were set up to keep people entering and exiting through small openings every 50 ft…WRONG!!!  People had to pee and were ripping these suckers down. It was awesome.  I peed.  Michael peed. Jesse peed. Millions peed.

Then came nothing…it was now only 8:30am and everyone was just really goddamned cold…toe warmers and hand warmers were a high commodity and their littered  bags covered the ground. People were taking those metal barricades they had torn down and making beds and lawn seats for the elderly and children to lay on.  There were people passed out on the ground with thousands carefully walking over them so as not to disturb…incredible!!  I for one can’t imagine sitting still or sitting at all ’cause it was FREEZING!!!!!  Michael’s mustache had icicles on it and my six layers of clothing did nothing to hide my little pink Irish facial skin which was being slapped by wind blows every thirty seconds.  We walked and walked and walked.  We decided to try and cross this one particular area because… well, there was no real reason, but everyone else was doing it  (and remember we are now penguins).  So we head into this area which ended up being the birth canal for Barack Obabies. There must’ve been 65 billion people in this thing where everyone reached a midpoint and then gave up.  So now you have 32 billion people going the other way all pushing politely and breathing heavily; some annoyed people yelling “Just push.”  This was the moment I also noticed that Garth Brooks was on one of the jumbo-trons singing “Shout.”  I don’t know if people thought it was live (cause it wasn’t) but now the birth canal is all raising their arms and periodically muttering “shout”  ”shout” “shout”….are you kidding me?  That by itself is enough to make  strange (I’m an alien witnessing foreign things) happen in me, but since I was being born I figured I would cry or laugh about it later which I am doing.  

Leaving the birth canal was great but colder. As we all know it’s warmer in a womb than outside it.  So now it is 9:30 and I am restless.  Michael and Jesse are very entertaining as they are both wildly intelligent and full of love for each other and this day. They have been friends since grade school and are cracking jokes about how much I pee and whether we should remind others and ourselves what was happening on the jumbo-tron was again, not live.  However after being up since 1am and in the cold since 4am you’re brain starts to go a little koo koo….that has to be the explanation for people waiting three hours for a small thimble of hot chocolate.  My toilet paper I brought with me could’ve in other circumstances lent me the right to run my own gang, but we were instead standing in line for a hot dog.  When we hit the line it had fifteen people in it, and when I looked back ten minutes later it stretched so far I can’t even tell you how many people there were.  It took forever and kind of tasted like a shoe.  But, whatever, my jaw was freezing and it was something to support us and my medication.  Jesse, while we stood in line, found something wonderful. You see, he’s a real adventurer and loves to find cool shit and bring it back to the group (he and Michael’s fav movie was Stand by Me when they were kids).  Jesse said the Smithsonian was letting people in and the line was going pretty fast too.  I yelled “Sweet,” and ran my little frozen body to the line which was moving very expediently.  Of course, there were out of work actors who were dressed in revolutionary war outfits talking in bad British accents, standing in the line too. It was a real testimony to love of this day that these people did not get harmed in any way.  I took a picture with them and then woosh, we were in a heated building…It is now 10:00am and we had walked into the End of Days.  Bodies lined the walls.  Sleeping masses and huddled families took all the floor space around and I mean everywhere.  Upstairs, downstairs, curled up around statues and revolutionary war paraphernalia they slept or chatted waiting waiting waiting!!!!  I, of course, had to pee.  So I stood behind a woman from Jersey who, I swear, talked non-stop to a woman who obviously spoke no English but would repeat back “Barack Obama” everytime she said it for thirty minutes. It was weird.  We sat until the cops came through and made us stand up, then we roamed aimlessly around a truly awesome museum.  We of course were too fried to realize this, all of us just walking and nodding at things politely trying not to fall into the glass. Until we came around the corner to the first Washington monument and stopped dead in our tracks, as did everyone else.  It was more than a little Caeserific and very disconcerting.  Everyone was a little like”Really??”  

Now its five till 11:00am..FINALLY!!!!!!!!  We head back out the doors into the whipping cold and take our place to see it happen, and happen it did!!!  We filed onto the Mall with excitement, knowing that any minute we would watch from the jumbo-tron as history took place!!  This was what we had been waiting for, what we had driven 20 hours for, slept so little for, frozen for and written a record for…it was everybody’s story, and it was happening to all of us.  Millions and millions of people all over the world tuning in to watch this momentous occasion and some of us (the largest crowd in history) were the collective witnesses to the swearing in of a President that some people said was the legacy of a generation.  It was certainly what I considered to be the first time I witnessed democracy.  I am young and inexperienced in so many ways, but what I saw on that lawn was unity.  Everybody moving out of each others way, making sure everybody could see, holding people up moving so people could get good video shots; crying, yelling, chanting, booing. It was truly awesome and worth every minute of this trip.  Especially when Obama came out. Elation and cheers erupted like thunder and millions behind and in front joined in celebratory screams that echoed through my body all the way down to the ground that was holding us up.  It was tremendous!  He walked down the hall alone out onto the platform from the interior of the capitol building just as everyone else had: Biden, Hilary, Michelle, his girls, all the Bushes, but now it was now his turn.  There he walked all alone down that hall (it showed the same scene of him walking that hall three times on the jumbo-tron). We all watched and I stood tears running down my cheeks. Then I stopped crying for a minute and noticed  something about him.  His walk and poise were amazing. I had never seen him possess that energy before.  He looked free, unweighted, but grounded, assure of himself, ready, humble and strong, almost monkish (I’ve seen that look around people before, and read it about too..its like the same surrender someone has before giving birth, facing their death, the inevitable, or in this case their destiny.  I will never forget that walk. It was the moment that touched me the most.) He came down the stairs waving and smiling his huge smile, now looking again like a politician. (which doesn’t bother me..because, well, that’s what I hired him for…hahaha) Barack and Michelle and Justice Roberts took their place to begin the swearing in “the oath”( he and Michelle were so big on the screen..it probably felt like getting married but this time being witnessed by a nation and instead of taking each other they were taking a country).  There was stumbling during the oath which was a little jarring and annoying, but it finally  happened.  Barack Obama was sworn in as our 44th president before my very eyes.  Within walking distance from me history happened.  He delivered his speech, which I thought was great. It was serious and thoughtful, very direct and full of spirit. His speech brought calls and amens and yes sirs and hoorays and claps and sniffles and everything out of the crowd.  We cheered and stood up with him like he asked us too, and everybody was climaxing. It was spectacular and then it was over.  Sort of… (And here is a totally weird side note there was a woman next to me eating a ham sandwich during his whole speech bizarre!!..like I said everybody was represented that day)

 Now, between 2 and like 4 million people looked at each other and went “Uh now what?  I guess we all just wander around in circles some more…right?”  I have never walked more in my life than I did that day and I have lived in major cities and had to climb a mountain with my parents once…but now we had to plan our escape from the Mall…at this point we’ve been awake since 1am, in the outside since 430am, and we are pretty much delirious. To top it off, we are supposed to play a Gala on the other side of town.  Oops. Shivering, we started walking down to the wharf trying to find phone signals. Mostly me, making desperate calls to people we know are in town to see if we can hook up with them or just stand near them in a heated area for the next six hours till we play.  Of course, my fate being what it is, phone batteries began dying. Jesse’s hanging on by like, one bar, Michael’s phone was the first to go, and mine, which had all our connections in it, died a slow painful death before my freezing blue eyes in the middle of a “where are you?” sentence that could’ve saved our frost bitten tushes.  After the death of our phones, we walked to a cop and he directed us to one side of the mall so we walked for fifteen minutes talked to anther cop who directs us back to the warf and other fifteen minutes of walking.  By this point I’m crying and none of us are talking because we are freezing and our teeth have frozen together.  We finally found an officer who said “Listen everything is shut down, the metro, the buses everything. Your best bet is to walk.” “Walk? Walk? what’s that mean?” I was so pissed!!!!  But at least he was honest and that’s what everybody had to do.  So all us penguin-ant people began to walk. We walked all the way to Georgetown from the wharf, which is about thirty blocks and took about an hour, maybe an hour and a half, just to get to where our nice clothes were and our instruments. ( Wow, I still cant believe we did that, and in retrospect it didn’t seem that bad at the time, cause everybody had too…just later after we played when I felt like throwing up it really settled in.)

Next was the show. It was great. We had a blast and the music was very well-received, which is always good.  My face was torn to shreds and I looked like a strawberry, but people stood and clapped and sang along anyway.  We didn’t play long, about thirty minutes, but the coordinators of the gallery and and people throwing the party kept several of our “This is the Time” records, and the artist being shown at the gallery  (her name is HWONG) and I had a real connection and may work together again.  Performing at this event was great. It was in no way why I went, but it was nice to be able to participate in celebrating all night too.  Plus, for me, I feel like this record and its music were a big step for me in regards to participating as an artist on what is happening politically.  This time I happened to feel very positive about this election and the hope in my songs is for a better future for our country.  Under the guise of this administration I can see the possibility for change, but this was a prayer as much as a statement to me artistically and because of this pilgrimage we all took that day.  This president’s future has yet to be written, and we will see if what has been spoken and sung and amened can be stood upon.  I know I’m standing, I know artists and activists are standing.  I saw millions of regular people standing.  Standing on the shoulders of all who came before them, and the man they have decided will stand for them now.  The question remains as the winds turn and the world turns and this man turns and this administration turns: Will we remain standing?  See you in four years!  I better be standing . . .

ps  (I did get sick on the way home from DC )

pps (there was a crazy hippie girl singing three chords about buttons, granola bars, shirts, and shit on the subway, just anything she could see..it hurt me inside…we  were all traumatized and it was the only time I was afraid there would be violence that day, from everyone on the train..hahaha!!!! I believe she made it out alive, but I don’t know for sure because thankfully, she did not get off at our stop…)

My love to everyone who has supported us in the making of our record and the pilgrimage we took.  Thank you for reading our story and enjoy the pics and the videos!!!!

Love Megs