June 9, 2007
Escape to Sing Sing
Some late-night, drunken karaoke fun...
By Stephen Bailey

Sing Sing Karaoke 81 Avenue A, NYC

This was a very busy night for me. After my unfortunate velvet rope ordeal at The Coffee Shop Bar, Helen, Gopal and I headed back down to the East Village to figure a new plan. We stopped by The Sidewalk Café for a beer and then a slice at that pizza joint on the corner of St. Marks and Avenue A. Finally we decided to get our karaoke jones satisfied at Sing Sing (81 Avenue A, NYC). What do people hate about karaoke? The loud, off-key drunks destroying songs and making complete asses of themselves. What do people love about karaoke? The same thing.

Karaoke is an experience that, more than anything, depends upon the people you're with, the mood you're in and the songs you pick. These truths are elevated if you brave a seat at the bar and expose your talent (or lack thereof) to total strangers. I for one rarely sing at karaoke unless it's in a private room with friends. Helen on the other hand has no fear whatsoever of singing in front of strangers. And this is a very good thing since—unlike many in the late night karaoke world—Helen can actually sing.

The bar area is small and looks like something just shy of Blade Runner. Formerly shiny surfaces, awkwardly placed support columns and tiny halogen lamps with dried up color filters dangling from the ceiling. The clientele are a mixed bunch from all walks of life which makes for a wonderfully eclectic variety of music. The lyrics and cheesy eighties soap opera quality videos are displayed on a massive flat-screen behind the bar. The rest of the place is a lot larger than you'd expect walking in. There are a number of private rooms that you can rent out by the hour if you're too shy for public scrutiny.

The girls behind the bar did an amazing job keeping up with the barrage of drunken song requests and flying dollar bills to pay for them. The requests I'm sure got more difficult to read as the drunkenness increased. But that too was a credit to the girls who were pulling double duty as our bartenders. In some places that get this insane, there would be a person designated as the karaoke DJ responsible only for cueing up songs while the bartenders cued up drinks.

Gopal had left early but Helen and I stayed until closing. The fact that it was 4:00 AM when we walked out was quite a shocker to us both thanks to the sheer level of fun in the room. But now it was definitely time to go home and pass out. Even though I didn't pick up the mic, I was horse from belting out my own style of background vocals. Especially painful was Helen's final song request; 'Last Goodbye' which strangely was the only Jeff Buckley song in Sing Sing's massive song catalog. It was something to ponder on the way home.

Links:
Sing Sing Karaoke
Karaoke Nights in NYC
Stephen Bailey