One of the best things about going to academic conferences is...doing things that have little or nothing to do with the actual conference. Such was the case this past weekend in Chicago, where I attended and presented at the meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence. I spent my first evening there with research team members and various other folks dining at a Korean barbecue restaurant followed by karaoke.
There I belted out "Karma Kameleon," complete with Boy George-type dance moves. I participated in the singing of several other songs, including "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" and I was an enthusiastic shaker of a light-up tambourine.
Now. I would not mention this at all except that photographs, unfortunately, were taken. So because I cannot at some future time claim plausible deniability, I felt I may as well come clean as a prophylactic measure, proving that I have nothing to hide. I further prove my utter lack of embarrassment by posting here what would be my ideal karaoke playlist, full of some of my favorite sing-along songs by female artists.
"Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" is playing right now as I type. Earlier I was singing along with Liza and Aretha and Barbra; jamming with Janet Jackson, Judy Garland, Jill Scott; alternately singing lead and back-up vocals with the ladies of TLC, Destiny's Child, The Supremes and EnVogue. Most of these songs were not on the extensive list of available tunes at the karaoke place and that is too bad. How can you have any kind of sing-along experience without "I Feel the Earth Move," "Bootylicious," or "Poetry Man"? I am sure any woman--or man, for that matter--would love to release her or his inner Lil Kim by rapping the female part to "Crush on You," or channel their inner pop diva by crooning "You can stand under my umbrella ella, ella" or "I don't think you're ready for this jelly" or "How come every time you come around, my London, London bridge wanna go down."
Ah well. With this playlist I can now have the very best kind of karaoke experience.
One without witnesses.