Chicago Sun-Times reports that President and Mrs. Obama have announced the lineup for “In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement,” a concert in the White House itself, which will include performances by Bob Dylan, Smokey Robinson, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, Natalie Cole, Blind Boys of Alabama, Seal, John Mellencamp, and more. Dylan playing “songs from the Civil Rights Movement” for the President and First Lady?! Wait, it gets better.
President Obama’s opening remarks will be streamed live from the East Room on Whitehouse.gov and the entire concert will be broadcast on PBS and NPR on February 11th at 8:00PM EST. So yeah, we all get to watch.
This is truly a historical event (for us Dylan fanatics at least), as another instance of Dylan acknowledging his place in civil rights history doesn’t really spring to mind.
For more info, check out the Sun-Times’ piece here.