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Insufficient (Fun)ds: Royal Canadian Legion karaoke nights
This ain’t your Grandpa’s karaoke night. Actually.

By Jacey Gibb

my article it means you’re one

of two kinds of people: either
you’re someone whose in to karaoke
or at least willing to read about it
OR you’re someone that hates it
so much that you feel compelled to
gander at an article with the word in
the headline if only so you can tear it
apart later. To be honest, I too have
had to endure my share of evenings
filled with bad lighting and cheesy
ballads being belted out by fifty year
olds clinging to their youth. So when
someone told me about Wednesday
night karaoke at the Royal Canadian
Legion bar on Main Street, I was
sceptical at best. How could two
opposites come together well enough
to create an event that warranted
someone actually recommending it to
me? Little did I know that the Legion
bar’s karaoke Wednesdays were
anything but a sour note.

The thing that stood out to me
right away when I walked into the
Legion bar for the first time was how
casual the environment was. Perfectly
placed on Main Street, between tenth
and Eleventh Avenue, the bar is a
perfect mixture of the old with the
new. It’s not a glamorous evening
night out on Granville Street where
you’ ll be waiting in line for an hour
to get into the club. Instead you find
yourself immediately getting checked
for ID and then let into a bar where
for once, people aren’t devoting
all their energy to getting laid that
night. In contrast, the atmosphere

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is much more relaxed as everyone
just tries to have a good time. The
bar boasts two main areas: the first
room is filled with rows of tables and
chairs, a couple shuffleboard tables
and in the corner, the source of the
evening’s entertainment, the karaoke
stage. On the other side of a dividing
wall, there are multiple pool tables
(although numerous are reserved for
club members only) with additional
tables for those who aren’t interested
in having to talk over the roar of
classic, eighties pop music being
reinvented in the next room over. By
eight o’clock, the place usually starts
to fill up.

Probably the most appealing
characteristic that the Legion bar has
going for it is how absurdly cheap
alcohol is. Pints of beer run for
under four dollars while hard alcohol
also stays fairly low in price, when
compared to other places that charge
six fifty for a mere rum and coke.

Once securing a table to call
home base for the evening, I’d
recommend you snatch up a song
catalogue right away and put your
requests in early. The first night I
went, I submitted my songs at around
ten pm and didn’t end up making the
cut. Probably best to quickly down a

. couple of pints early on and get your

stage fright over with as opposed to
putting it off. The selection to choose
your musical-poison from is actually
fairly impressive too. Well, maybe
impressive isn’t the word for it but

I was surprised to see various songs
that had been released only a couple
of months prior. Don’t worry though;

the bulk of the playlists are composed
of singles that you wouldn’t hear
anywhere else (except maybe on your
ipod when no one is looking).

The shuffleboard tables close
early in the evening so it’s best to
get a game or two in right after you
submit your karaoke numbers. The
pool tables in the far room offer the
usual fun but unfortunately they’re
usually backed up with regulars who
will actually take the cue ball with
them when they go for a smoke or
piss, leaving the table empty yet
unplayable.

In the end though, the real
entertainment at karaoke night comes
from karaoke itself. Even if you’ re
not much of a singer, the joys of
sitting back and watching two men
sing “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing” is
something that will never get old. The
crowd isn’t there to hear American
Idol wannabes auditioning; they’re

there to see drunk people make
fools of themselves and have fun
while doing it. Ultimately, the Royal
Canadian Legion Bar and Karaoke
Wednesdays comes together to make
a surprisingly perfect match and I
hope they continue to make sweet
music together for a while to come.
This is another one of those
Insufficient (Fun)ds that doesn’t
really have a set dollar amount on
how much it costs. Like I pointed out
earlier, alcohol here is cheaper than
I’ve seen at any other bar around
town and there’s no cover charge
to get in. Technically you could get
away with not spending any money
at all and just enjoy the karaoke
sober. On second thought, ignore that
oxymoron.

Damage: Twenty dollars should go a
long way. Bring more if you want to
enjoy the other activities.