Tuesday, June 15, 2004
Aretha - Did You or Didn't You?
I love Aretha Franklin with all my heart. I love her music, I love her story, I love the way she conducts herself. I am proud she is a neighbor to Detroit area residents. But tonight. Well, I hope I am wrong. But I really believe she lip-synced the National Anthem opening the June 15, 2004 NBA Championship game.
Could that be true? I worship Aretha. I looked forward to her version of the National Anthem almost as much as I looked forward to watching the Detroit Pistons’ great teamship beat the LA Lakers’ egomania. I anticipated every note and every rift.
But even if you had an excuse for the visuals being a little ahead of the audio, some issue of echo or technical problem on ABCs end, what about the other times where the visuals were behind the audio, or when it seemed her mouth moved in ways that weren't reflected in the vocals at all?
Aretha is just human. Ben Wallace, Rip Hamilton, Prince, Billips, and Rasheed are all just human. The Pistons are great because they work hard every minute. They don’t make every basket, but they sure do try and they work hard at making sure the Lakers have to strive for their baskets, too. That Midwest work ethic demands we do the best we can do every minute. It’s what we get paid to do. It’s how we created the middle class in the factories of Detroit. Work hard, get paid for it, and spend your money on stuff other people worked hard to make.
Aretha, girl, I would rather hear you sing flat on occasion. I would rather hear you strain. Hear you work hard. In fact that is why I have always loved to hear you sing. You have always shared the strain and successes of you life in the notes you sang. Does that make sense to you? I don’t think anyone would watch the Pistons & Lakers battle it out if we knew they were going to make every basket. There is nothing exciting in that.
And there is nothing exciting in lip-sync.
I love Aretha Franklin with all my heart. I love her music, I love her story, I love the way she conducts herself. I am proud she is a neighbor to Detroit area residents. But tonight. Well, I hope I am wrong. But I really believe she lip-synced the National Anthem opening the June 15, 2004 NBA Championship game.
Could that be true? I worship Aretha. I looked forward to her version of the National Anthem almost as much as I looked forward to watching the Detroit Pistons’ great teamship beat the LA Lakers’ egomania. I anticipated every note and every rift.
But even if you had an excuse for the visuals being a little ahead of the audio, some issue of echo or technical problem on ABCs end, what about the other times where the visuals were behind the audio, or when it seemed her mouth moved in ways that weren't reflected in the vocals at all?
Aretha is just human. Ben Wallace, Rip Hamilton, Prince, Billips, and Rasheed are all just human. The Pistons are great because they work hard every minute. They don’t make every basket, but they sure do try and they work hard at making sure the Lakers have to strive for their baskets, too. That Midwest work ethic demands we do the best we can do every minute. It’s what we get paid to do. It’s how we created the middle class in the factories of Detroit. Work hard, get paid for it, and spend your money on stuff other people worked hard to make.
Aretha, girl, I would rather hear you sing flat on occasion. I would rather hear you strain. Hear you work hard. In fact that is why I have always loved to hear you sing. You have always shared the strain and successes of you life in the notes you sang. Does that make sense to you? I don’t think anyone would watch the Pistons & Lakers battle it out if we knew they were going to make every basket. There is nothing exciting in that.
And there is nothing exciting in lip-sync.
