Karaoke Heaven

Do you like karaoke? I do, but have never actually participated in it. Lauren has just recommended Beerland on Monday nights, so we might have to check that out, y'all.

The closest I ever came to doing karaoke was at a company Christmas party about nine years ago. My husband, one of our friends and I got up to do a song together. Neither my husband and I were familiar with it - it was our friend's choice - but once we got up, our friend discovered that he'd picked the wrong song, so he didn't know it either. It didn't matter anyway as far as I was concerned. We'd all been (cough, cough) drinking a little, and I thought we were just supposed to be lip-synching.

But about six years ago we had the one, the perfect, the dream karaoke experience at a little place called Carlsbad Tavern in San Antonio. They did karaoke nights on Sundays. We were in town visiting my brother-in-law for a long holiday weekend. And it was wonderful.

About 70% of the crowd consisted of slightly older folks, in their 50s and early 60s. These people could sing like nobody's business, and they had excellent taste, belting out tremendous renditions of Sinatra and Peggy Lee and Tom Jones standards. But every third or fourth song would be one of the younger set, not nearly as competent, but full of enthusiasm and high spirits. One guy did a "Rock the Casbah" that had the whole bar dancing. Everyone was laughing and applauding and the whole place felt friendly and happy and full of enjoyment and goodwill. It was perfect.

The vibe wasn't dampened even when my husband and his brother got up to do "Mustang Sally," which (if you heard them) you'd think might have done the trick. A few minutes into it, we discovered that the bar owned a gong. Who knew? It's possible they smelted it just for the occasion. But the boys accepted their well-deserved gonging in good spirits, and sat down to heartfelt and humorous cheering.

We talked about it afterwards for years. We always wanted to go back and do it again, but were never able to be in San Antonio on a Sunday night. When finally, months later, we managed it, the karaoke had gone. Carlsbad Tavern now boasted a regular Sunday night Bon Jovi cover band. Where's the gong when you need it?

Carlsbad Tavern is no more, but I would love to have another perfect karaoke experience. And if I drink enough (but not too much), I might even sing. I always wanted to do "These Boots Are Made for Walking." What do y'all say, my little Austin chickadees?