Song. Song.

How many songs could a person sing in three hours of karaoke-ing? Not enough, I found out.

In a recent outing at the Red Box, our group (sisters, bro in law, niece and some) didn't really get the feel of the night and our throats didn't even itch, as we downed pop, beers and alternated with the microphone.

The Pinoys' love and craziness over karaoke haven't abated. I'm sure every average Joe and Jane (Juan and Juanita) has a karaoke in the house. Those without one, I guess, belong to a minority of Pinoys still in denial.

A bro in law who sits as an RTC judge has perfected his pitch and choice of songs, and anytime he gets hold of a microphone could belt out any song from the Magic Sing or Wow song book. My eldest sister, meanwhile can knock them out with her renditions of old love songs by Doris Day, Paul Anka and Anita Bryant and her husband, a medical doctor like her, can match her songs with "A Certain Smile and Release Me."

My other sister, a school officer, is the official "bajo" in the family choir together with me, and another sis can put Patsy Cline to shame with her "Crazy' stuff. My youngest sis and youngest bro, can carry tunes, too, and the other sis, who's been a late bloomer in her karaoke singing, can sing and dance Oh Carol and Diana by Neil Sedaka, or is Paul Anka?

My nieces and nephews, even Mica and my favorite singer who loves I Will Survive and Dancing Queen, have great voices and matching dance moves.

Professionals and non professionals and almost every Pinoy I know share the joys of karaoke singing. But how come there are still certain people who look down on karaoke as too "bakya," or for the "masa lang daw."

Manny Pacquiao, the Great Hope of Boxing, is another karaoke aficionado who's gone professional in singing. But look how some people still ridicule him.

I watched a once well known singer in a concert at the Captain's Bar in Mandarin while I was in Manila, and the singer cracked some jokes, including, how other people and the boxer himself, consider Pacquiao handsome. It's all because of the money he's got, the once well known singer said. No one in the audience laughed.

I remember the years 2000 - 2002 when I lived in a farm in Nueva Ecija and how we would have lunches at the nearby Fort Magsaysay. There would always be soldiers and other military people crammed around the videoke screaming their lungs out. And there would be late evening trips back to Manila and dinners at roadside cafes where ordinary folks enjoyed food and drinks and videoke singing.

Toronto has dozens of Filipino restaurants and bars with karaoke nights, and thousands of mainstream Canadian restaurants and bars with the same attraction. Five or seven years ago, karaoke was mostly the Filipino and Asian's delight.

It took the show American Idol to get bathroom singing out of the shower and into the open - into a bar or the party.

Pass the mike, please.