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By Carol Roberts The Tribune - September 21, 1999 Not only is there music and the sounds of people having fun, there's dancing inside and a feeling that comes with being around friends. Doc and Nancy Thompson are in the center of the crowd, encouraging people to sing. The background music comes through giant speakers. Lyrics flash across a TV screen. Ken Fried, 40, of Arroyo Grande, holds a cordless microphone and sings, "You Gotta like That." The crowd gets into the song with him. There's cheering and clapping. Nancy Thompson gets half a dozen women out of their seats to line dance. Fried, who works on a horse ranch, explains later that he's been singing karaoke on and off for four years. He "likes country" but also "the tunes I grew up with". His voice is clear and true. He hits the right notes. But you don't have to do that to perform at Bill's, he says. "This is just a lot of fun. If you really can't sing, no one is ever going to make fun of you." He comes to Bill's to vocalize, not drink, Fried says. "Most of us who come here who sing a lot don't drink a lot It's important to try and get the music right" Fried is one of what the Thompsons call their "Star Performers." These are folks who not only can carry a tune, but can get the crowd involved in their songs. They're featured at Bill's on Tuesday nights. "We don't get paid," says Fried. "We do it for the applause." Anna Daughters, 27, of Grover Beach isn't one of the "Stars," but say s she "loves to get the crowd going and in it with me" when she sings Randy Travis songs. |
 "I love to perform," she says. "You don't need a good singing voice, but it helps." The singers know a wide variety of songs, she says, from rock 'n' roll to old standards. For a few months, Daughters, who works for Copeland's Online Sporting Goods, was doing karaoke five nights a week. She's down to only a couple of nights a month now, but sees the people "all the time" who she's gotten to know through karaoke. " It's like family, she says. The Thompsons, the performers, they'd do anything for you." Sam Mersai, 47, of Arroyo Grande roofs mobile homes and teaches karate by day. At night he takes to the "stage" at Bill's. He walked in about a year and a half ago, Mersai says, "heard some crazy people singing and thought: 'I'd like to do that.'" Soft rock and country are his favorites. "I'm an old-fashion dude," he grins. "I do this to make myself feel good and others too." Shawn Flanagan, a 27-year-old Arroyo Grande construction worker, has been singing karaoke for three months. The ballad "Roses are Red," is a mainstay in his repertoire. Once a surfer, he enjoys the people he's met through his new hobby. "We're all good friends." The Thompsons, he adds, bring warmth to their events. "If someone is stumbling, Nancy gets right up there with them to sing." First-timers get the couple's rubber chicken key ring award. Flanagan, getting ready for another turn at the microphone, pulls out his personal tune list Next up might be "Danny Boy." |