The sublime and deeply therapeutic joys of karaoke in the Bay Area

Gary Miyamori, of El Cerrito, sings karaoke at Mel-O-Dee Cocktails in El Cerrito, Calif., on Thursday, March 14, 2024. When Caitlin Bethune-Daniels met Chris Daniels on the dating app Coffee Meets Bagel, one of the ice-breaker facts she provided was that she’d won $500 in a karaoke competition singing Leona Lewis’ “Bleeding Love.”

“Karaoke brings people together in one forum where we all can just enjoy ourselves in this moment of music and laughter and happiness,” says Keefer Harness, a financial-services agent from Sacramento who sings at Mel-O-Dee. “That’s why it’s such a great phenomenon and art form. What else is more fun than going out, having a cocktail and listening to people singing? It’s the American way.”

Having sung all over the country, Weathersby believes the karaoke crowd in the Bay is different. “It is more than just fun in the Bay Area. It’s people that probably did not get a shot or did get a shot but something happened in life, and it’s literally like a talent show.” “It’s funny, we get teachers from all around. It’s at the beginning of the sessions when school starts, when all these teachers come and get their karaoke in and do what they do,” says Pinole resident Delia Cavizo, a karaoke jockey for 15 years at Mel-O-Dee.

The therapy aspect of karaoke is real. “Around 2012, I was not in a good place in life, I was dealing with personal emotional issues and work issues, loneliness and depression and those kinds of things,” says Eckoes, a pseudonymous karaoke jockey who lives in Modesto. “I was a pretty quiet kid when I was younger, and I think music and performing was one of my ways of building up confidence,” says Drew Jones, an account manager and musician who lives in Martinez and who performs at Cato’s Ale House in Oakland.

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