Every time I think of karaoke, I go back to the scene from the 1997 film “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” You know the one where Cameron Diaz’s character gets duped into singing a horrible rendition of “I Just Don’t Know What to Do with Myself” in a crowded bar. The plan was for her to look bad in front of her gorgeous fiance. People yell insults at her as she sings but then — only in Hollywood — the whole bar joins in the song.
Some people I know won’t do karaoke for that very reason. They are afraid the experience won’t end with a Hollywood moment, but with them as a laughing stock. Who wants to be branded as the person who couldn’t even hold a tune through Styx’s “Mr. Roboto.”
But there’s hope with Kroaky’s Karaoke — Sarasota’s first private karaoke room establishment. There, groups of two to 25 people can gather in one of 14 stylish rooms for a personal karaoke extravaganza like no other. It’s kind of like singing in someone’s living room with hundreds of songs to choose from. I’ve done plenty of living room karaoke — Nintendo Xbox style. But this is a little different and much more posh.
Kroaky’s is a nod to the Japanese take on karaoke. Owners Mark and Mary Devlin lived in Tokyo for 18 years, experiencing the private karaoke room phenomenon.
Karaoke, which means empty orchestra, was developed in Kobe, Japan, in the 1970s, according to karaokekanta.net. By the 1980s, the concept spread around the world. There’s just something about singing, possibly the carefree nature of it all, that draws people to karaoke.
Japan’s private rooms were a hit. Mark Devlin said Asian-style karaoke was more popular than going to a movie theater.
Being a part of the action is better than watching it, so to speak.
“I think basically people like to sing,” said Mark Devlin, a former publisher who hails from Scotland. “People like to entertain outside of the home.”
Given its popularity overseas and the fact that there hasn’t been anything similar in Sarasota, the Devlins decided to give private karaoke rooms here a try. Their business has been open since November.
Kroaky’s has attracted everyone from students to retirees. Weekends are the busiest times. During the week, there’s a ladies night and a kids night.
On a recent Saturday night, 23-year-old Vera Savany, of Sarasota, came to Kroaky’s for a special family outing. It was her second visit there. Surrounded by parents, friends, aunts and uncles, she belted out a soothing rendition of Journey’s “Faithfully.”
Savany loves to sing so much that she once tried out for “American Idol.” She wasn’t picked for the show.
Savany said she wasn’t sure what to expect when she arrived with her boyfriend to find hallways full of private rooms and disco lights.
“If ‘Star Trek’ had a karaoke, this is what it would look like,” she joked.
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