Behind you the keyboards by Steve Wilson are pounding and to your left hot guitarist Chris Canzoneri is jamming. You take a deep breath, put the microphone close to your mouth, your cue comes up and...

    You’re belting out Louis Armstrong or Cheap Trick. Singing Ray Charles, The Doors or the Beatles. From country western to even rap, the sound is what you choose as the leader of the band, and with over 160,000 songs to choose from in all genres, the possibilities are endless.

    What do you get when you blend karaoke with a live band? “Beyond Karaoke” of course, where singers pick a tune they think they can master and a live band joins in to create a sound that’s way more powerful than usual karaoke fare.

    Each Friday and Sunday night at B’s Boathouse on the lake, plus Saturdays if there’s no live band, “Beyond Karaoke” hosted by sound man Steve Tebo makes lead singers out of anyone. The wireless microphone lets singers work the room, croon to a loved one that special song or just rock out and dance. Every tune sees a new star born as singers follow the lyrics as they light up on the screen.

    “It gives people the live feel of being in a band,” said Canzoneri. “While they may have tried karaoke before we add the live aspect to it and people tell us they really like it.”

    With endless thousands of songs to choose from singers are bound to find something to their liking and listeners are entertained for hours with an endless variety of songs. One recent Saturday saw golden oldies like “Johnny Angel” and “It Never Rains in Southern California” performed along with “My Girl” and “What’s Up,” which a patron named Lori did a very nice job with.

    Of course the nearly-endless song list makes it tough on the band, which really has to know its stuff. “If I don’t have a clue to the song I’ll pick up the bass guitar,” Canzoneri, who has played guitar since he was age 11, said.

    “It’s easier to pick up the bass line on songs you’re not familiar with,” he added. “But I would say we can play 80, 85% of anything people choose and we’re real familiar with all the karaoke regular songs people usually choose.”

    B’s Boathouse owner John Gorzik is a frustrated rock and roller who likes to take the microphone. “I’ll do about four songs,” he said, adding that one is Louis Armstrong’s “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

    “You would be surprised, it’s not that hard of a song to do,” he said, before singing a rather decent rendition, catching the deep bass vocals nicely. Later Gorzik returned to the stage to sing Billy Idol’s “White Wedding” and as Canzoneri rocked on the guitar, Gorzik hollered and jumped about in a pretty good Idol imitation.

    “I sell this one to get the audience up to dance,” he hollered into the mike. “I sound better when you sing along. Somehow a live band joining you makes karaoke sound better.” “We always say at B’s, you’re only one more beer away from getting up to sing with the band,” Gorzik laughed. A bunch of suds must have been consumed this night because before long a group of snowboarders who till then had been content to just play pool and watch decided to sing their own favorite tune...

    Queen’s epic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a vocal extravaganza with rock and opera lyrics combining to create quite the vocal challenge. No, this group of twenty-something guys won’t be going on tour anytime soon, but Gorzik and a couple other singers jumped up to help them out and soon the whole bar was rocking, Canzoneri’s guitar and Wilson’s keyboards leading the way.

    “On most songs Steve and I do background vocals and we’ll help out on leads for people who are nervous but really want to give it a try,” Canzoneri said. His local band Plethora was known for playing a wide variety of music, a trait which comes in handy during “Beyond Karaoke.”

    B’s Boathouse is at 350 Alden Rd. on the water. Call (909) 866-5400.