Riot Karaoke Night

The folks from Riot came out in full force and the race was on. Nine competitors went individually down the competition channel for their pole position. Three heats of three raced down to determine who would come out ahead. Finally, it was down to the top three. Jon Angermeier pulled ahead at the top of the big drop and there was no looking back. Here's a shot of our finalists, Jon in 1st place, Daniel Stewart 2nd and Will Berkeley in 3rd. Spencer Cooke was able to provide great prizes for our winners including a pair of Mion sandals and a copy of Buck Fever on VHS (a three part coming of age series about a man and his love for donkeys).

The race seemed secondary to what we were about experience. Members of the local Charlotte paddling club, the Mecklenberg Regional Paddlers (MRP), showed up in good form to participate in Riot's "Don't Quit Your Day Job" Karaoke Tour sponsored by Mion, Shred Ready, H2O Audio, Smiley's Nose Plugs and many others. Andy Travis got the evening kicked off and the crowd pumped with a solid representation of Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby.



Spencer and Riot paddler Nathan Silsbee were on hand as official judges. Great prizes were awarded to the performances that wowed the crowd.



Brentley and Ashley did their rendition of She Bang in true William Hung style.





I don't remember what John and Josh sang (and I'm pretty sure neither John or Josh remember either) but it looks romantic.





Brentley, Andy, Josh and Ashley ended the evening with Celine Dions love theme song from the movie Titantic, My Heart Will Go On. The crowd was deeply touched, grown men were weeping, and I saw a tear fall from Chris Gratman's eye. We all had a group hug and held each other until the moment passed. It was a great evening. Can't wait to see the tour at Gauley Fest.