Norebang Night

Karaoke? No - Rebang!

Actually, the term would be divided "nore-bang" (노래방), literally "singing room," and pronounced "norae-bahng," but you have to allow me my puns! As you might expect, a norebang is the Korean equivalent of the Japanese karaoke (except, of course, better than karaoke).

The photo above shows me and my wife posing as one of our children takes the picture of us in a shadowy corner of a singing room we visited Thursday evening. There are other photos from the same evening, but this is the only one in which I'm clearly looking at the camera.

My voice generally isn't very strong, so I often can't perform so well, but I sang to everyone's satisfaction that night. I started with "Born to Be Wild" (by Stefan Wolf, according to the credits!), and I did so well that my wife praised me for getting it just right. I followed that up with a soulful rendition of "Your Cheating Heart" (Hank Williams) and a remarkably touching "Stand By Your Man" (Tammy Wynette), then finished with a competent cover of "One More Cup of Coffee for the Road" (Bob Dylan). Such were my solo performances. But when I tried to accompany my wife on "City of Stars," I botched that one good and proper.

Every good thing must end . . .