Karaoke pub allows patrons to show off singing talents

Sarah Szczepanski/Assistant Features Editor SAY WHAT?: Kim Cashman, a Lafayette resident, sings on stage at Cox’s Pub, a local bar that offers karaoke seven nights a week. Cashman, an employee of Cox’s Pub, just finished recording her first CD and will travel to Tennessee next month to visit two record companies.

By Sarah Szczepanski
Assistant Features Editor

While a man in a black cowboy hat sings on the stage at Cox’s Pub, a local bar that offers karaoke seven nights per week, Kim Cashman, an employee, stops at a table of eight Purdue students.

She points to six of them and tells them they need to get up on the stage and sing. As she is talking, she is stopped by a patron who congratulates her on the song she sang a few minutes ago.

A new song is playing now, this time it is another patron singing a song from the musical group Creed. Cashman gives the students some karaoke request tickets.

"They’re picking out a song for me to sing," she says smiling.

A scene like this is characteristic for Cashman the nights she works at the Cox Pub, located on the corner where St. Road 52 meets St. Road 25 in Lafayette, since she began working there five years ago.

It was on the very stage in the pub that Cashman’s musical ability was discovered. After hearing her sing one night, a patron convinced her to go to a local studio to record a CD.

Cashman, who never had any formal vocal training, eventually decided to try it, and she just finished recording her first CD last week. Next month she will travel to Tennessee where she will meet with two record companies.

Ironically, if she were accepted by one of the companies, Big Mama Studios, she would be singing voice-overs that would be used for karaoke CDs.

Whatever Cashman ends up doing, she says the only thing that is important is that she gets the opportunity to sing — which is one of the two reasons she enjoys her job at Cox’s Pub.

The other reason she cites is the fun atmosphere and the mixture of people at the establishment.

"It’s a mixing pot," said Phil Cox, the owner of Cox’s Pub. "There is everyone from the ages of 21 to 70 that come here."

Kim Basil, a senior in the School of Nursing, is one of those people. "It’s a nice change from the campus bars; it’s a different atmosphere," said Basil, after singing "We got the Beat" on the stage with one of her friends. "It’s lots of fun."

And having fun is what Cox and Cashman say the pub is all about.

During the week, the pub offers different contests, including a cash prize karaoke contest on Wednesdays and Say What Karaoke or Mystery Karaoke, where participants go on stage and sing a random song that is selected for them.

"It’s a good time and I like the people here," says Cashman.

Lafayette resident Craig "Bubble-butt" Isenberg, wearing a blue Chicago Cubs T-shirt, steps on the stage and speaks to the crowd before his song begins.

"Bubble-butt is in the house — Let's Go Cubs," shouts Isenberg, as he karaokes to John Mellencamp’s "Jack and Diane." He adds his own twist, substituting "Bubble-butt" every time the name "Jack" is mentioned in the song. He finishes and raises his arms to the audience’s applause.

Isenberg, a Cox’s Pub regular, says he comes to Cox's Pub at least five days per week.

"I don’t come here for the beer," he said, sipping his Coke. "I like being with people; I like to sing."

 

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