2005-01-16 - 1:14 p.m. Spent some quality time in Red Hook/Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens yesterday, first at Schnack for grub, then at Hope & Anchor for karaoke. Red Hook is weirdly comforting and alien at the same time, especially on bleak wintry days...because there is something bleak and wintry and barnacled about it, quaint and old and not completely gentrified like every other square inch of Brooklyn. I love its proximity to the water, the hunched, abandoned-seeming buildings, the sense that no one arrives there by accident or on their way to somewhere else, but one decides: "I am going to live here, I am going to give up the convenience of being anywhere near a subway or civilization." The H&A karaoke was particularly good last night--many Bowie covers (inspired by this, mebbe?), many show-stoppers. It's entertainment in raw form, a laboratory in which to study the basic properties of performance. One can be a "good singer" (i.e. hit all the right notes) and not move the crowd at all. One can be fabulously awful and get everybody all riled up (like the exuberant girl who did an ear-shattering rendition of "Me & Bobby McGee" and brought down the house). Sometimes it's enough just to choose a song that everybody loves ("What I Like about You" or the really confusing "Total Eclipse of the Heart"--what the hell is that song about, anyway? Is it about a break-up, or about a grand, enduring love? The lyrics are all over the place, and the ever-ascending melody gives me a nosebleed). And then every once in a while, someone just gets it all right--strong voice, vibrant presence, canny song choice--and all hell breaks loose. thoughts? (3 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact