Last night I rushed off to KoreaTown to meet Kent at Tahoe Galbi (an upscale Korean BBQ restaurant). Joining us was Sarah; another piece of the IIS (one of my freelance clients) puzzle who was visiting from England. After eating way too much food and a little Hite I followed Kent and Sarah to a Korean Spa a few blocks away. We walked through the spa – past the nail salon – past the bookstore – then down a set of gold painted steps. At the bottom of the steps was a Korean style karaoke bar done up with an elaborate Egyptian theme (like a mini Luxor hotel). We entered a private room with a large couch and center table. On the wall was a large LCD display. Two mics were on the table, a remote control, and three small drinking glasses. A waiter came in with two bottles of OB Blue and poured us all a glass. Kent entered “Yesterday” and began singing. Sarah and I looked at each other in horror. Kent had joked all through dinner about how we’d be singing for each other after dinner – apparently he wasn’t bluffing. With a bit of coaxing we loosened up and joined the (private) party. For two hours we “sang” duets to MIDI versions of our favorite songs with sing along poorly translated English lyric subtitles while watching stock video of Porsche races, beach walkers, and city traffic. The generation gap became immediately evident as Sarah and I teamed up for several Radiohead and Muse songs while Kent went alone on ABBA, Billy Joel, and everyone’s favorite – a stirring rendition of Elvis Prezly’s “All Shoop up.”

At one point Sarah and I explained to Kent what “karaoke” typically consists of for honkies. He was as shocked at that concept as we were with his. I didn’t realize until tonight how much Koreans valued privacy. In trying to find a website for the karaoke “bar” (which I never could) I discovered the fact that Los Angeles’ Koreatown has the highest concentration of Koreans outside of Korea itself.