I'm famous!

^ In the upper right corner, Deena, Meghan and me - we got more space than Theo Epstein (the beloved General Manager for Boston Red Sox) - haha!




^ Deena, Meghan, Tania, me, and Joni - this photo was next to the Boston Herald article, inside


I remember in high school the morning after a Volleyball game that The Middletown Press attended, I would run outside to grab the paper, flip to the sports section, and scan it looking for coverage from my game.

Looking for and finding print that said, "Elizabeth Blake had 12 assists and served 98%" would make my day! I would walk around the high school feeling like a celebrity and secretly wishing they had gotten a photo of my awesome dig, running one of our cool plays like a "tandem", or a "jump set" that helped my middle hitter get the game winning kill. But high school came and went and my mug never appeared in the local paper.

Heading to the big metropolis of Boston combined with a Division III school (Go Sharks!), press time was even less likely, especially with Division I schools such as Boston College and Boston University in the area; not to mention the fascination people have with Harvard.

But my day has come.

Last Saturday (as you can read in my previous post) we overtook Limelight. Towards the end of the night, some random guy with a fancy camera started to take our photos.

"How cool," I thought. "I feel like a celebrity."

After our number was over and we took five, this reporter comes up to my friend Meghan and starts asking her questions, the photographer follows with "who's this?" and "how about her?"

Today, I made the front cover of the Boston Herald. For all of you in Beantown, check it out (article below)!


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Mike my day: Everyone’s an ‘Idol’ at downtown karaoke spots
By Sean L. McCarthy
Appeared in Boston Herald, Friday, January 20, 2006


Psst ... The nation’s most popular TV show has a secret.

Don’t tell anyone: “American Idol” is karaoke.

“It’s really the same thing,” said Marti Speranza, who founded Limelight Stage + Studios in downtown Boston as a hub for pure karaoke fans. “Amateurs singing covers over prerecorded tracks.

“Only ‘American Idol’ doesn’t have that stigma of being karaoke.”

Oh, that.

After more than 15 years in the United States, karaoke is entrenched in thousands of bars, nightclubs and hotel lounges across the country. The “empty orchestra” (“karaoke” loosely translated from Japanese) has passed fad status.

Not even a Patriots playoff game could keep the crowds away from Limelight last weekend.

Several groups, including a bachelorette party of 12, a birthday party and a company’s post-holiday party, booked time at Limelight’s private studio rooms and public stage.

In one room, 28-year-old Heather Schwanke of Charlestown was “serenading” the bride-to-be, Megan Roberts, 27, also of Charlestown, with Schwanke’s rendition of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s “Baby Got Back.”

The girls whooped it up for a couple of hours before taking on the rest of the city.

Why karaoke, though?

Schwanke said Roberts will take advantage of any and every singing opportunity. Fellow partyer Catherine Frattasic, 27, of Beacon Hill, added, “She thinks she should be famous.”

At Limelight, Roberts could take home a CD or DVD recording of the experience as a keepsake, for an extra $50.

Speranza said equal amounts of pre-arranged group functions and people off the street have kept her in business since launching as a karaoke center in December 2004.

“We really are all about karaoke, for better or worse, so I hope we’ll be the place people come,” she said.

What makes Limelight different is that it reflects the attitude and look of its Asian predecessors more than any other American bar’s karaoke night.

Speranza got hooked herself while studying in Korea in the late 1990s, then turned her hobby into a business plan at Harvard Business School.

Limelight offers an open stage akin to anything you’d see at another karaoke bar. But Speranza also offers the luxury of private Asian-style studios, where customers can control the lighting, background videos and voice controls from an interactive electronic control panel.

“I never get onstage here,” Speranza said. “I go into the rooms. Alot of people like me love singing but don’t do it for the audience.”

Of course, many others do want to be heard.

“Sweet Caroline” and “Dirty Water” are just as popular onstage as they are at Fenway Park.
And just like everyone else at every other karaoke night, patrons are apt to announce as a group, “I Will Survive,” or head on down to the “Love Shack.”

Matt Wagner of Roslindale surprised his wife, Meghan, by throwing her a 29th birthday party at Limelight.

“It’s just a fun place,” Meghan Wagner declared afterward.

They especially liked the private studios, she said, “because the people in our party aren’t embarrassed if it’s just us, because it’s just between friends.”

She owns a karaoke machine at home, but after her first experience at Limelight, she said she’d come back every weekend.

Only a block away in the Boylston Alley, Boston nightclub conglomerate The Lyons Group opened up its own karaoke joint, Alley Cat, in late October in the former Sugar Shack.

One of its investors is Celtics star Paul Pierce. Others who’ve taken the microphone there include longtime local TV anchor Chet Curtis and comedian Steve Sweeney.

Flat-screen TVs abound in the two-floor space, offering up humorous video clips or sports between karaoke singers.

“We knew it’d play to our advantage,” said Alley Cat manager Mark Driscoll. “Red Sox, Patriots games would hurt us in the past.”

The Alley Cat hasn’t drawn quite the crowds Limelight has, sometimes turning the floor over to dancing at midnight. But Driscoll said the club is working on a cross-promotional plan with WXKS-FM (Kiss-108) to add hype to the Alley’s karaoke offerings.

Limelight hopes “Idol,” which returned to Fox for season five this week, brings out more potential singers.

Speranza hosted a “rejects” party in October for the Boston contestants who didn’t make it to Hollywood. She plans to host “Idol” viewing parties once this season advances to the voting stage, allowing locals to try the same theme-night songs from TV.

The Limelight, as an all-ages facility, also throws children’s parties during the day, offers private vocal instruction and might try a matchmaking service for singles called, appropriately enough, Duets.

Karaoke, and nothing but
LIMELIGHT STAGE + STUDIOS
Where: 204 Tremont St., Boston
When: Stage open 9 p.m. to 1 a.m., Thursday-Saturday, with $5 cover charge. Studios open daily 3 p.m. to 1 a.m. by reservation, $10 per person per hour. All ages.
Info: 617-423-0785, www.limelightboston.com

Most requested: “Baby Got Back,” “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” “Jessie’s Girl,” “Love Shack,” “Paradise By the Dashboard Light,” “Sweet Caroline,” “Summer Nights,” “Total Eclipse of the Heart”

ALLEY CAT
Where: One Boylston Place, Boston
When: 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Thursdays (no cover), 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays, with $5 cover charge. Age 21 and older.
Info: 617-351-7000, www.alleycatboston.com
Most requested: “Baby Got Back,” “Dirty Water,” “I Love Rock ’n’ Roll,” “Like A Virgin,” “Livin’ On A Prayer,” “Paradise By the Dashboard Light,” “The Gambler,” “Tiny Dancer,” “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”

COMCAST’S KARAOKE ON DEMAND
Where: Available free as part of Comcast Digital Cable subscription
When: Anytime since November, when service launched
Most requested: “Born to be Wild,” “God Bless the U.S.A.,” “If I Had $1,000,000,” “I Got You Babe,” “Sweet Home Alabama”

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