Week 5 – Charity Week, or Our Chance to Spend Money on Something Other Than Costumes, Props and Booze

Thanks for your patience everyone. My Thanksgiving holiday started Friday – almost right after NKL – and I’ve been doing a lot of traveling since then. But I’ve had y’all on the brain (I just can’t quit you), and now have the space to breathe, kick back and recap our awesome week last week.

It was a highly successful Charity Week. Through a combination of team donations and about a half dozen silent auction items, we raised a total of $650 for Music For the City! Thanks to all the people and organizations that donated items for the auction (Kerbey Lane Cafe, Common Interest, Coco Coquette, Wild Orchid Salon, etc.). And thanks to everyone for donating money – especially the Pink, Red, and Olive teams, who all donated over $100, earning them three extra points on their totals for the season.

This past Thursday was also the first time we ever tried a “No Frills” night. That means there were no props or costumes for the solo rounds, and only the contents of a pre-determined prop box could be used for the group round. As expected, everybody stepped up and delivered an entertaining, creative night despite (because of?) the limitations. Speaking only for myself, I guess, I hope this night becomes a fixture of the league because I thought it stretched everyone in fun, interesting ways. But don’t take my word for it! Let’s see for ourselves:

Round 1

Slappa de bass!

Meaghan from the Olive Team kicked off the night as the frontwoman for an air band performing “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” by the Darkness. Though a certain someone was arguably costumed (according to some…) by tying his shirt around his head like a bandana, Meaghan brought the heat and gave a ripping performance that had many in the audience clapping along. Audience excitement continued to rise with the performance by Spencer of the Pink Team on Joan Jett’s classic “I Love Rock n’ Roll.” She took to heart the idea that Skin = Win and removed her shirt as the song moved along. She was joined by some of her teammates, resulting in a party-tastic orgy of flesh and rock.

Oh Micah! Leave it all up onstage.

Micah from the Red Team ended the topless streak (four people in the first two songs!) by crooning “Moondance” by Van Morrison. It was a sultry, totally clothed performance that was the first entirely solo run of the night – but certainly not the last. In fact, Christa from the Black Team immediately followed it with a fantastic rendition of Etta James’ “At Last” that she sang straight-up – and totally killed!

Claire, putting the team on her back! And sides! And her front.

Claire from the Blue Team concluded the round with Club Nouveau’s cover of “Lean on Me.” Initially, Erik accepted her invitation to lean on her and started a chain that led to her being leaned upon by every last one of her teammates. Due to her diminutive stature, I’ve gotta give props. But was it enough to buck the conventional wisdom that skin=win? In fact, the winner of the round was…Claire from the Blue Team!

Round 2

The Olive Team again kicked off the round, this time with Carter (that’s me!) doing “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles. Well, it was really an entirely different song, as he/I changed all of the words to be more NKL-themed (“Look at karaoke people…”). You’d be surprised how many people in this league have names with the same syllable pattern as “Eleanor Rigby.” Or maybe you’re not anymore, since you saw this. There was one name he/I could have used that wasn’t, but I’m not telling you who it was… Then, Jerry from the Pink Team kicked it up about a million notches with his performance of “Drop the World” by Lil’ Wayne. Holy shit, that was awesome. With a vicious fury belied by his preppy clothes, Jerry dropped a whole lot of kickass on us.

Is that Lil' Wayne up there? Sure sounds like it! And by that I mean, frightening.

Next up was Libby from the Red Team doing “Fell in Love With a Girl” by the White Stripes. Aside from just being her usual cute self, she also seduced Christine away from her dance partner to come fall in love with Libby. But it was okay because her boyfriend don’t consider it cheating. Ira followed with the Black Team’s second solo run of the night, serenading the crowd with “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from Dreamgirls. Ira just continued his gift for combining singing talent with humorous and enjoyable song choices.

Ira, Rush is totally overrated. Dreamgirls, though...

Erik concluded an exceptionally strong round all around with “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. What? You haven’t heard of it? It was a number one hit in the UK in the 70s and has been reissued as a single on four separate occasions. God, you’re such an American. For help, Erik called up members of other teams to play musical chairs. Every time the music cut out from the Harley song, everyone had to sit down. Arthur eventually won the contest, but would Erik win the round? When all was said and done, however, Carter from the Olive Team won the round!

Round 3

Josh, don't just stand there! Get her out of that thing before she goes back in time! Or forward.

For the group round, teams were now able to use the contents of the prop box provided by the Board. To start us off, however, the Olive Team performed “The Real Slim Shady” by Eminem without using any of the props. They changed the words to “The Real Slim Betsy” and had people stealing the mic from Betsy and rapping in her place. The Pink Team followed that with “Hard Knock Life” from the musical Annie, rewritten as “Prop Box Life” and taking full advantage of all the prop box had to offer.

That's a fairly accurate visual representation of Love, at least as I've known it.

The Red Team continued the prop box madness with “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen. Sam put on as much weird stuff from the prop box as he could and turned himself into the titular character of the song while acting appropriately wild. The Black Team went up and performed “The Longest Time” by Billy Joel in all of its glorious multiple parts.

Wow. There are no words. Except maybe, "Ow."

The Blue Team closed out the night with its rendition of Jackie Wilson’s classic “Higher and Higher”  with their attempts to make human pyramids. While initially getting stymied at two separate three person pyramids, they concluded the song with Jen at the top of a very sturdy six person pyramid. Success! The group round ended up going to the Pink Team for “Prop Box Life” and their creative use of the limited props available to all of us.

One more week left – not this one, though! December 1st will be the last week of the regular season, with two weeks of post-season to follow. Home stretch, folks! Now get back to your turkeys and enjoy the holiday.