James R.
Yelp
Due to a scheduling glitch, the Holiday Speed Dating Event in Suffolk was postponed until sometime in January, leaving me some time on my hands. In an effort to better my odds at the Speed Dating Event, my self-inventory of strengths and weaknesses showed a glaring weakness in 'Cultural Awareness.' I'd heard about this fancy new venue smack dab in the middle of Virginia Beach, why not give it a try?
A quick look of their website showed that I was in luck, tonight they were having a special Karaoke Christmas Event, an outfit called Handel doing their Messiah Sing-Along. That DJ name rang a bell, maybe I saw him at a dive bar in Hatsboro during their Karaoke night. In any case, it was free and open to the public, plenty of free parking in the garages surrounding in Town Center, what's not to love? A warm and dry place to hang out while listening to the locals sing along to 'Don't Stop Believing' and other chestnuts.
The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts is a gorgeous, well planned out venue implemented perfectly. If anything is confusing in the slightest, the well trained staff is there in abundance to lift the fog and get the patron on his merry way. Since this was a free event without tickets, I asked one of the vest adorned guides if there were any particular seating restrictions. In return, she asked me if I was a Bass or a Tenor. Not wanting to appear as some sort of culturally deprived surf punk, I smiled and said, 'Yes.' Screw it, I'll figure it out for myself. Upon entering the main hall itself, one cannot help but pause for a second and take it all in. To see this majestic venue, high wood adorned ceilings, comfortable and inviting seating, perfect acoustics, located right here in the middle of Town Center, less than 10 miles away from the Alien Pod Dropped from Space known as Scope, well, let's just say that serious progress has been made in the last 20 years or so.
If there are any complaints at all, chalk it up to 'stranger in a strange land.' Through my travels, I found that every place has their own rules for Karaoke Night, Sandler Center is no different. I couldn't find The Book or slips of paper where I could jot down my song selection and name, nor could I see the sign saying who was up and who was up next. My guess is that all of this is somehow taken care of well in advance, because when the band came to take their seats (yep, this was the real musician brand of Karaoke. I'd call it Rockaoke but I think that may be a registered trademark), there were also extra chairs in front for 4 regulars: Billy BY, Robynne R, Frederick B, and Andrew P (I love how nobody on Yelp has last names! ) who were in heavy rotation by DJ Handel. No big deal, though, because they nailed it! I really wanted to sing along to 'Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion' and 'O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings' but it wasn't in my key and I didn't hear anybody else singing along. Maybe that is another house rule or something. Towards the end of the Karaoke Night, Handel must have felt sorry for us so he had his assistant get us to all stand up and sing a song together. No words were projected on the screen or anything like that, but I did see that a good share of the locals brought along their own songbooks, I'll remember that fact the next time so I don't stand out so much. In my personal opinion, though, 'Don't Stop Believing' fit perfectly with those Hallelujah things that everybody else was warbling.
Armed with the cultural knowledge that is Sandler Center for Performing Arts, Speed Dating Night at the Suffolk Comfort Inn and Suites may never be the same....