So it was my first time at SXSW and my excuse for going was because I was on a panel with the Whuffaoke (the Winnebago with karaoke that drove across the country last summer) folks : Tara Hunt author of The Whuffie Factor, the irrepressible partiers Karen Hartline, Emma Perky, Tony B. of New Work City, Brett Petersel of Mashable, and Roger Niner, the San Francisco’s KJ. We’re all pretty much karaoke royalty. Before the panel we were all joking about what happens when you put this many extroverts in one room. We found out– it’s not for the meek.

It seemed like there was karaoke every night of the week. There was the RVIP. There were stellar performances at Cogaoke, where I went on Saturday, most notably Roger Niner blowing everyone’s minds with a song no one knew and the Soul Sisters of Lady Marmalade. What a great excuse to dress up like an turn of the century French hooker! At the party I downed shots of free whiskey with Bradley and my new Minnesotan friends Sanden and Gillian. It’s also where I met Jeff and Scott of Barstar. Read more about them here.

We did our panel Don’t Stop Believing: How Karaoke is Going To Change The World on Monday and believe it rocked SXSWi. I mean, it wasn’t about Twitter or location based media or anything nerdy. We started with each one of us walk down the middle of conference room singing a line from “Don’t Stop Believing”. It was social media Glee!

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We gave 5 minutes talks about karaoke, then followed up with a song. My talk was on Asian home karaoke and showed from photos of Laserdisc entertainment centers and Chinese families rocking out. Check out the presentation slides!

I sang “Cabaret” after my talk. Miss Karen Hartline did an stellar mash up of “My Heart Will Go On” and “I’m On A Boat” which I’m beginning to think is the karaoke song of the year. Miss Perky showed hilarious photos of “karaoke faces” and then sang “Tubthumping”. The highlight of the panel was guy named George who started playing his ukelele during the songs!
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Since karaoke must be followed by karaoke, after the panel we drifted over the Tech Karaoke party at Six Lounge, organized by the don of tech parties Brett. It was great party, and techies were singing their hearts out. Too many good things to report, but the most memorable for me was Roger Niner’s “More Than A Feeling.” Holy shit, he rocked Boston harder than that stage could hold him. I love his use of the couch. I sang “Heartbreaker” (omg I just realized I always sing the same crap!) and The Warrior with Miss Tammy Lynn of SXSW. Hot! Keeping in tune with more Benetar, Karen Hartline did a sexy “Hit Me With Your Best Shot.” I always say yes to that one.

Late into the night Karen, Tara, Emma kidnapped me into a cab and made my dreams come true– we headed to the RVIP! It was parked in a place I’d never go alone at night, under sketchy bridge. But that’s where the best parties happen. As soon as I got on, I knew it was going to be one of the most magical nights of my life. We drove around town picking and dropping off people, so the party always stayed new. I stayed on that RV until 630am, met some awesome people, sang Buffalo Stance, Fleetwood Mac, and Rage Against the Machine, and even witnessed Will Forte karaoke. Had an awesome time with Roger Niner on the RV– thanks Ro9er! Anyway, it was an EPIC night of karaoke, one that will stay in my heart forever! Thanks everyone and thank you Austin!