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Pub Crawl: KJ’s Sports Bar
By Sonja Fridell
Posted: May 9, 2007
Michelle Morton and Roland Curit have been hosting Friday night karaoke sessions at KJ’s Sports Bar for three straight years. In their time at Newmarket’s only bowling ally/bar/pool hall, they have fine-tuned their singing operation to become the Seacoast’s most high-tech karaoke experience.
The flat, brightly colored building on 108 may look a little sketchy at first, but inside, KJ’s is a clean, smoke-free, good ol’ time.
My friend Pilar discovered Friday nights at KJ’s, and it is now a place where legends are made for our tight group of friends.
Michelle and Roland call their operation RCM Karaoke, and it’s truly a two-person job. Roland spins the tunes while Michelle collects requests and types them into her laptop at the front of the room. It’s no mystery for a nervous karaoke-er when his or her turn will come up, the order of singers (and their nickname) is displayed on the bar TVs.
Everyone who sings at KJ’s has a nickname. Erin Guidice has sung more than 500 songs under the leadership of Michelle and Roland, she’s got the button to prove it (they give buttons out for karaoke accomplishments). Erin’s nickname is PBF, or Princess Broken Finger. She had a broken finger the first time she sang and that’s what Roland dubbed her.
As people are belting out tunes from George Strait to Gwen Stefani, Michelle is snapping pictures of them with her digital camera. She then goes right back to that laptop and uploads the pictures. Everyone can see how hot they looked the next morning on their Web site, rcmkaraoke.com.
Erin isn’t the only die-hard RCM karaoke-er. Bucko, or the honorary mayor of Newmarket, as most locals refer to him as, is at KJ’s every Friday night. During my first time at KJ’s a few months ago, my friends and I were blessed with Bucko’s rendition of “YMCA” by the Village People. You’ll have to go to see it for yourself.
Randall Krebs (Rand-M-Factor) was at KJ’s last week earning his “impersonation badge.” Over three years, he’s earned three badges, or buttons, for his karaoke accomplishments. Randall was a spitting image of Barry White and he earned that badge with luster.
So if you’re looking for something new to try, or if you’re looking to meet a new, solid group of friends, come on down to KJ’s on Friday nights. Randall has an “unspoken need to be the center of attention once in a while.” We can all conquer that need, one song at a time.
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