Hi. My name is Blake, and I am a karaoke junkie. Perhaps it’s the feeling that for one, brief, delusional moment, I can be the rock star I always dreamed I’d be. Perhaps it’s the cocktails. Who knows?

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Last night, I schlepped (in very high heels mind you) all the way up to a part of the city Lin-Manuel Miranda is quite familiar with—Ft. Tryon Park, in Washington Heights.

“I used to write angsty poetry here,” he told me, as we gazed over the crowd at Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project’s annual Spring Gala. Tonight, he’d be rapping that very same poetry alongside beat boxer extraordinaire, Chris “Shockwave” Sullivan, as part of his honorary co-chair duties. So, what does a ten-year-old Lin-Manuel Miranda rap about? The answer is slap bracelets and not Lisa Frank stickers. Ah, the early nineties. Side note: If you want to see for yourself the stylings of Shock and “Slim” Manuel Miranda (as Shock calls him), please do yourself a favor and check out this video:

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