2nd karaoke birthday party in so many months

Doannie turned 26! Here's the birthday boy with his fiance Holly.


These guys know how to throw a good party. Case in point: their annual Christmas party had caroling with four part harmonies. From this fact, you can further assume that their friends are karaoke fiends.

But before the singing, copious amounts of sushi and sake had to be consumed.


"Sake bomb? I heard about that from NY Times' "A Night Out With" Tracy Morgan." Honestly. Those words actually came out of my mouth. Because I am the walking version of this site and especially this post (oh and this, this, and this one). Fortunately, no one rolled their eyes at me.


This was a mostly teacher crowd. I get a little nervous at teacher parties, because I've attended one too many parties full of teachers who don't know how to talk about anything besides teaching. Usually, this involves a lot of complaining. But now that Ian's teaching in Boston Public, we've met a lot of like minded people who are passionate about their jobs, yet know how to balance their personal and professional lives. Further, when you work for a school with so little resources, any complaining is justified.

For example, this is Juan (post sake bombs). If anyone deserves multiple sake bombs on a Saturday night, it's this guy.


I love this photo because Juan, falling out of the picture, has to hold onto Justin's arm because he's laughing so hard.


Juan told a story about his first day of coaching the swim team. He had this conversation with the 86 year-old City swim teacher:

Juan: Where can I find a wrench?
Crazy old guy: Why do you need a wrench?
J: To tighten the swim lane markers.
COG: Why do you need swim lane markers?
J: [pause]
J: To mark off the lanes?
COG: Why do you need to do that?

Then after practice, Juan had this interaction:

[Kids turn on a hose, start spraying each other while bringing out their soap and shampoo]
Juan: What are you guys doing?
Kids: Showering.
Juan: Why aren't you using the showers?
Kids: They don't work.
Juan: So you spray each other with a hose every day?
Kids: Yeah.
Juan: [tears well up in his eyes; then resigns himself to this fact, just like the kids did a long time ago] OK, then.

Juan also talked about secretly killing cockroaches around the pool perimeter while the kids were swimming, so they wouldn't see. The pool hasn't passed one health inspection during his tenure as coach.

But really, all the teachers from Ian's school deserved a sake bomb that night, because on Friday they were subjected to a "lock down" after a group of kids threatened to protest the school's new tardy policy. The story even made it into The Globe and other news outlets.

They all had a good attitude about it, though. I guess it's the 'if you don't laugh, you'll cry' kind of thing. Someone told another great story about an administrator making this announcement over the loudspeaker: "There will be no loitering in the halls after 2pm. If you're caught in the halls after 2pm... [here he paused for about 10 seconds]... well, you don't want to know what will happen." Yes, he caught himself potentially defining a consequence for bad behavior, and couldn't do it. And you know how kids love those empty threats!

It's so wild to hear these stories from other teachers, because Ian rarely complains about school; I sometimes forget how hard it can be. I get occasional hints, like when we watched the episode of The Wire where Prezbo finds computers and new editions of his textbook in an abandoned supply closet. I saw tears forming in Ian's eyes, as he said, "It's SO TRUE." He rarely tells me the funny stories either. Like someone was commending Ian for his poetry club announcement, which read "Do you spit hot fire? Do you have a crush on Emily Dickinson?" Aaaah, my baby--so cute. On a related note, the teachers at the table decided to try to sneak in the phrase "Stay classy, [insert school name]" into more announcements. I hope they succeed.

Alright, back to the fun stuff. This is Joe.


I love this photo. It looks like he just drank the nine sake bombs on the table, and is very happy about it. Joe grew up on a farm in rural New York. I have learned that when drinking, one of my all-time favorite conversation topics is dairy farming. So I stayed close to this guy all night.

Cara (on the left) is a student teacher at Ian's school. I adore her. She reminds me of my cousin Laura--if Laura had a smoker's voice, drank a lot, and was super flirtatious.

This is Jason.


He was kind enough to tap a chopstick on an empty scorpion bowl every time someone (read: Ian) yelled, "More cowbell!"

Scorpion bowls!


What do you do if you're sitting far away from the scorpion bowl? Grab a very long straw, of course!


On to the singing. It was typical sushi-bar style karaoke, with midi file tracks and hilariously inappropriate video accompanying the lyrics. This was a sing-along crowd, so there were no well-crafted solo performances. Representative song selections included Bon Jovi, Oasis, Grease Soundtrack and 80's classics.

Passionate singing:


"Friend in Low Places":


"Wonderwall":


"Dancing Queen":


This guy loved to dance:


Here's a video of him shaking it to the Spice Girls:



Video of the crowd singing "Champagne Supernova":



The only karaoke foul of the night was that "Free Fallin" played three times. But we obliged nonetheless:



This couple was really cute. If there was a lull in singing, he would grab that mic and take one for the team.


Rock stars!


Even when someone else was singing, it was hard for him to let go of that mic!


Birthday couple dancing:



Third wheel!


Good times. Good times.

A photo essay on Friday night

This week was a little stressful with longer hours at work due to the audit and my regular night classes, so Ian and I made sure we had fun plans for Friday night. Ian also found a 3-month-old pack of cigarettes from my business trip to Miami, so you know things were gonna get ignorant!

On account of his ass-mar, Ian doesn't like to inhale, so he smokes with the cigarette dangling out of his mouth like a toothpick. It's hilarious. When I took this photo, he was also jaywalking with tons of cars around him. He gets really thug when he smokes.


Ian says I smoke like a French lady, because I make wide dramatic gestures with my cigarette. So while we smoked, we sang all the fake French we could remember from Flight of the Conchords' "Foux de Fa Fa". I threw in a couple of Gerard Depardieus as well. We didn't capture this on film, so you should watch Flight of the Conchords' version here.

First stop on our Friday fun train: Sidecars at Silvertone coupled with literary analysis of Wu-Tang Clan lyrics.

Second stop: Institute of Contemporary Art. The ICA regularly hosts a teen night, which always proves to be a good time. The best part of teen night is how it brings together kids from all walks of life. Last year, after 3 Latino kids from the South End rapped about God saving them from the streets, the very flamboyant host commented, "I'm a gay Jew, and I loved that song!" Great contrasts like that abound.

First, we walked the exhibits. Favorite exhibit: Kader Attia's "Sleeping from Memory":


Least favorite: Louise Bourgeois' watercolors. They're kind of reminiscent of Evan from Superbad and his childhood compulsion of drawing penises. I'll spare you the visual. I enjoyed Bourgeois' sculptures, though. Here's "Spider":


The teens have an incredible performance space for open mic, as the ICA sits on the Boston waterfront with wall length windows revealing the downtown skyline. A couple of Ian's students performed. This is Justin. He's an incredibly precocious freshman who did a spoken word piece about generations of his family living without fathers. It was beautiful.


Kalifa has become a legend at Teen Night. Last year, I saw her first performance when she was a freshman, and she has completely transformed since then. She performed a piece full of maternal imagery, which was a great reflection of her own stage presence. She was like Zap Mama without all the wackiness.


Other highlights not captured on film: 3 guys doing the "Soulja Boy" dance. I loved it and promptly wanted to learn the dance. Ian strongly disagrees as he thinks it's similar to Lil' John's "Get Low", where kids are pulling the wool over adults' eyes regarding the sexually explicit lyrics. But I see it as just a straight-up fun dance. The kids performing it seemed to think so. And from the little I know about the lyrics and the dance, Soulja Boy seems to be promoting a very conservative sexual position, so I don't think it's a big deal. "Get Low" is just downright disgusting. Eh. I guess we're both right.

Another kid performed a spoken word piece that was a long conceit about a woman as an apartment complex. It included such gems as, "Do you have a big backyard?", "The grass isn't greener on the other side" and "Riding up and down your elevators". But the line that made me laugh out loud was "And the mortgage is tight! / No need to refinance". I thought it added some nice commentary on our country's current economic state.

There was also a trio from Newport, Rhode Island (Teen Night's getting big!) who had a really polished set. It's amazing the kind of resources these kids have today with their computers and internets and whatnot. "The Producers" is the next Fugees. Ian wants to start a label called Mansion Records and sign them up.

Next stop: JJ Foleys! Another place in Boston that brings together a good mix of people. This was Ian's reaction to the kind of off Newcastle. Why does Newcastle taste different in every bar in Boston?


Some bike courier played six Morrissey songs in a row on the jukebox. Then, a VERY drunk man played Elliot Smith's "Miss Misery" and passionately sang it to the girl next to him. I didn't know it was possible to make Elliot Smith into a drunken love song, but it is! This was Ian's reaction to him.


Then my song came on. Hmmm, I wonder who played LCD Soundsystem's "All My Friends"?


Ian applied ketchup on his fries in time with the repetitive beat of the song.


Ian loves himself some steak tips! JJ Foleys is no Slades, but yum!


Next stop: karaoke for Laura's and Heidi's 26th birthday. The birthday girls:


Sarah started us off with a nostalgic performance of the Beatles' "In My Life". It was sweet. But it was clear that this was more of a classic rock/metal crowd, so Todd's "Carry On My Wayward Son" was a huge hit. He's obviously a karaoke pro. Note his polished signature moves like the microphone twirl and dramatic lunges.



Hands down, Evan has the most potential to be in a viral YouTube video. See his performance of "Love Fool".



Coincidentally, this morning, I saw this cd sitting on my basement steps.


Kindred spirits, I tell you.

Ian and I were hoping to do a duet of Peabo Bryson's, "If Ever You're In My Arms Again" but they didn't have it. So we did Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues". We were put to shame when an incredible bass later performed "Ring of Fire". Man, he was good.

This guy committed a MAJOR karaoke foul. He was so into the guitar solo of Cheap Trick's "Surrender" that he put the microphone DOWN. HIS. PANTS. Gross!


[Side note: that girl in the bottom right of the photo was really pretty. I wanted to steal her look, but I forgot to ask where she got her dress. Darn.]

There were some other great groups of friends there. One group arm wrestled to decide who would perform what song. There was a really, really sweet couple who performed Regina Spektor's "Fidelity." Later, when she gave a solo performance of "Bettie Davis Eyes" he was so into it that he did overhead claps.


They also slow danced when the DJ performed INXS' "Never Tear Us Apart". Ooh, that's a great karaoke song. The DJ always knows.

Last stop on the Friday fun train: walking home along Tremont St. and laughing at people waiting in line to go to the Beehive. Ian and I get self-righteous when high class soul food is involved. $13 grilled cheese sandwiches with ribs and fontina? Suckers! Actually, that sounds delicious.

Good night!