freeamfva: Karaoke comeback at local bars

freeamfva

Karaoke comeback at local bars

Opportunities to belt out a favorite tune in front of a supportive audience are starting to open back up as bars and DJs reemerge from more than a year of karaoke slumber.To get more news about Melbourne City Karaoke, you can visit starsktv.com.au official website.

"Everybody's just really excited to get back out and be amongst others. It's been a really long time," said Carole Benson, who manages the Sundown Saloon, 57 S. Stoughton Road on Madison's East Side.

The Sundown restarted karaoke on May 31 and offers it every Monday starting at 7:30 p.m. with DJ Jeff Henschke. About 30 people showed up for its first night back.

Other local karaoke venues are also coming back online with the Ohio Tavern on Atwood Avenue rebooting its popular karaoke night and the Karaoke Kid on University Avenue planning a reopening in a few months.

Karaoke DJ Jeff Henschke introduces a singer during a weekly gathering at the Sundown Saloon.

Sundown Saloon been hosting karaoke for about 12 years, said Benson, who bartends on Monday nights and said she sees the same people turn up in other places to sing, including bars in Sun Prairie, where she lives.
Gerald, 81, and Mary Larsen, 70, are regulars at the Sundown and on Monday got a warm reception for their duet of "Mountain Music" by Alabama.

"It gets us out of the house," Gerald said. "Otherwise we'd be home watching TV."capacity often gets reached and a crowd forms outside.

Karaoke is scheduled to start there again at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday night.

"I'm absolutely terrified of how many people are going to show up," said Josh Swentzel, the bar's co-owner, last week. "We definitely want to keep people's comfort levels in mind. And karaoke is sort of an interesting thing to do when you have a respiratory-based pandemic going on."He said he was going to do his best to keep people safe and has put a lot of safety precautions in place in terms of air flow. The bar even have disposable microphone covers for each singer.

"We're trying everything we can," Swentzel said. "Also, just making sure people are respectful of distance and not going crazy and not barking in people's faces, that sort of thing."

Karaoke has had a long tradition at the Ohio, and Swentzel and his partners reestablished it in 2016 when they took over the bar. "I believe we never missed a single Saturday until the pandemic," Swentzel said.

It's usually held on Saturday nights, but the Ohio is adding Friday nights for a month during its comeback.

Karaoke night "was always quite the party," Swentzel said. "I always tell people it's like New Year's Eve here every Saturday."