Keene State College fraternity Sigma Pi helped raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project on Veterans Day by hosting the second annual Lip Sync Battle. Spectators and participants filed into the Mabel Brown Room Friday, Nov. 11 to battle with nothing but a variety of songs and a stage.
Colton McCracken / Equinox Staff
Round after round, competitors performed their hearts out to songs ranging from today’s top 100, to throwback classics of the ‘90s. Throughout the show, host and Community Service Chair for Sigma Pi Tim Peterson welcomed performers on and off the stage.
Not only did he introduce student performers to the spotlight, but he also invited performances from faculty on stage. Advisor of Sigma Pi Scott Daube and Coordinator of Student Conduct Cory Davis teamed up to give their performances throughout the competition. Daube said as a staff member, it was a great opportunity to get involved.
Daube said, “I think it was also really important for faculty and staff to have some sort of fun role with the students, so this was a great opportunity for Cory and I, as staff on campus, to incorporate ourselves and show our face to people on campus we may otherwise not get to see.”
Colton McCracken / Equinox Staff
Daube and Davis treated the crowd with their lip sync performances, which included Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop,” and their rendition of the catching scene from Dirty Dancing over “Time of My Life.”
Daube and Davis both admitted that the maneuver was mostly improvised, and the only time they practiced was moments before the Mabel Brown Room doors opened for the event.
After many eliminations were made, the finals of the competition came down to a team of Maggie McNamara, Alex Bubar, Kelsey Harper and Reilly Hankus versus The Equinox Webmaster Masaki Carty.
Carty ended up winning the competition after his performance to Metro Station’s “Shake it,” which was followed by his surprise lip sync performance of “Stacey’s Mom,” by Fountains of Wayne. Although they did not win, the team of Bubar, Harper, Hankus and McNamara said they had fun.
Colton McCracken / Equinox Staff
Hankus said, “I think that we did a good job,” and that they, “worked hard all week long,”
McNamara added that the team will be back next year to win the competition. The team performed with a candy theme to songs like “Candy Man” by Christina Aguilera and “Sugar” by Maroon 5.
After the show, Peterson said the performers were “wonderful” and that the fraternity plans on making the event a yearly trend.
“They really brought their A-game. The judges had a lot of difficulty deciding between who to keep and who to let go, so that says a lot about them showing up and doing what they wanted to do,” Peterson said.
Peterson added that, “We’re (Sigma Pi) trying to turn it into an annual event, so this is the second annual event… We do organize a decent amount of events and we’re worried that if we do do it once a semester, some of the energy will be split. The man behind the music and Fundraising Chair for Sigma Pi Jack Callahan described the mood of the night as friendly, and that was why he wasn’t very nervous about making mistakes controlling the contestants music.
Colton McCracken / Equinox Staff
Callahan said, “I felt a little pressure at the beginning making sure I didn’t mess up, but if I did mess up what’s the big deal, right? Everyone likes each other here, everyone’s friends. It was good [and] worked out well.”
Callahan added that the contestants were awesome and felt pleased with the fraternity’s approach to the way the event was organized.
“I think it was a good turnout, honestly,” Callahan said. “Last year was fun as well, but we had a lot of baskets last year so we lost some money there, whereas we didn’t focus so much on the prizes this year. We were just kind of focused on attendance, so I think that helped us a lot.”
Nick Tocco can be contacted at ntocco@kscequinox.com
