KARAOKE WATCH: PLEASE, DADDY, DON'T GET DRUNK THIS CHRISTMAS

Hello, all you happy people.

Tonight the Bowens threw their annual Christmas party and once again, they reminded us why this has become the holiday party for me. Great catering, great people, and private karaoke!

Many wondrous performances tonight, but oh, my god, the derby was stolen by a dark horse. Matt Fraction's version of the Kinks' "Lola" is only forgettable because it was sandwiched between his closing number, an on-pitch version of Prince's "Kiss," and his opening nuclear assault, the Pogues' "Fairtyale of New York," perfectly transforming into both Shane MacGowan and Kirsty Maccoll. Lesser mortals would have hung it up around then, but we soldiered on.

Mike Allred and I actually opened the evening with a little Rat Pack, him being the Chairman of the Board to my drunken Deano. He was the first singer on deck with Sinatra's "It Was a Very Good Year," and I was second performing Dean Martin's "Sway." Mike later followed with Supertramp's "Logical Song" and the oh-so perfect "Starman" by Bowie. He rocked so hard during the latter, he broke the mic' stand! I did some kicking and some posing for Spandau Ballet's "Gold," an underrated James Bond theme that never was.

Joëlle Jones and I also did what I think was our first duet, pairing up for a fun romp through the Human League's "(Keep Feeling) Fascination." She also performed "All My Lovin'" by the Beatles and two of the night's best performances, Radiohead's "Creep" and Bonnie Tyler's "Holding Out for a Hero," dedicated to all the comic book folks in the crowd. They were transcendental moments.

I had a couple of accidental duets. Mike Oeming had been abandoned by a partner for Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue," and so I jumped up to bail him out. He didn't need it, he had it down, but we had fun. I was also enlisted to be the David Bowie in a performance of "Under Pressure," but my Freddie Mercury was nowhere to be found, so Mike Allred jumped up. We never figured out who was who, but it was marvelous! One of my best karaoke experiences. We had so much fun. (If only we had convinced Laura Allred to sing "Downtown" by Petula Clark, it would have been perfect.)

Other performance highlights were Kelly Sue DeConnick's adorable and demure "There are Worse Things I Could Do" (from Grease), and Steven Birch singing Badfinger's "Come and Get It" and the Cars' "Just What I Needed."

I could go on and on. Tons of great songs. Alisa Bendis, David Hahn and his wife (they dueled with our Human League, singing "Don't You Want Me"), David Walker, Daria and Dallas, Taki Soma, our hosts the Bowens, our pal Andy on Bowie's "Modern Love" and James' "Laid," Randall C. Jarrell singing Springsteen's "Badlands"--too many to list. My memory can't make it!

What a night! What fun! Christmas Day, you have some amazing competition.

Current Soundtrack: Theaudience, "I Got the Wherewithal" EP