by Gayle Parks

Created on: April 23, 2008   Last Updated: May 05, 2008

The first time I sang Karaoke was about ten years ago. I was newly divorced and looking to have a little harmless fun. A friend of mine knew of a little bar and grill where they had Karaoke every Saturday night. So, one night we went to check it out.

The Karaoke machine was sat up outside on a small patio where tables and chairs had been placed in a semi-circle around the edge. A woman handed us a typed list of songs and several request slips as we sat down. The idea was for you to choose the song you wanted to sing from the list and write it on the request slip. You then placed the slip in a little basket sitting next to the Karaoke machine. That was the easy part.

Nothing much happened at first. No one really wanted to be first so the Karaoke woman, the one who had passed out the list, got up and sang a song. Then she pulled out a slip from the basket and called out the name of a song. Two guys got up from the back of the patio and, with much laughing and clowning, came forward and sang "Hot Rod Lincoln". After that things started jumping. An old lady wearing a pink and purple pant suit got up and sang "Try To Remember" and then, suddenly, it was our turn! Yikes! Talk about stage fright! I was scared to death, but I downed my wine cooler (my 3rd to be exact) and went forward to face the music. My friend and I sang "Stand by Your Man" first and then, as the night wore on, several other songs.

It got easier too, even desirable, to get up in front of all those people and sing. So, we did time and time again. We sang and danced around and swigged our wine coolers and generally had a great time. By midnight, when they were packing up the Karaoke machine, we were making plans to come back the next Saturday night.

If you have never sung Karaoke you really should give it a try. It's fun. It's easy. And it's cheap since it is usually free. Of course, you may spend more or less depending on how much alcoholic lubrication you need. And remember, no one expects you to sound like another Pasty Cline or Celine Dion but by the time you finish your first song you'll certainly feel like a real star!

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