NJ-ers celebrated Holidazzle in style Friday night. New rituals were born with napkin-waving renditions of our new fight song, and moments of fame and infamy were had and enjoyed. I think I speak for the relatively small group of untalented J-ers when I say “well done” to the talented people who put together some remarkable performances at Holidazzle.
Scott St. Germain, Barry Hytinen, Louise Hulme, Raj Suryadevara, Mode Atluri, and Jeff Galvin won the hearts of Section J for their “world class” spoof of our beloved professors. Some of the renditions were a bit uncanny (no names, Raj). Word on the street is that Louise participated solely to get a chance to be thrown over Jim McNary’s shoulder, but she was not available for comment. Dan Katz and Andre Martinelli played Regis (and Kathie Lee??) in “Who Wants to be a Millionaire when you can be a Billionaire!” which was a great game, because nobody loses at Section J! David Janke walked away with several billion in winnings, which will be used to fund our next night of infamy.
Another new passion for Section J appears to be karaoke. Dan Dornbusch started the trend with an inspired live performance before leading a group of singers/dancers in a version of “Mambo #5” slightly revised for the occasion. Next came a remarkable performance by Tony Lewis of “You’ve Lost that Loving Feeling,” sung to yours truly. Women were dropping like flies as Tony grinned and charmed the audience. Not to be undone, Jim McNary, Adam Checchi, and David Janke came out with a Neil Diamond classic, “Sweet Caroline.” Finally, poor, innocent Aussie John Russell was hailed by the women of Section J to use his accent for higher purposes with a remake of “Down Under.” I am not sure how we will top this at the next big event, but I suggest we all head over to Do Re Mi for more practice early in the new year.
Section skits included Section J waking up for class. Very few people were spared, and the Section J penchant for lighthearted joshing shined through. The Oscar for best female actress goes to Ada Lien for her role as Sue Choe, and the Oscar for best male actor goes to Mezuo Nwuneli for his superior performance as Tony Lewis. Tony: “Do I make you horny, baby? Yeah.” It will also be hard also to forget the image of Jim Parsons as Jim McNary, shaving with a knife, or Dan Dornbusch as Andre Martinelli, practicing his acceptance of glory on bended knee, or Arvind Krishnamurthy as our gamemaster Mode Atluri, planning another day of how to be funny in class. And, finally, Xiaoping Zhang shined as our cameraman and vidoegrapher. Thanks Xiaoping!
Late in the night, J-ers were surprised by classmate Barry Hytinen’s perseverance on the dance floor. We believe that now that he has opened up to the section about his passion for “gaming,” we will probably see more of his antics. Don’t forget to give Harrah’s a call, Barry. Lucky for Barry, I was too tired to go to his after-party and, therefore, cannot report on guilty parties. However, I did hear that, true to form, attendees broke out into a late night sing-along of “The Gambler” in preparation for Casino Trek the following day.
Finally, thanks to our neighbors in Section B for sharing airtime during the night.
Cheers, and see you all in 2002!
