Good Enough To Pay For?

How much would you pay to hear me sing?

That's the question I'm being cajoled into asking all of you. Would, say, $12 be reasonable?

See, somehow I've qualified for the R&B finals in the local qualifier for the Karaoke Entertainer of the Year contest, to be held a week from Sunday. I guess one of the other qualifiers caught gout or something.

I will tell you, from here at home, where I'm relaxed and (semi-)rational: I don't expect to win, and will be rooting for my friend my friend Meredith wholeheartedly.

I tell you this here. In the middle of a competitive situation, like any Leo, I will tell you that not even Young MC himself could do his song better than I could anymore. He may get old-school fans going, but can he say he's roused an entire convention full of journalists who'd never met him before? I don't think so.

But, even at my cockiest, I think I'd balk at fulfilling one of the organizers' requests: to hawk tickets to my friends at $12 a pop. The "incentive" they're providing is, the people who sell the most tickets will get better spots in the singing order during the contest. Something about this just strikes me as bush-league.

And part of me - the part of me that will be pacing the floor before we go on, watching the stage for any and everything I can use as a prop, and running through freestyles during the day - wants to see if I can win the damned thing while singing from the worst position.