by N A Koffler

Created on: April 25, 2008   Last Updated: May 05, 2008

I remember the first time I ever sang Karaoke! It was my twenty-third birthday and I was out for the evening to have dinner at Benihana's Japanese dinner-house. All dressed up and a few Sakes down the hatch, we relaxed in the lounge intently watching person after person get up and sing to the bar patrons. You could definitely tell those veteran singers from the newbie's, because when they got up on the stage they were calm and in charge. There was no struggle to keep up with the words that were zipping along on the Karaoke screen. It was quite impressive, including the fact that some of them could actually sing pretty well, or maybe it was just the alcohol and the energy of the crowd? About an hour or so passed and the crowd was getting noisy and excited as more and more people were trying their hand at Karaoke. The lounge manager a precocious Japanese man would call out to the patrons," who is next, who will sing, this is fun!" Each time he did this I had the urge to jump up to the stage and take the mic, but then no, I was nervous and I would just sit in the chair looking around to see who would go up next. My sister kept urging me, "let's do it, it will be fun"! All I could think to myself was, "oh my gosh, I can't sing I will look so stupid".

The night was slipping away as were the opportunities to try my own hand at Karaoke. The manager shouted out again, who will come up, but this time no one came up to the stage. He peered into the darkness of the lounge and tried to politely ask individuals to come up, but no one did. His face showed slight disappointment. Just then, my sister grabbed my hand and before I new it we were headed to the stage. My gut tightened with anxiety. It reminded me of all those times growing up when I did not want to ride the big scary roller coasters with her in the amusement park, but was forced to and ended up having a screaming good time. I gingerly took the microphone feeling extremely awkward and began to sing with her, "these boots were made for walkn', that's just what I will do when these boots walk all over you!" I had done it, it was great and fun and the best part was that I could not see anyone looking at me because I was too busy trying to keep up with the words zipping along on the screen.

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