Whitney Houston: The Star Spangled Banner

I don't usually post on the weekends, and this doesn't have anything to do with the topics I usually post about, but I thought I'd share a great moment, and a great performance.  This was Whitney's performance at the Super Bowl in '93.  It speaks for itself.  Start playing the video, and then read the rest of what I've written as it plays.



This is the way our National Anthem should be treated--with respect.  It put a lump in my throat then, and it still does now.  I get tired of hearing artists botch our National Anthem, forget the words (if they ever knew them to begin with) or treat it as a joke--this performance incidentally took place three years after Roseanne Barr's abominable performance. 

There is a moment in this performance that gets me--after "the rockets red glare."  She's nervous, she looks over and sees somebody she knows, and realizes she's got it.  That one moment seemed to give her the confidence for the finish she gave that was truly remarkable in every way. 

It's sad to me the way drugs can strip away such a God-given talent, and leave nothing in its wake--but death.  Let's definitely legalize drugs--that's a great idea.  You see the way it impacts our famous Americans when it's illegal, like Whitney, Michael Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Jimmy Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and many, many more.  And how many more "troubled" stars, gifted artists, are unknowingly headed towards the grave now? I'm sure it will be much better when you can buy your pot and pills at the local convenience store with an I.D.

We don't know what killed Whitney Houston yet, but I'd bet drugs played a role--just guessing.  It definitely ruined her career, which was on the rise, and silenced that great voice she had long before she passed.  I know those way on the right, Libertarians, and way on the left, Progressive Liberals, are both pushing for the legalization of drugs. 

I wonder what kind of America we will have when drug use and addiction becomes socially acceptable.

~TEC