Alex DeMetrick WJZ @ADemetrickWJZ 24m
Morgan State University choir kicks off the
entertainment at Mt. Vernon tree lighting.
#WJZ @cbsbaltimore
Eric Conway writes:
What a difference a year makes! Last year at this time,
the Morgan Choir performed at the annual Christmas Tree Lighting
Ceremony to a capacity crowd at Mt. Vernon Place to be upstaged by
activists protesting the Ferguson, MO death of Michael Brown and the
non-indictment of the officer that shot him. You may recall, as we
performed protesters where chanting “Black Lives Matter”. This
disruption was so significant that it caused subsequent musical
performers to be cancelled and triggered the lighting of the Christmas
tree much earlier than planned.
Although
I do not know the reason first-hand, I surmise that as a result of the
disruption of last year’s LIVE event on local television stations, this
year’s event was sadly not televised. In fact, this year one musical
group cancelled at the last minute, which may have been a result of any
angst of over potential protestors this year. Yes, we are in the throes
of the first police officer’s trial for Freddie Gray! There definitely
was some potential for disruption in this wake. Although I do not know
the actual reason for not televising the proceedings, I do know that
after many years of airing the event, this year the executives at the
television stations decided not to air this year’s annual ceremony.
That
being said, the ceremony did not suffer any disruption. In fact, last
night’s ceremony was special in that this was the first time after a
five year 5.5 million renovation of Baltimore’s version of the
Washington monument. As many of my choir members shared with me
afterwards, there was a great spirit in the air! Most of the local
residents did not come out just for the music, or food vendors in the
park, or the fireworks show at the conclusion, but for just
jump-starting their Christmas season. Although it was not as cold as
other years, 40 degrees Fahrenheit can feel quit cold when you are not
moving around actively. We sang more music than in previous years,
singing a thirty minute set. All was enthusiastically received. I made
sure I had my camera running just to capture the event and share with
you. See link below to YouTube posting of event. Also see link to a
Baltimore Sun Article on last night’s event as well.
EC
Link to YouTube:
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