Karaoke May Be Dangerous to Your Health

Who would ever have thought singing at a karaoke bar could be a dangerous activity. "The New York Times" recently reported that in the Philippines karaoke is serious business, and within the last decade as many as 12 people may have been killed. For some reason, Frank Sinatra's version of "My Way" really seems to be a major fuse over there. Apparently, so many people know the words to the song, and it's used in a number of other events, that if done badly, the listeners actually take offense.

Although "My Way" seems to be the main instigator, apparently hogging the stage or the microphone can get you in a lot of hot water, too. All I can say is I hope none of these serious Frank fans come down to the VFW on a Friday night for karaoke night. We might have a massacre on our hands.

As horrible as I find the idea of killing someone over their version of a karaoke song, there have been a few times, I'd like to have been in charge of duct-taping some of the performers' mouths. Now, don't get me wrong, I like karaoke. It can be a fun-filled evening with people getting on stage for their opportunity to show everyone they could have been the next American Idol. The problem is that as nice as they are, it's just not true.

I really enjoy watching the singers who get on the stage to have a good time, knowing they are fixing to sound like squealing hogs, but what the heck, they're there to have fun. Everyone gets a good laugh, sings along with the song, because it's always something everybody knows, and no one gets killed.

Now, the local VFW doesn't have the atmosphere of a bar. It's more like a Friday night in a retirement village where no one's kids came to visit. Oh, nothing on TV anyway, we'll go listen to the singing. There's not much contemporary anything, and the only thing rocking are the patrons sitting in the chairs. Shoot, now that I think of it, I believe there's even a few rocking chairs in the place.

No, this is an atmosphere where you'll hear a lot of Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and George Jones, the kind of music that my daughter described as "take me now music." It's slow, sorrowful and sometimes downright depressing, but the patrons love it. When it's my turn to sing, I usually pick something by Meat Loaf or Steppenwolf just to wake everybody up. I love the expressions of people in the audience, and I know they're thinking, "Keep the noise down."

But the hubby and I really enjoy going down to the karaoke on Friday nights and meeting friends. Really, it's cheap night out where we gab with friends, grab a burger and listen to the noise, I mean music. In fact, it's a pretty good time, and so far everybody's lived through it. But come to think of it, I don't think I've heard anybody try "My Way" yet. Maybe I better warn the man in charge of the karaoke machine. He may want to take that one off the list.

Sources:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7022669.ece