Here's the article in the WaPo:
{Whoops. I didn't see that nitpicker had already done this. I'll edit this and try another angle.}
Politics
Trump takes over Fourth of July celebration, changing its location and inserting himself into the program
By Josh Dawsey, Juliet Eilperin and Peter Jamison
May 10 at 9:56 PM
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[Interior Secretary David Bernhardt] said that, by altering the launch site, “that’s going to be a significant expansion of space that’s available to watch the fireworks from the Mall.” ... “And we might even have some more surprises in store for the public, very very soon,” the secretary added.
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Josh Dawsey is a White House reporter for The Washington Post. He joined the paper in 2017. He previously covered the White House for Politico, and New York City Hall and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for the Wall Street Journal. Follow
https://twitter.com/jdawsey1
Juliet Eilperin is The Washington Post's senior national affairs correspondent, covering the transformation of federal environmental policy. She's authored two books, "Demon Fish: Travels Through The Hidden World of Sharks" and "Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship is Poisoning the House of Representatives." and has worked for The Post since 1998. Follow
https://twitter.com/eilperin
Peter Jamison writes about politics and government in the District of Columbia. He has worked at The Washington Post since 2016. Follow
https://twitter.com/petejamisonI hope that Wayne Newton will be there, instead of those degenerate Beach Boys. Blast from the past:
Watt Outlaws Rock Music on Mall for July 4
By Phil McCombs April 6, 1983
Interior Secretary James G. Watt has banned rock music from this year's Fourth of July celebrations on the Mall because of his concern that it is attracting "the wrong element"--drinking, drug-taking youths. ... Instead of such groups as The Beach Boys and The Grass Roots--lead entertainers for the past three years--the Mall this year will reverberate with "patriotic, family-based entertainment" by the U.S. Army Blues Band and Las Vegas crooner Wayne Newton, Watt said in an interview.
"We're trying to have an impact for wholesomeness," he said. ". . . Now on, July Fourth will be a traditional ceremony for the family and for solid, clean American lives. We're not going to encourage drug abuse and alcoholism as was done in the past years . . . It's going to be the military people with their patriotism, and Wayne Newton."
Newton, a strong supporter and friend of Ronald Reagan and one of the highest-paid entertainers in the country (he makes an estimated $12 million a year as a Las Vegas performer), will donate his performance here, according to Alan Margulies, president of Flying Eagle Inc., Newton's corporation. Margulies said Newton would bring his own 25-piece orchestra and that his performance would be televised.
"It's not every day a performer gets to perform before half a million people," Margulies said. ". . . We're going to come in there July 2 and be there for the entire festivities. Wayne will be the grand marshal of the parade . . . One of the great things about Wayne Newton being involved is the Indian nations are coming out en masse" to Washington for the event. Newton is of American Indian descent. ... Asked how Newton's music would differ from previous Fourth of July concerts, Margulies said The Beach Boys' repertoire tends to be limited to 1960s surfing music, "whereas Wayne has really run the gamut . . . He can do country as he can do rock as he can do ballads . . . middle-of-the-road . . . pop. There's really no limit to what he can do and does do."
Newton's big hits have included "Danke Schoen," "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" and "Games That Lovers Play." However, outside the Las Vegas club circuit, Newton has not been a big draw; last summer, he was unable to fill the 10,000-seat Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Md., which normally sells out for rock concerts.
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Watt Sets Off Uproar With Music Ban
By Phil McCombs, Richard Harrington and Washington Post Staff Writers; special correspondent Joe Brown also contributed to this report.
April 7, 1983
A ban on apple pie couldn't have brought a stronger reaction than Interior Secretary James Watt's decision, revealed yesterday, to ban "rock bands" like the Beach Boys and the Grass Roots from this year's Fourth of July celebration on the Mall.
The Beach Boys issued a statement. The vice president of the United States issued a statement, and the president's deputy chief of staff felt compelled to comment. The pro-marijuana lobby threatened to sue. A radio announcer called Watt a "nerd." A Watt spokesman hastened to call the Beach Boys "solid, middle-class family people." The ACLU came out on Watt's side, at least for now.
The Beach Boys held Fourth of July concerts on the Mall attended by hundreds of thousands in 1980 and 1981, and the Grass Roots did the same in 1982.
Watt had said in an interview he made the decision in order to keep what he called "the wrong element"--drinking, drug-taking youths--from attending the celebration. Instead, he arranged for "patriotic, family-based entertainment" to be provided by the U.S. Army Blues Band and Las Vegas crooner Wayne Newton. ... Watt, as Interior secretary, controls the National Park Service, which runs the celebrations on the Mall.
Vice President George Bush said yesterday of the Beach Boys: "They're my friends and I like their music." The Beach Boys held a fund-raising concert for Bush when he ran for president, and then played for the Reagan-Bush administration's youth inaugural ball in January 1981.
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