5/18/09

Traffic Alert: Michelle Obama at the Met in NYC

We are pretty sure we were passed by Michelle Obama's motorcade at about 9 A.M. on the FDR Drive this morning.

The L.A. Times Culture Monster reports on what she is doing today in our fair city:
...On Monday, Michelle Obama will be in New York City for a day with the Mets — and we're not talking baseball, as the National League East leaders will be hunkered down in Dodger Stadium, opening a series with our home team.

No, it's the Metropolitan Museum of Art by day, where the first lady is scheduled to help local school kids cut the ribbon for its newly renovated American Wing. Later, Obama will be at the Metropolitan Opera House for a gala evening kicking off American Ballet Theatre's eight-week season at the Met. She and other attendees will see ABT principal dancers perform highlights from the season's ballets, with a guest turn by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock and a performance by would-be professional students from ABT's Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School...
The blog also reveals some L.A. arts envy in another post,
New York City is the nation's No. 1 tourist destination. After Times Square, the Metropolitan Museum is the city's No. 1 tourist attraction. The first lady will be doing what 4.5 million people, mostly out-of-town visitors, did last year. The city's tourism industry will surely be thrilled at the demonstration of support. But for the struggling arts infrastructure elsewhere across the nation, which doesn't rely on tourist hordes, the New York event is pretty much a snooze.
We did not know how popular the Met Museum was.

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