The DJ calls my name. The timing is perfect as the conversation with Hanna and Sarah was just starting to go dry. I used the "would you go back in time opener." It's a good conversation starter because it segues into my play. Hanna looked like a fairy tale character. Either a Gretel or Alice from Wonderland.
When I get to the mic, the DJ asks in her showmanship karaoke persona if I'm a super hero. I didn't have anything clever to come back with. Earlier in the night as I was waiting for my song to come up, before I worked up the courage to approach Hanna and Sarah, I asked the bartender to give me a clean glass. I then put two dollars in the glass, set it down in front of the DJ and jokingly demanded to know why she didn't have a tip jar. So I imagine the super hero comment stemmed from that. But my intentions were to get my song called faster.
Karaoke bars never have the songs I want to sing. I tend to listen to less than popular music. Some Karaoke DJs do a great job of updating their play lists, but still they aren't going to have Far by Coheed and Cambria, or My Mirror Speaks by Death Cab. I learned Love the Way You Lie in anticipation of it being a popular song and all the bars having it and of course they never do. So I usually will choose a Counting Crows song. Recently I have been getting into Red Hot Chili Peppers so I decided to sing Under the Bridge.
I try to sing songs I have an emotional connection with. I'm not that good of a singer and in a city of aspiring singers and actors, it's hard to enjoy myself on the karaoke floor. But if I have a connection to the song, if I can drive the lyrics from my own pain or joy or what ever, I imagine the song penetrates somehow. I mean, when I'm singing at karaoke, I'm there to win the audience even if that's not realistically going to happen. This bar didn't even have a stage or even a stage area. You were standing next to the entrance, next to the bar, with maybe two feet around you. So the chances of you turning anyone's head are pretty slim. But I still have the goal. The song comes up quick and I have trouble syncing with it. I'm off a little bit. The slow serene beginning has evaporated and now I'm on to the whiny bellowing part of the song. Part of me just says fuck it and I shut my eyes and let go. I don't know if I came off as a maniac or transcendent or just drunk. But when it was over, I doubt I changed anyone's night.
I thank the DJ, go back to Hanna. She says she "enjoyed my interpretation" of the song, whatever that means. I say goodbye without asking for her number and I'm out the door in seconds. I get home, have another shot and watch about 10 minutes of LOST. Then I do something stupid. I text someone I need to stop texting. I texted this person almost exactly 24 hours prior. No response to that message and no response to this one.
I've been approaching girls a lot lately. But I almost never ask for their number. I just want her to respond to my texts again.
Steadier Footing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3F-Dw4Sup0
