Pornaoke. Only in Tampa.
Words: Shawn Kyle

Appearing:
Every Wednesday
Pegasus Lounge, Tampa

"With this stuff playing to the left of me... I try not to look..."

Lazer Ray has 14 thousand songs at his disposal to let you sing and has been a veteran Karaoke DJ for 18 years in bars ranging from high class to the worst country dive imaginable, but he is still a little squeamish talking and thinking about his Wednesday night gig.

Every Wednesday night it is Pornaoke at the Pegasus Lounge, and the Jager shots flow freely.

Karaoke means “empty orchestra” and was originated in Japan in the 1970’s and is still extremely popular there. By the 1990s, it had spread across the world as a form of entertainment. But nowhere else in the world will you find Pornaoke, but in Tampa.

In recent years the Pegasus was changed from a biker bar to a haven for up and coming rock, metal and punk acts that needed a place to cut their teeth and chops. A younger crowd began to frequent the place. But the Karaoke night was kept on Wednesdays and at first it was not a hit.

“When I first started working there it was slow. I had a few people that would come out that were regulars. The big TV screen behind the stage can have anything projected on there…it is old as sin, the projector is broken and only projects in red.

“One night, someone messed with the TV and put Cinemax on there. Late night cable, it has that soft porn on there.... and since in Karaoke you can show what you want on the TV's.... people thought it was hilarious, and then next week more and more people started coming.”

Lazer Ray wants to make one thing clear…

“This was not my idea.”

Yet, every week it became more popular because of word of mouth. When a few months later the bar had stopped paying for the movie channels on cable, the fans of the night became angry, what had become a mixed crowd of regulars of all sorts, from young punks to scenesters to metal heads, college students and Karaoke diehards all wanted one thing: surreal XXX images that almost become Warhol-esque when shot through a vintage projector that only shows red on a big screen as they belt out a heartfelt version of “Don’t Stop Believing”. The Pegasus had invented Pornaoke.

“Most of the people aren’t even watching it. If they haven’t been there before the first thing they do is point and laugh when they realize what is playing up there on the big screen. Some nights we would have between 400 and 500 people jammed in and out of that place.”

“It has become sort of a cult thing... everyone in this town knows about it.“

Pegasus Lounge