Thriller

Five years ago, I stumbled across a very odd looking booth at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It was the last day of the show, so I thought I'd stop by to see what it was all about. I had just gotten off my booth duty shift, so I was still in my Dolby uniform. It had been a long but productive week at ICES for me, and amazingly enough, I was still operating on adrenaline.

This unusual looking booth caught my eye because it had a trailer park feel to it. In the middle of the booth was a trailer, very much like the one Cyndi Lauper lived in in the Time After Time video. Under my feet was astro turf. My curiosity was definitely aroused, so I approached the trailer. I learned that this booth belonged to Madwaves, and their latest product was a hand held karaoke machine. I said to Madwaves Director of Marketing, "well, I'm the karaoke king!" Next thing I know, I'm up on stage performing "Thriller" up on their stage. The funny part was that the pitch was changed, so I sounded like Minnie Mouse on helium, hee hee.

Fast forward five years. I recently received an email from that Director of Marketing inviting me to join her Linked In network. I hadn't heard from this woman in years, so it did not surprise me when the email exchange quickly shifted to that Thriller performance. Sure enough, in this day and age of YouTube, that video of me rocking out to Michael Jackson made it on to the internet, and this former Madwaves marketing director sent it to me. I couldn't help but laugh. Oh my, how my karaoke has matured over the years...

Shot live during CES 2002 in Vegas, an amazing karaoke performance with a pitch shift thanks to the now sold out MadPlayer... and thanks to Tony, a visitor to the booth on that memorable day.