Icrontic's own Tom Ayzenberg rocks the mic
Allow me to set the stage: Connected people get together, loosen up with some drinks, pick a bad song, grab a microphone, and sing their hearts out. This is TechKaraoke.
TechKaraoke was started by Michael Gruen and Brett Petersel in New York City, with a few simple rules: Alcohol consumption is required, and no Debbie Gibson.
As loose as the premise behind TechKaraoke is, the groups that form around the “chapters” tend to become loyal adherents to the lifestyle. When a new TechKaraoke event is about to happen in some major city, the Twitter stream lights up with #techkaraoke hashtags and anticipation builds to a fever pitch.
At the end of May in 2009, we threw a going away party for my friend Shannon Paul, as she was moving from Detroit to Seattle. She suggested karaoke, we ended up at a local bar called Royal Kubo, and history was made. One of the attendees was Brandon Chesnutt, and he took me aside and said “We should start a TechKaraoke chapter in Detroit, and this should be it.”
And so it began. The inaugural TechKaraoke Detroit event took place this past Friday, July 24th, and it was a riot. The rules were adhered to: Everybody consumed alcohol, and nobody sang Debbie Gibson.
Yours truly performed a rousing rendition of Pearl Jam’s “Animal”, despite the fact that he botched the beginning and had to jump in on the second verse or so, and Tom “Wax” Ayzenberg decided to perform a secret Rick Roll of the entire bar, which I also participated in. Icrontic would have been proud.
Brandon decided that a prize for most emphatic and entertaining performance should be granted. He acquired an amazing plastic trophy that couldn’t have cost more than $3.99. The idea is that the winner of the trophy will add something to it and then be the judge for the next event, thus passing it on. Sound familiar?
Karaoke is quite an icebreaker; even for people who are normally not outgoing, having a couple of drinks and letting loose in front of a group of people who will not judge can be very uplifting. And it’s true; no one judges. That creepy stranger up there singing old Neil Diamond? That’s okay. The Indian lady singing Belinda Carlisle with an almost unintelligible accent? No problem. We clap, we laugh, we raise our glasses. It’s what we do.
I encourage anyone who has a chance to attend a TechKaraoke event in their city to do so. It really is a total riot. There are currently chapters in Boston, DC, Detroit, LA, London, Minneapolis, NYC, Portland (Maine), San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and Silicon Valley. If you think you can start your own chapter in your own city, visit their Facebook page to find out more.
When we all go back to our jobs and blogs, our meetings and Tweetings, our daily grind on Monday, at least we know that out there, there are others who know how to rock.
And we salute them.
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