by choehn
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It's safe to say that this song made me into a legend while I was interning at an ad agency. At the company Christmas party, there was an open bar. I was 21 and this was the first time I'd ever experienced this phenomenon, so I took complete advantage of it. 11 Crown & Cokes and 4 Fat Tires later, my boss insisted I do karaoke. I looked around the room -- it was filled with 200 people, family members and the 87-year old company founder. I refused. Then less than two minutes later, the CEO walked over to the mic and said, "Every year, the interns kick off the karaoke. This is a tradition. Where's Charlie?" Damnit. I stumbled over to the DJ and said, "Put on Foreigner's Jukebox Hero." She did a quick search on her laptop and said, "I have the song, but I don't have the words to it." I looked straight into her eyes and coldly replied, "I don't need words."
I walked over to the wireless mic, pulled it from the stand, then turned my back to the crowd. I looked down, steadied my breathing, and waited for the song to begin. I had no plan, other than to not be the typical loser who stands awkwardly in one place and tries to hit the notes. No- I was going to give them a show.
As the first beats pulsed from the speakers, I began tapping my foot. I turned around quickly and sang "Standing in the rain, with his head hung low..." I started my drunken interpretive dance, acting out all the lyrics. When it came to "He heard one guitar," I blasted forth with my air guitar, power strumming in sync with the blasts. On the chorus "He's just a jukebox hero," I threw my arm in the air like B Rabbit in '8 Mile' and held the mic toward the audience, hoping that they'd sing "He's got stars in his eyes." They did not, but stared in confusion as they watched their beloved intern get way too into a karaoke performance in an overly formal setting.
But the guitar solo is when I lost it, and won myself over to the crowd. I pulled out every move I could think of -- hopping around on one foot like ACDC's Brian Johnson, playing the air guitar behind my head, and even running and sliding down on my knees to hit the crescendo. All 200 people were now fixated on my breakdown and clapping to the beat. I was dripping with sweat and shouting the lyrics into the microphone. I made eye contact and pointed at the young ladies up front, who were instantly smitten. On the final note of the song, I spiked the microphone into the ground and broke it. The DJ didn't even care, she was laughing too hard. Needless to say, it was epic. From then on, many people only knew me as The Jukebox Hero.
I'm really good at karaoke.
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This Journal was created at April 26, 2009 @ 12:40
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