March 24, 2021
by Ryan Soloby
It is hard to narrow down singular stories having known Chris for so long. He was a quiet and thoughtful but when he broke out of his shell, he turned into Super Chris.
Two stories in one is Chris's occasional shine when he did karaoke, which he liked off and on over the years.
A long time ago during the band days, our group was semi regularly going to Skeletor's Gong Show Karaoke. If you weren't good or were boring (which was 95% of the time for people), you'd get gong'd off stage by the host who was a Skeletor impersonator. That alone was weird enough for us to enjoy. But one time Chris showed up dressed as one of his own party personalities, "Duke America" (fully dressed in all flag clothing), and his karaoke song was God Bless America. He gamed the show, because the host Skeletor was surprised and afraid to gong him off. Chris killed it in one of his weird voices, the crowd loved him and the angle, and he was thrilled he one up'd the show.
The other half is jumping forward to somewhat recently, at a friend's 40th birthday Karaoke party. I goaded Chris into joining me to duet Laura Branigan's "Self Control". He loved this song since he said it made him picture his dad years ago driving around in a Datsun 280z like a old car commercial. I am glad I did that as it was one of the last times we had to hang in person and it was a great memory tied to so many prior ones.
Two stories in one is Chris's occasional shine when he did karaoke, which he liked off and on over the years.
A long time ago during the band days, our group was semi regularly going to Skeletor's Gong Show Karaoke. If you weren't good or were boring (which was 95% of the time for people), you'd get gong'd off stage by the host who was a Skeletor impersonator. That alone was weird enough for us to enjoy. But one time Chris showed up dressed as one of his own party personalities, "Duke America" (fully dressed in all flag clothing), and his karaoke song was God Bless America. He gamed the show, because the host Skeletor was surprised and afraid to gong him off. Chris killed it in one of his weird voices, the crowd loved him and the angle, and he was thrilled he one up'd the show.
The other half is jumping forward to somewhat recently, at a friend's 40th birthday Karaoke party. I goaded Chris into joining me to duet Laura Branigan's "Self Control". He loved this song since he said it made him picture his dad years ago driving around in a Datsun 280z like a old car commercial. I am glad I did that as it was one of the last times we had to hang in person and it was a great memory tied to so many prior ones.