One of my new friends heard me singing once. We were at this weekend thing and there was live music and I was singing along. I was enjoying myself. She liked my voice and said that I would have to come out with them some night singing karaoke. The local gay bar does karaoke every Monday night. That was during the summer and the opportunity just never came to go. Well, this past weekend we were over with the gang playing poker on Saturday night. It was Storm’s birthday and they made it a sort of party for her. There was a cake and there were presents and it was fun. Our friend, K, once again suggested that I come down singing with her on Monday night. She goes down there almost every Monday, even if she has to go alone. So I determined that I was going to go, even if it meant going by myself.
Storm doesn’t think much of karaoke. She doesn’t see the fun in a bunch of people, some of whom are most likely drunk, getting up and singing with canned music and showing off just how badly they can sing. Her theory is that people who really can sing don’t do karaoke because they don’t have to prove anything to anyone. They know they sing well. She tells me this theory after we got to the bar and were sitting waiting for K to arrive, she was late. I didn’t bother trying to debate the issue with her, I just told her that I didn’t agree and let the matter drop.
Getting to the bar had been interesting. I had been chatting online with another friend, my next door neighbor actually…yeah that’s kind of odd I know, but it works for us. We were both having a regular bitch session about our respective partners. I told her about the karaoke invite and she said I should just go, to not even invite Storm along since she had made her lack of enthusiasm over the idea plain. There really was no reason why I couldn’t go out on my own, and actually the idea had a bit of appeal. I don’t really enjoy singing in front of Storm. She has been less than complimentary on my singing in the past, but that’s another story. So I started getting ready to go. When Storm asked me what I was doing I said that I was getting ready in case K texted to confirm she was going to be at the bar that night. Storm muttered a bit and I could tell that she was not happy that I was planning to go. I told her that she didn’t have to come with me. She could stay home and have an early night and not worry about my snoring keeping her awake. She didn’t like that idea. It came down to her asking me if I wanted her to come with me or not. Honestly, part of me did and part of me didn’t. I didn’t want her coming along if she was going to ruin my fun, but there’s still that part of me that wants her company despite the issues we’re having. Once I had said yes, I wanted her to come she said okay, if K texted me. I think she figured she’d found her way out. K had said other nights she’d text if she was going and then had forgotten or something. So I waited until Storm had left the room and I texted K myself. I didn’t want to sit around waiting like some wallflower. With plans confirmed the only way out of it was for Storm to just flat out say she didn’t want to go and for some reason she wasn’t going to do that. She had this look about her that made me expect a headache to come on sometime after we got there that would require us to have to leave early. She really didn’t want to go, but go we did.
It wasn’t very crowded. It was Monday night after all. I could deal with that. I hadn’t been singing in so long I knew I was going to be very out of practice and probably not very good. We had our pick of tables and Storm got a book of songs and a couple of slips of paper to put in the number of the songs I chose and we started looking through the pages. The first song I chose was one of ‘our’ songs. I knew I wouldn’t do particularly well at it because it had been a very long time since I’d even sung along with it at home. But it was kind of my olive branch, my way of making nice. K had finally shown up and the slip had been turned in and other people had already been singing. Some were terrible, but some were really good. The first guy who went was so good that my courage tucked tail and ran. He was amazing. Turns out he has a group of equally good people from around the community and they put out cds and sell them for charity. I was so out of my league. But I got up there and gave it a go.
I choked, as I expected. I think it was a combination of being out of practice, still recovering from a nasty cold and the song being set too high. It was embarassing. Storm didn’t say anything. Nothing positive about my song choice, but at least nothing negative about my bad showing. K missed it. She’d gone out to smoke just before my name got called. I was rather glad. When it was her turn to go she choked as well. The version of the song she picked wasn’t the one she knew, so she had to kind of fake her way through. We had a good laugh when she came back to the table and later we dug deeper in the book and found the version she had originally wanted, so next time she can do it properly if she wants. Her later songs she did really well on. I did much better on my later songs as well. I think Storm was surprised that I turned in a second song since I had done so badly on the first one. But I was there to have fun and I wanted to sing. I knew that I could do better.
K missed my second song as well. It was really funny. Soon as she stepped out to smoke my name got called. Storm almost missed it too. She’d stepped out to the bathroom and had gone out to smoke too. She was just coming back in when she heard the first bit of my song and realized I was up there singing. I did much better the second go round. Storm pointed out that there were a few places my voice wavered though. It’s so nice to have someone who makes sure I don’t get an over inflated opinion of myself and my talents (oooh sarcasm…)
It was getting late and it was a school night for my kids. We had trusted them to be on their own for the evening and still get to bed on time. A first really. On the weekend we trust them to be on their own sometimes, but never on a school night. I think they showed that they can deal with it. That means that Monday karaoke nights can become a more regular happening. Yay! So Storm and I were talking about heading home. I had picked out a third song but tucked the piece of paper in my pocket because Storm really wanted to go home. K had been flitting around all evening talking to people she knew and when she came back to the table we told her we were going to head out soon. I think Storm was a little put out that I said she wanted to go, but it was true. I could have stayed a bit longer. Turns out we stayed anyway.
Just as we were about to go K got called up again. It would have been rude to walk out just as our friend was going to sing. So we stayed. She did really well. While she was up there singing the KDJ came over, leaned across our table with a big smile and asked “Are you going to sing another one, love?” How could I say no?? K had told us that he has a very caustic personality. He can be downright mean to people if he doesn’t like their singing. And he was asking if I was going to go again. So I must have done well enough that he was being encouraging. I told him I had picked out another but that we were thinking of going home so I had stuck it in my pocket. I handed it to him anyway and decided we could stay for one more song. Then I told him that K had missed both of my other songs and he said he would make sure she didn’t miss this one and left our table. K’s song finished and she went over to the equipment to hand him the mic. He followed her back to our table and handed it to me! He wasn’t kidding. So I got up and did my final song.
I love applause. I know that most of the time when people clap at the end of someone’s set in karaoke it is mostly being polite. Maybe sometimes it’s because they are just glad the song is over! But you can tell the difference. When the applause is because they genuinely enjoyed the song it feels different. I love that feeling. Maybe it’s because growing up I didn’t get much encouragement or told that I had done well at things. If I did something well it wasn’t me, it was God working through me and any praise should go to him. So I need that affirmation when I do something well. We were standing there saying our good-byes to K when this woman, who had not just sang that night but actually performed to the crowd, came up and put her arm around me. She told me I have a good voice and gave me a friendly one armed hug. It made my whole evening.
In the end Storm said she did have a fairly good time. I had a great time. I plan to go back and have a great time again next Monday!
In case anyone wants to hear me sing….
My karaoke spot
