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from Tales from the Trail:

First lady likes Obama’s voice; rates Romney singing ‘beautiful’

Michelle Obama might have been one of the few people in the United States who knew President Barack Obama could actually carry a tune before he surprised an Apollo Theater audience this month.

In her debut appearance on NBC “The Tonight Show” as first lady, Mrs. Obama told host Jay Leno that her husband sings to her all the time.  She said she even knew what song it would be when she heard about his singing a line from Al Green's "Let's Stay Together." Mrs. Obama gave a very tiny demonstration before conceding that the president was the better singer. Obama said her husband has a beautiful voice.

Asked about the performance turned in by Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney singing "America the Beautiful" on the campaign trail in Florida, Mrs. Obama said "its beautiful."

Here's a clip from NBC

(Video clip courtesy: NBC/ Photo credit: NBC “The Tonight Show”/Stacie McChesney)

from Tales from the Trail:

Barack and Jon, together again, on The Daily Show next week

First he gave an unexpected endorsement to Jon Stewart's upcoming "Rally to Restore Sanity." Now President Barack Obama is giving the host of the satirical talk show the ultimate television "get" -- himself as a guest.

Obama will appear on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Wednesday, Oct. 27, in the middle of a week of special episodes taped in Washington ahead of the Nov. 2 midterm elections. It all culminates with a Saturday rally on the National Mall.

The Washington episodes - to air Oct. 25 - Oct. 28 - are called "When Grizzlies Attack: A 'Daily Show' Midterm Teapartyganza." That's a reference to the conservative Tea Party political movement and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin referring to conservative women politicians as "Mama Grizzlies."

The Daily Show, watched by about 1.8 million people every night, is particularly popular with viewers under age 35. The appearance gives the president a chance to appeal to young voters just days before the election in which Republicans are expected to gain seats in Congress and possibly take the majority in the House of Representatives away from Obama's Democrats. Earlier this month Obama appeared at a youth town hall that was shown live on MTV and two music television stations, CMT and BET.

"It's a great way to appeal to a younger voter audience, and that is a big part of the president's base," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters.

It would be Obama's second appearance on The Daily Show, which has won consecutive Emmy awards as the best U.S. variety, music or comedy series, but his first as U.S. president.

Other political figures scheduled to appear on the show next week include Austan Goolsbee, chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisors and Delaware Senator Ted Kaufman.

from Tales from the Trail:

Dylan at the White House: how much have the times changed?

The announcement that music icon Bob Dylan was coming to the White House next month for "A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement" sent us scrambling to listen to his famous song "The Times They Are A-Changin'."

The lyrics from 45 years ago, eerily echo today.

Come senators, congressmen, please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway, don't block up the hall For he that gets hurt,  will be he who has stalled The battle outside is ragin' It'll soon shake your windows, and rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin'

It was a year ago that President Barack Obama entered the White House on a platform of  change - "Yes, we can."

But his early intentions became bogged down by a sour economy and partisan politics, not to mention two wars. Now all eyes are on his State of the Union address to see whether he can make another fresh start.

Obama has said that it was the civil rights movement that made it possible for him to be elected the first African American president of the United States.

The concert on Feb. 10 will mark Black History month.

from Tales from the Trail:

“Fiesta Latina” changes the rhythm at Obama White House

 President Barack Obama celebrated the growing contribution of Hispanic culture and music to the United States with a "Fiesta Latina" at the White House, part of a musical series started by First Lady Michelle Obama.

Latin music "moves us and tends to make us want to move ourselves," the president declared.

Actors Eva Longoria Parker, George Lopez and Jimmy Smits began the show joking that Obama is Hispanic.

Gloria Estefan followed with her Billboard hit "No Llores," accompanied by Jose Feliciano and percussionist Sheila E.

While the celebration of Hispanic music brought other entertainment heavyweights as Marc Anthony and Jeninfer Lopez, Los Lobos, Thalia  and Pete Escovedo to the White House, the evening's standing ovation went to the newest member of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic member of the high court.

Bachata also came out of the dance clubs and onto the White House's South Lawn, with the Bronx-based group Aventura performing a style of music that has begun to dominate dance floors alongside Salsa and Merengue in clubs across the country.

The music was first heard at parties in the Dominican Republic in the 60s but, largely thanks to Aventura, it has recently taken hold in the United States.   The four-man music group debuted in 1999 and is known for combining the ballad-like music and its strumming guitars with r&b, hip-hop and Reggaeton.

Madonna reunites Justin, Britney but Obama gets big roar

 So the rumors of a Madonna-orchestrated Britney and Justin reunion were true… kinda.  The former teen sweethearts both performed with the Material Girl during her Thursday night concert in L.A.’s Dodger Stadium, but not together.

In fact, there was at least an hour between their respective appearances, so it’s anybody’s guess whether they even ran into each other backstage.

Brit was first to emerge, joining Madonna early in the night to sing the the last few bars of “Human Nature.” The two women embraced at the end of the performance to wild screams from the crowd, at which point Britney promptly marched offstage. Truth be told, Britney’s performance was so short that if you had blinked you might have missed it.

JT, on the other hand, at least hung out for an entire song. He joined Madonna for “4 Minutes,” a song from her latest album that he co-wrote and produced.

Both Britney and Justin elicited big roars from the audience, but the biggest screams of the night came when the massive screens at the back of the stage flashed images of President-elect Barack Obama. Madonna told the audience that Obama’s victory was a big reason to celebrate, but she also expressed her disappointment that California voters, at the same time, had approved a ban on same-sex marriages.

“If we got an African American in the White House, then we can have gay marriages,” Madonna told the crowd.

Obama’s top aide comes with Hollywood connection

Barack Obama’s first appointment as U.S. president-elect comes with an inside-Hollywood connection.  His newly chosen White House chief-of-staff-to-be, Illinois congressman Rahm Emanuel, is the older brother of Ari Emanuel, a founding partner of the A-list, Beverly Hills-based talent-management firm Endeavor.

So colorful and well-known a showbiz figure has he become that he inspired the character of the sly Hollywood agent Ari Gold, played by Jeremy Piven, on the HBO series “Entourage.” The role has earned Piven two Emmy Awards.

The younger Emanuel broke away from the talent agency ICM in 1995 to help start Endeavor, which has since grown into one of the leading deal-brokers in the entertainment industry with a client roster that includes Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jude Law, Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Adam Sandler and Steve Carell. Among the stars he personally represents are Larry David, Michael Moore, Sacha Baron Cohen and Mark Wahlberg.      

Having grown up in suburban Chicago, Ariel “Ari” Z. Emanuel is the youngest of three brothers — Ezekiel , an oncologist and bioethicist, and Rahm, a former aid to President Bill Clinton who later was elected to the House of Representatives from Illinois and became a confident of Obama. Ari Emanuel, too, has been active in Hollywood political circles, hosting fundraisers for Democratic candidates that included a $2,300-per-plate event for Obama during his presidential campaign.

Their father is a Jerusalem-born pediatrician who was active in the pre-independence Israeli underground, and their mother was a social activist and onetime Chicago-area nightclub proprietor.

In 2006 Ari Emanuel made headlines when he publicly condemned actor-director Mel Gibson for making anti-Semitic remarks at the time of his arrest for drunken driving. Emanuel called then on others in Hollywood to show their outrage by ”professionally shunning” Gibson.

Election day, caught on the Web

(Reporting and writing by Alex Dobuzinskis)

When it comes to election day news, TV coverage is so 2004. The Internet will cover election day from every angle on Tuesday — from the left and right sides of the political spectrum and with plenty of opportunity for Web users to get involved.      CNN will allow users to make their own predictions about which candidate will capture the votes in each state at CNN.com/Map, and to compare scenarios for how Republican John McCain or Democrat Barack Obama can get to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency. CNN is also giving Web users the latest information on voting problems at CNN.com/VoterHotline.      The cable channel Current is relying on the Internet to provide material for its broadcast, and it will air 12-second webcam commentaries on the election submitted to 12seconds.tv and Current.com.      From the liberal perspective, the Huffington Post will cover election day with live video feeds and with blogs from American and international writers. Also, thousands of the site’s “citizen journalists” will follow the election paying special attention to what occurs at polling places, said Mario Ruiz, a spokesman for the site.      The Web site TownHall.com will look at the election from a conservative viewpoint, which it has done on the Internet since 1995. In addition to having video and plenty of opportunity for Web users to comment on the day’s developments, it will also have audio from election day broadcasts by such conservative talk show hosts as Dennis Prager and Michael Medved.

Update – Babs backs Obama on radio in battleground states

It’s not new that Barbra Streisand is backing Sen. Barack Obama for president. But it is unusual when Streisand goes so far as to take to radio airwaves in battleground states to answer callers’ questions on live shows, which is what she is doing on Monday and Tuesday.

With Monday’s radio campaigning done, Streisand moved on to Florida and other states on Tuesday. She’ll be working the phones again from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. est in this order: WJNO in West Palm Beach, Florida; WEPM in Martinsburg, West Virginia; AURN in Pittsburgh; WXKC-FM in Erie, Pennsylvania; WZAZ in Jacksonville, Florida; and WCBQ in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.

Streisand took calls on these five channels on Monday. They were KPRS in St. Louis, Missouri; WASN/WRBT/WGFT in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; KEZK in St. Louis Missouri; WIKY in Indiana; KPLV in Las Vegas, Nevada; and WYXB in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Opie, Andy and the Fonz stump for Obama

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

Movie director Ron Howard has spent much of his adult life making a name for himself apart from the All-American boy named Opie he played on “The Andy Griffith Show” and the squeaky clean Richie Cunningham of “Happy Days.”       But in a video posted on Thursday at the comedy Web site Funnyordie.com, Howard stepped away from the director’s chair and became both Opie and Richie, one more time, to promote Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.      Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) joined Opie, and The Fonz (Henry Winkler), the greaser from the sitcom “Happy Days,” had his own chat with Richie. “Happy Days” and “The Andy Griffith Show” are among the most popular shows in TV history. The full video can be found here.

“I’ve never done this before and I hope never to do it again, but I guess you could say I’m feeling pretty desperate these days,” Howard said in the video. “So, as a demonstration of my sincerity, this is for you America.”      With that, Howard entered the black-and-white world of 1960s program “The Andy Griffith Show,” playing the 8-year-old Opie who is the son of small-town sheriff Andy Taylor. He tells his TV “dad” he wants to vote for Obama one day. Griffith told him he could do it, if he avoided the “butter-fly ballot.”      In another segment, Howard reappears dressed as teenager Richie Cunningham. He talks to the Fonz, the leather-clad greaser on ”Happy Days” who epitomized cool. The two talk about voting and double dating with someone who sounds a lot like Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.      “Ron Howard’s Call to Action,” as the nearly four-minute video is called, is the latest in a string of political videos placed at Funny Or Die, a Web site created by comedian Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay.      The biggest hit for the Web site so far was posted in August, when celebrity heiress Paris Hilton mocked Republican presidential nominee John McCain over an attack ad he put out using an image of Hilton. In that video, Hilton played it relatively evenhanded between Obama and McCain, offering her own political ideas as she launched a fake presidential candidacy.

Election politics: The ultimate reality TV

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)

In one more sign that the current presidential election campaign has drawn increased interest among pop culture watchers, Entertainment Weekly magazine released a survey on Thursday showing respondents, ages 18-24, estimated spending one-third of their TV time watching election coverage.

Of those surveyed, 1-in-5 Americans is watching more election coverage because they are dissatisfied with reality TV.

Fully half of all Americans said they are tuning-in to fewer primetime shows due to the election coverage they are watching, and 6-in-10 think the presidential face-off between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain is entertaining.

When asked if they prefer vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin or comedian Tina Fey’s impression of Palin on the NBC show “Saturday Night Live,” 37.4 percent of respondents said they prefer Fey’s version of Palin, but a nearly equal 37 percent said they prefer Palin herself.

As for celebrity endorsements, 53 percent of respondents said those have some influence on the candidates’ appeal.

The survey involved a national OmniTel telephone poll by GfK Custom Research North America among 1,004 adults ages 18 and up on Oct. 17-19. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percent.