Sax Anthem In Brazil Has NFL Fans Wondering What They Just Heard Because It Wasn't Music
Was the NFL punking us with this?
The NFL sent the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Chargers down to Brazil to kick off their seasons, and as if the travel wasn't bad enough, they had to sit through one of the worst renditions of "The Star-Spangled Banner" that didn't come caterwauling out of the mouth of Roseanne Barr.
Kamasi Washington, a Grammy-nominated saxophone player (not "Grammy-winner;" bad sign already), and I'll be honest, I had high hopes for this one.
Washington — who's American, so I guess they made him fly to Brazil too — was standing on a platform holding his sax and standing next to a guy with a double-bass.
I didn't think there was really any way this could go awry, although I did think it was a little strange that Washington was dressed a little like "Macho Man" Randy Savage.
Well, he started cranking air over that sax reed of his, and what came out was… well, it was certainly noise.
Now, I played saxophone for two years in fourth and fifth grade, so I'm officially qualified to critique this playing. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever heard, but it sounded a little pitchy. It kind of reminded me of the music that plays during the scene in Pulp Fiction where they bring out The Gimp.
I'm guessing that was not what he was going for, though.
As for Bass Guy? I have no clue what the hell he was doing. He had some weird effect on his bass, and it seemed like he was totally out of time with Washington. There were points in there where I was like, "Is he trying to play a Red Hot Chili Peppers song?"
Whatever he was playing was aggressively not what Francis Scott Key had in mind when he wrote a poem while a battle was happening all around him.
Anyway, this may shock you, but this performance was not well-received:
A rough start for sure down in São Paulo.