Idolator: hey, it's enrico palazzo!

John Oates Pinch-Hits For His Partner

Maura Johnston — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:30:00 EDT

Daryl Hall was originally slated to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Game 5 of the World Series last night, but a bout with the flu resulted in the other half of Hall & Oates stepping up to the mic and ably filling in. Surely I'm not the only one who thinks the outsized bombast that accompanied Oates' performance was a sign that Philadelphia was really planning on sewing everything up last night, before the rains came and blew the last 2 1/2 innings of the game away. (Wait—does this mean that Oates is going to reprise his performance whenever the game eventually starts up again?) [YouTube]

The Backstreet Boys Are Back, Again... And This Time It's For America

Maura Johnston — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:30:00 EDT

Last night, the Backstreet Boys sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Game 1 of the World Series at Tropicana Field, and... they weren't bad! No, really! They gave the United States' national anthem a sweet street-corner spin, and their harmonies were sweet enough to make up for the lack of Max Martin production flourishes. Kind of sad that only Nick Carter rated getting his full name read out by the announcer, especially with the way Brian Littrell busted out that bit about gallant streams. [YouTube]

Sheryl Crow Tunes Her Guitar To "The Star-Spangled Banner"

Maura Johnston — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:53:00 EDT

Something tells me that Sheryl Crow was thrilled by the almost-five-hour duration of Major League Baseball's All-Star Game, if only because each half-inning that passed without a team bringing a run home meant even more time between her mewling version of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and the game recaps.

While I'm sure the acoustics on the field of Yankee Stadium would challenge even the Steve Vais of our world, I have to wonder whose idea, exactly, it was to force Crow to drag her six-string onto the field last night; the end result wasn't so much "folk-rock patriot" than it was "is this thing on? I still have to tune up." Perhaps she wanted to re-establish her singer-songwriter bona fides to a country that seemingly forgot about her recording career, but after listening to the above clip a third, fourth, and fifth time, I'd have to say that just showing off her American-flag tee would have probably worked better as a "statement" for the Fox crowd. [RedLasso]

Sure, I have a long-standing affection for ...

mjohnston — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 16:22:36 EDT

Sure, I have a long-standing affection for Pearl Jam, but Eddie Vedder just sang "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" during this afternoon's Mets-Cubs game at Wrigley Field, and he somehow managed to turn the song into a freaking dirge. (Also, he somehow turned the song's final four words into "at the home ballgame.") Classy of him to wear a Kerry Wood jersey, though! [cubs.com]

Billy Joel Has Forgotten The Old Maxim About Glass Houses

mjohnston — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 09:33:49 EST

Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the junket yesterday:

The crabby Billy Joel told reporters that singing of the national anthem is kind of a slog.

"It's not the greatest song ever written," he said, complaining he shoudn't have to meet with reporters at a Thursday press conference, as required by the NFL.

"I'm just doin' the anthem period. I ain't doin' the half-time show. Prince is doing that."

Joel dissed the national anthem, saying "'America the Beautiful' is actually a better song." And when a reporter for WBBM-Radio asked Joel to sing a "Chicago song" at the news conference, Joel snidely refused. "Nah, I'm just giving a press conference. I'm not here to entertain anybody."

Aw, c'mon, Billy—we know that you made your bones as an angry young man, but really, after foisting that an aural sleeping pill on the world earlier this week, you should probably be laying low, at least on the "lobbing potshots at any other piece of music ever" front.

Prince takes questions! [Ellen Warren's Shopping Blog (?!), via Can't Stop The Bleeding]
Earlier: Leak Of The Day: Billy Joel No Longer Goes To Extremes

'Hey, It's Enrico Palazzo!': Can You Predict St. Louis' World Series Warbler?

mjohnston — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 13:53:22 EDT

Now that the World Series is set to be an all-Midwestern affair (sigh), it's time to prepare for new inductees to our "Hey, It's Enrico Palazzo!" Hall of Fame. Major League Baseball announced yesterday that the Detroit-raised Bob Seger and Anita Baker would be performing prior to Games 1 and 2 (although Seger will sing "America the Beautiful," not the national anthem), and to further increase this year's Midwestern bona fides, Indiana's own John Mellencamp will sing his craptastic Chevrolet song before Game 2. We're waiting to see which St. Louis-area native will be the featured entertainment before Game 3, and we have a few ideas. Alas, only one of them has the potential to be truly great:

Previously: Idolator's "Hey, It's Enrico Palazzo!" archives

'Hey, It's Enrico Palazzo!': 'Idol' Cast-Off Steps Up To The Plate

mjohnston — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 10:14:34 EDT

We were at Shea for Game 1 of the NLCS last night, and right before the seventh-inning stretch we were treated to a rendition of "God Bless America" by none other than American Idol also-ran Constantine Maroulis. Unfortunately, our field operatives reported that Maroulis' warble wasn't shown on TV, so you'll just have to take our word that it was positively Stappian—especially once we realized that Maroulis had probably blow-dried his chest hair before taking the slightly drizzly stage. Talk about really killing a patriotic mood.

Previously: "Hey, It's Enrico Palazzo!": Take These Singers Out Of The Ballgame—Please

"Hey, It's Enrico Palazzo!": Take These Singers Out Of The Ballgame--Please

mjohnston — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 11:15:07 EDT

Ah, October baseball; we love its crispness and high stakes, especially when the right teams are fighting their way to the top. But a good game can be tainted by its attendant musical performances—those requisite patriotism-stoking warbles of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "God Bless America"—if the wrong singer is asked to step in.

In recent years, most haven't been as outwardly sucky as they've been sort of "eh." However, there have been a few completely jaw-dropping performances of recent vintage, and after the jump, we'll look back at five of them—the inaugural inductees in our "Hey, It's Enrico Palazzo!" Hall of Fame, named for the opera singer who Leslie Nielsen impersonated in The Naked Gun. Tune in later this week as we look for 2006 playoff-season singers to add to this exalted list, and feel free to suggest other Hall of Fame candidates in comments.

Michael Bolton ("The Star-Spangled Banner," 2003 American League Championship Series, Game 4): It's not Bolton's proto-yarl that garnered him the top spot on this list. No, it's the fact that, after he forgot the words, he not-so-discreetly tried to peek at his palm, where he'd apparently decided to write down the national anthem's lyrics in teeny letters.

Steven Tyler ("The Star-Spangled Banner," 2004 World Series, Game 1): Tyler's rendition opens with a presumably "classy" harmonica break and stumbles through a lyric or two, but it's the "Dude Looks Like A Lady"-esque screamy breakdown on the anthem's climactic "land of the free" line that really takes this to the lousy level.

Liz Phair ("God Bless America," 2005 World Series, Game 1): To someone, this pairing must have made sense; Game 1 was in Chicago, Phair's hometown, and she's spoken about her love of the National Anthem before. But when Phair trills about America being the land that she loves, you wonder if she's waxing poetic about patriotism ... or if she's working out some long-dormant Sapphic urges.

Scott Stapp("God Bless America," 2004 World Series, Game 4): Is it the punctuating breaths? The fact that he seems to have forgotten how to pronounce the "ve" sound in "love"? His introduction as "the voice of Creed"? Or is it just that he's Scott Stapp, and even when he's not inflicting his lyrical Jesus complex on the world, he's still flat and completely insufferable?

Jimmy Buffett ("Take Me Out To The Ballgame," 2003 NLCS, Game 1): This is what happens when you're wasting away in Margaritaville and the organist is trapped in Wrigley Field's friendly confines.

[Graphic courtesy enrico-palazzo.de]