{"id":86183,"date":"2017-01-21T03:52:16","date_gmt":"2017-01-21T08:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=86183"},"modified":"2017-01-21T03:52:16","modified_gmt":"2017-01-21T08:52:16","slug":"trump-feted-by-tony-orlando-jackie-evancho-at-inauguration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2017\/01\/21\/trump-feted-by-tony-orlando-jackie-evancho-at-inauguration\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump feted by Tony Orlando, Jackie Evancho at inauguration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Trump<\/a>
Trump feted by Tony Orlando, Jackie Evancho at inauguration (Photo: Tony Orlando\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON\u2014Donald and Melania Trump were feted at their inaugural balls by the Rockettes and by singer Tony Orlando, who sang his famous \u201cTie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, it was 16-year-old singer Jackie Evancho who had the spotlight, singing the national anthem in a soft, solemn voice. \u201cGreat job, Jackie!\u201d the new president called out.<\/p>\n

In the evening, Trump and his wife first hit the Liberty Ball, where the new president told the crowd how much he had enjoyed his first day as commander in chief.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople that weren’t so nice to me were saying that we did a really good job today,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s like God was looking down on us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple danced to \u201cMy Way,\u201d joined by Vice-President Mike Pence and his wife, Susan, as well as Trump family members.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy Way\u201d was also the couple’s song of choice at the next stop, the Freedom Ball, where Trump asked the crowd playfully whether he should \u201ckeep the Twitter going?\u201d The crowd roared in apparent approval.<\/p>\n

Trump, who was given a second, POTUS Twitter account on Friday, said his all-hours tweeting to his more than 20 million followers is “a way of bypassing dishonest media.”<\/p>\n

Melania Trump stood by his side in an elegant ivory column gown reportedly designed by Herve Pierre, former creative director of Carolina Herrera.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow,\u201d the president added, \u201cthe fun begins.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the Trumps’ final stop, the \u201cSalute to Our Armed Services Ball,\u201d the evening began with a solemn prayer and a moment of silence in honour of soldiers killed in the line of duty.<\/p>\n

Tony Orlando was introduced to the crowd as \u201cAmerica’s most loved and enduring entertainer.\u201d When Texas musician Josh Weathers took the stage, on the other hand, he quipped: \u201cI know that nobody in this room knows who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon arrival, the Trumps danced to \u201cI Will Always Love You,\u201d with Mrs. Trump singing along and smiling. The couple then separated to dance with service members. Mrs. Trump also spoke, delighting the crowd when she told them: \u201cI’m honoured to be your first lady. We will fight, we will win, and we will make America great again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not all the entertainment Friday night was in celebration of the new president. The Grammy-winning group Blues Traveler headlined the quadrennial gala thrown by the Creative Coalition, a nonpartisan advocacy group for the arts. TV actors like Tim Daly, Christina Hendricks and Cheryl Hines spoke of the urgent need to keep pushing for arts funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe arts is an easy target,\u201d said Dean Norris, who played DEA agent Hank Schrader on \u201cBreaking Bad.\u2019\u201d \u201cSome people think it’s an extra. We think it’s more essential than the politicians feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang \u201cAmerica the Beautiful\u201d at Trump’s swearing-in ceremony, and the Missouri State University Chorale sang \u201cNow We Belong.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a ceremony that featured decidedly less star power than in 2013. At President Barack Obama’s second inauguration, Beyonce sang the anthem, James Taylor sang \u201cAmerica the Beautiful,\u201d and Kelly Clarkson sang a powerful \u201cMy Country, ‘Tis of Thee.\u201d<\/p>\n

The various inauguration performances have become a hotly debated topic and have reflected the obvious divisions in the country following the election of Trump, who is deeply unpopular in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

A number of top artists declined the opportunity to perform, and Broadway singer Jennifer Holliday even said she’d received death threats before she pulled out of her scheduled appearance.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, artists Janelle Monae and Maxwell were scheduled to perform at the Women’s March on Washington. Also slated to attend were Katy Perry, Julianne Moore, Scarlett Johansson, Amy Schumer and Cher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON\u2014Donald and Melania Trump were feted at their inaugural balls by the Rockettes and by singer Tony Orlando, who sang …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":86195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[9869,14070,14069,13669],"class_list":["post-86183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","tag-donald-trump","tag-jackie-evancho","tag-tony-orlando","tag-trumps-inauguration","mauthors-jill-colvin-and-jocelyn-noveck","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}