The front room of this place is karaōke paradise two nights a week. If you want to warm up your pipes without a crowd, drop in on a Wednesday night. On Saturday nights, there’s usually a sizeable karaōke crowd there. Like anywhere that you’ll find karaōke, there are some amazing singers, and then there are the ordinary folks like me just out for some fun. The ratio of good singers to bad is surprisingly high though; I’m always surprised at how good some of the singers are there. The song catalog is practically bottomless. But if you’re going there with the idea of singing an incredibly obscure song, you might want to have a backup choice in mind, just in case. The karaōke DJ’s are friendly and seem to strictly abide by calling names in the order they were received; no skipping the line for friends of friends, etc. That’s a good thing. When your name is called, you go up a few steps to a stage area. Even when the place is full, you’ll get a chance to sing if you want to; I’ve never had an evening where I didn’t get to sing at least two songs over the course of the night. I’ve been to some karaōke joints in big cities where you had to get there EARLY to put your name on the list if you wanted to have any hope of being called up to sing. The crowd is generally supportive; I’ve never been boo’d or hissed off the stage, anyway. As the night wears on and a group of drunk girls gets up to sing Bohemian Rhapsody(or you see me stagger onto the stage, I’ll understand), you can retreat to the middle section of the bar that has pool tables and is thoughtfully closed off behind glass doors. There’s also a third back section that’s usually in sexy ‘chill out lounge’ mode with music and lighting that’ll put you into an altered state. There’s often music that lends itself to dancing there, too. Old Tyme Charley’s is a laid back, casual place. They have bands and DJs and other stuff going on, but what I love the most is having this place as my go-to karaōke lounge.
