Monday, October 27, 2008

Oates John Oates steps in to sing anthem for Hall

Oates steps in to sing anthem for Hall
Singer scrambles to catch flight to fill in for sick bandmate

John Oates sings the national anthem before Game 5 of the World Series

PHILADELPHIA -- Daryl Hall was scheduled to perform the national anthem prior to Game 5 of the World Series Monday night, but after he came down with the flu, he turned to his longtime friend and bandmate John Oates for a pinch-hit appearance, so to speak.
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Oates, one half of the hit band Hall and Oates that reached its peak in the 1970s and '80s, lives in Aspen year-round and received a frantic call from their manager around 8 a.m. Monday morning, pleading with the singer to hop on the first flight to Philadelphia to sing the anthem.
"At 8 o'clock, my wife starts shaking me and goes, 'You've got to go to Philadelphia," Oates said, an hour before he was scheduled to perform. "I thought she was kidding me. I thought she was just trying to get me out of bed. Then she said, 'No, no, Daryl got sick and you have to sing the national anthem at the World Series. I'm like really? I said, 'OK.'"
Turns out, that was easier said than done. Every flight out of Aspen connects in Denver, and his flight, which was scheduled to leave Denver at noon, was delayed.
"I said, 'That's it, I'm not going to make it,'" he said. "We were cutting it close as it was, I was supposed to arrive at 6. Then I saw a flight that was leaving in 20 minutes for Philadelphia. I said, 'Can I get on?'"
There was one seat left -- a middle seat, no less -- and Oates pounced.
"I guess it was meant to be," he said.
Oates, who grew up 25 miles north of Philadelphia in North Wales, had plans to watch the World Series, but from his couch, not in person.
"I was actually looking forward to watching Daryl sing," he said. "I was quite happy to stay home and watch the game on TV. But now I'm in it and it's fantastic. It's very exciting."

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