A Brief Point

Did you see the lady singing the national anthem at Obama's Grant Park Rally in Chicago last night? This may have been Chicago-specific coverage, as my local ABC cut from the national coverage as soon as they projected it for Obama.

It was pretty embarassing and borderline disgusting. I've held an internal debate about how bad it is to use a few wrong words in the anthem, after all she got the general themes right. However, I think I'm comfortable with being appalled that the person chosen to sing the national anthem before the appearance of the new president couldn't get it right. We're not taking Marvin Gaye from the USA basketball commercial (from the 1983 NBA all star game actually) doing his groovy thang with it- but getting the words right. We're talking, lady with a mic, belting it out like anyone- but screwing up the lyrics repeatedly. She may have even swapped 'stars' and 'stripes' around, I'm not sure, and haven't been able to find a video of it to review. And that's pretty bad.

She was purportedly Jennifer Hudson's friend- Hudson sang the anthem at the DNC- but that's all I got at the moment. Can't find a name anywhere, but I'll post more as an edit if/when I find more.

A trifling point, perhaps, given the magnitude of last night (and how well everything else went, from the crowd downtown being great- though I wasn't there I saw and heard plenty of positive things- to both candidate's speeches). However, I was sufficiently bothered and unimpressed that I wanted to bring this up.

Also, for everyone's peace of mind: I did laundry Monday, thereby avoiding dressing in filth.

[edit: Finally, RIP Michael Crichton. If not for thee, I may not have made the life choices which led to my being an underpaid, underappreciated graduate student of Human Genetics this very day. I don't hold a grudge though, it will all be worthwhile, eventually. And eventually WILL come- my thesis committee gave me approval to write last week! Anyhow, thanks for the inspiration and rest in peace, Michael.]