Life: Where no eardrums were damaged, I think

I'm a little late with this karaoke party rehash. I know that most have you have been biting your nails in anticipation. Sorry. :P

Overall, I'd call the night a success.

Here's a link to the photo evidence, and here's the short version of what happened:

We had about 25 guests.
Many dressed in '80s inspired clothing.
Party ended at 5 a.m.
The police were not called.
I played DJ until 3 a.m.
Between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., people requested and performed to at least 60+ songs.
We bought 25 songs on the fly through iTunes.
From 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. was the open-mic, all-sing, free-for-all.
From 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. you couldn't pull me away from the mic.
No, I was not drunk.
My husband and I were out of bed the next morning by 10 a.m.
The house was clean again by 1 p.m.

Here's the playlist as I logged it at the time. There are probably errors of omission and errors in song titles. This is exactly as I wrote it down. And it's a good thing I wrote it down, too, because there were a few times as I was typing this when I said to myself, Really? I sang that? Oh, yeah, I remember now!

Stars (***) denote an award-winning performance as determined by our panel of judges. Awards were for '80s songs performed before 11:30 p.m.

Erasure -- Dave and Kyle
Walk Like an Egyptian -- Haley and JC
Rock this Town -- Mark
Welcome to the Jungle -- Lara***
Just a Girl -- Ladyknyght
Love and Affection -- Tom
Superstitious -- Hilly
Like a Virgin -- Joanne
The Logical Song -- Haley
Tainted Love -- Mark and Kelly
Let's Go -- Kyle
Ballroom Blitz -- Lara
True -- Ladyknyght
Stop Draggin My Heart Around -- Mike and Kelly (aka M-elly) live
Every Rose Has Its Thorn -- Dave and Paul***
She's Out of My Life -- Tom
Just a Gigolo -- Hilly and Wook***
Stray Cat Strut -- Hilly, Mark, Mike, Paul and Mario
White Rabbit -- Lara
Careless Whisper -- Joanne
{Something I failed to log} -- Dave and Kelly
Devil Inside -- Ladyknyght
Jesse's Girl -- JC, Haley and Kelly
I Won't Back Down -- Hilly and Mike
Cracklin Rosie -- Mark
Green, Green Grass of Home -- Mark
Killing Me Softly -- Mike and Kelly (aka M-elly) live
Sharp-Dressed Man -- Hilly
Candy-O -- Paul
A Piece of My Heart -- Lara
Kiss Me Deadly -- Ladyknyght and Haley
Semi-Charmed Life -- Dave and April
Rock Me Tonight -- Kyle
Ring of Fire -- Eric
Alicia Keys If I Ain't Got -- Joanne
She's Like the Wind -- Tom
I've Had the Time of My Life -- Mark and Kelly
Purple Rain -- Hilly and Mark
Love Vigilante -- Mario
Bring Me Some Water -- Ladyknyght
Black Dog -- Lara
Verve Pipe Colorful -- Paul
Fun, Fun, Fun -- Haley and Paul
Brian Wilson -- Dave and Mario
Money for Nothing -- Mike
Leather and Lace -- Haley and Mike
Why Georgia -- Dave, April and Paul
Come Monday -- Mark
Coin-Operated Boy -- Ladyknyght
Can't Hardly Wait -- Mario
For What It's Worth -- Lara
Du Hast -- Mark
Landslide -- Haley
Like the Way I Do -- Ladyknyght
Overkill -- Dave
Coldplay Trouble -- Wook
Luck be a Lady Tonight -- Mark
Laid -- Mario
No Sugar Tonight -- Lara
Centerfield -- Mike and Hilly
Only the Lonely -- Ladyknyght
Bennie and the Jets -- Paul and Santos (with Mike and Hilly)

{Then the free-for-all, open-mic started}
Don't Stop Believing
3 a.m.
Bohemian Rhapsody
American Pie
Sympathy for the Devil
If I had a Million Dollars
Switchin to Glide
{log stops here...}

If you read my pre-party post last week, you'll know I was really nervous about my two duets.

Mike and I were supposed to sing Leather and Lace live with Mike playing the guitar, but, fortunately for me, he broke a string before we had a chance to perform, so we just sang along to the Stevie Nicks/Don Henley version. People said that if we'd sung it earlier in the night, we might have been up for an award.

Mark and I had talked about singing Suddenly together. I knew it was going to be a disaster for me because Olivia Newton-John's part is too high for me. When I asked Mark about it at the party, he said the male vocal was a little challenging for him, too, and he hadn't practiced much. We were going to let it slide, but then some time around 3-4 a.m. we decided, What the heck!, and sang it anyway. At that hour of the morning, it didn't matter how atrocious my singing was.

Oh, yeah, in case you're wondering why we quit at 5 a.m.? One of our friends suddenly remembered that her alarm clock was set for 6 a.m. and she wanted to make sure she was home to turn it off before it woke up her son. Their departure turned into the signal to shut everything down. Otherwise, who knows when we might have stopped...

Anne Lamott

Eagle-eye Marriott scored a hot ticket in town yesterday.

The two of us got to go to a recording of WFMT: Writers on the Record with Victoria Lautman featuring writer Anne Lamott.

The first time I heard of Anne Lamott, it was 1997 and I was at the national Romance Writers of America conference. I was walking with Jules into the conference bookstore, when suddenly she turned star-struck. Now, you have to understand that Jules doesn't get star-struck easily. No-sir-ee. So this caught my attention.

The star in question wore dreadlocks. "That's Anne Lamott. She wrote Bird by Bird," said Jules, who is by far a much more varocious reader than I am.

"Who? What?" was all I could answer, which happens more often than I'd like to admit when it comes to authors and books.

Dragging me over to prominently displayed table, Jules pointed out the big stack of Bird by Bird books. It was a book about writing. A Bible on the writing experience, so I was to understand.

So, I bought a copy of the book while catching glimpses of the mysterious Anne Lamott. It turns out she was at the conference to speak at the Published Author Network retreat that year. I wasn't (nor am I now) a member of PAN, so I couldn't attend.

Time passed. I read parts of Bird by Bird, and a year or so later, I went with JC and LadyKnyght to see Anne Lamott speak at a nearby community college. She'd just released her book Traveling Mercies, which I hadn't read.

But Anne was an incredible speaker. She had all sorts of funny and witty things to say that I wrote down somewhere (Note to self: Find those notes.) I came out of her talk incredibly inspired to write.

So much so, that a few weeks ago, when Marriott told me Anne Lamott was in town to speak again, I jumped at the chance to hear her. This time she was promoting her latest book Grace (Eventually), which I haven't read (are you noticing a trend?) .

I didn't take notes this time, but, again, I was totally impressed with her. Her talk this time was not about the writing process, but it was entertaining. Let's just say that even if all her latest books have become very Christian and spiritual, she's approaches it from an interesting perspective -- the leftist, f-bomb dropping side.

And the place was packed. They were turning people away at the door, which from what I understand, has never happened with this author series before. Fortunately, the talk is available for listening to over the Internet. (Link to a recording of the show.)

Update 2/19/2008:

Anne Lamott is coming to town again. She'll be speaking at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 11, 2008, at Koten Chapel, 329 E. School Ave., North Central College, Naperville. She's touring with her paperback edition of Grace (Eventually): Thoughts on Faith. Tickets are $18, include admission to the event, one copy of Grace (Eventually) and booksigning. For information, contact Anderson's Book Store.

Friends vs. Football

It was the antithesis of football. A Sunday afternoon spent in the cozy shopping district of historic Long Grove, Illinois. Lingering for hot tea and lunch on the breezy front porch of an old farm house. Sampling wines and olive oils. Wandering through antique and craft stores. A scoop of ice cream while sitting on a park bench. Hot apple pie fresh out of the oven. Time spent with two long-time girlfriends, catching up on news and plans for the future.

Why do I even mention football? How does it relate? Because I have to confess that I gave up an opportunity to go see the Chicago Bears play in order to keep a long-anticipated date with friends. It was a no-brainer decision, but it didn't come without a little bit of pain -- my hometown team, the Chicago Bears, is having what could be their best season since that historic 1985-86 Super Bowl season.

I'd had these plans with Marriott and Ladyknyght long before the opportunity to go to the Bears game came up. We'd been fantasizing about a girls outing for ages. Ladyknyght had even rearranged her work schedule for this. So, friendship had to win.

And I didn't regret it for a moment on Sunday. Sure, as I sipped my pumpkin spice chai tea while at Suzi's Teas and Cafe, I wondered how much fun my husband Dave was having at the game. Sure, as I sampled olive oils at The Olive Tap, I wondered what the score might be. And sure, as I stood in line at the Apple Haus to buy that delicious Long Grove brown-bag apple pie to take home, I actually did check in on the final score.

But, truthfully, I think I had the best of both worlds. A day spent with friends AND the joy of knowing that my hometown Chicago Bears easily advanced to 5-0 for the season. There will be plenty of other fun football Sundays to come, even if I'm not at Soldier Field to watch.