Sunday, May 27, 2012

Pakwah Wong - Karaoke Champion



So this entry is about a guy I went to school with. My classmates informed me that there was something not quite right with the boy, and you could tell it by his appearance. He was the only kid in high school who wore sweat pants. He would bob his head to the imaginary music playing inside of it. When he spoke, he spoke as if he were highly intellectual. If you hid his pencil case on him, he would yell, cry, and slam his head repeatedly on the desk.

Pakwah's peers generally left him alone, but there would be the occasional troublemaker who would magically make his pencil case go missing to put some entertainment in our otherwise boring classroom lives. However, it wasn't always Pakwah's peers who would cause him to have a psychotic breakdown. The chemistry teacher made him stay after class to finish up his project, and Pakwah proceeded to slam, yell, cry and scream while Mr. Chemistry tried (and failed miserably) to contain his laughter.

So where is Pakwah these days?

http://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-101994/name-Pakwah-Wong/

Yup, he's dead. It seems quite fitting that someone who seemed slightly bizarre would die of something quite bizarre - diabetes at age 27. Personally, I could have seen him getting hit by a truck before dying from diabetes.

Pakwah's classmates these days are now matured and in their 30s. They'd likely understand him more now than they did back then.

Pakwah had his brief moments of fame in high school. My classmates had told me that Pakwah had performed an extremely unforgettable rendition of Ghostbusters at the school's Karaoke contest the previous year. For the first year I attended the karaoke contest, I brought a tape recorder knowing very well that I was likely in for a treat. And what a treat it was!

It seems strange and even sad that I'm releasing this recording post-humously. Perhaps those who remembered this event and even those who fondly remember Pakwah will take joy in hearing this recording. He could be thought of as Winnipeg's William Hung (although Pakwah sings much better).

Listen to Pakwah sing "Great Balls of Fire"

I swear that this was the only time I heard the entire school auditorium roar in cheer. Pakwah certainly had the ability to entertain. Incidently, if any former students of Tec Voc High School (namely those in the RTB program) have video of Pakwah performing at Karaoke, please get in touch with me and I'll happily put it on Youtube.

2 comments:

Chris Sobieniak said...

And thus the internet proves it's wealth of never letting things drop if you can milk it!

Philip Stiff said...

Hey Ben. Yup I remember Pakwah Wong. I had no clue he had died. I always remember his Ghostbusters performance at Tec.