Singing For The President

I'm sitting in the BWI airport in Maryland waiting on my plane (I am the first one at the gate – the shuttle insisted I take a 5:30am shuttle for an 8:30am flight.) to go back to Nashville and I think I am still in shock. I feel like everything that happened last night was a dream or a figment of my sleep-deprived imagination. But apparently, many of you watched it on TV, so I guess it really happened!??

Wow, this may be an interesting blog – I'm having serious issues trying to remember the time line here. Bear with me!

I left Columbia yesterday at 3:30am and got to DC around 9:00 am. Paul (my manager) and I met up at our hotel and went to grab lunch. And OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY!!! It was so fun – DC reminds of Boston in many ways, and we were able to find a little place to eat outside (I miss Newbury Street!) and relax for an hour before the craziness began.

I had a rehearsal in the ballroom and when I walked in, the sound guy was like – "hi, nice to meet you. Go sing." Ummm…. Ok…. ? It's weird when you just walk up to a podium that people are dressing and still putting together and start singing to a HUGE ballroom that is only filled with waiters and staff preparing for the evening. : )- The sound was GORGEOUS. I could hear so well, and I was able to actually hear the tiny little nuances in my voice that I normally can't work with because…. Well… you can't hear that stuff in a club with other instruments playing right next to you. When I walked up to the podium, the microphones I was supposed to sing into were even with my forehead!!! I am such a shortie!!! But with my heels on and the step they let me pull out to stand on, I was actually able to get my face up above the mics : )- I sang through "God Bless America" once, and then met the wonderful people that were taking care of escorting me around that night. Julie was the lady helping coordinate the entire evening. And she swooped Paul and me into all kinds of back hallways and corridors – showing us where we needed to be. She informed me that I would be walking the Red Carpet and talking to Extra, Entertainment Tonight, NBC News…. Etc. I acted all cool… BUT OH MY GOOD LORD!!!! I was gonna walk a Red Carpet. Like, a REAL Red Carpet. Whoa.

And because of this, I had to arrive even earlier, so I was eager to get back and start getting ready.

It took me FOREVER to do my hair… I really had no idea how much time I could spend on it… and I STILL ran out of time and didn't get it the way I wanted. Oh well. So Paul ended up having to act as not only my manager, and photographer all night, but he was also my PR guy. He went in and introduced me to all the press before I walked the "carpet" cause let's be honest, these people have NO idea who I am or why I was there. Some didn't give a crap, but some were really sweet and actually responsive. When I walked in – OH MY GOSH - just what you would imagine a Red Carpet to be. And not quite as intense as I am sure most Hollywood carpets are, but it was crazy. Photographers flashing and yelling my name to look at their camera, asking me to stand over here and back over there, "look here!" CHAOS. A guy from NBC interviewed me – and I honestly have no recollection of that interview. I know it wasn't my best! But it was all so surreal. And then another guy asked me to wish Hardball a "Happy 10th Anniversary!" : )- That was funny. I completely stumbled over it the first time – (I'm a LOT better at singing than speaking) but then I got it better the second time. That one won't make the cut, I'm sure, but I still think it is funny that I got asked to do that! HA!

So then, we went to one of the outside receptions being held before the dinner began. It was beautiful – poolside. And within the first 5 min, I saw another lady had my dress on. : ( I SOOOOO was hoping that wouldn't happen. Argh. Not that is matters, but girl's, you understand! Hers was a little different at the top (halter instead of straps) but the rest was exactly the same. BUT it was the only person out of 3,000 that I saw with it on! NOT BAD! And we kept hearing people asking each other which party they were going to and how they wished they could get into the "Bloomberg Party" which we had invitations to!!! So that got me excited…. I wanted to see what all the buzz was about. But that is for later.

The first celebrity I saw was Chris Sligh from (this season's) American Idol – and my first thought was "Jack Osbourne's here?" but then I immediately realized who it was. Paul and I walked into the "People Magazine Reception" where we spotted Larry David ("Seinfeld" creator, "Curb Your Enthusiasm"), which got Paul all fired up. He is a HUGE Larry David fan.

And then it was time to go into the VIP reception. I was REALLY looking forward to this one. They had made a really big deal about getting to this one early because if you aren't in the room by the time the President gets there… you simply don't get in. They have to seal the rooms off anywhere he goes, obviously, and apparently Mr. President is known to arrive early. The first person we saw in here was Tiki Barber. : ) (the first few pics were a little dark and fuzzy)


Charlie Gibson of Good Morning America (speaking of! my sister-in-law just called and said they showed clips of me today on Good Morning America - but again, maybe I just dreamed that, cause that is too crazy!)


Then I spoke with Katie Couric and she was just the sweetest, cutest person! We took a picture before this one, but when I looked at it, it was so dark it didn't show up, so I found her again and asked if she minded taking one more. She said "Oh, I didn't think that first one turned out, but I didn't want to tell him (Paul). What a cutie!



It was quite a spectacle to watch the President come in. Steve Scully (the President of the White Correspondent's Assn) kept grabbing my hand and pulling me to the front to make sure I got my picture with him right away. They introduced me and he told me he was looking forward to my singing.



Then, I met The First lady



Condolezza Rice


I also met the editor of the Virginia Tech Newspaper, Amie Steele. She did an amazing job when she accepted the White House's Assn gift to their newspaper. They asked her to say a few words. I had heard President Bush telling her that he thought it was an amazing moment when he visited the school on Tuesday and the students started chanting "Let's Go Hokies!" So she asked everyone in the audience to do the chant in honor of VT. It was really awesome.

My favorite story took place when everyone had to leave the room to go to the dinner (except President Bush, Mrs, Bush, some photographers, and quite a few secret service men). While we were in the room together, they took another picture and Mrs. Bush said "Georgie, Natalie is singing The National Anthem tonight". President Bush said, "She's singing "America the Beautiful". We smiled and posed for pictures and then I looked at them both and just smiled and said "God Bless America" : )- It was so funny. We all 3 busted out laughing. I'm so glad they thought it was funny – I didn't want it to look like I was "correcting" them, but it seemed to me to be more awkward NOT to say anything….

Right before I went on, the National Anthem was played, and Lord! I had my hand over my heart and I felt like a cartoon character – I really think if you had looked at me, you could have seen my heart beating out of my chest. But as soon as Mr. Scully said my name, I knew what I was there to do, and just went out and did my thang! It was fun, though it is hard to enjoy something like that in the moment cause there is so much focus and concentration going on with hitting the notes and saying the right words!!!




After I finished President Bush put out his hand and said "You Nailed It!" : )- I got complimented by the President of our country! I don't care what your political views are – that is UNBELIEVABLE to think about. I don't think I have ever been more proud to be an American than when I was up there singing behind the President's podium, with the Military Orchestra sitting behind me and the Color Guard in front of me. It felt like my duty - especially after the significance that specific song has in light of the tragedies at Virginia Tech. I am incredibly honored that somehow mine was the voice chosen to sing that song last night.

Now I could relax! I am NEVER able to eat dinner at these kinds of events because I am usually singing later on, but this time, I got to sit back and just enjoy the rest of the night. It was a star-studded cast in the room. We were sitting at a table with The President of the Motion Picture Association, Don Glick, and Rich Little's agent and wife. Sheryl Crow was at the table next to me, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill were at the table behind us, and Gail (Oprah's best friend) was at another table behind us. Rich Little was great! I don't think I have ever seen an impersonator perform live before, and it was so entertaining to watch.

After the evening concluded I was eager to call my parents and James, email my agent, and take my shoes off for a few minutes. We went up to our room to do these things, which was a HUGE mistake. By the time we got to the party, it took us over an HOUR to get in. AHHH. BUT oh how it was worth it! It was a party you see in movies – the ones where you go, "who in the world EVER throws parties like that in real life?" Bloomberg, my friends, Bloomberg. I wish I could show you what the rooms looked like. It was held at the Costa Rican Embassy. 2 bars – everything free of course (which I don't even understand – especially when the caliber of drinks they are serving is Johnny Walker and Makers Mark – not exactly the cheap Bacardi Rum I am used to!) They had TONS of waiters walking around with all kinds of great food and never the same thing twice. I wish I had taken a picture of the tiny little hamburgers they were serving – the little sesame seed bun was the diameter of a quarter! SO CUTE! And there were refrigerators everywhere with sushi, specialty drinks, and other food – just take what you want! My FAVORITE thing though had to be the "After Party" slippers they were handing out! My heels FINALLY came off. YAY! I wore those babies all the way back to the hotel and Paul laughed at me the whole time and had to take a picture.


Of course by the time we got into that party, Sanjaya, Terri Hatcher, Jamie Denton and most of the other famous people had already left. But I honestly didn't care! It was so fun to just take it all in!

We got back to the room at 3am, and my shuttle took me to the airport at 5:30am. I can't wait to get home to sleep! (We have a show at the Jack tonight!) But even the airport is fun! I love flying back to Nashville cause there are ALWAYS musicians on the plane. There was a band on the plane on the way to DC and all the same guys showed up at the gate. We all started talking cause we recognized each other from yesterday's flight, and it is Blue County! I love these guys! I thought they looked familiar. : ) And as we're all exchanging stories (they played a University in West Virginia), I figured out I went to the same high school as one of the guys – and he actually graduated with my brother. Then Catherine Britt walks in and her guitar player is a friend of mine from Berklee, Matt Hauer!! Who knew it would be such a gathering at the Maryland airport?!

So there's the crazy whirlwind of the White House Correspondent's Association Dinner. I am so thankful to Ari, my agent at Degy Booking, for getting me this gig, Paul for taking care of me the whole time, and Steve Scully who invited me and was so incredibly kind the entire process.

Here's the clip of the performance!



I applaud anyone who has made it this far! I can't believe I am still awake cause I didn't sleep last night…. Wait night before last? Either. They all run together…. See I can't stop typing! I'm in a trance…. Stop, Nat… now…. Seriously… NO MORE TYPING…. Ummm…. ok, bye.