Its one thing to know there are other people with the same name as you....it's something else to meet them.
That happened this week when Manda and I went to Bearly's House of Blues and Ribs on Barrington St for dinner ahead of a planned karaoke night with some of the newsies. First to arrive (as usual), we met up with reporter Laura and her boyfriend, local film director Scott Simpson. We chatted about what it is to be one Scott Simpson among many Scott Simpsons (most notably a golfer who pollutes my google searches about myself), speculations on family lineage, and thoughts on the differences between pizza in Halifax, Toronto and New York City. (And pizzas made by Lebanese, Italians and conglomerates.) I've had phone calls for other Scott Simpsons before, but IIRC, this is the first time I've met one.
After dinner, Manda and Scott-two bowed out for sleep and the rest of the karaoke crowd filled in. The place got busy in a hurry. Reporter Laura kicked off the action with the Eric Carmen (not Eric Cartman) hit "Make Me Lose Control." Business picked up when BigAssSuperstar hit the stage with a new song, Cake's "Short Skirt/Long Jacket." Traffic reporter Natalie brought me up soon after for a dance-floor-filling duet on "Love Shack." Reporter Tim took me back to my days as a Newmarket Era newspaper carrier with a rendition of Glass Tiger's "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" before Laura's turn came around again to do a Britney Spears hit with backup vocals from Natalie.
BigAssSuperstar returned to floor the karaoke host with a spot-on version of "One Week." Next round, the Karaoke Jockey (the KJ, don'tchaknow) called up Doctor Love, and I worried for a second that he was talking about me, and perhaps he was a transplanted Ontarian who I'd seen at a venue years ago. Nope, it was some dude who seemed to channel Joe Cocker as he "sang" Lou Reed. I follwed up with my traditional shout-out to Doctor Love during the classic "Baby Got Back." ("So ladies, if your butt is round, and you want a triple-x throwdown, call 1-900-Doctor-Love, and kick them nasty thoughts.... Baby got back!")
Good times, good times. And the souvlaki at Bearly's wasn't bad. There's talk of another newsies' karaoke night, perhaps at The Oasis, which, despite its college-age crowd, has a kick-ass setup with a fantastic guitar-playing host and the best karaoke songbook I've ever seen.
Still, Bearly's was The Coast's 2005 and 2004 winner for Best Karaoke Night:
Although singing sensations Jack Shit, Big Caddy Daddy and Dr. Love aren't household names yet -- well, they'll probably never be -- they're superstars every Wednesday at Bearly's. Host Dimitri "Mimi" Andriopoulis assigns stage names to all the regular performers. It's part of the family vibe that makes Bearly's karaoke so popular. Bearly's squeaks past last year's winner, the Oasis, to take home the Best Karaoke plaque. The Oasis gets honourable mention for also placing second in Best Thursday Night (their karaoke night). Only one way to settle this: a "More Than a Feeling" battle. Winner takes all.
That happened this week when Manda and I went to Bearly's House of Blues and Ribs on Barrington St for dinner ahead of a planned karaoke night with some of the newsies. First to arrive (as usual), we met up with reporter Laura and her boyfriend, local film director Scott Simpson. We chatted about what it is to be one Scott Simpson among many Scott Simpsons (most notably a golfer who pollutes my google searches about myself), speculations on family lineage, and thoughts on the differences between pizza in Halifax, Toronto and New York City. (And pizzas made by Lebanese, Italians and conglomerates.) I've had phone calls for other Scott Simpsons before, but IIRC, this is the first time I've met one.After dinner, Manda and Scott-two bowed out for sleep and the rest of the karaoke crowd filled in. The place got busy in a hurry. Reporter Laura kicked off the action with the Eric Carmen (not Eric Cartman) hit "Make Me Lose Control." Business picked up when BigAssSuperstar hit the stage with a new song, Cake's "Short Skirt/Long Jacket." Traffic reporter Natalie brought me up soon after for a dance-floor-filling duet on "Love Shack." Reporter Tim took me back to my days as a Newmarket Era newspaper carrier with a rendition of Glass Tiger's "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" before Laura's turn came around again to do a Britney Spears hit with backup vocals from Natalie.
BigAssSuperstar returned to floor the karaoke host with a spot-on version of "One Week." Next round, the Karaoke Jockey (the KJ, don'tchaknow) called up Doctor Love, and I worried for a second that he was talking about me, and perhaps he was a transplanted Ontarian who I'd seen at a venue years ago. Nope, it was some dude who seemed to channel Joe Cocker as he "sang" Lou Reed. I follwed up with my traditional shout-out to Doctor Love during the classic "Baby Got Back." ("So ladies, if your butt is round, and you want a triple-x throwdown, call 1-900-Doctor-Love, and kick them nasty thoughts.... Baby got back!")Good times, good times. And the souvlaki at Bearly's wasn't bad. There's talk of another newsies' karaoke night, perhaps at The Oasis, which, despite its college-age crowd, has a kick-ass setup with a fantastic guitar-playing host and the best karaoke songbook I've ever seen.
Still, Bearly's was The Coast's 2005 and 2004 winner for Best Karaoke Night:
Although singing sensations Jack Shit, Big Caddy Daddy and Dr. Love aren't household names yet -- well, they'll probably never be -- they're superstars every Wednesday at Bearly's. Host Dimitri "Mimi" Andriopoulis assigns stage names to all the regular performers. It's part of the family vibe that makes Bearly's karaoke so popular. Bearly's squeaks past last year's winner, the Oasis, to take home the Best Karaoke plaque. The Oasis gets honourable mention for also placing second in Best Thursday Night (their karaoke night). Only one way to settle this: a "More Than a Feeling" battle. Winner takes all.
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