I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: November 13, 2025] WXPN Thank A Member Live Band Karaoke Party

When WXPN announced this event, it sounded like a lot of fun.

A chance to mingle with other members and to see (and maybe sing) karaoke.  But the mostexciting part for me was that the live music was being performed by Pat Finnerty and the Full Band.  I’ve seen Pat twice and I love his videos.  It would be cool just to see him play and maybe hear him do a Little Stinker.

I put in my song choice–The Boys Are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy.  And kind of regretted it. It’s in my range but I realized I don’t know the words all that well.  But when we arrived we were allowed to put more songs in so that the band had more options to choose from.

My wife suggested I put in Surrender by Cheap Trick and I knew she was on to something.

So the night was quite a lot of fun.  We aren’t minglers and my hip was bothering me, so we sat in the (empty) ADA section while people around us danced and drank (free drinks, but as my wife pointed out they didn’t use the top shelf stuff–we found out a few weeks later that World Cafe Live had lost its liquor license and probably shouldn’t have been serving anything!).

The night was emceed by Kristen Kurtis and Robert Drake.  I always wonder if Radio DJs are “celebrities” or not.  It was fun seeing them in person, but even if you listened to the radio, would you care that I got to see or meet them?  We met Robert Drake at a Sloan show a few years ago and he was super nice, but I feel like he’s so present in Philly that everyone has probably met him.

I can’t remember all of the songs that people sang.  But I did appreciate that they projected the lyrics to the songs on the wall so we could follow along.  It also meant that I learned the words to a few songs that I had NO IDEA about.

A woman sang David Bowie’s Moonage Daydream.  I’ve heard that song hundreds of times and realized I never knew any of the words and certainly never guessed they were:

I’m an alligator
I’m a mama-papa comin’ for you
I’m the space invader
I’ll be a rock ‘n’ rollin’ bitch for you
Keep your mouth shut
you’re squawking like a pink monkey bird
And I’m bustin’ up my brains for the words

Someone else did Space Oddity.

The night opened with DJ Jim McGuinn singing and playing guitar (Pat informed everyone else that Jim was the only other person who was going to be playing guitar–nobody get any ideas) on an Elvis Costello song.

Two women did Pink!’s Get the Party Started (and even brought little megaphones to sing into).

And as they introduced all of the singers, they were all listed as in choirs or singers in bands–one was even in a tribute band to the artist she sang.  And I wondered if I was called up if I would be okay (having never done karaoke or sung in front of people before).

There was Madonna’s Vogue.  Two Beatles songs.  A woman who did not seem like a fan did Metallica’s Fuel.  I talked to her afterward and she said she was like Aggretsuko–mild mannered by day but a screaming heavy metal singer at karaoke.

And just as it looked like it was over, they called my name and Pat and the band had picked Surrender–everyone loves this song.  So I was invited through the back halls behind the scenes (I got to see into the studio) and met Kristen Kurtis (and her husband).  We chatted, I told her I’d never done karaoke before (I needed to get that out there) and moments later I was meeting Pat Finnerty and standing on stage in front of dozens of people.

The song started, the words were on the screen and I started singing.  And I was more or less on key the whole time.  The crowd really enjoyed it (who doesn’t love that song) and people sang along to the sing along parts.  I even got to play air guitar with my cane which Pat got a kick out of and made sure we “rocked” together.  At the end of the song a guy with a cane held his out and we tapped canes and Pat shouted “Did you get that?” to the photographer.

And then I was escorted away.  It was such a rush to have half a dozen strangers tell me I did a good job and conform that I had never done it before.  I think it was a lot easier for me to sing in front of strangers than it would have been to sing in front of people I knew.

The last song was Bohemian Rhapsody which everyone sang along to and, impressively, Kristen Kurtis hit the high note (she is a real ham).

When the night ended, we got to chat to Kristen and Robert and I chatted with Pat a bit about how much fun that was and how much I liked his What Makes This Song Stink videos.

Anyway, it was a ton of fun and I would definitely do it again.

The crazy thing is, I’m writing this update at the end of the year and there is NO MENTION OF THIS EVENT online anywhere.  The WXPN site didn’t do a write up about it.  There’s nothing on Instagram.  No posts on Facebook.  Even Pat Finnerty didn’t post about it.  Was it some kind of black hole situation?  I know that the photographer waskar there taking pictures all night, why did they not appear anywhere?  I mean, sure I’m interested mostly for myself, but come on, I’m sure other people are looking for themselves as well.  I guess it’s locked in a vault somewhere.