Five minutes of fame: Spotlight just part of karaoke allure
By Liz Barry on Dec. 13, 2007
Howard Payne towers over the small monitor, mic in hand. He wears a black baseball cap and slick leather jacket. Behind him, colored lights flash to the beat. Red. Yellow. Blue.
For three minutes, Payne is larger than life. His song: “I Luv It” by Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy.
Three young women take the stage. They perform “Goodbye Earl” by the Dixie Chicks — a cheeky song about friends plotting the murder of an abusive husband. The performance is punctuated by sporadic giggling. At the song’s climax, the women scream the chorus — “Earl had to die” — into the microphone, testing the limits of the sound system.
It’s just another night of karaoke with Alma Hesson at Rubs Restaurant on Fort Avenue.
I’m spending my Thursday night trying to unravel the mysteries of karaoke. Not an aficionado myself, I want to know: What’s so darn great about karaoke?
The concept is simple: amateurs sing along to recorded music, replacing the voice of the original artist. It’s a Japanese phenomenon that invaded the U.S. by the late 1980s and is still popular today.
The answer seems to boil down to one thing: five minutes of fame.
At least that’s the theory of Alma Hesson — a leading lady of the Lynchburg karaoke scene. A native of the Philippines, Hesson has hosted karaoke in Lynchburg for over seven years. She is at Rubs every Tuesday and Thursday and Buffalo Wild Wings on Wednesday night.
Karaoke at Rubs brings in a mix of ages, races and musical tastes. The music is eclectic: country, hip hop, top 40, rock and roll.
Tuesday nights are more traditional karaoke; Thursdays are a mix of DJ and singing. The karaoke stage and dance floor are flanked by a bar and pool room. The music is so loud it is difficult to hear people inches away.
Around 10 p.m., Hesson pumps up the energy by playing “Cyclone” by Baby Bash featuring T-Pain. The crowd on the dance floor erupts into a synchronized dance.
Hesson has over 10,000 songs, and she’s constantly addingmore to her collection. Though she mainly introduces the acts, she can’t help but get into the mix sometimes.
“If I had a dollar for every time I sing, I’d be a millionaire by now,” she says.
The husky-voiced Hesson made her name singing Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
“That’s how everyone started to know Alma Hesson,” she says.
Now she has a devoted following. Some fans have followed her from her past gigs at Cleaners and Big Licks Tropical to Rubs.
Mary Beth Wray is one of those fans. She is here with friends Ron Wilson Jr. and Mary Fisher, sitting in a prime spot right behind the dance floor. They come to karaoke every week. Why?
“It’s like the old show ‘Cheers’ where everybody knows your name,” Wilson says.
Wilson has already sung “Thunder Rolls” by Garth Brooks and plans to sing “Chattahoochee” by Alan Jackson.
“It’s your five minutes of fame,” he says. “I’ve sung karaoke from Vermont to Florida.”
Wilson first sang karaoke at the age of 5. He commandeered the mic at a wedding party and started singing Lynard Skynard.
Fisher is a loyal karaoke attendee, but she keeps a low profile.
“I don’t fear it, going up there,” she says. “But I really prefer to watch.”
Some of the karaoke singers at Rubs are trying to leave the amateur scene. Lynchburg native Damaus Moss wants to make it big in Nashville.
“It’s a hard road,” he says.
Taking the stage as Rubs is no big deal for this Nashville rocker, who sang “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” by Big & Rich. Though it’s mostly for fun, he practices for the real thing.
“It helps me with vocal control and how people react to what I’m doing on stage,” Moss says.
Bryan Lewis, another Lynchburg native, helps Hesson DJ and emcee. He’s also a loyal karaoke man himself.
“There’s not a whole lot to do in this town,” he says. “It’s something to do on a Thursday night.”
Lewis kicks off the night with “Nothin’ to Lose” by Josh Gracin and plans to sing several more.
What keeps him coming back?
“It’s hard to describe,” he says. “You feel like you’re in your own little world. A lot of people don’t do it until they get really drunk the first time, and that’s sad.”
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