The Beginning

You should probably know I live in a mid-size Midwestern town. I can't tell you what town, but I can tell you I do gigs at several different establishments.


So I started this karaoke journey in the fall of 2008, right around Halloween. In fact, my first "gig" was a Halloween party. I led the crowd in a Halloween costume contest and a man about my age won decisively over a young man dressed as Jesus after He had been hanging on a cross. My God, what a tasteless costume. Anyway, the winner was dressed as a hippie. I had been shadowing the owner of the karaoke business and had noticed this man from earlier visits to this place. He always sits at the corner of the bar, sometimes by himself, sometimes with a few others.


This guy drank a LOT. Just beer, but he was always intoxicated. In fact, as I have got to know this man, he would sometimes be drunk before he even got to the bar! I have to say I really don't understand the lifestyle of folks that drink so heavily. Granted, I drank when I was high school. In fact, we could drink when we were eighteen back then. I was never a jock, I had NO athletic ability. I was into drama and music, and marched in the marching band. So we would go to the football game, them out to drink. We would go to Godfather's or Minsky's pizza. Sometimes we would drink beer, but strawberry daiquiris were our drink of choice. I remember asking if Minsky's would serve us pitchers of daiquiris! I had no one to answer to, as I had my own apartment my senior year. My parents had moved away when I was sixteen, and was completely on my own at eighteen. But that is another story for another time.....


Anyway, Jack always seemed to enjoy the karaoke. His taste in music is very similar to mine. He always would come up to me and tell me he liked the songs I sang. Anyway, he said he was never a singer. He had NEVER considered singing karaoke. He finally asked me after several weeks if I would help him sing a song. I was shocked, but quite pleased that he wanted to sing. After perusing the book (which has over 17,000 songs), we decided that Dr. Hook's "Cover of the Rolling Stone" would be a good song for him. He stayed behind the karaoke stand to read the monitor, virtually hiding from the people staring at him. He now has a repetoire of about eight songs, and sings on his own. Except for the Dr. Hook song, that is "our" song. He will walk around the bar and sing to the crowd. He has really come out of his shell, as it were. He has since quit drinking and just drinks a Coke when he comes out. Maybe I can tell that story someday, but because he is my friend I won't post anything until he approves it. Jack now has a new lady friend I haven't yet met. I'm really glad he has a lady in his life, I had a feeling that he was incredibly lonely. In the meantime, I am quite proud of Jack. He is my friend, and I am pleased with whatever positive influence I may have had in his life. Not too many people would think anything positive would come out of a bar, but there are stories that prove otherwise. Not everything in bars is total debauchery, but there is plenty of tales that I can talk about. Perhaps next time.....