And now... Paula Cole!

Silence.

Chirp.

Uncomfortableness.

You would think that during a major multimedia event like the All-Star game that they'd have this wired a little tighter. Is there a sound issue? A cable not plugged in? What's up? Where's the sound engineer? The roadies? AAAAHHHH...

At this point we see her keyboard player hunched over the keyboard trying frantically to either select a sound, see the display or figure out why it's not working. I have an incredible feeling of deja vous. Know the feeling. Don't envy her right now.

More silence. The long-distance TV camera pans the crowd. Still nothing. I can't believe it. Wondering if she's going to start singing acapella. She probably should. Start Paula. Please start. Why can't they figure this out. This is embarrassing...

I can almost hear the sound of James Adams in the background "Down-time, Down-time...let's go guys..." But Flip Like Wilson never played to a crowd like this... even at the Bottle & Cork in Dewey Beach.

Ok -- finally. She says something about the country, men and women fighting... very nice. I don't remember exactly. She starts singing. You can hear the nervousness in her voice as she sings. No wonder. She just had a couple hundred million people watching (or not watching) her sing.

Ok... sounding better now. Actually, this sounds quite good. Nice version. I'm glad... nice recovery. I'm happy for her. And me. My blood pressure is returning to normal... as normal as it could be, I guess...