While playing Sweet Child O’ Mine at last night’s wedding, Bengi and I reminisced about a time when we were seventeen years old. We were both in high school, working for a McDonald’s in Milford, Massachusetts, and in an effort to build morale, management decided to sponsor a lip-sync contest, complete with a cash prize.
So began my long and shameful career in lip syncing contests.
The competition took place in a meeting room inside the Milford Public Library.
A lip-sync contest in a library.
There were four acts competing in the contest. I was in three of them.
Bengi, a guy named Eric, a now-forgotten participant, and I lip synced Guns and Roses Sweet Child O’ Mine. Bengi was on vocals and I was on drums.
Bengi and I followed up this performance with a two-man tribute to Tesla’s classic Gettin’ Better.
The third act was me and a forgotten pair of girls who performed a favorite song of mine at the time, Under the Boardwalk.
The final act was six older ladies singing and dancing to Heard it Through the Grapevine.
The Sweet Child O’ Mine act won first prize that night, the only prize of the contest. $25 split four ways.
Thank God the video camera was not as ubiquitous as it is today. The whole scene most have been utterly ridiculous.
