Giant Glasses Donned, Ricks Rolled, Programs Greeted at 80s Night

A festive group of SpinDizzians turned out for the 1980s Karaoke Party held in the Starlight Ballroom of Edgeworld Park on April 24. According to organizer BunnyHugger, devilbunny, the date was suggested by Austin, coati, to honor the 30th anniversary of the Danish band Brixx placing 17th in the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest despite being “as hilariously 80s as it gets.” In addition to two hours of nearly nonstop karaoke performances, the evening featured a costume contest.

BunnyHugger dressed as Trevor Horn of the Buggles.

BunnyHugger and Chitter kicked off the performances with Brixx’s ill-fated Eurovision entry, “Video Video.” As BunnyHugger sang in Danish, Chitter held up cue cards with rough translations, telling the wryly comical story of a man obsessed with watching videos to escape his life.

After that fitting start to things, Guendoline, rat, walked up to the stage wearing a trenchcoat and pulled off the evening’s most memorable stunt.  Those following along were tricked into believing they were about to hear a Depeche Mode song, but what actually emerged from the speakers (atop video of Depeche Mode) were the opening bars of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” This elicited a devilbunny oath from BunnyHugger that cannot be printed here. As the dazed audience attempted to recover from being rolled over by Rick, Guendoline threw off the coat and switched to a performance of Depeche Mode’s “People Are People.”

The third act was Austin, coati, singing Kid Creole and the Coconuts’ “Endicott.” At the end of his performance he remarked, “I understand Kid Creole performed with some other folks too, but, I dunno, never heard of them,” likely a reference to Coconuts vibraphonist Coati Mundi. Austin also showed his 1980s style with a cyan, magenta, and hot pink jacket paired with Ray-ban sunglasses.

PatchO’Black, Jellicle cat, then took the stage to perform “The Sun Always Shines on TV” by classic 80s act A-ha. He said of the song, “I always thought [it] would make a great theme for a comic book mini-series called ‘Video Jack.'”

Xor, Boolean entity, went next, quickly pulling on a pair of tight, leather pants, a black, sleeveless shirt, and a greasy-looking black wig. He brought the audience to the end of the decade with her performance of Nine Inch Nails’ “Sin.” He concluded the performance by pulling out a styrofoam harmonica, accordion, and guitar, and smashing each one in turn over his knee.

Following Xor was Samnang, Afghan hound, with a spirited rendition of Eddie Money’s “Take Me Home Tonight.” He seemed nervous to start, but concluded confidently with a deep bow. “Eddie Money is always awesome,” he said.

Probably the most comical performance of the evening was led by Beltrami, balloon human, with accompaniment from Roofus_roo, balloon fairy kangaroo, and Garrison, skunk-taur. To the majestic strains of Vangelis’ “Chariots of Fire,” the three performed a slow motion race. Beltrami wore an outfit to suit the occasion, consisting of Dolly in the form of a bright orange T-shirt with purple sparkles and orange shorts, and Mischa in the form of orange leg warmers and headband.

Azure, fox, had the unenviable task of following Beltrami, but rose to the occasion with a very expressive version of Tears for Fears’ “Mothers Talk,” accompanying himself with a tiny keyboard. Apparently taking BunnyHugger’s encouragement to guests to “put on your skinniest tie” literally, Azure wore a tailed coat, ruffled shirt, and silk bow tie, plus a skinny black tie tied around his head like a sweatband.

Next up was Skyler, cartoon bunny, with his karaoke debut. He gave a perfectly-timed performance of Joe Jackson’s “Stepping Out” while wearing a black and purple-striped suit, blue bow tie, neon blue cap, and huge green jelly shoes. BunnyHugger was heard to say, “Jelly shoes, Skyler? Good grief.” He replied, “It’s all I could find!”

Ali, fox, took the stage next, wearing perhaps the most elaborate costume of all, that of Flynn from Tron. Her highly authentic costume glowed with blue circuitry and included a helmet and discus. Her performance, however, was the classic “Land Down Under” by Men at Work.

As the next act got ready, Bunsen, snowshoe hare, arrived, attired as a Wild West cowboy. “Yee-haw!  I hear there’s a shindig goin’ on here, celebratin’ the most rootinest, tootinest decade there ever was!” he said. BunnyHugger replied, “Wrong 80s, but that’s all right.” After this brief but amusing interruption, Natasha, coati, took the stage to perform the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle With Care.” True to cartoon form, Natasha played a guitar solo on her own tail and a harmonica solo through her nose.

Finally, BunnyHugger and Chitter (rechristened BuggleHugger and Chitter Squiggle for the event) concluded the event with their long-promised performance of the Buggles’ “I Am a Camera.” BunnyHugger wore a shiny, silver jacket, thin red tie, and huge white-framed glasses (and has subsequently worn some variation on this Buggles costume nearly every day since), and Chitter wore overly blow-dried head-fur and a bright red blazer. BunnyHugger punctuated her performance by taking a photo of the audience with an old-fashioned stereo camera, and Chitter sang back-up vocals into a vocoder.

After BunnyHugger and Chitter’s second performance, the event was brought to an official close, though the party continued on with impromptu after-hours performances. A vote was opened to determine Best Performance and Best Costume, the results of which were announced several days later. First place for performance went to Azure, with second going to Beltrami, Roofus, and Garrison, and third going to Austin. First place for costume went to BunnyHugger and Chitter and second to Ali, though BunnyHugger noted that the voter turnout in that category was regrettably low and that the results should really be considered a tossup between the two.