Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Christopher Macchio | Opera Singer Recaps His World Cup Rendition of "America the Beautiful"
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: President Trump binds a way to single me out, and
- 0:02Speaker 1: Sid Rosenberg's the great as he's the best, doesn't matter.
- 0:05Speaker 1: It could be five hundred people there.
- 0:06Speaker 2: He sees me.
- 0:07Speaker 3: That's it.
- 0:08Speaker 1: The whole night stops did it again, but part of
- 0:11Speaker 1: the moment. The great moments of that night included my
- 0:14Speaker 1: friend Christopher Marcio singing. I remember being at Bruce Blakeman's
- 0:19Speaker 1: inauguration two months ago after he won his second consecutive
- 0:23Speaker 1: Nassau County executive seat. Chris sang that night too, and
- 0:26Speaker 1: he just completely wooed the crowd.
- 0:28Speaker 3: He's amazing.
- 0:29Speaker 1: He is President Trump and Sid Rosenberg's favorite tenor. So
- 0:34Speaker 1: it turns out that Chris was bestowed this honor of
- 0:36Speaker 1: singing America the Beautiful Sunday at the World Cup final
- 0:42Speaker 1: between Argentina and Spain. And he did it before the game,
- 0:46Speaker 1: and my good friend Dan Scavino tape did put it
- 0:48Speaker 1: on Twitter, which is great. And then a halftime came
- 0:51Speaker 1: and I never saw Chris. I get a text from
- 0:54Speaker 1: uncle Louis. Oh, good buddy, Louis Gregory.
- 0:56Speaker 3: He goes, they didn't play it.
- 0:58Speaker 1: I gotta didn't play it. What So with that said,
- 1:01Speaker 1: here he is America's tenor, the very handsome Christopher Macchio.
- 1:07Speaker 3: Good morning, pou.
- 1:07Speaker 2: Well, thank you so much for having me on. It's
- 1:09Speaker 2: a real pleasure.
- 1:10Speaker 3: It's great to see you as always. You're such a
- 1:11Speaker 3: sweet guy.
- 1:12Speaker 1: So what exactly happened? You showed up on Sunday? You
- 1:15Speaker 1: actually taped it before the game, right.
- 1:17Speaker 4: Well, no, actually it was supposed to be live. It
- 1:21Speaker 4: was I sang it live. I was right after post malone,
- 1:25Speaker 4: and it was part of what they call the closing ceremony.
- 1:28Speaker 4: But actually that quote unquote closing ceremony takes place before
- 1:31Speaker 4: the game, and they had you know, a few different
- 1:35Speaker 4: artists as part of that closing ceremony, including of course
- 1:38Speaker 4: actor Tom Cruise, who I hung out with for a while.
- 1:41Speaker 2: In the green room back a page.
- 1:43Speaker 3: Cool.
- 1:43Speaker 2: No, so oh it was really cool. He was so nice.
- 1:46Speaker 4: I was ready to you know, do the need for
- 1:48Speaker 4: Speed thing, you know, top gun, and you know he
- 1:52Speaker 4: was great, and so all the artists were backstage, but
- 1:55Speaker 4: you know, I was the only lie. I was one
- 1:59Speaker 4: of only three lives performances throughout the entire World Cup season,
- 2:03Speaker 4: and they showed everything except for my performance.
- 2:07Speaker 3: So tell people, the.
- 2:08Speaker 1: People those about eighty thousand at Giant Stadium that day.
- 2:11Speaker 3: So they saw you.
- 2:12Speaker 2: They loved it.
- 2:12Speaker 1: The price and Trump saw you, Lara saw you. But
- 2:15Speaker 1: the billion or more people that watch it at home
- 2:18Speaker 1: on TV, like me, we never saw you.
- 2:20Speaker 4: Well, you know, there were a lot of international feeds
- 2:23Speaker 4: that actually showed it. So the international broadcasters, a lot
- 2:26Speaker 4: of them actually put it out. You know, FIFA was
- 2:29Speaker 4: very grateful to FIFA for having me, and to Johnny
- 2:32Speaker 4: and Fantino and President Trump and Andrew Giuliani for you know,
- 2:35Speaker 4: making it happen. But unfortunately the actual broadcast, the live broadcast,
- 2:41Speaker 4: they cut away from after Post Malone was finished, and
- 2:44Speaker 4: they did not put America the Beautiful And this was
- 2:46Speaker 4: a tribute to America. This was a moment of patriotism,
- 2:50Speaker 4: celebrating America two fifty.
- 2:52Speaker 2: That was why I was there.
- 2:53Speaker 4: That's why Johnny and Fantino put me, That's why President
- 2:55Speaker 4: Trump and Andrew Giuliani put me there. And so I
- 2:58Speaker 4: was a little disappointed, say the least, that it didn't
- 3:01Speaker 4: end up finding its way on the live broadcast. They
- 3:04Speaker 4: had some commentators talking over it and so far over it.
- 3:06Speaker 1: Yeah, well I'm pissed. I'm much as so aggravated. I'm pissed.
- 3:09Speaker 1: Why do you think Box did that?
- 3:11Speaker 4: You know, I really can't speculate as to what their
- 3:13Speaker 4: motivations were from an editorial standpoint. All I could tell
- 3:17Speaker 4: you is that live performances, especially the kind that I deliver,
- 3:21Speaker 4: are just so rare. Like I said, it was really
- 3:24Speaker 4: me and Zach Brown that was it. Everything else there
- 3:27Speaker 4: in the entire World Cup it was all just studio recordings.
- 3:31Speaker 4: I was the live performance, and you always want to
- 3:34Speaker 4: hear the magic of a live performance. And so I
- 3:38Speaker 4: really hope that down the line going forward, that these
- 3:41Speaker 4: networks take heed and make sure that all of the
- 3:44Speaker 4: live music, when it does happen, is carried live to
- 3:47Speaker 4: the audiences around the world.
- 3:48Speaker 1: I was happy to see President Trump put out the
- 3:50Speaker 1: truth social about your great performance. He's so generous, he
- 3:54Speaker 1: is so great. And again Dan Scovino put your effort
- 3:57Speaker 1: on Twitter.
- 3:58Speaker 3: That was amazing.
- 3:59Speaker 1: But was Trump pissed when he found out that they
- 4:02Speaker 1: actually did on TV?
- 4:05Speaker 4: You know what, I can't really speculate. I could tell
- 4:08Speaker 4: you that when I did the White House in twenty twenty,
- 4:10Speaker 4: the R and C didn't want me to sing after
- 4:13Speaker 4: a speech. They wanted me to sing before his speech,
- 4:15Speaker 4: and he specifically told them, I want Christopher to sing
- 4:18Speaker 4: after I deliver the acceptance speech. Well, they bumped me
- 4:21Speaker 4: to before when no one was paying attention. So when
- 4:23Speaker 4: I was watching President Trump deliver his acceptance speech, Secret
- 4:27Speaker 4: Service came over and they said, President Trump wants you
- 4:29Speaker 4: to do your entire musical set all over again, because
- 4:33Speaker 4: President Trump, in my belief, wanted to make sure that
- 4:36Speaker 4: that musical moment was carried and instead of leaving the stage,
- 4:39Speaker 4: Hey and the entire First family lined up and made
- 4:42Speaker 4: sure that the network's covered that entire musical set. And
- 4:45Speaker 4: for that and many other things, I'm extremely grateful to
- 4:47Speaker 4: our President Trump.
- 4:49Speaker 1: I have to know, because you are magnificent. You are
- 4:51Speaker 1: You're a great, great, great singer.
- 4:53Speaker 3: And he loved it.
- 4:54Speaker 1: So but when did this whole thing start, this relationship
- 4:57Speaker 1: between you and President.
- 4:58Speaker 4: You know, I first met him for New Year's even
- 5:01Speaker 4: marl Lago from in twenty fifteen. But we really made
- 5:06Speaker 4: a very special connection at a very solemn occasion for
- 5:08Speaker 4: his brother Robert's.
- 5:10Speaker 2: Funeral ten twenty twenty, and he.
- 5:12Speaker 4: Was kind enough to give me a standing ovation in
- 5:15Speaker 4: the middle of that service. It was a two hour service.
- 5:17Speaker 4: I sang ten pieces in tribute to his wonderful brother.
- 5:21Speaker 4: And you know, he really had a special relationship with
- 5:23Speaker 4: his brother, and then he developed.
- 5:25Speaker 2: A particularly special relationship with me as an artist.
- 5:28Speaker 1: I think one of the reasons why he loves me
- 5:29Speaker 1: so much is because I had difficulties that's even a
- 5:33Speaker 1: nice way of saying it, with drugs and alcohol. And
- 5:36Speaker 1: he lost Robert, and he has no patience for that.
- 5:39Speaker 3: Type of stuff.
- 5:40Speaker 1: So seeing me win this battle and succeed in life,
- 5:44Speaker 1: I think that's part of the reason why President.
- 5:47Speaker 3: Trump appreciates men.
- 5:48Speaker 2: And he had a very special relationship with Robert.
- 5:50Speaker 4: And Fred was of course also another brother of his
- 5:52Speaker 4: that had suffered from you know, an alcohol right, yeah,
- 5:57Speaker 4: And so you know, and I think that I share
- 6:01Speaker 4: President Trump's aversion to all kinds of drugs and alcohol
- 6:05Speaker 4: from from a personal and a vocal health standpoint. I
- 6:08Speaker 4: just stay away, and I think that's probably for the
- 6:11Speaker 4: best for everybody.
- 6:13Speaker 3: So what's next for you and what's the next big gig?
- 6:16Speaker 4: Well, I'm very excited to announce that they're putting me
- 6:20Speaker 4: on to sing the national anthem and maybe even a
- 6:22Speaker 4: few other songs for the Grand Prix of Washington, d C.
- 6:27Speaker 4: America two fifty or Freedom two fifty. We're really celebrating
- 6:31Speaker 4: America through the streets of Washington, d C. And of
- 6:34Speaker 4: course I'm particularly excited at this racing related opportunity because
- 6:39Speaker 4: I myself have a racing pedigree, having been a trained race.
- 6:42Speaker 2: Car driver in my youth.
- 6:44Speaker 3: Yeah, where was that?
- 6:46Speaker 4: My father ran Bridgehampton Recircuit out in the Hamptons, and
- 6:49Speaker 4: then I trained all over the country really and in
- 6:52Speaker 4: Formula open wheel style like this is like, you know,
- 6:55Speaker 4: the entry level, the where you would eventually get to
- 6:57Speaker 4: Formula one if you were good enough. I was not
- 6:59Speaker 4: good enough for Formula one, but I really really loved
- 7:03Speaker 4: driving fast. I've got the speeding tickets to prove it.
- 7:07Speaker 1: It's a great sport. And they love America, those guys,
- 7:09Speaker 1: all those race car family sport, right, they're the best,
- 7:14Speaker 1: the best. All right, Well, you can't leave these studios.
- 7:17Speaker 1: I know it's acapella. They got no music behind you.
- 7:20Speaker 3: But being that you are the greatest.
- 7:22Speaker 1: Tenor in the world and Fox screwed you, I'm not
- 7:25Speaker 1: gonna screw you. I'm gonna give you an opportunity with
- 7:27Speaker 1: a million listeners right now. Listening all over the world,
- 7:30Speaker 1: from Tel Aviv to Miami to New York City. You
- 7:33Speaker 1: get to pick. You want America the beautiful, you want
- 7:36Speaker 1: God bless America, you want the star spangled batter You
- 7:39Speaker 1: get to pick.
- 7:39Speaker 4: Well, I guess I might as well do a little
- 7:42Speaker 4: bit of the what a lot of folks in this
- 7:44Speaker 4: country at least missed on Sunday.
- 7:46Speaker 3: So and crawl I card with Brad.
- 7:55Speaker 2: From sea to Shining Sea.
- 8:00Speaker 1: Recall, ammen, recall, you are something else when you figured
- 8:14Speaker 1: out that, oh I could really do this, I'm really
- 8:15Speaker 1: good at that.
- 8:16Speaker 4: I kind of figured it out at thirteen, tried to
- 8:18Speaker 4: keep it a secret, and at fifteen the secret got
- 8:20Speaker 4: out and everything changed after that.
- 8:22Speaker 3: So even performing ever since you're fifteen years old. Yes, wow,
- 8:25Speaker 3: that's amazing.
- 8:26Speaker 4: But you know, it's not an easy road. And my
- 8:28Speaker 4: career really only started fifteen years ago. And I'm just
- 8:32Speaker 4: extremely grateful for the opportunity to connect with people all
- 8:36Speaker 4: across the country and now the world through the beauty
- 8:39Speaker 4: of music.
- 8:40Speaker 1: Last one Trump pass you everywhere he does. But the
- 8:43Speaker 1: problem is, and the scary part is he's almost done,
- 8:46Speaker 1: which is going to be a horrible day for all
- 8:48Speaker 1: of us here in America when President Trump really walks
- 8:51Speaker 1: away in two years, and that'll be it. Hopefully Marco
- 8:54Speaker 1: Ruby will be next, but I can't guarantee you that
- 8:56Speaker 1: either way. Do you have like a lifetime deal with
- 8:59Speaker 1: Republicans just sing?
- 9:01Speaker 2: Well, I certainly hope.
- 9:02Speaker 1: So.
- 9:03Speaker 4: You know, I've put in a lot of dues, and honestly,
- 9:05Speaker 4: I could tell you, and I've got the photos to
- 9:07Speaker 4: prove it. I've been a lifelong Republican since i was
- 9:09Speaker 4: nine years old. Okay, that's nineteen eighty seven, and you know,
- 9:13Speaker 4: I'm still going strong. I've been waiting for a president
- 9:18Speaker 4: like President Trump all my life. I was hopeful with Bush,
- 9:22Speaker 4: it didn't quite turn out the way President Trump was
- 9:24Speaker 4: turning out. I mean, he's just he's really the best
- 9:27Speaker 4: president that we've ever had in all two hundred and
- 9:30Speaker 4: fifty years of this nation's great history. And I'm just
- 9:33Speaker 4: so privileged to have such a close role in all
- 9:36Speaker 4: of this at this moment in history. I'm so grateful
- 9:39Speaker 4: to President Trump, and I'm also grateful for you and
- 9:42Speaker 4: people like you doing what you do, putting that patriotic
- 9:45Speaker 4: spirit out there and giving a platform and a voice
- 9:47Speaker 4: to folks like me.
- 9:48Speaker 1: I really appreciate it you do, and I can feel
- 9:50Speaker 1: the sincerity.
- 9:51Speaker 3: God bless you.
- 9:52Speaker 1: That is the ultra talent dud Christopher Romachi. All this
- 9:56Speaker 1: event I go to for the great President.
- 9:58Speaker 3: I agree with you. The best Christophers and sing and
- 10:01Speaker 3: we'll lucky to have Christopher.
- 10:02Speaker 1: He's an amazing singer, a great patriot, a terrific human being.
- 10:05Speaker 3: Chris. God bless you, buddy. Thank you so much.
- 10:07Speaker 2: God bless you too.
- 10:08Speaker 3: Okay, that's Christopher Mott. You all right, Nell.
- 10:11Speaker 5: Thanks for listening to Sit and Friends in the Morning.
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- 10:36Speaker 5: time for a new episode, so you never have to
- 10:39Speaker 5: wonder what
- 10:40Speaker 2: The heck is going on here.