Local musician Jesika von Rabbit to sing national anthem at Firebirds game on Saturday
Joshua Tree musician Jesika von Rabbit grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and describes herself as a "big Packers fan," which is the extent of her interest in sports. But after attending a Coachella Valley Firebirds hockey game as a local musician, von Rabbit has pursued the opportunity to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" at one of the games.
On Saturday, she will finally get her moment on the ice at Acrisure Arena before the Firebirds take on the Colorado Eagles.
Gram Rabbit's former frontwoman said her previous experience with the national anthem was performing a "weird electronic version" in her early 20s at a Fourth of July celebration in St. Paul, Minnesota.
"It was a small festival, and I had a band on stage with me — this is just me alone with my voice. I haven't done anything like this before, but I'm excited to have this experience under my belt. Who knows? Maybe I'll get to sing more of the national anthem if things go well. I would love to sing it at Lambeau Field at a Packers game," von Rabbit said.
Even though many amateur and professional singers perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" before sports events, it's difficult to master because of the vocal range of one octave and a fifth, but von Rabbit said she's trying not to overthink it so she can "stay Zen, composed and calm."
"It's a little nerve-racking. I'm singing acapella in front of thousands of people," von Rabbit said. "I don't have the highest of voices, but I've been rehearsing it. I'm going to warm up my voice really good and hopefully I'll pull it off so I can make the locals proud."
Jesika von Rabbit is also releasing a cover of 'Let Love Rule'
On Monday, von Rabbit was putting the final touches on some songs at a Silverlake studio owned by former Gram Rabbit guitarist Ethan Allen. She hopes to release a new album this fall, but is going to start releasing singles starting with a cover on Wednesday of Lenny Kravitz' 1989 song "Let Love Rule" in celebration of Valentine's Day. The song will be available on her Bandcamp page for free.
"I wanted to share that with everyone because it sounds pretty and very appropriate for Valentine's Day," von Rabbit said. "I'm finally releasing the song "Dog At A Human Party" along with the music video on May 10. I've had that song in my back pocket and it just wasn't the right time, the video wasn't ready and I'm excited to release that in May. Then, I'll start dropping singles every month."
It's not the first time von Rabbit has recorded a cover. Her 2017 haunting take on Culture Club's "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" impressed frontman Boy George. He shared von Rabbit's video on Twitter and found a photo of her as a small child holding a poster of him asking her "Is this you?"
In 2022, she covered Boys Don't Cry's 1985 hit "I Wanna Be A Cowboy" as a duet with Eagles of Death Metal frontman Jesse Hughes. The music video caught the attention of Boys Don't Cry frontman Nick Richards, who told The Desert Sun he received a Google alert when the video posted and said it was "fascinating" and "looks more expensive" than the original.
During the pandemic, von Rabbit also released the singles "Who The Hell Knows," "Bombay Beach Bunny" and "Desert Dream Center."
Desert Sun reporter Brian Blueskye covers arts and entertainment. He can be reached at brian.blueskye@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @bblueskye.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Jesika von Rabbit to sing national anthem at Firebirds game
