Karaoke Observation

A very important milestone has now been completed in my life. I had my first experience with karaoke last night. I find it very funny that I have done some pretty crazy adventurous things so far in life, like crossing the Atlantic Ocean, but I had not experienced karaoke. Could it be my sheltered social life in Wheeling? I won't rule it out. In any case, Sara accompanied me, and was the instigator in this move, because she's like the queen of karaoke. We chose Gullifty's as our first Philadelphia karaoke adventure, and it was nice because the restaurant sits directly next to Borders, so a couple of the Borders crew stopped over to hang out after the store closed. Kurt, a fellow bookseller, and Greg, one of the managers, were great to chat with, but I don't think they were quite as enthusiastic about being there for the karaoke. That's totally okay, though, because it was still a lot of fun to get to know them. There are some great pictures with Kurt, since Sara toted her digital along, but those will not be up until a later time. Sara's blog may have them up before mine does, so you can check that out.

I had to take the night just to observe because I was a little hesitant to open myself up to a brutal crowd. However, I think the Gullifty's crowd would be an okay one to start with. There were some pretty fantastic performances, with true gusto and soul, and Sara brought the house down with The Jefferson's theme song. I think she has audience response down to a science, so I'll have to consult a little further with her before finalizing this decision; however, I'm fairly sure I will be using Gladys Knight's "Midnight Train to Georgia" for my initiation--and that will most likely be next week. This is a little cheating because I did technically perform this song with my sister, Erin, and her friend Heather years ago at Kennywood Park. But, I think it's most fitting to do it first then branch out. The official offerings of this particular company that works the Gullifty's gig really opened up many opportunities for the future.

After a long night of karaoke, it's only appropriate to try to take in some McDonald's grub. Unfortunately, they were experiencing some mechanical difficulties and it was going to take forever, so we chose to go with some pizza and peanut butter/chocolate brownies. And now that I have neglected school for the sake of social well-being, I am afraid I have to hang up my gregariousness for serious-mindedness and reading. So very inconvenient...