Parappa the rapper autographed playstation

The story behind my Parappa the Rapper / Umjammer Lammy playstation, which I have described before briefly, but now that almost 20 years have gone by I can tell the whole story.

I found out that there was going to be a release party in for Umjammer Lammy in New york City.
I was nearby, so I decided to head over there. I packed up my PlayStation, hopped on the subway and headed to the Bowery.

When I arrived, I realized the event was invite only. I had seen the press release on the Sony site, and suddenly realized it was just that; a press release and not an invitation. It was also incredibly hot, and I was carrying about 15 pounds of stuff I wanted autographed with no way inside.

A bus arrived with kids who won a contest to be there. A radio station had some kind of club, and they used the member list to rent out kids to events like this under the guise of club benefits. The best way to get to places you don't belong is to "act as if", so I acted as if I belonged. I picked up some of the sound gear, pretended to be crew and headed inside via the rear entrance. I eventually got back stage with the band "milk can" who were from Japan. I think they had some idea that I was a stowaway, as I was trying to be invisible. All of the kids from the bus had t-shirts, and a wrist band.

While hiding in the band area, I met the voice of Parappa the Rapper and the rest of the band. We all sat behind a large rack mounted PlayStation dev system that I wish I had taken pictures of. I confided in the band that I thought it was an open event, and asked if it was ok to hide out. They got me a badge from somewhere, for which I am eternally grateful. I fished my PlayStation out of my backpack, and asked them to autograph it. I spent about an hour with the band, they were all very friendly and accomodating to a young kid who was clearly trying to hide out back stage from event security. The lights dimmed for the show, I said my farewells and I made my way to the floor to see the show.

First on was Parappa, who absolutely destroyed the tracks live, it's a shame it was not saved and released as it was really crazy to hear Parappa and Chop Chop Master Onion go at it with ferocity. Next was Sara Ramirez aka Lammy, who surprisingly was a very modest looking person for the voice and persona (she went on to star in Grey's Anatomy for 12 years). Then came a Masaya Matsuura freestyle where he used a dev sound interface to completely go freestyle using real PlayStation hardware, it was really amazing and is probably the most a PlayStation has been modified and pushed to make sound. His PlayStation setup was a rack mounted, modified DTL-H1500 system they flew all the way from Japan.

The lights came up, and I rushed to where Masaya Matsuura was breaking down his gear and got him to autograph my PlayStation. I then made my way to one of the tables where the bussed in kids were, and started trying to blend in and do some friend making. The kids there covered from me a number of times "oh he lost his bracelet on the bus!". We were all having a great time,and Sony treated them well (and myself by proxy). I have great respect for how Sony treated the kids, as they were basically a PR tool, but never treated as such. There was a raffle for a grand prize, and the guy at our table won a huge wood Umjammer Lammy display with a special guitar. I gave him my email address and asked him to consider selling it to me, but he never did and it eventually wound up on eBay about ten years later.

The party then turned to the food, which was a gigantic sushi table and more. I didn't eat as NYC is not bathroom friendly, and I had a decent walk from the Bowery back to the subway. All of the Sony executives showed up, and I saw that Ken Katuragi was there, which is unusual for a PR event, there was a reason for this that I figured out later. As all of the executives were buzzing about each other, so I decided to wait for my chance to get my final PlayStation autograph.

All the us were instructed to line up, so I did too and I'm glad I did; it was the line for free goodies. Every kid got a T-shirt and a very nice bag. Inside the bag was an actual Milk Can, with promos from Parappa and Lammy. I was last in line, and the promo people became a bit puzzled! Did they miscount the kids? Either way, they had extras and I got a full set of promos, including a really nice bag (I still have it til this day). I got a bit greedy and asked for a bag for my sister, and got a dirty look I completely deserved.

All of Sony's executives by then were liquored up, so I headed over to Ken Katuragi for the final autograph. The big problem was that I had modified my PlayStation for S-Video and added a lid switch for swapping imports and backups. Asking the head of Sony Computer Entertainment to autograph a modded PlayStation was probably not a smart thing, but I did it anyway. I clamped my hands around the switch and s-video mod, and asked for the autograph. He happily agreed to do so while admiring all of the autographs I had so far. He tried to take it from my hands to sign, but I refused to let go. There was an awkward moment and then he signed it as best he could. There I was, surround by Sony's top executives with a modded PlayStation, and asking the head of Sony Computer Entertainment to autograph it.

I quickly put the PlayStation back in my backpack, and told Ken how much I loved PlayStation. He told me that I wouldn't believe what they had coming next, and he was right; PlayStation 2 was amazing and one of the best selling consoles of all time, beloved to millions. This is the reason I attribute to there being almost all of the Sony executives at a PR event, PlayStation 2 was in full production mode and it was a proud and busy time for Sony.

The party ended, and as the kids made their way to the bus, I snuck out the back door and made my way back home through the night.

[GALLERY=media, 904]Parappa the rapper autographed playstation by ASSEMbler posted Jun 22, 2016 at 10:14 PM[/GALLERY]
[GALLERY=media, 905]Parappa the rapper autographed playstation by ASSEMbler posted Jun 22, 2016 at 10:14 PM[/GALLERY]
[GALLERY=media, 906]Parappa the rapper autographed playstation by ASSEMbler posted Jun 22, 2016 at 10:14 PM[/GALLERY]
[GALLERY=media, 907]Parappa the rapper autographed playstation by ASSEMbler posted Jun 22, 2016 at 10:14 PM[/GALLERY]

 

A question for you all, do you think it would be ok to remove the switch and svideo, and to fill the hole with some color matched epoxy? Or just leave it as is?

As an adult I buy all my games now. Young me would be appalled.

 

Guess I'll leave it be then.

 

I was clearing out a closet of hundred of old game magazines and I found the pictures I took at the event. I have to break out the scanner.
I believe I have pictures of the rack mounted psone in there.