It Was My Birthday And I Sang... Cause I Wanted To

Last Friday was a momentous day for me, my dear readers! If you didn't already know, last Fri was my birthday, and I decided to do something exceptionally rare for me. I threw a birthday party! Now, I know what you're thinking: Me? Party? But, I swear to you, it 's true! A friend of mine (let's call her Ms. Party Planner) was able to find a venue that was close by, available on my birthday, AND free! It's called "El Taller" (pronounced tah-yer) and it's a chill place where you can get some good food, some drinks and be creative. It's a really great place and will most likely become my chill spot in Lawrence.

Anyway, so Ms. Party Planner found the place, my roommate got the cake, and I was in charge of the invitations and the entertainment. Going on Pink's advice, I tried contacting God's people to see if there was an opening in the schedule on my birthday. Turns out that God is NOT, in fact, a DJ. (Thanks a lot, Pink!) So, I went and begged a friend of mine to DJ. It turned out to be a two-fer because DJ Ryan (and his partner DJ Lei D) also does karaoke so I had some good tunes and my party could provide its own LIVE entertainment!!

I put up an EPIC event on FB and invited like 60 people. Ms. Party Planner & My Roommate invited another 10 or so people. Out of the 70 that were invited about 15 showed. Now, for all you social butterflies out there, that might be an epic fail, but given that my birthday is two days AFTER Christmas, that was a major win in my book. And there were more women than men which is another HUGE win for me!!

The party lasted about 4 hours or so. We had some nice food and a good meet & greet. I spent the night drinking LOTS of beer, so by hour 2 I was kind of buzzed. I made a couple of public service announcements. We sang the birthday song. And you have not LIVED until you have not one, not two, not three, not four, but FIVE drop dead GORGEOUS women sing Happy Birthday to you.

When I party, ALL the hotties come out to play!

Everybody had some cake. It was absolutely delicious and made your lips turn blue. This started a good ten min of smurf sex jokes which were COMPLETELY inappropriate for the holiday season, which made them about eighty times funnier! Then it was on like Donkey Kong! That's right, folks. After everybody was nice and liquored up & a bit hopped up on sugar from the cake, we started the karaoke! To be honest, I was quite surprised to see how many people actually got up to sing.

I started the show with an EPIC rendition of Santana's "Smooth". I don't care if Rob Thomas was singing, that song is SANTANA'S song. We cycled through a bunch of songs. My youngest sister sang, my mom sang, my roommate's husband sang; it was fucking EPIC! Then I got back on stage and shit got real. Here check out the video:



How awesome was that, right?? I'd like to thank my backup dancers, Vanessa, Shayla & Eunice, and my back up vocalist, Arielle.

After I showed everyone what a REAL performance was, things just got better. More people were into it and the rest of the night was filled with great music, singing and fun. All in all, it was a fantastic night. And my best birthday to date. And because it was such an epic night, I have to commemorate it with some awards. So, the 37th annual Rodney's Birthday Awards, brought you to by the good folks at Acme, and by the letter J. And now, without further ado, here are this year's awards:

Best Surprise Appearance: Decker
Knowing that he had a limited amount of time in the MA/NH area AND a 2 year old girl to pack up for his trip back home the next day, I didn't expect Decker to show. But, he made a cameo appearance and totally made my night! And thanks to his wife, E, for kicking his butt out the door and MAKING him come out.

Best Surprise Performance: Arielle
While I knew my youngest sister had singing chops, it was apparent that no one else did because I got nothing but shocked looks when she stepped up on stage and ROCKED the mic! My roommate was like, "Where did THAT come from?"

Best Performance: Jake

Rockin' With Jake

As the birthday boy, I should have won THIS category, but I have to give it up to my main man, Jake. He took a James Brown song and made it his bitch! I know when I've been outclassed. What can I say? I'm an amateur. He's a professional.

Best Song: Josh
None but a select few knew just how awesome a singer Josh is. But when he belted out his trademark rendition of "Unchained Melody", he melted every woman in the joint. Even the ladies of the staff were smitten by his smooth crooning.

Hottie of The Night: Nurse Girl & Krystal
In an unprecedented event here at the Rodney's Birthday Awards, we have a TIE for the Hottie of the Night! Both of these women came out and showed elegance, class, beauty, and the slightest touch of that most rare quality: goofiness.

Krystal came out and gave all the signs of being a wallflower for the night, beautiful but on the sidelines. (I can't really fault her either, it's what I do at most parties.) Then she got up on stage and bowled EVERYONE over when she belted out these ASTOUNDING power vocals. I figure the whole town heard her sing! Especially when she sang my requested song "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence. Wow, woman! WOW!

I was a bit tipsy when I met my backup dancer Vanessa's sister, so I don't remember her name. I do apologize, NurseGirl. But at least, you have an awesome code name, right? You didn't sing, but you came out and talked with people showing an EXCELLENT & subtle sense of humor, and openly enjoyed all the songs performed. I know what it's like to be in an event that you're not into the main event, but you had fun.

If either of you want to get together one on one, let me know. ;)

Best Moment: Group Performance of Closing Time
I've been going to DJ Ryan's karaoke events for years. And he's gotten into the habit of having anyone who wishes to come up and sing one final group song to end the night. In recent years, the song of choice is Semisonic's "Closing Time".

This time, it was particularly epic, though. By the end of the night, the party was going strong and people were having a good time, even the staff. I had told the staff at the venue that if they wanted to sing, they were more than welcome, but it wasn't until the last song that they finally took me up on it. As the song started, I could see a bunch of them literally jumping up and down with excitement over the song, so I called them up on stage and they all raced up and sang their hearts out. I know I said this before, but it was epic!!

And that, my dear readers, is the story of my best birthday to date. Lucky number 37! If you made it to my party, what did you think? If not, what did you think of my video? Sound off in the comments below!