Carole King’s Jazz Café

For Justin and Ashley’s last night in town, we decided to go out with a bang. After a nice dinner at a Nepalese restaurant, we headed to Carole King’s Jazz Café. Yes, I said that right. Carole King, the songwriter and folk singer and jazz café. The two have next to nothing in common. Even more amusing, however, is that Carole King’s Jazz Café is not, in fact, a jazz café, but a karaoke joint.

We walked in to the karaoke bar and were immediately greeted by Cho, the Korean owner, with a business card. He rearranged tables for the seven of us and we took in our surroundings. The place was small and cozy with Christmas and stage lights. The walls were adorned with an extremely random assortment of pictures, from scenes of Europe and Southeast Asia to the Mona Lisa. Save us, the clientele was entirely Korean businessmen.

We let the Koreans, including Cho, take the first few songs, which were sung in both Korean and English, as we perused the extensive selection of songs. Andrew, Shanti’s co-leader for the trip of American high school students to Cambodia, started us off. A former a cappella singer in college, he could bust it out and he did with his selection of the ballad “On the Wings of Love”. The fifteen people in Carole King’s loved it. Immediately after the completion of the song, Andrew was greeted by a hat full of money – some Korean, some Cambodian – and a round of beer from the Korean contingent.

Over the next two and a half hours, we belted out hits like “Don’t Stop Believin,’” “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “Red Wine.” It was incredibly fun, but the best was yet to come. As the Korean contingent shuffled out, the lone woman in the group stopped in front of Andrew, who continued to impress with his singing throughout the evening. “You’re a very good singer,” she said, and then whispered in Andrew’s ear. Over and over she said something to the group and then whispered in Andrew’s ear. It was not until later that we found out that whatever the woman said to the group, she repeated into Andrew’s ear in a more seductive voice.

Wiped out, we called for the bill. As it came, Cho, who was now our very good friend, shuffled over and took a look. He looked at Savin, Ashley, and Shanti and said “My friends [the Korean clientele] think American girls…” and then he paused as if he was about to sneeze and it all came out at once: “VERY SEXY! WOW! VERY SEXY!” Cho looked at the bill, which was $19.50. Again, it looked as if he was about to sneeze: “$15! SEXY LADIES: $15! NO SEXY LADIES: $20!” For those of you following along at home, Cho would have raised the price if we weren’t accompanied by sexy ladies.

As we departed, Cho walked us outside and gave each of us a handshake, and then the hugs started. He gave Justin a big bear hug, saying “I rrrove you! I rrrove you forever!” Now, I hate to be stereotypical, but there was no “l” when he said love. In fact, the whole experience felt like a stereotypical Korean karaoke experience in all the best ways. We will definitely be going back, but we’ll have to round up the sexy ladies first.