I also finally got to sing karaoke with Kimi! I met her in passing at a party back when I was living in San Francisco (back when she was a blonde!) and we finally got to hang out after I ran into her after she'd moved to NYC!
Check out our scary eyes: They're glowing ike the metal on the edge of a knife. (Too bad I just realized I made that same joke about singing the same song almost 5 years ago. Jeez, maybe it's time I started picking out some new karaoke jams).
So we were so totally caught up in making faces that we pretty much forgot about karaoke at least until a professional Frank Sinatra impersonator hit the stage and busted out some Frank.
Not only did he sound spot-on, he even looked a WHOLE lot like him. It was like being in the room with Ol' Blue Eyes himself (you know, except with a whole lot less-women being beat-up).
As soon as they were finished singing, Gurj immediately whipped out the book to find another song to put in. She ended up going with Gwen Stefani's Holla Back Girl because during the chorus we all get to shout "Because I ain't no holla back....GURJ!" Hahahaha. After songs were selected, there was nothing to do but listen to other people sing, drink our drinks and, oh yeah...
So after a few songs, the band, (who I've since found out is called Drunk Uncle Bob) took a break. I pulled the singer aside and this time I managed to convince him to let me sing a song! Then after he agreed to let me do it, it almost didn't happen because I didn't know most of the songs in the bands repertoire. In the end I managed to convince him that I sorta knew the words to My Own Worst Enemy by Lit and that I'd be able to wing it. Check out the singer's expression: totally annoyed because I'm messing up the words. Hahah.
You sign up for a song and then when it's your turn to sing, the microphone cord can be slid down this guided-track type thingy to make sure it can reach any seat! It was incredible!
And the best part? You're on a bus and you have a CAPTIVE AUDIENCE! When you sing karaoke at a bar, you have to weigh what you want to sing against what the crowd is likely to tolerate. If you pick a horrible song, everyone will simply go outside and smoke until your song is over. But on a bus, there's no escape. So if you want to sing Believe by Cher (Yes Sean, I'm looking in your direction) there's nothing anybody can do but listen. Hahah.
...a private karaoke room!!! (Bi bim bab for lunch? Superbelt Massager? A Private, FREE Karaoke room??? I was starting to wonder if my plane had crashed and THIS WAS HEAVEN!) Hahaha.
...and discovered this! At first, I wasn't sure what it was (mostly, because I CAN'T READ KOREAN), but then when I wandered inside the room, it hit me. We'd discovered...
And a heartfelt ending. Why, Ricky? WHY? By the way, Brother Lawrence was manning my camera for all of this and I'd like to thank him for taking such great pics.
Grant showed up and came correct with his version of Rick James' Superfreak (which had me worried. Because if we both ended up in the finals, he would no doubt pull out I Believe in a Thing Called Love by The Darkness which, having already used my only nuclear option, I would have no chance of competing against).
I decided to go with Skid Row's cautionary ballad, 18 & Life. I was even lucky enough to score a stageful of interpretive backup dancers. Sure, that song might be a ballad...
In American Schmidol, everyone gets to perform one song. The judges score everyone and then pick two finalists to return to the stage and each sing one more song. The winner of the finalists round will be crowned AMERICAN SCHMIDOL! Any karaoke enthusiast knows there are a very limited number of jams that are surefire karaoke gold. I wasn't sure which one to go with. Oh, Darling by The Beatles? Faith by George Michael? Maybe something from the Pantheon of Jovi? In the end I decided to take no risks and chose the only nuclear warhead in the karaoke arsenal: Laura Brannigan's Gloria.
So earlier in the month Adam B. had told me that Heeb Magazine was going to be holding a karaoke competition at Lit called American Schmidol and he told me that I needed to come and compete. Here's Josh (who you may remember from when the Heeb guys came and rocked when I lived out in SF) acting as emcee opening the ceremonies!
The night took a serious turn towards fun when Matt and Chris, hosts of the new Karaoke Killed the Cat Party (that still happens every Monday night at Pianos!) took the stage for their coreographed rendition of...
Next up on the mic was Capt. Larson. So I'm writing this on Jan 23rd, 2006, a little over a year later - anyway, last night I was up late, I have the flu and couldn't sleep, and I started watching late-night HBO. A movie that I hadn't seen in years came on and I thought to myself...
I forget this girl's name - but she's awesome because no matter how many pics of her I take, she always ends up looking like a crazy homeless person in all of them.
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