Thanksgiving, mostly karaoke

Thanksgiving was pretty dang great. After a somewhat turbulent flight into San Antonio Miranda and I landed and picked up the rental car. The rental car was a Ford Fusion Hybrid and I was less than enthused to be driving it. Let’s just say it grew on me, somewhat. I can see the appeal in driving 550 miles or so and spending about $30 dollars a tank to do so. I do not see the appeal in being able to only drive 70 if you put the pedal to the metal while even nervous 16 year old drivers on the interstate are passing by you ticked off to all hell. 

We get to the in laws and they were fantastic as normal. Thanksgiving dinner the next day was amazing, as normal. It’s worth me noting that being able to gloss over having an amazing meal with loved ones means that I am incredibly blessed. I do everything I can to not take that for granted. I’m multifold blessed as well because I was either contacted by or I reached out to so many different people wishing them a Happy Thanksgiving; I know there are many that have few or none to reach out to and I certainly count myself among the very fortunate to have many people who think about me or care about me.

I even squeezed in a gym session! I debated bringing my jiu-jitsu stuff but decided that I would use the few days off to rest; I think that was a smart decision but I needed to make sure I didn’t have too many days in a row without working out. 

I also planned ahead and reached out to my friend Rick, who I always call up for karaoke. Rick also holds the distinction of being the person who designed Miranda’s wedding ring, so the Mrs never minds when I go out with him. Rick told me he couldn’t go out Friday but he reminded me of the place I went to when I’d come up and visit San Antonio, the Lost Bar. I’m a big fan of the KJ who puts on the tunes there so I had to show up. What’s KJ? Karaoke Jockey. Yes. It’s a thing. Don’t stare at me like that.

I didn’t even recognize the KJ, whose name is JJ, because he’d lost like 85lbs since the year plus that I’d seen him. I’ve lost 35 myself in the same time so I can relate! I signed up for my first song and I could tell that while he kinda sorta remembered me, he didn’t give me the full “trust’ mic that I’m used to getting. If you’ve ever done karaoke, if your throat hurts after you sing it’s probably because the KJ either didn’t trust your singing or didn’t like you’re singing so they turned the mic down. You compensate by singing louder into the quiet mic and that wears out your voice quicker. My first song was “Say It Ain’t So” by Weezer. By the end of the song, I had full mic privileges again. I signed up for my next song: Tennessee Whiskey by Chris Stapleton.

Mom, last time I saw her, asked me did I know this song. I did not. I’d heard it done before and I did like it but never thought to do it. I give extra weight to what Mom says, though, so once she told me I set about to learning the song. For Tennessee Whiskey, the lyrics are super simple to remember. And yes, I know it’skaraoke, but it really, really helps to know the words before you get up on stage. The hard part about Whiskey is the runs on the song: “you’re as warm as a glass of brandy” specifically. You have to let it flow and I didn’t. I didn’t do badly but I want to get up on stage and do it again. JJ gave me full mic and there were parts where I thought harmony was going to come in but it was just me and the music, I guess. I was happy with how I hit the high note of “there’s nothing/like your love, to get me hiiiigh” and it felt good to get some applause from it :)

The song I was most proud of was my last one of the night, “The Sound of Silence”, originally by Simon and Garfunkel but recently redone by Disturbed. I remember hearing this song and thinking it was good. The song completely took off and gained a ton of popularity. I told myself I could do this song and to the 8 or so people who read this blog I mentioned that I was trying to learn it. And so I did. The song, as Disturbed (and really, David Draiman is the one who sings it) performs it starts off slowly and then it SOARS at the end, with an intensity throughout the song that makes it so memorable. By this time in the night, I had JJs trust and so I had the full mic…I felt like I was too quiet at the beginning of the song but I remember what I was taught singing by the first real KJ I sang under, Leo: there are certain points of a song that you have to nail; you get those parts down and people will forgive the rest. 

In my opinion, the parts of The Sound of Silence that you have to nail for Disturbed’s version are the lyrics of “people writing songs…that voices never shared” because that’s the first time where he takes off in the song and also the lyrics of “and the people bowed and prayed/to the neon god they made” because Draiman goes into full growl and he sounds so damn badass when he does that. I can’t say I can growl like that. But what I learned is if I open up full throttle that I can come close; remember me starting this hold blog (and my jiu-jitsu journey)(and other stuff) is about not holding back anymore and facing fear.

I feel the high points of the song went 

well by all accounts. It’s hard to describe but you know what’s it like when you’re in the middle of something and you know you’re nailing it? Like, damn, this is going well! I felt like that. The applause I got at the end felt nice too, but ultimately it was learning the song, getting up there and doing it, then doing it well that was the ultimate reward.

I did go out again the next night for more singing but I’ve ran long enough for now. Just an overall enjoyable long weekend.