karaoke....

Karaoke... one of my 'nevers'.. like golf, like playing a computer game, like drinking absinthe (which I did once and those who know what happened in Madrid realise why I have 'nevers' and why I should stick to them). Once travelling on a ferry to France there had been a karaoke charity fund-raising event, and I was so nervous I stayed in the toilet for the whole voyage...
Anyway, it had been pre-arranged weeks in advance, by Party Marty, and at the time I had said yes in a very cavalier way without letting the full seriousness of the situation sink in. And it was kind of 'pre-leaving' do, and Liz was coming too, so I agreed to go but NOT to sing.
Well, the day dawned, I got through work with increasing bursts of nerves, wobbly belly, hot flushes, but also quite excited to see what it was all about.
Liz, Martin and myself left the office at 6pm, and made our way by tube to Soho, stopping off at the Pillars of Hercules for a warm-up pint, apparently you can't do Karaoke if you are sober..
We arrived at Lucky Voice at the appointed hour, first impressions - marvellous, dark, basement club with a cocktail bar and lots of mirrors and corridors, as the evening went on trying to find the loo got more and more difficult. We met Martin's 3 other chums, and I am ashamed to say that I can't remember any of their names due to the excesses of the evening. I was quite horrified that one of the girls was waiting at the bar with her song list ready, and when we were shown to our private booth she hardly had her coat off and was grabbing the mic and bursting into song before I had even sat down.. lordy I thought there would be at least half an hours foreplay and warm-up before getting down to it..
The booth was fabulous, a telly with the lyrics on, 3 different songbooks, and a magic white button, which when pressed resulted in a lovely girl appearing with lots of drinks! and chips! (big skyscraper ones, not common old fries...)
Well, the show got under way pretty rapidly, the songlist was growing out of control, everyone had a go (except me), there were solos, duos, trios and group choruses. I felt incrediby nervous, but having heard Martin sing I was finally inspired to have a go. Not realising you don't just choose a song you like, you choose a power ballad or a torch song, I chose the possibly unsuitable for first attempt 'Once in a Lifetime', by Talking Heads, ... duetting with Martin, we got through it, and I was amazed at how much breath you need to sing...
Once on the mic, I was overtaken with delusions of grandeur and vocal ability, and decided to continue with Fever, (the Eartha Kitt version, not the Peggy Lee one...) and yes, I loved it! There was no stopping me, or any of us, as the evening progressed the joy created by our selection of tunes was wonderful, and before you knew it we had run out of time, and had to book another 3 hours!
6 hours of singing, 5 bottles of hot sake, 25 shots, 2 portions of chips, all mixed in with pints and bottles of Magners to help the flow... a wonderful night and it only cost us 600 quid....