Monkey-O-Kee = Wish Fulfillment

Posted by Elizabeth on February 20, 2009

Hi Everybody!

Just a reminder to subscribe to our podcasts!  If you haven’t checked out our first one, I say, get to it!

Those of us who came to this year’s Monkey-o-kee got to hear it for the first time.  Oh, did you not come to Monkey-o-kee?  Don’t cry. It’s okay, there’s always next year. Listen, podcasts are on iTunes and our website. And this blog entry is all about Monkey-o-kee.  You’ll be up to speed in a jiff!

Monkey-o-kee is our yearly karaoke fundraiser, where we Monkeys convince our friends and relations to join us at a bar for an evening and sing some karaoke, spin a prize wheel full of magical prizes like BOM merchandise, gift cards, theater tickets and bean bags with the BOM logo (made by our very own Oona Kersey), among other delights and confections.  Also certain brave Monkeys volunteer to raise extra money and get sponsored to sing karaoke with a hilarious/ridiculous/brilliant concept.  All the money we make that night goes right back into our school programming, so it’s a lot of fun and it does a lot of good.  My favorite combination, personally.

This has always been one of my favorite events that we do as a whole company.  For one, it gets all of us Monkeys in a room together.  And all of our friends.  And if I’m really lucky, any or all of the following things could occur:
1. Monkeys dress up in hilarious wigs, costumes and false eyelashes.
2. A Monkey wears something on their head other than a wig or hat
3. People who don’t know anything about BOM and have just happened to come to the bar where we are having the event, witness us all in a room together and immediately want to know more about BOM.
4. People who don’t normally feel comfortable singing karaoke get up there and do it, because hey, we are all making fools of ourselves, so why not?
5. Someone wins something truly absurd on the prize wheel. Something they didn’t even know they DESPERATELY wanted, until they won it.
6. Someone’s sponsored monkey performance causes the karaoke jocket to drop his jaw in disbelief/awe.

Luckily for me, all my above wishes came true last Sunday.  Here’s a picture that proves wish #2:

Also, I got to sing “Midnight Train to Georgia” with this handsome fella.  Bonus for me.

So could you call Monkey-o-kee a night where all your wishes come true?  Well, mine did.  So.  There you have it.