Sing your Heart Out
Enjoy a fun night of mingling and musical expression at one of Santa Monica’s coziest bars
Do you enjoy singing? Are you looking for a place to drink and unwind with your friends in the middle of the week? If so, check out the “Karaoke Night Party” at Tavern on Main, Santa Monica.
Tavern on Main is located on the trendy section of Main Street in Santa Monica that’s famous for its funky bars, cozy restaurants, and stylish boutiques. The watering hole offers a great selection of cocktails, beer and wine, and a variety of bar bites. Sports games can be watched on any of the 10 big screen TVs suspended from the ceiling, and the speakers always blast good music.
“Karaoke Night Party” happens twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays. Tavern on Main has no stage, so anyone who is eager to belt out a song is welcome to step up to the back of the bar, where the karaoke equipment is set up. The “performer” stands in the middle of the floor, while anyone who wants to watch them sing can huddle at the bar or in the adjacent booths set up along the wall.
On Wednesday, Sept. 13 2023, the first party-goer to get up and sing was Antonio “Mr. Romantic” Corea. He chose “Year of The Cat” by Al Stewart, and belted it out heartily, while the audience rewarded him with loud applause. Corea is a professional musician from New York who has been studying music since he was 10 years old. He plays the trumpet, drums, and sings. Corea loves Karaoke Night Parties and comes out to Santa Monica every week. “I live in the Valley, but Santa Monica is like my second home. This is my fun, and I’ve been coming to Tavern on Main for the past five months. I like karaoke because it lets me sing any song I want.” he said. Besides “Year of The Cat”, Corea sang numerous other hits, such as Eagles’ “Hotel California” and “Sandy” from the musical “Grease.”
Another Karaoke Night reveler, Carlos “K LO” Janos, comes to Tavern On Main to let loose and express himself musically. During the day, Janos is a caregiver to his wife, who is sick with dementia. Singing karaoke is also his way of decompressing. “When I was younger, I wanted to be a professional musician but I got sidetracked, you know. But I love to sing and that’s why I come to Karaoke Nights. Besides, taking care of someone who has dementia is not easy work. At the end of the day, karaoke lets me escape, unwind, and keep my spirits up. It makes me happy.” Janos said. Janos passionately performed three songs: “Hold On Loosely” by 38 Special, “Saturday Night Special” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and the B-52’s “Love Shack” which he performed with a friend.
According to “Karaoke Night Party” carouser Tina Whales, the atmosphere of such nights is extremely inviting and supportive. “It’s almost like a family. When people are doing karaoke, they welcome everyone. Even if you suck, they still cheer you on. They support your courage to get up there and your passion, and that’s universal. No one cares if you sound good or bad; it's the joy that it brings you that people support.” Whales said. During her outing, she sang the Fugees’ hit “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, as well as Carrie Underwood’s old number “Before He Cheats”, and sounded quite good.
Main Street is notable for attracting tourists. One out-of-towner who attended “Karaoke Night Party” was an Estonian Public Broadcasting board member Toomas Luhats. Luhats is a part of the European Broadcasting Union Executive Programme, which has recently done a series of workshops at UCLA. He and his colleagues decided to reward themselves for all their hard work with a dinner followed by a fun night of singing. “Before we headed to Tavern on Main, we had a very good dinner at an Italian restaurant a couple of doors away, and then we came to the Karaoke Night to sing our hearts out.” Luhats said. He later gave a lively performance of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”.
Tavern on Main is located at 2907 Main St, Santa Monica, CA 90405. The bar is open Monday-Friday from 3 p.m. until midnight, and from 9 a.m. until 2 a.m. on weekends.
More information on the bar’s events can be seen at www.tavernonmainsm.com/events.
