Tom Lynch

While downing a pint of PBR, the young woman looks a bit nervous. She talks with friends and examines the lyrics off of a white sheet of paper. Moments later, she rises to the stage to belt out "Jessie's Girl," summoning her best Rick Springfield, the same Springfield she sang to herself in front of a mirror while in high school, with a brush as her microphone. Except in this fantasy, when she looks behind her she's backed by her own band.

The Underground Lounge in Wrigleyville is a slightly different haven of vocal embarrassment than your usual karaoke scene. Instead of the typical prerecorded music we're used to, Wednesday nights features a house band, a trend other North Side bars, like Mickey's and Joe's Bar, are following. Amidst this candlelit, surprisingly smokeless room, people live out their rock-star dreams; they can close their eyes, sing their favorite song backed by live musicians and pretend the thirty-or-so chatting attendees are really 30,000 screaming fans.

The Karaoke Dokies take the stage wearing the traditional rock 'n' roll attire of flannels, sunglasses and jeans. Their host yells, "How's everyone doing tonight!" and the crowd eagerly respond with hollers. With a song list ranging from AC/DC to Mudhoney to Paul Simon, the aging rockers look amped to provide the quick fix of a not-so-secret daydream. The Marshall half-stack surges through the adequately sized but still moderate room, and the drums sometimes pierce the ears, but all is well once it is clear that the amateur singer, the superstar for one song, is alive with glee.

(2003-03-05)

Also by Tom Lynch

Time is on his side
Chicago writer and O. Henry Award-winner Charles Dickinson gives us "A Shortcut in Time," a work that introduces a new take on tinkering with time--the "sentimental" adventure.
(2003-02-26)

Notes from the Madden Underground
The hoodlums are gathered around televisions, hunched over, listening closely to the sounds of beeps coming from the speakers.
(2003-01-29)

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