Irvin Wilson of Laughing Gravy Entertainment doesn't have your typical job. Few individuals can admit to starting out their workday by belting out "Mack the Knife."
That's how Thursday nights usually begin at Salt Lake City's Raskals, however, when the club is just beginning to see its first karaoke customers of the night, either thumbing through one of the many copies of its 5,000+ song library or handing their penciled requests to Wilson, whose duties are threefold: maintain the energy throughout the evening, make sure the audience is comfortable and -- perhaps most important -- keep them enjoying themselves.While entire clubs elsewhere are devoted to karaoke, the semi-new form of singing to piped-in instrumental versions of songs in front of a crowd, it is still new to Utah and has really only started to catch on during the past three or four years or so, according to Wilson.
"It has taken a while to get popular here . . . but now almost every club in Utah has at least one karaoke night a week," said Wilson, who first became familiar with it when he lived in Hawaii.
Although it's not as commonplace here as, say, New York or Los Angeles, club owners are starting to catch on to the type of crowd that will turn up for a karaoke night. Wilson will see some of the faces five nights a week at various locations, diehards he terms appropriately "karaoke junkies."
"It's just like everything else that happens in Utah. Things are first popular on the coasts, then they work their way in," said Shane Aldous, who specializes in singing Bon Jovi and Guns 'N Roses songs.
And singers usually volunteer of their own free will, with little prodding by others. Laughing Gravy (originally started by Wilson) also does a fair amount of work with high school and church groups.
"It's definitely easier with some liquid courage, but I do a lot of parties where alcoholic drinks aren't even involved," Wilson said. "Once your peers have accepted your getting up and making a fool of yourself, it's all back to the same level again. It's more about making the situation comfortable, and you don't have to drink to do that."
In fact, most of the Raskals crowd, at least, are either aspiring singers, band vocalists or just plain like to sing. Kimo Torres, a First Security employee, gave a performance last Thursday of "Livin' La Vida Loca" that would rival Ricky Martin's stage show. The audience took notice by dancing and singing along.
"I just got off work where I've been sitting behind a desk, so I had lots of energy to spare," Torres said afterward.
And Cristi and Amy McClellan, whose dad has a country band, don't miss a night's opportunity to sing, sometimes visiting other clubs throughout the week to feed their passion. The only time Cristi misses is when she's singing with her band, mostly because she prefers the sound system at Raskals over others.
"Nobody worries if you screw it up there, either -- they're all regulars. Whether you're bad or not, everybody applauds."
"It's not how good you sing, but how much fun you have," Wilson said.
Laughing Gravy also provides entertainment for weddings and corporate parties as well as maintaining a production company.