Archive - June 16, 2009

I can’t carry a tune in a bucket, but I LOVE to sing. I feel sorry for the audience mind you, as they sit politely listening (at first), ears bleeding, tears running down their faces. Why didn’t they run when they had the chance? My first experience with the Japanese art of Karaoke came at a late age. I was in my 20s tending bar at a popular nightclub that featured Karaoke Night every Tuesday. How I longed for Tuesdays. I’d finish my shift, apply fresh lip gloss, submit my name and song choice and wait with great anticipation. Nothing could stop me (outside of the be-muscled bouncers) from getting up on stage and belting out a tune in my most off-key voice. In my mind, I was Bette Midler circa 1979, singing the Rose with all the feelings. Have you ever been booed and told, “You suck. Shut up!” I have. I even have the humiliation preserved on video tape. After briefly dating the guy who ran the Karaoke operation (it ended on a sour note, so to speak) my microphone was silenced. A few years later however, at teacher’s college in a small town in Maine, USA, I[…]