Karaoke Quest: The Bartender vs. The Critic

I love this bar.  Toby Keith might as well have written about it.  I loved it INTENSELY for a time when I lived on Woodside Road for the last year of my 4 year term in Redwood City. That I discovered it SO LATE in my stay there is my only regret UNTIL now. Sodini's Bar was my haven away from my exboyfriend, Chris. I loathed him. I had a deep burgeoning hatred for the parasite leaching off me because I couldn't get him OUT of my apartment let alone MY LIFE. I digress... Sodini's on El Camino Real and Villa Roma on Woodside Road were my only refuges AWAY from the man who had made me a host and used me for the entire four years we were together. It just took me years of denial to figure it out. I went to karaoke four nights a week at that point. I drank HEAVILY, and I could afford it THEN. My job was stressful, my home life was full of lies and deceits, and I couldn't quit my job or dump my boyfriend because in my mind I needed a pet sitter for our dog, cat, three guinea pigs, and five fish. It's ridiculous. I know.  I had a family to support!  Take my advice.  Children and pets won't make you happy as a couple.  It's just more BAGGAGE that keeps you together longer than necessary.

However, the only good thing that ever came out of this relationship was my fondness and rekindled my love of singing. I had long forsaken church.  Singing hymnals just didn't do it for me anymore.  I needed the applause, and I was always told that applauding in church was disrespectful. They do anyway, but my second grade teacher Ms. Ucelli taught us different. If you've ever read the kid's story of Miss Viola Swamp, you KNOW what she looked like, Ms. Swamp. *shudder* We go to karaoke for acceptance commonality hoping you like what I chose. It's juvenile at it's core really. It's rather innocent and pure in intention. How it has evolved! Robert Carroll is the producer of RCC Productions. His house rig is top notch. The sound is quality and like Lady Eileen from her days at Sodini's, he doesn't have to tote his equipment around. That's his home base. He doesn't have to travel from venue to venue with his equipment slanging karaoke like most do.

Tonight I am determined to stay until I am through!  There is a new bartender that has turned me OFF from MY bar. After all it is MY rediscovery bar, where I learned to love me again, and find the strength to DUMP my baggage. It's where I went THREE nights a week Thursday through Saturday to find relief from working in legal and having an abusive boyfriend. I am going to tell this guy tonight when he comes over to tell me to buy a drink that if he doesn't leave me be, I will write a scathing review of his bar and the nights he bartends on Yelp and Facebook. If he has SUCH a problem with refusing me non service because NOW I just REFUSE to buy a drink out of PRINCIPLE. I will NOT be bullied. He DARED tell me TWICE that karaoke wasn't free. Hahahaha ME, he told ME that. First time he told me that I was still with my last boyfriend.

The only time it isn't free is when you go to Paper Moon in San Bruno and they charge you $25 to just walk in the door or you go to a karaoke places like Pandora in the Tenderloin or Do Re Mi in Japantown to rent a private room with your friends because you're more comfortable singing among your own people and not publicly among the masses - not that there's nothing wrong with that, to each their own. I did that too with my coworkers sometimes, and then I realized why are we paying for this? I'm not shy! Robert has one of the best lists in the Bay Area and NOW he's expanded from CD library to internet database. I anticipate his library growing exponentially and look forward to seeing him again tonight.
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It was a happening crowd tonight!  Two birthdays were celebrated and whomever made the coconut topped cupcakes is AWESOME.  I even KNEW one of the birthday people.  Susan, she's a karaoke regular a tenured veteran.  It's awesome to be back in the old hood again.  The bartender hasn't even APPROACHED me tonight.  Critic one, bartender three.  Yay me!  I wasn't driven out prematurely.  Though I had a backup venue just in case on the way home.  You see... I never lack a place to stop and stretch in this area.  I grew up here!  I'm as LOCAL as it gets!  Robert is a very fair and talented KJ who draws a mixed crowd.  This little dive bar has a special place in my heart for sure.  Can you tell I'm nostalgic.  He hasn't set up his Macbook Pro up yet!  His tip jar was empty all night!  Cheap bastids!