He implacably spelled sousaphone, kaleidoscope and the name of an extinct dog-like marsupial. ULABY: But it was the dreadlocked Ryan Kailath who methodically demolished the competition. ULABY: That's Holly Bat, who cinched her status as an audience favorite with this performance.īAT: (Rapping)My name is Holly B, and you can find me, Monday nights at the spelling bee, where I be or where I do my thing. HOLLY BAT: Alliteration, A-L-L-I-T-E-R-A-T-I-O-N. Unidentified Man #2: Lapeciferous, L-A-P-E-C-I-F-E-R-O-U-S. Ten contestants fell to nine, then eight, then five. ULABY: Ben Healy's fans groaned as he misspelled conniption in the very first round. Judy Beg competed in a Brooklyn bar bee before founding this one.īEG: I just thought it would be a fun, different thing to do to get people to participate in something that wasn't karaoke. ULABY: Similar bees have been held in clubs and galleries from Raleigh, North Carolina to Seattle, Washington. Nick Pindentell(ph) and Judy Beg(ph) use the same words as the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, but their approach is more relaxed. ULABY: The two judges took their places at a table facing the contestants, sweating under the hot stage lights. Unidentified Man: Welcome to the championship.
Ben Healy, an editor at the magazine the Atlantic Monthly, sat near skinny, dreadlocked Ryan Tyloff(ph), and the serenely confident Holly Bass(ph), who wore a bee-themed blouse for the occasion. spelling bee, previous winners are pitted against each other.
ULABY: In this, the final round of the D.C. MCCLAINE: He's Ben, Benjamin Healy, with the glasses, looking a little bit nervous. McClaine is among a rather rowdy contingent of fans who came to cheer on one of the ten spellers lined up on the small stage. ULABY: Morgan McClaine, age 24, thinks an element of campy nostalgia drives today's spelling bee craze, which includes a rash of movies, documentaries, novels, even a Broadway musical. You know, spelling bees are all the rage. MORGAN MCCLAINE: I was really excited to come and check it out. With battered plank floors, organic beer at the bar and a black box theatre in back that tonight is incapable of accommodating the hundreds of 20-somethings in straight leg jeans jamming in to watch a spelling bee. NEDA ULABY: The Warehouse is a performance space in downtown Washington, D.C. NPR's N-E-D-A-U-L-A-B-Y visited one in an unusual place. Coming up, we see our friend Randy Adams for the first time face-to-face.īut first, spelling bees have become the last word in 20-something nightlife.
0 kommentar(er)
