A (Korean) Karaoke Virgin No Longer
March 14, 2005
Yes, it’s true. I am 24 years old and before Friday had never experienced the wonders of Karaoke. But, not to worry – my life is complete now.
We tried to go bowling, but it was league night in the non-smoking alley (probably a good thing. I like to pretend you score bowling the way you score golf – low score wins – then I always win). So, we stood and frowned at ourselves for a good fifteen minutes. It’s Friday night. There are fifteen of us (an odd mix, but hey, it works) and we live in Atlanta, there must be something we all want to do. And then, then it was suggested: Korean Karaoke.
Korean Karaoke. Now. I have never experienced American Karaoke, so I am not the best one to make this comparison, but let me tell you about Korean Karaoke. First, very hard to find. People had been there before and we still almost missed it. The Korean sign, reasonable size, the English sign, very small. So we pull up and it looks a little sketchy. A little like a strip bar kind of place.
So you go in and they give you a private room (still pretty sketchy). There is a book of songs (in Korean or English – though there are far more Korean selections than English), a remote control, and a bank of monitors that play silent Korean music videos in the background: the same videos over and over again no matter what song you’re singing. It makes it interesting. You pay by the hour and you sing. It’s a good time.
We had a couple people for whom karaoke is clearly therapy – that’s always fun. We had a gospel choir singer who really didn’t need a mike and who knew the words to every song and would help people if they got stuck. We had Emily and myself who weren’t so hot on the singing aspect, but were very good audience members and did sing twice (thank you VERY much). And we had everyone else who sang normal amounts and messed up the normal way and were, well, normal. A good group all in all.
All in all, an amusing Friday night in Atlanta.
Posted in life by Sarah Walker Cleaveland
