So here’s a treat, a six-and-a-half minute video Jackie’s mother made in 2010. It’s of Jackie’s audition at the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home stadium.
Enjoy it while you can. These things come and go, so it won’t be on YouTube forever.
[Ed's note, 1 Feb 2013] already the video has been removed! I expected it to be pulled, but so soon? Evidently the video came from Lisa. Does Lisa object to it being on YouTube? If so, why release these home videos in the first place? My guess is, and it is purely a guess, Lisa posts the videos for our enjoyment, but she doesn’t want them to stay up for long because she’s fearful someone might use them commercially or remix them inappropriately.]
Our favorite part is of Jackie running ahead of her mother as they try to find the entrance to the administration office.
Lisa: OK here we are on our way to audition for the Pirates’ national anthem. Hey Jackie! Are you excited?
Jackie: Banana. Yah!
Lisa: Are you excited, huh, huh?
Jackie: Super excited?
Lisa: Are you excited?
Jackie: Yah!
Lisa: Yah?
Jackie: Yah!
Lisa: OK.
Jackie: Yah!
Lisa: OK let’s go. We’re trying to find the building.
Jackie: Banana.
Lisa: Looking for the administration building for the Pirates. OK, there she is, yah. Alright. Here we are.
Jackie: Open the door, see if it works, and I’ll press it.
Lisa: Pittsburgh Pirates administration. Super fantastic. Now I’ll have to talk on and on about how great you were.
Jackie: OK.
Lisa: Now we’re walking down. I don’t know where they’re taking us. Oh there she is.
[Jackie off-screen, skips on ahead of Lisa, now walks backwards, claps hands]
Lisa: Not many people are here, the four that were waiting and then some girl they sent behind the building to I guess that wasn’t in the invitation only so. …
Jackie: Here we go! [turns around, skips down the stairs]
Lisa: … she had to go in a different way. Here we go. I think we’re going to go down the steps to the stadium.
[Jackie on the stair landing looks back, points ahead]
Jackie: [illegible]
Man: Where’d you, where’d you all come from today?
Lisa: North Pittsburgh.
Man: Oh, north of Pittsburgh.
Lisa: How about you?
Man: Ah, [illegible]
Lisa: Oh? You had a long drive.
Man: Little bit.
Woman: [off-screen] Hi … nice to meet you.
Lisa: Guess we’re close. … OK, now we’re in a, one of the dugouts. We can see the view of the city, right there from the seats. And where is it that they throw the little ball thing doohickey from? I don’t know. Oh. There it is. So, I guess this is the great stadium they talk about. And we were just [swings camera around to Jackie] hey there’s her. She looks smaller. Talk to you later kids.
Woman: [hands Jackie a microphone] Why don’t you say what your name is [illegible].
Jackie: I’m Jackie.
Woman: OK.
Jackie: OK. [giggles]
Woman: [illegible, seems to direct Jackie to hold microphone close to her mouth] Whenever you’re ready.
Jackie: [singing]
Oh say can you see ….
God bless America ….
Video is back up on YouTube as of 10th March 2012. Norwester1523 has added a note that the previous version was actually deleted by the poster, not Lisa.
So sad to see that the actual video has been pulled . Her wonderful version of the national anthem echoing in that stadium was the best I ever heard. Please bring it back .
I expected it to be pulled, but so soon? It’s a mystery to me how these home videos get on the Internet in the first place (evidently they come from Lisa). Does Lisa object to their being on YouTube? If so, why release them in the first place? My guess is, and it is purely a guess, Lisa posts the video for our enjoyment, but then she doesn’t want them to stay up for long because she’s fearful someone might use them commercially or remix them inappropriately.
This is going to sound like crying over spilt milk, but I just was thinking about how my mother wasn’t the most supportive person (to say the least). I recall my brothers and I having some degree of musical talent, but she would have little to do with it. In contrast, Jackie’s mother is the reason for Jackie, in every sense. People like to thank God for Jackie, and I respect that, but my mind doesn’t work that way; I thank Lisa and Mike Evancho for her, and for creating and maintaining a strongly bonded, mutually supportive, loving, determined and confident flock. Credit to the extended family, too.
How many kids have come and gone whose talents were squelched because their parents weren’t paying attention? They’re both proud of all four of their kids, as well they should be, and I have no doubt that whatever each of the kids chooses to do with their life, they will choose with confidence, knowing that whether they succeed or fail, they will have the love and support needed to forge ahead.
Sorry to see that the video as was warned has been removed from Youtube. Ah, well…
Meanwhile, I have to agree w GMac about the crucial roles of Mr. and Mrs. Evancho in allowing their children to grow in a wholesome home. Far too many adults have confided in me (frequently after they learn I play music and make my living as an animation designer) that they USED to LOVE art or music, until the day some rotten “teacher” humiliated them by ridiculing their work and their talents. Sometimes they’ve been crushed that way by just some grown-up, who possibly didn’t even grasp how much damage was done by a put-down or a few sarcastic remarks.
I suppose that sorta expands the definition of bullying…
Anyway, hearing that so many times has made me VERY careful about my own comments for students and novice musicians and artists.