Well, folks, that wraps up another regular season of the National Karaoke League – Downtown Austin division! As everybody gets ready for what promises to be a thrilling semifinals this Thursday, let’s get straight to the recap of what went down during our final week of the regular season.
Round 1
Christine from The Blue Team led off the night with “I’m Your Man” by George Michael. The setting? Marcus’ bachelor party. Christine was…let’s call her the “guest of honor” at the party, but as she started her striptease – boom! She Crying Game’d the whole bar. And then continued having fun with her fake member as Marcus’ fiancee left him and he ended up marrying Christine instead. Hey, if you’re going to do it, do it right. Following that was Mark from the Olive Team singing the Black Crowes’ version of “Hard to Handle.” Mark controlled the stage solo, dressed head-to-toe as a cactus. Hard to handle, indeed – those bastards are sharp!
That cactus is singing! Now I've seen everything...
After that, the Pink team‘s Samantha sang “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins. Apparently she missed rehearsal that week and so had no idea what was going to happen while she was seated on the stage. She ended up being pelted with Angry Birds, and defecated upon by heartless grackles. Man, I hate grackles. But Sam took it all in stride like a champ! Speaking of champs, Andrew from the Red Team was up next (foreshadowing!) performing “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins. Taking his inspiration from a literal reading of the hook (“cut foot loose”), Andrew did it 127 Hours-style as he tried to remove his leg from a rock. Eventually he succeeded, freed himself and had a nice shin to carry home with him.
Andrew, redefining the idea of leaving it all on the stage.
In the final performance of the round, Jonathan from the Black Team sang “Heartless” by Kanye West. In front of a seemingly elaborate stage set-up that looked totally badass, Jonathan was a robot searching for that missing extra piece: his heart. It was a nice concept that was well-executed but in the end it was no match for the crushing boulder that was Andrew’s “Footloose.” Congrats on a well-earned solo round victory, Andrew!
Round 2
Stephen, being his bizarre self. Oh, and dressing up in bizarre costumes. How bizarre!
Stephen from the Blue Team kicked off Round 2 with “How Bizarre” from O.M.C. For that 90s classic, the Blue Team busted out several of their costumes from throughout the season and turned it into a commentary on their own lovable weirdness. Then, Rachel from the Olive Team serenaded us with “I Touch Myself” from the Divinyls, wherein a deliveryman delivered her a special wrapped man-package that she ended up unwrapping mid-song. The nakedness that ensued was undoubtedly the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen on a stage.
Rumor has it that Josh does drag pretty well.
That sexiness was quickly superseded, though, by the sexiness of Josh from the Pink Team in drag doing Adele’s “Rumor Has It.” With two backup dancers, he gave us a Glee-inspired rendition…except that no one in Glee can pull off that look. (I don’t watch Glee, is that true? Josh, they should have you as a character on that show.) Sam from the Red Team followed that with Gene Kelly’s classic “Singin’ in the Rain.” What started as a simple version, faithful to the film of the same name, soon Charlie entered the picture dressed as one of the characters from A Clockwork Orange, expressed his disapproval of Sam’s “lame” performance and then proceeded to beat and kick Sam just like they do in Clockwork Orange to that song. Considering Clockwork Orange is one of the five DVDs I own, I thought it was pretty awesome.
Nehemiah, this picture should be your business card. Or something like that.
Nehemiah from the Black Team closed the round with Pearl Jam’s “Black,” or as he described it: “Black” on black on Black. It was a stirring rendition that prompted candles to be raised by most of the crowd, and also featured Roz as a sun (I think) that ran away at some point, thereby destroying all life as we know it on planet Earth. Would such an existentially demanding performance be rewarded with victory? In fact, the winner was Josh from the Pink Team with his rousing performance of “Rumour Has It.”
Round 3
The Blue Team started the group round with “Don’t Forget About Me” by the Simple Minds. You may know the song from the soundtrack to the hit movie, The Breakfast Club. The Blue Team was betting you’d make that association since they dressed up as breakfast foods to sing the song as a different kind of Breakfast Club. Well-played, and nice callback to the “Creep/Crepe ” number from earlier in the season. The Olive Team went next with a version of Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation” sung by two cops who took obvious joy in pepper spraying and beating the crap out of hippies and ballerinas. Social commentary!
Rachel is having way too much fun putting the smack down.
Next up, Kara and Josh from the Pink Team sang “Con Te Partiro” by Sarah Brightman & Andrea Bocelli. Well, sang might not be the right word…I think I’m looking for the word “nailed.” It’s easily the most technically difficult song that’s been sung this season in NKL and they both sounded flawless on it. And I imagine the Super Mario theme was because the lyrics were in Italian? It seemed impossible to follow, but the Red Team did just that. Charlie, Sam and Andrew led the bar in a super-fun performance of “Shout” by Otis Day and the Nights. They handed out togas to people on other teams and encouraged everyone to get up and dance – which many people did.
The first frat party hosted by Ego's
The Black Team closed out a really strong round from everyone with Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop.” Roz and Ana expertly delivered the female parts, and then Nehemiah let rip on the male guest rap part while clad in truly era-appropriate clothing (1993, people!). While many of the numbers were tons of fun, the chops of the Pink Team won out in the group round. It was a strong finish to the regular season, and hopefully a portent for an even better postseason.
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