But man so close to Christmas I felt a twinge,
Nay, a force of melancholy swept my body as I try to pursue some meaning to my life.
Mood swings are a bitch.
You see, I'm off from my job Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, and I have no wife or kids, ergo, I go out to have my fun.
I walked into the Mad Hatters seeing it very crowded with people that could only be from the neighborhood who have the next few days off. I recognized only one woman, whose cute but kinda annoying. I know her, I don't talk to her though. The bar was so crowded there was no place for me to sit. No song book for my perusal either. But since I'm an obsessive karaoke fan I had some songs written down already and put one in,
That song would be Gilbert O'Sullivan's "Get Down." O'Sullivan is an Irish musician best known in the US for probably the saddest pop song ever written, "Alone Again, Naturally." I have to be in a major "cry jag" mood to sing that one again. I rarely get that sad. Thank someone else's God!
Anyhoo, "Get Down" was a minor hit in the US that I vaguely remember from my childhood. It's peppy, and has fun lyrics and not hard to sing for me. But I still was a little off key. I found that I was a little short of breath too. so it was OK, No one knew the better cuz they didn't know the song. As usual, I provide a vintage clip of the song. I love the sweater, I need one with an "S," the clip is very early 70's European.
So, it's the last Tuesday before Christmas, my last opportunity to sing Christmas songs. Now "Merry Xmas Everybody" by Slade is a good enough song for anytime of the year but I had a short window of opportunity to blow people's mind with the power of Slade!
It's too bad my voice was too weak to blow out a candle. The verses went fine but the "shout out" chorus can be a disaster when the voice goes and goes it goes.
Oh well.
I had already presented a Slade clip before, but I thought this one done in the 80's, At the time they finally got US success via Quiet Riot, is a hoot because of the bad lip syncing and miming.
Ahh the 80's. The only thing I miss is the Mets winning the World Series. "Where have you gone, Darryl Strawberry?"
So here's a secret...
I go to ANOTHER place to do karaoke on Wednesdays. I don't write about it for a number of reasons. It's kinda creepy, I sing too much, and except for he cutest bartender ever, I get treated like crap from the workers there at an IRISH bar. I'm Irish for Christ sake!
Anyhow, I do the mellow songs there. A lot of older professional drunks go there for the most part. I was leery of many of them at first. I just sang, sat down, Read whatever free trade periodicals there are and hope against hope someone wonderful walks in. I also watch the baseball during the season. And then there's the cute bartender who always treats me nice.
I sound like Snoopy's thoughts.
One guy who enjoys my presence likes very similar songs to me. He doesn't repeat himself much except he has been singing a favorite Christmas song of mine.
That song would be Nelson Muntz's favorite singer Andy Williams' version of "The Most Wonderful Time of The Year." Since the gentleman in question doesn't go to the Mad Hatters I used this opportunity to sing it and it was...
...OK, I guess.
I got praise later on (by a guy) I'm afraid.
Still praise is praise. Anyway, I'm annoyed that I couldn't find a vintage clip on the YouTube of Andy singing it. It exists I can assure you I saw it last week on a show. what I have here is the song with a slide show.
Sorry. Still a great song.
So, it's about 1030pm. That's when Jack's starts rolling. I figured it might be better over there plus I wanted to do "Merry Xmas Everybody" for the young Jack's crowd, give them the Slade experience. I had yet to do it there. I tried to fool myself I would do better this time. I fooled myself pretty good until the CHORUS, ahhhhhhh, where did my voice go? Now, it was my turn to mime.
Crap.
I left Jack's because I hate waiting too long to sing again. Plus I was hungry. Time for the Windmill burger. I got caught up in the Windmill drama while eating my burger. I enjoyed it but I wanted to get back to the Mad Hatter and try one more time to redeem myself. This time do a mellow voiced song. It was even more crowded than earlier at Md Hatters, So crowded I got carded by a skeptical bearded bouncer. I guess he didn't believe I was 41, also the picture on my license shows a clean shaven short cropped man without his glasses, whereas the man who handed him the ID was standing there with longish hair, a Fu Machu mustache and glasses.
Anyway, lo and behold my fellow karaoke travelers are in the house, some from Jack's and others from the Wednesday crowd. Now, I'm feeling the love and I got it.
I put in the Donavan song "Season of The Witch" that I know sounds good when my voice is hoarse. Things went well enough until someone took it upon himself to join in on the chorus. My ex girlfriend can tell you I can't stand it when people do that. I expect it from the frat boys but this guy had to be 45. Anyway, the fact that I knew the song removed skepticism from the mind of the bearded bouncer. Here's the poor clip...
I went home happy despite the fact SHE was not there. sigh, heavy sigh. I figured as much, it's Christmas time for Christ's sake. So here's the Zombies' doing "She's Not There"
Happy ALL the Holidays everybody!!
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