My heart belongs in a karaoke bar

By Cortney Philip

HappyNews Citizen Journalist

September 27, 2005 Ah, the painful memories associated with karaoke. Most of us have at least one embarrassing karaoke moment; it's like a right of passage in some parts of the country. Mine involved videotape, 80's hair, giggling over the word "bra" in the song lyrics, and a "best friend" who played the video for every boy I dated throughout high school.

It made perfect sense to avoid karaoke nights at the local watering holes during my college years, and my adulthood seemed to be developing just fine without giving everyone else's favorite pastime a second thought. But, the inevitable happened. Some good friends (and I won't name names to protect the innocent) had their birthday party on karaoke night at their favorite bar.

Socially obligated to attend, I told myself I could run in and run out, and nobody would notice if I didn't stay too long. I showed up as late as I thought I could get away with, plopped my purse on the table, ordered a drink, and waited for something terrible to happen. Something terrible did happen: I had a smashingly good time!

Not having been exposed to karaoke in a solid ten years, it seemed like such novel idea. The bar was only about half-full, but the patrons represented a wide cross-section of humanity. And everyone sang his or her heart out. I came in during an intermission and failed to turn immediately around when the first bars of a song started to blast through the sound system.

Suddenly, this sultry voice straight out of a 1920s jazz club made everyone shut up, and I turned to see the source of the singing. This stooped little woman with coke bottle glasses was old enough to be my grandmother, and she swayed in time to the music as she sung. Beautiful, I thought. Just beautiful. Well, not all karaoke is beautiful, I quickly discovered as the good, bad, and just plain depressing took their turns behind the microphone.

But most karaoke is an awful lot of fun. A member of our party led the group in a birthday sing-along, and a woman danced the "Carleton" (think Fresh Prince of Bel Air) while belting out "Proud Mary."

The wannabe cowboys sang their sad songs, and the college girls butchered classic rock. I'm seriously convinced that one of my friends could be the sixth member of a boy band if he put his mind to it. I couldn't have wiped the silly grin off my face if I'd wanted to.

My friends kept asking, "What's wrong, Cortney? You've got a strange look on your face." I replied, "Absolutely nothing is wrong right now, and it feels great!" Sometimes it's good for me to get off my couch and do something different on Friday night.

Who ever knew karaoke could inspire such warm, fuzzy feelings about strangers? I don't think I'm quite ready to go back to karaoke night yet, but the next time someone invites me, I'll probably say yes. And who knows-I might even sing a song of my own.

This story was produced by a Happynews Citizen Journalist.

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