Every Thursday night at the Applebee’s on Route 1, a DJ sits in his booth right next to the bar, encouraging customers crowded in the restaurant for cheap drinks and half price appetizers to step up and show their vocal chops.

“Karaoke is all about having fun,” said the DJ, “it’s not American Idol; it isn’t Showcase at the Apollo.”

The small number of students at the restaurant to sing karaoke on Thursday night, a popular night for partying in College Park, shows that students who are going out would rather spend their time and money at Thirsty Turtle or Cornerstone than at Applebee’s singing karaoke for different reasons.

“I don’t like it because it makes me feel very self-conscious and it takes away the fun of it,” said Christina Teng, a senior communications studies major.

Ryan Truman, one of the managers of Applebee’s, says that the enthusiasm for karaoke on Thursday nights tends to be “spotty.” One possible reason that

Truman cites the event struggles is the lack of advertising for the event.

He says that even though there are sometimes students participating, usually later in the evening when they have had the time to drink, the Thursday night karaoke isn’t quite as successful as management hoped it would be when it was introduced last year.

“It in a general sense, it hasn’t really taken off like we planned,” said Truman.

Based on the small turnout for karaoke at Applebee’s, one of the only karaoke spots in College Park, it appears that as a whole, students are reluctant to go out and sing in front of complete strangers.

“Karaoke doesn’t just require a bold singer, it requires a loving audience, said Joanna Grabau, junior communication studies major, “and since most audiences aren’t as caring as we’d like, it takes the joy out of singing.”

Student interest in karaoke is clearly minimal on campus, as evident by the small turnout at Applebee’s, lack of interest in on-campus karaoke, and overall negative reactions from students.

“I’ve actually been dying to go to a karaoke bar or something because I think it’s really fun but i don’t know if I’d actually ever do it [on campus],” said Jenn Gardella, junior criminology and sociology major. “Something about a dark bar full of strangers makes me feel better about potentially embarrassing myself.”

Web Design by Jeff Nash