(Nena's title cut and photo courtesy of KC)
Last evening's Exclusively New Albany fundraising event featured karaoke by a former councilman. From a balcony above the garage, Steve Price serenaded attendees with a delightfully unexpected medley of smash hits, including "Oh, What A Night" by the Four Seasons and the Monkees' "Daydream Believer," the latter dedicated as a tribute to Davy Jones, the late singer and Harvest Homecoming parade marshal.
By the time Price took us on a one-way trip to the sun with a stone-cold mashup of Engelbert Humperdinck's bewitching "After the Loving," there wasn't a dry eye in the house -- or underwear, for that matter. The only disappointment was when the show ended without a version of "Eternal Flame" by the Bangles, and someone threw rotten fruit at the deck. Price just stuffed it in his longneck Bud.
But here's the rub: Apparently Price allowed Develop New Albany to use his adjacent field for event parking in return for the karaoke gig. His over-the-top, scenery-chewing performance of ridiculously cheesy pop songs was leering parody of the highest magnitude, and if you think I'm exaggerating, consider the audience. It was composed almost entirely of the very same people who scoffed at Price's council tenure.
Last night, he crashed the grownups' party and laughed back, using karaoke to return the favor in spades. No, not altogether so dumb. Not at all. I'd confess to admiring the calculated chutzpah, except that the trauma remains much too fresh.
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ENA notes: Next year's edition will take place in June a week later than the 2012 gala, and will be held at the Ricke residence on the corner of Elm and 10th. Let's hope that King Larry doesn't own a parking lot across the street.
The only thing that could've made that better is if he sang 99 Luftballons in the original German.
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