Raphaoke - Primer

Raphael has a mobile karaoke system. Two wireless mics, various cables and devices, a laptop with a karaoke application, and 11 *THOUSAND* karaoke tracks (a large chunk of which are Russian pop and folk songs.) And over the years he has amassed a cabal of amateur karaoke enthusiasts. Put this all together and... Raphaoke!

GUIDELINES

- You will be expected to engage in antics. Air-guitar/drums/gong/etc, dancing, miming the lyrics, acrobatics,... something.

- While solos and duets are not discouraged, general group sing-alongs are usually the name of the game. No grumbling if someone else starts singing along to "your song".

- No one will be scorned for being able to hold a note, knowing the tune, or singing volume-appropriate, but it is preferred that you sing off-key, out-of-tune, and belt it the fuggout.

- Traditionally each bout of Raphaoke ends with a rousing rendition of "Bohemian Rapsody" by Queen.

Guess which part of the song this is.

UCS

The Moth

The Moth (http://www.themoth.org/) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art and community of storytelling. It arranges and curates regular gatherings of storytellers, afficionados, and curious observers where attendees are invited to take the stage, tell a true unprompted 5-minute story incorporating a predetermined theme,...



and then be judged on it, by self-selected audience members, in competition with others.



These events, called StorySLAMs are held approximately once a week at various venues in New York City, as well as other cities such as L.A. and Chicago.

I went to an episode one Thursday on the recommendation and enthusiasm of a friend. It is crowded.



By 6:15 (for a 7:00 door) the line is around the block (It helps to have friends in the know who get there before 5 and are first in line.)



Some of the situations related, their delivery, or the details they reveal about the speaker might make a man wince or roll his eyes at what he might dismiss as someone's idiomatic airing of dirty laundry. And coming from a tradition of high-impact, absurdist, and principally participatory pursuits this would ostensibly be so not my thing.

Still, I can't remember the last time I was actually rivetted by something.

Costumery: Pillow Fighter

The underground arts organization NewMindSpaceNYC organizes an annual mass public pillow fight, wherein people show up at the designated place and time with pillows, other weaponized bedding, and sometimes costumes, and have at each other.

SAOM is much amused by this nonsensical spectacle and orgy of po-mo scenesterism and released teen angst; especially this diametrical revision of the term Pillow Fighter.

Pit Lick

Primer: http://saomsdangledthreads.blogspot.com/2012/03/pit-lick-primer.html

Pit Lick

Primer: http://saomsdangledthreads.blogspot.com/2012/03/pit-lick-primer.html

Urskin & The Polar Boss

Polar Bears is the name for a group that meets socially to go ritualistically "swimming" during the coldest time of the year--the Polar Bear Plunge. They believe the periodic icy bath to be invigorating, therapeutic, even spiritual. The Coney Island Polar Bear Club is a New York City regional chapter of this world wide club, who meet at the Coney Island boardwalk to take the plunge in the Atlantic every Sunday from November to April.

Sister Spanky, had joined this group and become a regular, and had been imploring her friends to join her for several months. After many failed resolutions and attempts--it is harder than one would imagine to make it to Coney Island by 1 PM on a Sunday in winter--one day in early Feburary, 2010 Urskin managed to make it.

It turned out this particular plunge was being taped for an episode of The Cake Boss, a reality-based TV show about a bakery and its stereotypically New York Italian staff.

Cake Boss: Peppermint & Polar Bear Plunge Part 2 (4:29)

Urskin Primer