Karaoke? Me? I could always say “not on your life” before, but last Friday I decided to break through my own restrictions and let my hair down, so to speak, just a little bit by heading out to Singer’s Karaoke Club at 1345 Milton Avenue in Syracuse. I went because it was the birthday of one of my Twitter friends, Meghan, and decided to see what it was all about.

I have to admit that I had some preconceived notions about what karaoke bars were all about. I saw them as a place where a lot of people with no real talent got up on stage and sang some song they probably shouldn’t be singing while the lyrics went past them in some fashion, like maybe on a TV screen. And, to a large degree, that turned out to be true.

What I didn’t expect, though, was that a few people actually had talent, and everyone enjoyed themselves to the extreme. I know that from the moment I sat down and started watching some of the people singing until the time I left I probably had one of the goofiest smiles on my face the entire time. One of my other Twitter friends was there as well, Frank, and he said that it wasn’t about the talent as much as it was about the passion of the people who wanted to get up and perform.

I pretty much had to agree with that. The first person I saw perform an entire song was a good example. A slight, older man got up on the stage and said he was going to be singing a Billy Joel song, and I awaited the crucifixion that never came. He was good; the voice that came out of him was unexpected and suddenly I knew what those talent people on TV felt when they look at someone that doesn’t fit a profile and suddenly find a diamond nugget. After him I started getting what I was expecting for the most part.

But the people who go on a regular basis have a lot of fun, and of course the DJ’s know who they are as well. These DJ’s were very interactive with the crowd; I have to admit I’ve never before seen DJ’s that were so much into the people that were there, and I was impressed with it all. And people don’t have to sing in the main showroom either. There are monitors with lyrics on both sides, the other side being more of a bar, and if someone’s a bit more shy than normal they can stand in the doorway where almost no one can really see them on either side unless you happen to be standing there.

No, yours truly didn’t sing. Meghan sang, and one of her other friends, the lady in the green top in one of the pictures here, sang as well. I wish I could remember her name, but I can’t; the lady in the white top is named Tori, though I can’t tell you if I’m spelling her name correctly or not as she’s not on Twitter.

It was a fun and interesting time. I’m glad I went, but I keep asking myself if I’ll ever go again. I’m not sure, but I will say that if you’re feeling frisky enough to want to show your musical chops, or you just want to see some people having a pretty safe and enjoyable time (I say it that way because one young lady was all over the place, fell quite a few times, and, well, let’s just say it’s a good thing she was wearing tights because she wasn’t wearing underwear) it would be a fun night out.