Brave Journos Get Competitive Over Karaoke

NBC's Luke Russert and CNN's Brianna Keilar won "Best Duet" for Livin' on a Prayer (All photos taken by FishbowlDC's Matt Dornic.) Milling about in a darkened upstairs barroom last night at the Rock & Roll Hotel, the mood amongst journalists was a low buzz of excitement. Some of Washington D.C. 's nerviest participants in the charity competition were there having pre-Karaoke drinks. They showed not even a trace of anxiety. One such performer was CBS "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer, all decked in cowboy attire and accompanied by a CBS reporter and correspondent, Kaylee Hartung. Schieffer was moments away from performing with his band, Honky Tonk Confidential. Asked if he was nervous, he laughed and replied, "I'm so bad I'm so past that. Anyone with as little talent as me is beyond being embarrassed." Peter Parisi, a TWT copy editor, was particularly chipper in his red gingham button-down and blue jeans. He told me he had performed Karaoke dozens of times and was more than ready for his performance. "Sonny and Cher. I Got You Babe," he said, when asked what he'd form. "Cher had a previous engagement so I'm going to have to do this alone." Journalists soon moved downstairs to the stage area. In the crowd, but not performing was NJ "The Hotline's" Executive Editor Reid Wilson, Politico's Natasha Lennard, The Hill's Tricia Barba , Susan Crabtree and Christina Wilkie, QGA and FishbowlDC's Matt Dornic, Chicago Sun Times D.C. Bureau Chief and Politics Daily Flotus columnist Lynn Sweet, Washington Examiner's Julie Mason, NJ's Matt Cooper and Major Garrett, CBS News's Christine Delargy and CNN's Abby Livingston. Upcoming performers included NBC's Luke Russert (who knew he could sing?), Politico's Shira Toeplitz, Slate's Dave Weigel (who knew he could, er, dance?), CNN's Brianna Keilar, HuffPost contributor Stephanie Green (lovely voice), Washington Life's Michael Clements (borrowed Green's long fur tiger print coat for the performance; one journo said he wears coats like that only to funerals) and TPM (but soon-to-be CQ-Roll Call's) Christina Bellantoni. CNN Senior White House correspondent and "Dynamite" performer Ed Henry was spotted by the bar horsing around with his backup singer children, Patrick and Mila, prepping them for the big event. He admitted to some pre-performance jitters. "Covering the White House is easy compared to this," he confided. "This is sink or swim." But Henry persevered and won "Best in Show." (See a complete list of performances, more photographs and award winners after the jump.) Nerves or not, a decent-sized roster of journos soon took to the stage. Amongst White House scribes, the competition grew tense over Twitter with lots of smack talk. One of those talkers was The Hill's White House correspondent Sam Youngman. Once on stage, the lights beamed on him and he looked utterly relieved. "This is awesome, I can't see any of you," he told the crowd. He had planned to sing three short verses of "Lawyers, Guns and Money," by Warren Zevon, but during the performance appeared surprised when the song seemed to stretch on so long. Still, he held his own, sang in tune and thankfully, unlike some of the other performers, didn't try to hit any high notes. Jaws dropped when... Russert gave a stunning and seemingly practiced and professional performance of "Born to Run." James Davis, an associate with the Brunswick Group, whispered during Russert's performance, "A lot of nights in his underwear in front of the mirror." THE PERFORMANCES/AWARDS CNN’s Ed Henry with a special guest, his daughter Mila and son Patrick singing “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz (won “Best in Show”) Shira Toeplitz from Politico singing Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young” (won “When You Sing, Dogs Bark”) Quinn McCord from National Journal’s Hotline to sing Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” From the Washington Times….Peter Parisi…and his one person duet of Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” Sam Youngman, White House reporter, for “The Hill” sings “Lawyers, Guns and Money” by Warren Zevon MSNBC’s Luke Russert sings Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” CNN’s Brianna Keilar sings Martina McBride CNN’s Dan Lothian sings “Beauty and the Beast” CNN’s Brianna Keilar and Luke Russert sing Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” (win Best Duet) Singing “YMCA” the “The Village Idiots” … Democratic Consultant Bud Jackson, Former Politics Magazine Editor Jordan Lieberman of Campaign Grid, Watch Party’s Richard Fawal and Aristotle’s Dean Phillips (wins Funniest Performance) Christina Bellantoni – Talking Points Memo but moving onto to CQ/Roll Call as associate editor singing “These Boots Were Made for Walking” by Nancy Sinatra Washington Writer Stephanie Green with Michael Clements from Washington Life to sing “Love Shack” by the B-52’s (win Best Media Performance) From Wonkette: Elizabeth Glover, Riley Waggaman & Arielle Fleisher singing “I Touch Myself” by DaVinyls (wins Best Worst Performance) Attorney Joe Sandler of Sandler, Reiff & Young (Wins “Keep Your Day Job” award) Bob Schieffer and Kaylee Hartung Christine Delargy, Bob Schieffer and Kaylee Hartung Luke Russert Sam Youngman Shira Toeplitz Michael Clements and Stephanie Green

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Brave Journos Get Competitive Over Karaoke

Betsy Rothstein

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Betsy Rothstein