The last time The Eastman 10 played at Abilene Bar and Lounge they were arrested shortly afterward.
The 10 young men – including Eastman School of Music students and members of local band Walri – were inspired by President-elect Barack Obama’s Nov. 4 victory speech, which was being broadcast on TV in the bar. So they took to the streets with their instruments and found nearly 100 other people to join them in a musical parade through the neighborhood.
After one warning by police to keep quiet, members of the group were arrested and charged with unlawful assembly. They will have clean records if they can lay low for the next six months.
But the Eastman 10 - a "spontaneous creation of the moment," according to member Amos Rosenstein - will reunite at Abilene on Tuesday, Jan. 20, to play the bar’s inauguration party. And, as it did on election night, the band will perform such patriotic numbers as "Hail to the Chief."
Abilene also will feature CNN coverage of Obama's inauguration on TV, upstairs (which has a big-screen) and down. Winners of a free drawing will take home "Get Out the Vote" posters – created in a nationwide contest – and drink specials will be available throughout the night.
"We will have champagne specials," says owner Danny Deutsch, "to toast the change in the mood, the change in Washington, and hopefully the direction of the country."
As for the Eastman 10, this may be your last chance to see them.
"There are no musical ambitions for the group," insists Rosenstein, also lead singer for Walri, "other than being patriotic and reveling in the feeling of change."
