Last night the UC to the SC history grads embarked on our bi-(curious) weekly outing, this time to the picturesque Boardwalk Bowl. There was a good turnout and I conducted myself with dignity in delivering renditions of both White Wedding and Daydream Believer.
Let me just get to the point: toward the end of the night, these two sexagenarian regulars (they have been there every time I have), rotund, big-haired, sloshed, got up and did a fantastic version of My Hump. The woman, clad in a red velvety track-suit thing and looking almost exactly like a giant singing tomato, was wonderful. Her dude, a retired band teacher perhaps, was rad. The bar erupted in cheers.
What I found really inspirational was that this appears to be their retirement project: they hang out in a weird karaoke bar attached to a bowling alley and drink and watch TV and do karaoke. This is, and I'm not kidding or being mean or sarcastic, infinitely cooler than some stupid-ass RV or playing golf for twenty years until you can't swing the club anymore. The whole experience was so the opposite of the whole smarmy LA-inspired TV culture part of America I hate.
So: to the aging karaoke regulars in the bowling alleys of the USA, I salute you and hope to be one of you when I grow up.
2.19.2009
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5 comments:
That's awesome! I wish I could've been there...
Karaoke in SC is very unlike that in Portland, mostly in terms of an almost total absence of the hip(ster) element. This is both good and bad: fewer white belts, but the song selection is limited.
Even if the song selection is limited--as long as "White Wedding" is an option, everything is okay by me...
"Start AGAIN!!!!"
mr pants recently began the process of acquiring a disc of jonothan coulton kareoke songs. We are excited to try them out, especially now that chopsticks is smoke free.
There is a regular couple at Chopsticks - maybe in their 60's by now - known as Mamma Shelly & Pat. Pat is a hilarious history buff who can put away the bourbon and talk about WWII way past the point of my continued interest, and he also likes to point out (to me) the pretty young girls. (I'm still not sure for who's benefit.) Shelly is the one who sings, but they were at Chopsticks at least once a week. Shelly does a lot of standards, but the gang could occasionally get her to do some hip hop songs, mostly OG type stuff.
Though, as clumsygirl points out, now that it's smoke free, I don't know if they'll actually show up anymore. Sad times indeed. You gain new customers, and loose really cool old ones.
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