Karaoke at Granny Bee’s
It’s six o’clock on a Tuesday evening, and the regular crowd shuffles into the backroom at Granny Bee’s. They’ve traveled from as far away as Red House, Madison Heights, Drake Springs, and even Lynchburg. There’s Lewis Martin, better known as “Big Boss Man,” and Bobby Martin, wearing his Virginia Cavaliers’ baseball cap. They greet one another warmly, choose booths, and take their seats. The waitress arrives in a few moments and takes everyone’s orders: it’s karaoke night at Granny Bee’s, but everyone arrives early for dinner and conversation.
The banter is easy and familiar, and if you ask the regulars what brings them back week after week, the word that turns up most often is “family.”
“It’s a relaxed atmosphere, everybody’s like a family,” Zoey Grishaw told me. She has been coming to Granny Bee’s for karaoke since April 2005.
“One big happy family,” Roger Franklin echoes. He has been a regular almost since Lewis Moore, Granny Bee’s owner pictured at right, turned karaoke into a weekly ritual seven or eight years ago.
It’s also a family that looks out for one another. When someone has a birthday, there’s cake and ice cream on hand. When someone is feeling under the weather, there’s a phone tree, and everyone soon finds out.
As the plates of food arrive and the conversation flows, this family also enjoys good-hearted teasing.
“I had a special request from the group [on] the other side of the room,” one gentleman told Franklin. He then paused just a moment before delivering his punch line: “That you rest your voice tonight.”
Franklin, however, gets the last laugh after pointing toward the newspaper writer—yours truly—who had captured the jokester’s “request” on the tape recorder.
After the dinner dishes are cleared, everyone lugs out heavy karaoke cases. These bulky, overflowing collections are a clue that these folks take their karaoke seriously.
Diana Britton (pictured at left), who’s been coming out for around five years, opens a hefty case on the table packed to overflowing with 360-plus karaoke CDs. The case must weigh seven or eight pounds. She likes to have it on hand, just in case a newcomer wants to sing a hard-to-find favorite.
“But you know what,” Britton told me. “It wouldn’t matter if I had ten of these—I never have enough music—cause there’s always gonna be somebody that wants one song that I don’t have.”
If you imagine the karaoke scene at Granny Bee’s as a wild night in downtown Appomattox, you couldn’t be more wrong. In fact, there isn’t a beer glass or ashtray in sight, and perhaps the best way to describe the scene at Granny Bee’s is wholesome, family entertainment. This show is so wholesome that the regulars even take it on the road, visiting Appomattox Healthcare every second Monday and performing at Hollywood Baptist Church on fifth Sundays.
The songs come one right after another, and if anyone is nervous or shy about coming up front and singing, they don’t let it show. There are country classics like “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” ’50s rock ‘n’ roll like “At the Hop,” and fun high jinks like “The Streak.” And if you’re really lucky, you might even hear Britton yodel Patsy Montana’s signature song, “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart.”
Everybody has his or her own karaoke philosophy, too.
“I found sometimes if I practice I mess up,” Zoey Grishaw told me, “so if I just go on and sing it, I don’t mess up as much.”
Elsie Mann, who joined the group six months ago, said that singing was “something I always wanted to do.” She also records her own CDs, and was nice enough to give me a copy of her latest, Live at Billy’s Dance Club.
“If I make a mistake, you know, just keep going,” Mann said.
Roger Franklin jokes that you have to be careful when choosing a song. You might practice a new song all week, but you can never predict whether someone else in the group will accidentally sing it that night.
“It’s something that you cannot plan [or] schedule,” Franklin told me, “because if you do, if you say ‘I’m gonna sing this song,’ somebody will get up way ahead of you and sing that song.”
For those who have grown bored sitting at home watching American Idol, there’s always a warm welcome for a new singer at Granny Bee’s. And for those who aren’t quite ready for prime time, have no fears: there’s also a lively group of karaoke lovers like Ethel Dana Franklin (pictured waving at right), Jackie Grishaw, and Gladys Franklin who love to sing along as they sit safely on the sidelines.
Fair warning, though: this wholesome form of karaoke seems to be addicting. Even as you innocently watch the singers from a side booth, don’t be surprised if your feet attempt to walk your shaking body toward the glowing karaoke screen at the front of the room. And don’t be surprised if the next time you see me it’s on stage at Granny Bee’s, singing “Crazy Arms” and doing my best imitation of Ray Price.
Photos credited to Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr.
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