La Voz

Issue date: 6/4/07 Section: College Life

Stage-shy De Anza College students took to the microphone on Thursday, May 24, to belt out lyrics to songs ranging from the Backstreet Boys to the 80s Norwegian band A-Ha.

In fact, Michael La, a third quarter pharmacy student, sang the song "Take on me" twice during the event. He also sang Elton John's "Yellow Brick Road," faltering slightly and prompting laughter when he came to the line "hunting the horny back toad."

Before La and other participants sang for the crowd, the karaoke event appear as though it was not going to happen. Although projected to begin at 11 a.m., the open mic event didn't begin until 12:48 p.m. due to technical difficulties, including a missing cable, the same cable that prevented the last planned karaoke event from happening in the beginning of this quarter.

For the first hour, Levi Rosenthal, the Inter-Club Council chair of programs who organized the event, sat on the stage, swung his legs and sang "Love Me Tender" by Elvis Presley. "Someone needs to take this mic away from me," he joked. "Come on," he said amid hoots from the crowd, "I made a fool out of myself, now it's your turn."

The shadows crept over the stage as the one-man karaoke event continued. Then, finally, the first brave soul besides Rosenthal, Truong Tu, volunteered to sing "Can You Feel the Love Tonight."

Tu proved to be the catalyst for other students to take to the mic. Jeung Kim, an education major, also ventured to the stage to sing. "I want this activity to happen more often," she said as her reason for participating in the event.

Not all participants paid attention to the song lyrics displayed on the TV screen. Alan Chan, a language arts major in his third quarter, free styled to MC Hammer's "You Can't Touch This," much to the enjoyment of his friends who were yelling and laughing from the sidelines at some of his impromptu lyrics.

Johnson Eung stuck to love songs, including "As Long as You Love Me" by the Backstreet Boys and "Burn" by Usher, "in light in of the cool weather," he said. Eung cheesed it up for the crowd, adding old-school dance moves to the routine, including pointing at the camera operator on the sidelines, and telling the trio of women nearby, "Plenty of me to go around."

Although the event was scheduled to end at 1:30, people were still gathering, flipping through the various binders scattered around the side of the stage. Each binder was a copy of all the songs available on the karaoke system. The songs available ranged from artists Britney Spears to Bob Marley to Blondie.

The ICC sponsored the event and are running a food drive as well.

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