Onstage with Obama

I was all set to lead a traditional New Orleans brass-band second line for a local union in the Labor Day parade. Then I got a call two days before the holiday asking if I'd like to be onstage with President Barack Obama for his speech in Detroit. I'm always ready to second line at the drop of an umbrella, but I figured sitting with the president was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so I gave up my Mardi Gras beads for union gear.

Then I learned that I was one of 250 "onstage participants" and figured they need another hairy, wild-looking guy to balance their diverse demographics. I also I figured that I would be squeezed off to the side behind some large person, invisible to the cameras.

It was cold and breezy on Monday morning when I arrived at the area where the onstage participants were supposed to enter. Except there was no one there to greet us and the Secret Service guy (or whatever kind of fed he was) didn't know we were coming. He said that unless we were members of Congress we weren't getting in there and told us to go to the other side of the parking structure where most of the attendees were entering. He was gruff and made no bones about the fact that he was in charge and we weren't getting in. The people at the gate he sent us to then sent us back to his gate. And he sent us back to their gate. After ping-ponging back and forth between the two spots, we all decided to huddle in the middle until somebody who knew what was going on showed up.

Eventually they appeared and led us back to the point where the Secret Service man guarded the entrance. He still didn't want to let us in, but the woman in charge of our group pressed her point and waved a handful of papers in his face. He relented, but gave us a last sign that he was in charge by yelling at us to get in a single-file line or we weren't going to get in.

That was the first security point. At the next one we had our names checked off the list for a second time and were given green wristbands like those you get at concerts. At the third checkpoint, we had to go through metal detectors and the women had their purses searched. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Rep. John Conyers and Michigan AFL-CIO director Mark Gaffney arrived as we were going in, and they went through the same security we did. At the fourth checkpoint, they just checked to make sure everyone passing through had the green wristband on.

As we arrived at the stage area, I found out that being an onstage participant meant sitting on the bleachers behind the stage with a passageway between them (although when I saw TV news coverage later it indeed looked like we were onstage). Many of the higher and side bleacher seats were taken. I sat near the front in the middle. That would seem to be a good spot, but the seat was right behind the riser with the drum set for Aretha Franklin's performance to get us ready for the president. So I sat contentedly behind the drums watching the Secret Service guys give evil stares to anyone who wandered too close to whatever area they were guarding. Maybe there were Secret Service women, but they weren't wearing the black suit, shades and earpieces the guys sported.

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