O Say Can You Sing? at American History Museum
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Got pipes? The National Museum of American History, with USA Weekend magazine as a cohort, is hosting a Star-Spangled Banner singing contest. Entering is easy. All you have to do is visit the contest Web site, join the YouTube Group and submit a video of your performance by April 13. (Videos have to be less than two minutes, so I guess you have to keep the Mariah Carey runs to a minimum, people.)
The difficult part is the singing. With a sprawling range of one and a half octaves, the Star-Spangled Banner isn’t the easiest national anthem to sing. But if you’re up for the challenge, it may be worth the booty. Videos will be judged based on vocal performance, originality, accuracy and popularity on YouTube, and the Grand Prize winner will be flown, with a guest, to Washington, D.C., to perform the anthem at the museum and a Baltimore Orioles game on Flag Day, June 14. Two nights’ hotel accommodations, tickets and transportation to the baseball game and $400 spending money are also part of the deal.
Who knows, the contest could reveal the next (truly) American idol. Or, at the very least, it will make for some hilarious flops to email around the office.
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