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Nothing tops a White House gig, so say the six artists whose testimonies I provide in the introduction to The Best Gig in Town. Here are seven more:
I’ll never forget the end of that evening when there was dancing. The Marine Band was playing waltzes or something, and [classical composers] Roy Harris and Walter Piston and people like that were kicking up their heels in the [Kennedy] White House, a little high, just so delighted to be there, so glad they had been asked, feeling that they had finally been recognized as honored artists of the Republic. You know, I’ve never seen so many happy artists in my life.
Leonard Bernstein, Composer and Director of the New York Philharmonic, July 21, 1962
Found sobbing in her makeshift dressing room at the mansion, singer Sarah Vaughan replied, “Nothing is the matter. It’s just that 20 years ago when I came to Washington, I couldn’t even get a hotel room, and tonight I sang for the President of the United States in the White House—and then, he asked me to dance with him. It’s more than I can stand.”
Bess Abel, Social Secretary, January 13, 1965
When Andre Kostelanetz met President Carter after conducting his “Promenade at the White House,” tears just streamed down his face. He said that at no time in his life did he have anything more exciting happen to him than this.
Gretchen Poston, Social Secretary, May 20, 1978
To have country music recognized here is just amazing, and we’re thrilled that they’re inviting traditional music back.
Alison Krause, Singer, July 21, 2009
To be celebrating the music of Motown during Black History Month at the White House, when at last we have a black president, is just overwhelming.
Smokey Robinson, Singer, February 25, 2011
Our president is our president, and I think it’s always important to support our president . . . I’ve never campaigned for a candidate, but I’m always excited to support the people running the country.
Lyle Lovett, Singer and Bandleader, November 23, 2011
Otis Williams, the last surviving original member of the legendary Motown group The Temptations, told me that they made it a rule not to talk politics when they performed at the White House. “Our mindset is just to entertain. We don’t go there with politics in our mind. We strictly go there to perform.”
Kate Anderson Brower, Author of The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White
House, 2015
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