gonna shine tonight....

I wrote earlier today about the role that stage presence - or lack thereof - often plays in a triumphant KttD performance.  That's all true, and I stand by those words.  Aussie Bob is a worthy champion because he made a whole lot of people uncomfortable while he was on the stage.  He had the "cringe factor."  But I'm a purist, and Emma's Peel's rendition of Jackson Browne's "Somebody's Baby" most embodied the true spirit of Karaoke to the Death: a song sung loud and proud and wildly off the mark.  For years, Emma's stock-in-trade has been her horrifically monotone delivery.  But she added a new weapon to her arsenal this year - one that certainly does not bode well for us late greats.  On several occasions, Emma can be heard reaching helplessly - hopelessly - to find notes in a higher register.  Her performance in KttD VIII was actually worse/better than her winning performance in KttD VII.  That, there, says it all about the strength of this year's field.

Emma had my vote until almost the bitter end.  I ultimately threw my support behind another contestant once it became clear that Emma didn't have the numbers to win and that my vote was needed elsewhere in a valiant effort to derail the powerful Jengali juggernaut.  I believe she will ultimately be vindicated by history, though.  This was one of the elite performances in the long and proud history of Karaoke to the Death.  This was eighteen and one.

And this is where I dropped the ball.  I had hoped to capture all the major performances on video, but Emma took the stage when my memory card was nearly full.  I only captured a minute of her song.  And then I got cold feet about posting video of myself.  (This was before it occurred to me that I could separate the audio track.)  I'm not going to post videos of others if I'm not willing to post video of myself, so the whole exercise lost some of its luster.  I stopped even trying to record anything until the very end.  So I missed Peter's remarkable effort, among others like Cap'n Crunch's redemptive "Wicked Game" and Jason P's worthless "actual best."  But I have one more to post tomorrow, and it's a doozy.