At about 7:50 p.m. on Sept. 28, students began to shuffle into Fireside Cafe, socializing and contemplating if they’d actually get the courage to step on stage to perform.

Many students arrived at the first karaoke night of the year and saw how many people were there and quickly decided that tonight wasn’t the night.

However, as the night went on, nerves became less of an issue and having a good time was at the forefront of their minds.

“I love making a complete fool of myself,” said Carolyn Laird, secretary of the Campus Activities Board, which hosted the event. “I think it’s great that all the activities we do brings the campus together.”

And while events like karaoke night supply fun and humor for many students, it also gives an opportunity for some to practice in their field of study.

“It helps me because I want to be a tech theater major, so it’s a lot of good experience,” said Alex Messier.

And helping out at these events makes Messier feel good, too.

“I enjoy doing these things because I get to see people having fun, so it always puts a smile on my face,” said Messier.

Fireside employees get a kick out of events like this as well, with workers saying it offers something different in their day.

“It’s entertaining,” said employee Jill Davis, “I think it’s great that the kids get on stage and take things a little less serious for a while. Makes the night go by a little faster too,” she said with a chuckle.

Some students see an event like this as a way to show off their talents.

“Leading up to it, that whole week I probably sang it like 20 times in my car,” said karaoke participant Brendan Crowley.

Crowley sang the 1977 rock song by Meatloaf titled “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” and did a great job. He was belting out the notes perfectly and had the crowd cheering, clapping, laughing, and loving it.

Castleton freshmen Brendan Crowley sings "Paradise by the dashboard lights" at Karaoke hosted at Fireside. Photo by Seldon Hill. 

“It’s weird because I’ve never done that and I never really pictured myself doing that, but at the same time I wasn’t super nervous,” said Crowley.

“Paradise By The Dashboard Light” is an 8-minute long song, and Crowley was well prepared to sing the whole song. The tempo of this song varies a lot, and Crowley didn’t miss a beat. It was clear he was well prepared.

“Right before that night, I went in the shower and just nailed it, I think everybody in suite heard me singing it,” he said.

Karaoke doesn’t happen very often, so make sure that if you want to get up on the stage and show off your talent, you keep your eyes peeled for any advertisements.

“We have set activities so it probably won’t happen again until next semester, but this was a pretty big hit so we might add another event,” Laird said.