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My 8.2.0 Karaoke Experience


Where do I begin?


My latest ExplorHER event endeavors was spent organizing a girls night outing to a locally known Karaoke spot here in Charlotte, NC. I looked up several spots and asked some people I know and, I found myself deciding on 8.2.0 Pizzeria & Bar.


So I pulled up to the venue and I texted my sisters, who I knew were coming, to see where they were at. Both said they were still on the way which was fine because I got there a little early to scope out the place. 8.2.0 Pizzeria & Bar is actually over by The Fillmore, which I've been to on several occasions for a music concert. Their parking lot isn't that big but I managed to get a spot right outside of their entrance. If not I would have had to park across the street in one of the lots or the decks. It's not my first preference because normally those parking spots cost money, like $5-$6 flat for the night.


When you first get to their entrance you'll notice a walk up window to the left and people can literally go up there to order food and leave. I thought that was a pretty nifty part of their business. After that when you walk in you have several options:

  • Go straight into this room with the back wall painted with sunflowers and picnic benches inside for seating.

  • Go left where you first hit the bar and some general high top tables plus if you go further left you walk into the small pizzeria spot where you can order food.

  • Go right where the Karaoke room is some outside booths and the entrance to the patio.


I went right of course. Had to check out the karaoke room.


Inside the karaoke room, off to the right, there is a DJ who controls all of the songs being played. Next to the DJ booth is this mini stage in the corner where performers go to in order to sing and read the lyrics off the screen. In the middle of the room is this awkwardly shaped mini table that you can stand at and just barely big enough to put your drink on plus some other cocktail tables to stand around. You'll probably find the song book floating around that has the entire selection of songs available. Lastly, on the left side wall there's a small set of stairs that takes you up a level to sit at some booths. Unfortunately those booths were reserved for a party that evening.

 

Back to the fun at hand.


After some time both my sisters show up and we go grab a couple drinks at the bar. Then we head over to the karaoke room so they can check things out for themselves, and afterwards we head to the pizza room to order food because we're all starving. At this point we're trying to kill time so that more people can show up for karaoke, but the remaining people I was expecting never showed to my knowledge.


Sidebar: This is why I've now created a GroupMe for these events to make communication more streamlined instead of just an email to RSVP.

We head back to to karaoke room because now there's more people and it's starting to get lively. I see a few familiar faces from my time at UNC Charlotte. We scope out a table and a couple chairs and then start flipping through the song book. If my memory serves me correctly we decided on Destiny's Child: Say My Name. It's three of us so what better way to start the night then with a girl group!


By the way: You have to pay a dollar for each song you want to go up to.

While we're waiting for our turn I'm thoroughly enjoying myself because about 90% of the time the music selections are pretty decent. I like the crowd because they're all like anywhere between 21-35. Which means yes they're playing some newer songs with a fast beat in-between performances. but the performers are picking the good stuff, the older R&B stuff or early 2000's jams. I also appreciated the fact that I didn't feel uncomfortable. In fact, I felt like I was in my element, but the slight buzz was probably doing it's necessary job to help me out too.


When it's our turn I'm both nervous and excited to get on stage because let's be honest: I have stage fright really bad. It's just that in most cases when I'm the center of attention I try not to think about it and I just power through it. So my sisters and I are on stage singing our hearts out. There's only two mics so I'm the middle kind of going back and forth so neither of them feels like they have to be the lead singer I guess or left out.


Once we're finished we get off stage and we leave the karaoke room because it's super hot with all the body heat packed in. We take a seat just outside the doors in a booth and just talk. We do head back inside for awhile and just enjoy the atmosphere and experience, and we put our names back on the list to perform Usher: You Don't Have To Call.


There was a slight hiccup in our night though. So about halfway through the night a second DJ shows up and apparently they started a second list of performers not realizing there was already a list. What does this mean for us? It means we had to wait an unusually long time to go up again. In order to remedy this the DJ offers to buy us any drink off the bars menu that we want. So that's what we did; and we decided to go get some pictures in the sunflower room to have a keepsake for the night.


At this point it's around 11:00pm, we got up on stage one more time to perform that Usher song and then we all parted ways. Overall, it was a good night!!!!


 

What have you done to go #BeyondYourWindow recently? Share on social media with the hashtag, comment below, or send me a private message!



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