Go It Alone: Karaoke @ The Good Nite
Photo courtesy of the author.
One important vestige of my days as a theater kid is that I absolutely love karaoke. There are few things in life I find more fun than a drunken group sing-along to “Bohemian Rhapsody,” but can a karaoke bar still be fun when you go by yourself?
Short answer: eh, kind of. The long answer follows.
I went to The Good Nite, a dive bar in North Hollywood that, according to Yelp, is loved by locals. The place is the size of a shoebox (but like a really cute and cozy shoebox). I got there around 8:30, shortly before sign-ups opened. I made a beeline for the bar and ordered my tried and true Moscow mule, then sat at a high table in the middle of the room.
After about 20 minutes, I started to think seriously about what I could sing.
Choosing a song at karaoke night is a delicate art.
You have to get the timing right and strike the perfect balance between a crowd-pleaser and a song you’re comfortable singing in public. If you’re not a particularly strong singer (I can carry a tune fine enough, but after getting a bit of alcohol in my system and cheering at the top of my lungs for every single person on stage, I no longer trusted myself to deliver a Grammy-winning performance), you might want to go the crowd-pleaser route, otherwise it’s uncomfortable for everyone involved.
After watching someone make three attempts at The Fugees’ “Killing Me Softly,” and accidentally making eye contact with every person sitting near me for 45 minutes, I caved; I texted my coworker who lives nearby.
I hope you all didn’t think this series would be about having successful solo nights out 100% of the time. Sometimes the vibe just isn’t there. So yes, I phoned a friend. I panicked.
Photo courtesy of the author.
Ironically, I started to get more comfortable being there by myself as I waited for her.
The thing about karaoke bars is that everyone is either focused on the people they’re with or the person on stage.
You feel a lot less observed than you would at a standard bar.
When my lifeboat arrived, she made clear that I’d be performing alone. Finally, after much deliberation, I settled on a song that, in retrospect, felt like the most obvious choice: “The Middle” by Jimmy Eat World. I sheepishly went up to the Keeper of the Songs to submit my request.
We waited, and waited, and waited. Another hour went by, cheering on patrons’ renditions of “Heart Shaped Box,” “Part of Your World,” “Don’t Stop Now,” and even a jazzy, slowed-down cover of “All The Small Things,” but no sign of “The Middle.”
After the singers of “Killing Me Softly” and “Womanizer” both went up for a second song, I slowly realized my time wouldn’t come until past my bedtime. Like I said, timing is everything at a karaoke bar. And I knew that. I think part of me waited to put a song in because I knew I wasn’t in the right headspace to have the quintessential cathartic solo karaoke moment. So, after three more songs, we promptly dipped.
The main takeaway of the night was that learning to be okay with your own company is a learning process.
Some nights you’ll take the plunge, and other nights you just don’t have it in you.
Just because it didn’t quite work out this time doesn’t mean I won’t be back. I definitely will be, but I’m signing up at 8 PM sharp.
Photo courtesy of the author.