Any buzz building out there in BMG land? As I write, it is about four hours until the puck drops. Roberto Luongo will indeed be back in goal for the Canucks. But the game will be in their building. No predictions from me. OK, one prediction: When the scene shifts back to the TD Garden in Boston on Sunday Monday, the Cup will be in the house (I’m really going out on a limb here).
Note to the TV and radio folks out there. It’s the Stanley Cup Final, not finals. As in “final series”. “The Finals” is the NBA thing.
An interesting letter in the Globe today: The writer cheers on the anthem singers for performing “with total conviction and without the clichéd, narcissistic tinkering with the melody favored by various pop icons”. I’d have to say I mostly agree, even though I admit I was on the side of Jose Feliciano when so many people got their shorts in a twist after his rendition during the 1968 World Series. But what really bugs me about the way some pop stars sing (in general) is that they seem to be afraid to hold a note. Any time you get to a note that is sustained (“And the rocket’s red glare…”) you end up with (“gla-a-a-a-a-a-ar”), up and down and all over the place. It just bugs me. Woody Guthrie comes to mind: “If you play more than two chords, you’re showing off.”
Enjoy the game!!
with their backs against the wall. So I’m nervous. But with Luongo in net, if we get an early goal, he can be rattled.
I understand that some people feel those who sing with vibrato “show off,” certainly some singers out there do overdo it (which can ruin a song if overdone, like overdoing anything can), but at least from my personal experience, it’s actually hard not to sing like that. I have to consciously “turn it off,” at least if I haven’t rehearsed a song on end like that, and I don’t like to think when I sing. It just has to come out naturally, like putting one step in front of the other, after spending ridiculous amounts of time rehearsing it.
Vibrato is fine. Rancourt sings with a whole lot of vibrato and I think he’s not only good, he’s a hoot too. What I’m talking about are the leaps to multiple different notes in the span of a single syllable that is normally sung as a single note.
SSB was done very well. I’m in an a capella group and we don’t hold “glare” so much.
But the Oh Canada guy was WONDERFUL – who has the stones to let the crowd sing some lines? I tip my hat!
Making me nervous.
On a night when they may need the power play, it just isn’t clicking for the Bruins. But all in all, an exciting period. But I suspect the fans of each team are in nail-biting mode.
Regarding Oh Canada, they do that every game in Vancouver – the crowd sings the middle lines. Very cool. A lot easier to sing than the middle of the SSB, also.
When my niece (who is also a big hockey fan) was younger, she thought they were singing “Oh Canada, we stand on God for thee.”
sco, you are right on. This one smells a lot like game 1. Luongo has redeemed himself, at least so far. Thomas is playing well also. I’m only pointing out the obvious when i say that Vancouver has done better in the close games so far.
So, now you’re down a goal. But this time you have 15 minutes to recover. I actually think this is good – their attack has been lackluster this game. They need to feel some pressure.
On to game 6.
The Bruins had their chances in the first with three consecutive power plays. Doc, Eddie, and Pierre (NBC/Versus crew) were befuddled that Tyler Seguin wasn’t on the ice with the man advantage.
Now the Boston fans have to hope that the Cup stays in its case Monday and makes the trip back to Vancouver without having been skated around the rink.
I think the Vancourver guy doesn’t know the score of the Star Spangled Banner…odd note lengths.
As for the Canadian guy… It’s odd, isn’t it, that the parts he “lets” the crowds sing are the parts of the anthem typically sung in French? It’s almost as if nobody in Vancouver wants to hear the French and have come up with a work-around to that pesky minority that insists on respect from the majority.
There are official English and French versions, and also a version in Inuktitut. The lyrics are quite different between the English and French. The Wikipedia page doesn’t have the translation for the Inuktitut.
I think the bilingual version is used mostly in areas where the population is mixed between English and French speakers. It wouldn’t make much sense to do that in British Columbia (about 6-7% Francophones according to a quick look up on the Internets).
In sporting events, the habit is usually to start in the local first language, go into the second (the part the singer cedes to the crowd), and resume at the end in the first language. It’s so typical that at this point some Canadians seem to think that’s the “normal” way to sing the anthem.
Hearing O Canada in Toronto, for example, or Quebec City, you’ll usually have the mix I described at events of significance.