I was going to write about something else this week but I started throwing stuff away in my garage and came across these discs of pictures. Most of the pics were from around 2003ish at the height of my karaoke days.
While I feel that the phase of life I am currently at I get the most enjoyment out of, the times I spent at karaoke were some of the funnest.
At the time I was working framing pictures while going to school. One of my managers would end up changing my life as I knew it. Her parents owned a bar which one of my other friends at work had been to and said it was fun so I decided to go.
On October 9th of 2002, I invited a friend of mine and my brother’s girlfriend. I walked in the bar with my arms around both of them and they took off my jacket as we entered… so I imagine I came off a complete douche.
I didn’t waste any time putting up a song and while I might get choked up speaking in front of small groups of people I know well, I have absolutely no fear of singing while totally sober in front of complete strangers.
My first song was Jimmy Buffett’s “Cheeseburger In Paradise”. My mom played that tape non-stop through my childhood so I knew it by heart.
Next up was “Centerfold” by J. Geils Band. Once again, a shout out to moms for the soundtrack of my youth.
That night changed the course of my life for the next few years. Karaoke was the experience against which all other activities were judged. I never felt as alive as I did while on that stage. The Jam Inn was the best place for this too. At many karaoke bars, you would be lucky to sing twice in one night. No one was ever at the Jam Inn so you could sing all you wanted.
We all took turns being the DJ. I like to think I was the best at it because I would have no filler music between songs and kept people informed of when they would be next so there would be very little wait time. My good friend Dave and I would download and create our own karaoke CDs so we could have all our favorite tracks wherever we went.
The best time, was at Snookie’s in Fort Worth. It started out pretty dead and I sang “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and the crowd swarmed around me and it went wild. I found out later this was during spring break week right next to TCU.
On my wife and my first date, I took her out to Vino’s in Bedford (who does karaoke 7 nights a week). When I took the stage, I said, “This one goes out to a very special lady…” and proceeded to sing Poison’s “Talk Dirty to Me”.
I also won fifty bucks at a karaoke competition while singing Sir Mix-a-Lot “Baby Got Back”. While I don’t have a video of that night, here is a clip of me singing what was my most requested song:
