In the midst of taking some time off from this space, I've picked up a weekly karaoke show at Tavern in the Forest. Courtesy of my mass texting and Facebooking, chances are you already knew that.

But what you might have missed was our first week of competition for the $1,100 contest. Every Wednesday for 10 weeks, we'll qualify people for the March 24th finals. There, the winner will take home $750 (second place gets $250; third $100 house cash to Tavern).

We kicked it off last week. As it turned out, we didn't save the best for last. The first of our nine potential qualifiers, Jessy, took home the first spot in our finals -- as well as $25 worth of free drinks from Tavern.

Technically, I guess the latter went home in her belly.

Anyway, here's a few pics, and because we haven't rigged the lighting just yet, you'll have to excuse the redeye.

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Ryan, who decided last minute he was going to try to qualify with a song he'd never done. I'm guessing he won't try that again... 

Sarah, whose voice somehow manages to blend sweet and angry all into one...

Shane, or as I decided to call him one night, "Chase" ...

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If you're interested in getting into the mix, all you have to do is show up to Tavern on Wednesday nights by 9ish to sign up. We start the weekly qualifiers off around 10.

And in addition to the aforementioned stage lighting, we'll also be rigging that giant projector screen (behind me in the pics) to also show the words. That way you cats can sing along.

I'll be posting pics here and there from the weekly events, and if you'd like to pass yours along, feel free.