Karaoke Boy is back

By Sekou

I haven’t seen Karaoke Boy in so long I’d forgotten about him but on Saturday night, as I walked down Lenox Ave. to check out the Fedor MMA fight at a friend’s house, there he was. In case I haven’t blogged about Karakoe Boy before (I can’t remember), he’s a young man of about 20 years old who stands in front of an abandoned pharmacy at 139th and Lenox with a boom box, singing his heart out. Any song that comes on the radio, Karaoke Boy will sing. Hook, lead, background vocals, all of it. I’m not sure why he does it. I think he’s trying to get discovered and, to be honest, he’s a good singer. On Saturday night he’d even inspired an old man with a cane to take off one of his shoes (not sure why that was necessary) and dance along as best he could– comedy. The crazy part? I saw Karaoke Boy around 8:45pm when I was walking down to catch the pre-fights which started at 9pm. Fedor whupped his opponent around 11pm. So, when I was walking back up Lenox around midnight I was shocked to see that Karaoke Boy was still at it. Still dancing with the boom box perched on his right shoulder and still singing at the top of his lungs. Now, that’s stamina. Maybe he will get discovered indeed.

Filed in: Harlem Ain't for Amateurs • Monday, November 9th, 2009