#23: Sing Karaoke at CityWalk's Rising Star

Pre-singing dinner at Margartiaville with my very tan best friend Aynsley and 7 other friends! 

For those of you that didn't know, when I was growing up, I was very sure that one day I was going to be an actress. I'd watch movies like Girl, Interrupted with Angelina Jolie playing the crazy sociopath Lisa, and would then stare at myself in the mirror for hours perfecting my own version of crazy sociopath for the day that a casting director would stop me in the mall (because of course that's how it always happens) and proclaim that I was his next big star.

As a teenager, I actually took a step in the right direction by getting involved in my high school's drama troupe (4992!). As a sophomore, I played a cockney in My Fair Lady and had one line, which was the absolute highlight of my year. I followed that up with minor roles in my junior musical (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) and senior straight play (The Miracle Worker), while also competing in district and state Thespian competitions. I had the time of my life, made great friends, and realized how to satisfy my truly introverted spirit by becoming "characters" that were outgoing or totally different from me.

The entire time I was in theater, however, singing was Achilles heel. I could carry a basic tune all right, but had a very restricted range, no control and extreme nervousness that restricted me from displaying a single ounce of talent. I pushed through my weakness, making it into my school's musical theater group more so because I was a decent dancer (and there were fewer good dancers than  good singers), but I was always relegated to ensemble numbers or non-singing parts.

Then something happened. I woke up one day my senior year of high school and, crazy as it sounds, all of a sudden I could sing. It was like Flowers for Algernon where in the blink of an eye I had gone from a dying cat to a melodious bird. Granted, I was still no Sutton Foster (for non-Broadway folks she is one of my idols when it comes to belting), but somehow things magically started to sound good. This transformation lead to the most impactful, memorable experience of my lifetime thus far -- being cast as the lead in my senior musical 42nd Street. And while I had several solos as part of the show, and for all intents and purposes carried them as decently as could be expected, I was still never confident in my singing abilities. After graduating from high school, the sad part of Flowers for Algernon unfortunately happened to me too. Little by little, my vocal instrument was used less and less, and by the time I graduated from grad school, almost all of my once promising talent had retreated, leaving me with that hideous dying cat sound once more.

I've posed this very long introduction in an attempt to explain my reasoning for choosing #23: Sing Karaoke at CityWalk's Rising Star. As I've mentioned before, I tried to compose my list with a balanced combination of things I've always wanted to do and things that scare the crap out of me. This item falls into the second camp. I think I sort of wanted to test my abilities, and see if somehow the magic from high school would come back and I'd be able to blow the audience's socks off. I also get a kick out of forcing myself to do horrifying things -- something about it just makes you feel so alive! And who knew? Maybe my casting director was sitting in the audience and this was my big break? With an impending birthday, I decided this would be the perfect venue to host a celebration of year 27.

Apropos liquid courage of choice

For those non-Orlando folks who may not know, Rising Star is a karaoke club at Universal's CityWalk where you sing on a stage with a live band and back-up singers. It's an elevated experience from standard karaoke mostly due to the swanky ambiance and 400-seat audience. Intimidation is high! Not to mention, I chose to sing the very ambitious "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele -- because there is a live band the song list is fairly limited, and I wanted to choose something that I felt comfortable with, but would allow me to actually sing versus just speak the lyrics.

We arrived at the bar just before 9pm, and the place was significantly less full than the bouncer told me it would be by that time (I was told that by 9pm on a Saturday the place was standing room only...so not true!). After ordering a few drinks, I filled out a card indicating my candidacy for the spotlight and was slotted to sing fourth. To be honest, the nerves that I was so accustomed to feeling when I knew I'd have to sing solo in high school were nowhere to be found. Not sure if this was thanks to the black feather earrings that I donned especially to prove to onlookers that I was a real rock star, because I had 11 friends in the audience, or because I knew that if I screwed up there were only about 40 people in the audience that would boo me. Needless to say, I walked up to the stage pretty damn confident and ready to tackle my song.

Then out of nowhere, the nerves reappeared. I think it happened right as the band started playing and I realized that there wasn't a very long intro for me to find my groove and prepare. So, I took a breath and started to sing, only to realize that the mic I was using was one of those where everyone in the audience can hear you perfectly, but you can't actually hear a single note of yourself singing. For anyone who has ever performed, you know this is a nightmare. It becomes almost impossible to know if you are on key or singing well -- hence the reason most real musicians use those little ear plug thingies (it transmits their voice into their ear so they can self-correct). Of course this made me even more nervous, which resulted in that throat constricting, dry-mouth, out-of-breath feeling. This was not going as planned!

Here you can really tell I am a rock star

The good news is that I made it through the song and my friends were all kind enough to lie to me and tell me I did great. The second piece of good news is that my "videographer" friend Kyle accidentally forgot to push the record button until I was walking OFF the stage, meaning my performance cannot actually be published to this blog. Oh well! The only bad news is that because of the video mishap, I can't actually play back my performance and see if I was as horrendous as I thought I was. Not a whole lot lost, if you ask me.

Regardless, I am a Star because they stamped it on my hand

The rest of the evening was much more relaxing, as we sang along to other folks' karaoke as a group and laughed when a 40-year-old man who called himself "Bad Tony" performed Jump Around. That was almost as funny as the Ice Ice Baby man, or the two geeky "we're here for a bachelor party" guys singing Don't Stop Believing. All in all, a good night for sure, and a place I'd love to check out again sometime in the future.

Before I sign off, I just want to make sure I thank Aynsley, Betsy, Kyle, Katie, Denis, Dana, Reid, Rachel, Chris, Cara and Paul for coming out for my birthday. You all helped make my night so special and I appreciate your support! :) Til next time -- au revoir (and yes, this is me practicing my budding French -- another one of my 30 Things!)!