|
Friday,
January 19, 2001
Luckily, there were only 5 of us, so we all piled into Jennifer's
car and  headed
off to Tong's Palace. Now, really, what are the odds that
there would be two Chinese restaurant/karaoke bars with rhyming
names, even in Vegas?
The
gang was all there -- Alopekis, Anna Beth, Allison, Hannah (who
came up with the brilliant idea of the Vegas SquishyCon in the
first place), Carrie, Christine, Mike, Chris, and of course Pamie
and the ever-elusive Eric.
Pamie
was very gracious, thanking everyone for coming and covering
most of the introductions. People talk about kissing up
to popular journallers to gain noteriety and hits, but I don't
think it's possible with Pamie. As with our
first meeting, she was just so nice and funny, it's
impossible not to like her.
When
I first saw Pamie, I told her, "What is this, whenever I
see you, you've got Mardi Gras beads on?" As you can
see in the picture, I'd brought a ton of them from New Orleans
when I passed through Austin last April. You can't see Pamie's,
but she's wearing them.
Someone had given her a Pretty, Pretty Princess jewelry kit and
just  about
everyone had on rings, shiny stickers (shaped like hearts and
stars), earrings or necklaces. Pamie had on the necklace (which
happened to look like Mardi Gras beads) and, of course, the crown...what
with her being the Head Princess and all.
I
must say, we had some fabulous singing Squishites. Mike
sang "My Sharona" and "Tainted Love" which
were not only great song picks, but his renditions blew me away.
Allison
was fabulous on "Islands in the Stream," "Jolene,"
and "Folsom Prison Blues." A while back, Pamie said
she couldn't sing nearly as well as Allison, but I was completely
in awe of the Princess' solos: "Natural Woman" and "I
Will Survive." Do not doubt the diva that is Pamie.
I
figured if I got enough drinks in me I, too, might  dare
to try this karaoke business. Pamie threw down the gauntlet.
"EricaJackson.com," she said, 'cause that's her pet
name for me, "we've gotta do a duet." Now all this time
I'd been looking for either a good solo or group song, a duet
hadn't occured to me. I'd had it in my head to do something
from Grease,
so when she suggested "Summer Nights," it was only a
matter of deciding who was to be Sandy and who Danny. Both
of us have deep enough voices to attempt the Danny Zuko part,
but I decided she was a lot closer to Sandy than I could ever
aspire.
I
was very relieved when a bunch of other Squishites came up to
sing  back
up, because I sucked. I had to start the song and I'd completely
forgotten Danny had the first line. No matter, as my mike was
off for the first line, then not close enough to my mouth for
the second. It is probably just as well that I quit the Carson
Young Life Singers -- I probably wasn't destined to a showbiz
life. Thankfully, there are no pictures of me from this performance.
That
was followed up by Hannah's incredible take on "Hopelessly
Devoted," because, apparently, a pre-teen Grease obsession
is a requirement for Squishy readers. Someone else planned to
do another Grease song, "You're the One That I Want,"
as I recall, but the order got screwed up and someone outside
our group went next.
Everything
after that is fuzzy. We stayed and drank for a few more
hours and then Jennifer and I headed back to our hotel room, which
was, amazingly, even smokier than the bar.
|
