This is Tongass Voices, a series from KTOO sharing weekly perspectives from the homelands of the Áak’w Kwáan and beyond.
Every Wednesday night, the Alaskan Hotel & Bar in downtown Juneau swarms with hopefuls. One by one, they get the chance to step on the stage, mic in hand, and sing whatever they please.
The man who hands them the mic is Seth Williams. He’s been hosting karaoke in Juneau for a decade at a few bars around town. For this episode of Tongass Voices, Williams shares how he got into the role and what he loves about seeing people get their moment in the spotlight.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
Listen:
Seth Williams: My name is Seth Williams. I grew up in Hoonah. But I’ve been in Juneau now longer than I ever was in Hoonah. I’ve been here 17 years.
I had been going to karaoke forever. And I had filled in a couple of times when the Karaoke Host would leave in the middle of the shift because it’s really not the easiest job.
The last person quit. I’d taken over. What was funny was it kept going on for months. Like, every time Iʼd come in, I was told this is not permanent, you know, “Don’t get comfortable doing this.”
And then one night, the owner’s wife came in for the Viking, and she asked me to sing a song with her. And so we’re singing the song, we’re having a lot of fun. It was like the random Wednesday night or something like that at the Viking. And she looks at me, she’s like, “Do you know who I am?” I was like, “I’m sorry. I don’t.” And she’s like, “I want you to know that this is your job now for however long you want it.”
And, you know, a lot of it came from just me doing what I’ve been doing. Just trying to convince people to sing, if they want to, and then kind of help them as they struggle. And I ended up keeping the position for the most part until the Viking closed.
I think one of the greatest things that’s happened since I’ve taken over the Alaskan — I call them Gen Z kids, younger people. They’re incredibly supportive. And it doesn’t matter the caliber or level of whoever is singing, if the energy is high, they’ll just be up there singing with them. And you could see the look on the person who was very nervous to sing in the first place. And then you have all these people up front singing and dancing. It makes them feel like a rock star for a moment. It’s a really fun thing to happen.
And so kind of similar things happened at the Sandbar on Friday nights recently. There’s a company, I won’t give the name. It’s a bunch of 20-somethings coming. And they’re very much the same way. They’re very supportive. And they make it a lot of fun, and bring this high energy. And, you know, a lot of people kind of attribute that to me, I can kind of do certain songs to get people kind of into it. But then they kind of take the energy and run with it. And so my job is actually kind of easy in that sense.
I kind of joke, you know, is it a karaoke night if there isn’t one person who doesn’t sing What’s Up by Four Non Blondes. Even though it’s a much older song in general, it’s still one that kind of gets the crowd hyped.
And depending on the mood, and, you know, Man, I Feel Like a Woman. Like, especially the Sandbar, it’s really very interesting to watch because somebody will sing it. And all the women there — and there’s quite a few women there at times. They just dance and have fun, like, age doesn’t matter. It’s just this humongous unifying song that gets everybody hyped and they have a lot of fun and it’s just really fun to watch.
Yvonne Krumrey: Have you ever sung that song at karaoke?
Seth Williams: I havenʼt. It’s not in my range.
