Martina McBride took a trip to the White House and blogged all about it. She met will.i.am and Stevie Wonder to name a few and Stevie wants to write a song for her. AMAZING!
More pictures HERE
Hey everybody,
Just got home from Washington. What a night!!! Just getting ready to go to the White House was so exciting. Let me back up and tell you all about the day….
First of all, we went over for a show run-though. We all had to be at the bus at promptly 1:45. It was nice to see everybody…most of whom I was meeting for the first time. On the bus with me was Paul Simon, Diana Krall, Will.i.am, Mary, Mary. We got to the White House and walked in and went to the Green Room, which is in between the East Room where the show was going to be held, and the Blue Room. It’s an historical part of the White House with lots of antiques and such and so they are VERY particular about everything…no sitting on the furniture, no food or beverages, etc. We did our run-through with the band and I was really happy with my rehearsal. I really felt like I connected with the song. We went back to the hotel and started getting ready. Earl and Mary Beth had flown in to do my hair and make-up. We had fun getting ready and then it was time to go.
When we got there John and I spent some time talking to Will.I.Am and also Wayne Brady and the girls from Mary Mary (who are SO sweet!). I also met Paul Simon, India Arie, Diana Krall, and Esperanza Spalding. Everyone was so nice. I think we were all just so happy and honored to be there. Before I knew it, it was time for me to sing. I was pretty nervous. I don’t think I did as good of a job as I did at rehearsal, but I guess it was ok. I looked down and saw the President and the First Lady, Vice President Biden and his wife, and then to my right was Stevie Wonder! Then it was over and I was back in the room with everyone. Everyone pretty much had the same story….how emotional or surreal it was and how nervous they were. Then they asked us to come back in the room and watch Stevie perform. So we saw the President give Stevie his award and then Stevie sang 3 or 4 songs and it was amazing. He was charming and funny sang SO great! I thought, “here I am, at the White House, listening to Stevie Wonder sing ‘Isn’t She Lovely’ from just across the room”. Crazy, huh? After he performed we got to meet the President and First Lady…they are both very tall! President Obama said that he had gone in yesterday and listened to my rehearsal (my tour manager had told me he was standing right in front of me at rehearsal, but I was focused on singing AND there were lights in my eyes). I told him that someone had told me that and that I didn’t see him there! I didn’t want him to think I just ignored him! Then we took a picture and he said he wanted to get in the middle. They were warm and gracious.
Then we went into a reception. We were kind of ready to leave at that point because we had dinner reservations and I knew Ava would be getting hungry at the hotel. So we went downstairs but the bus wasn’t ready and we decided to go back upstairs and I am SO glad we did because THERE was STEVIE. Someone introduced us and he was so nice! He said, “I want to write a song for you.”. Can you believe that????!!!! I said, “that would be amazing”, or something like that. Then we took our picture and then I introduced him to John and we took another picture. I was so thrilled. What a night!
We left and went back to the hotel and changed….was I glad to get out of those heels! And then we walked to this awesome restaurant called The Old Ebbitt Grille. We had eaten there the night before and knew we wanted to go back. I had the Irish Stew, which was great and served over mashed potatoes (yum). We looked and Wayne Brady and his lovely wife were sitting right behind us. We talked for a little bit about how amazing the night was. As we left, Stevie was coming in the restaurant. Mark (my tour manager) asked if I wanted to say hi, but I said I had bugged him enough! So we went back to the hotel, got all our stuff and got on the bus to head home.
Whew! What a night. Hope I didn’t bore you with all the details!
Now we’re back in Nasvhille and getting ready for our show tomorrow night at the Cannery where we will film a Soundcheck for Wal-Mart and debut a bunch of new songs from the new album, Shine. I can’t wait. It’s going to be lots of fun playing the new music for all the fans that will be there.
Guess that’s it for now!
Martina