National Anthem Girl

Okay...

The first time I ever sang The National Anthem

was before a homecoming basketball game at my high school on

Long Island. I was 16 years old. All I

remember is being so nervous, that I had this death grip on the microphone cord,

and after I finished singing, I walked over to where my mother was standing and I

said, "Mom, I can't open my hand!"

can you see... by the dawn's

Hi. My name is Janine Stange and I'm

The National Anthem Girl

I grew up on Long Island, New York, in a very normal,

very Italian, very patriotic family. My

great grandparents came here from Italy at the turn of the century.

Every day after school and every

weekend, I worked in my parents' bagel shop. We had the best bagels,

but I really think that people came in just to see my mother.

Everyone loved her, and there were lots of regulars, but there was one

group that she had a major soft spot for... and that was

our men and women in uniform. She always went above and beyond

to make sure they felt like a million bucks when they came in. That really

made an impression on me.

I was always singing The National Anthem... at high school functions, later

on in college, community events... just anywhere and everywhere I could.

I loved singing The National Anthem.

In 2007, I moved to I.A. with the intention of recording a CD.

I had a producer...

had lots of connections... and I wound up

spending all my savings on this album. Unfortunately, it didn't

turn out to be something I was uber proud of, and not the album where

I would finally make it. It wasn't a good thing.

My family thought I was staying in I.A. because I was having such

a great time, but the truth was I didn't even have enough money to

move back to New York, and I didn't want to tell them this. So here I was,

at this point in my life, tired from all the rejections of trying

to self-start a music career. But most of all, I was concerned

about my lack of direction and the time I spent floundering because of

my 'when-then'. A 'when-then' is a statement that

Goes something like this... "When I win the lottery,

then I'll buy my parents a new house."

"When I feel motivated, then I'll go to the gym."

My personal 'when-then' statement always went something like this...

"When I get that record deal and have a hit song, then I'm going to give back."

And I had no idea what that meant: I didn't know

what I was going to do. I just knew, "when I'm this famous philanthropic

artist, then I'm going to give back and make a big difference!"

But my 'when-then' wasn't happening, because my music career wasn't taking off,

and most of all, because of the 'when-then', I was feeling disgruntled.

I'm not sure what specifically happened to cause it...

maybe I was just fed up... but something changed inside of me one

day... and I stopped the insanity of the 'when-then delusion' and decided,

"I'm going to do what I can with what I have

from where I am." I'd like to say I came up with that,

but it's a modified Theodore Roosevelt quote. So I asked myself,

"What do I have?" Well, I could sing, and the one song

that I loved to sing was The National Anthem. It was a song

that I believed in, and I'd been singing practically all my life.

What if I could use that song to promote a dialogue about patriotism

and pride? And when I did that, when I attached myself to something

that was bigger than me, instead of feeling sorry for myself, that's when

my mind and my heart began to get on a roll.

And shortly after that, it occurred to me, " You know, nobody's ever sung The National Anthem

- in all 50 states. That would be perfect!" - Some people run marathons for

a cause. This will be my marathon. I'll promote patriotism by being

the first person to sing The Star Spangled Banner in all 50 states!

Now, how do I do that? Okay,

Here's the deal: I had no corporate sponsorships...

no over-the-top connections... no booking agent

support team... and very little money in my bank account.

How in the world was I going to fly all over the country, including Alaska

and Hawaii, and sing The National Anthem in every state?

Then a light bulb sort of went off in my head as I realized something:

Since I was 16, and over the years, I'd already sung

at events in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Texas,

Arkansas, Maryland, Georgia,

Massachusetts, and California. So I started off

the mission with 9 states already under my belt. Just

41 states to go.

So I was all set. With the money I had in my savings, I was just going to pay

as I went along and hope for the best. One foot in front of the other.

And one other thing: In every place I was going, every state,

every event, the focus was going to be on the melody

as it was written. No vocal acrobatics, no poetic

This song was not going to be my

my American Idol audition. This was not my song. It was our song.

So that was settled. All I had left to figure out was how to sing

The National Anthem in 41 states to make all 50.

Okay, so my new-found mission officially kicked off in Florida

on July 3rd, 2012. I sang The National

Anthem for the Single-A Tampa Yankees at George Steinbrenner

Park. Okay, so we are here in the main lobby of the

Tampa Yankees... so, I thought that we would video some things so that you all

could see different memorabilia from the

Yankees that's here. We have a picture of George & Joan Steinbrenner.

Some trophies. I don't think this is the real one because I think it would

be in glass and somebody would be yelling at me right now because I'm touching it.

This is my favorite piece of the whole place.

So there you have it. So, we're going to go upstairs in a little while. This right here is

a, um, a artifact as well. It's my hairclip because it's really humid outside,

and uh, I'm trying to keep it back so I don't look like a crazy person when I

Florida was State #10,

and I was off to the races. Next, I

sang in Williamsport, PA, before the Williamsport Crosscutters

minor league baseball game... then it was on to Newport, Rhode Island, where

I sang in the company of Pete Sampras at the Tennis Hall of Fame

Championship Weekend. After that, I sang for The Denver Outlaws at Mile High

Stadium, then it was on to Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, Ohio...

for the Reds versus the Mets game: My first

performance at a major league baseball stadium.

State #15 was a pro Bullrider's event

in Greensboro, NC, and the spectacle of

an Italian girl from Long Island surrounded by a sea of cowboy hats.

I finished out 2012 at another pro Bullriders event,

this one in Las Vegas, NV, broadcast on CBS Sports.

So 2012 was over. 16 states under my belt. I felt like I

was making, you know, some progress. But with 34

states still left to go, I was starting to the enormity

of what I had committed to taking on. I started off

2013 in The Windy City for another pro Bullriders

event. State #18, I sang The Anthem

for The High School Dream Bowl in Salem. VA.

I also got a lesson how brutally cold and windy the Southeast can

be at the end of January. In July 2013, I sang

The National Anthem before a lacrosse event sponsored by Nike in Beaverton, OR.

Bringing my total states up to 19. This event

was also where I received a pair of fluorescent yellow Nikes

that would become my permanent travel companions throughout every airport on my

journey. So for the entire year of 2013, I

only added 4 states to my total. "Not bad," I said,

"19 states down, 31 more to go." I wish could have added more,

but I had limited resources. And hey, who cared

how long it took me to sing The Anthem in all 50 states. I mean, it's not like there was

a time limit, right? Wrong!

It was January, 2014, and I was in Baltimore, Maryland.

As I was shutting the trunk of my boyfriend's car, I

noticed something on the license plate. It said, 'Star Spangled

200 dot com'. I grabbed my phone,

went to the website... The Star Spangled Banner was

turning 200 years old that year,

2014, on September 14th. Oh my gosh.

What are the odds? I said, "That's it! That has to be the completion

date... the goal that brings this whole thing home!

What better way to raise awareness for the song, and all the brave men and women

it represents? The 200th anniversary of The National Anthem!"

I had never been so excited and so panicked

at the same time. It also meant that I had

exactly nine months to sing The National Anthem in 31 states.

Cue the hyperventilating.

Okay, so that wouldn't be so bad. I mean, that only meant, what,

like, 3 or 4 states a month? I could do

that, right? I had to find events and convince people

to book me to sing at them in 31 states:

And of course, figure out to pay for all of it while not getting kicked out of my apartment.

My bank account would probably get me through about 5 or 6 states.

I remember, I converted my bedroom to, what I called, 'The Situation

Room'. I called every major

college, minor league, major league, teams, charity events, anything

I could find. I would explain to them what I was doing, and, hopefully, if they didn't hang up on me,

- I would get booked. - Janine stange, aka national anthem

- Girl, welcome to the show. - Thank you. It's great to be on.

Well, you know, singing in all 50 states, that is an ambitious goal.

I just, I felt for the need. You know, The National Anthem

is turning 200 on September 14th, and

even prior to realizing that, I always said I'd link to sing

- The anthem in all 50 states. - I can tell in your voice, that's truly a passion

- Of yours. - It's really to promote awareness for

the fact that The National Anthem is not just, like I said, a formality.

And there was also one other thing.

I decided I wanted to give back even more.

The sole purpose of the journey was to honor our brave and raise awareness

that the song our armed forces give meaning to

was about to turn 200. So I got

in touch with a woman named Carolyn Blashek. She's the founder of

Operation Gratitude, which is an organization that sends out thousands of care packages

every year to military personnel who are

deployed. And in those care packages, there's always a handwritten note to people in

uniform. So I said to Carolyn, "I'm going to all these venues

across the U.S... what if every place I go, I set something

up so private citizens, everyday people, from all

over the country, write thank you notes to go into these

packages that you're sending out?" And Carolyn said, "Go for it."

So with that, the bar on my journey was raised again: I was

actually going to be able to attach this act of gratitude to those who

serve while I was promoting The National Anthem's 200th.

One thing we all do, no matter how big or small the game,

is stand, remove our hats, as we listen to the nation's

song. One woman is trying to remind everyone just how important

that its. Meet Janine Stange, better known as, The National

Anthem Girl. Stange is performing The Star Spangled Banner

in all 50 states this year. Alabama is

number 20 under her belt as she spreads patriotism

throughout the country. Along with singing our country's song, The National Anthem

Girl is collecting handwritten thank you cards that will go into

care packages for deployed military and veterans.

Alabama marked the first venue where I implemented the thank you cards for

the troops... and people loved it... which was very exciting for me, to see college

students, older veterans, young kids, all come