Where’s Simon Cowell when you need him? A young man is slaughtering “The Thunder Rolls,” a Garth Brooks classic, during karaoke night at Giligin's, a popular downtown Scottsdale bar, on a late Thursday night. Sadly, there is no snarky Simon around to tell him to sod off and to keep his day job.

Nearby, “Chuey,” the diminutive host of this karaoke madness, looks bemused by what he's hearing and the small crowd of people in their 20s and 30s stare at the wannabe country crooner, bewildered.
“It's a little bit weird here tonight,’’ says Dan Kaelin, 31, of Glendale. “Usually, karaoke is fun here. We've heard the Backstreet Boys twice, which is really out of character for this place.’’

Giligin's — an eclectic and colorful bar known for its goldfish racing and monster beer bottles as well as karaoke — is usually something of a grab bag. But the bar's karaoke nights on Sundays, Mondays and Thursdays are known for attracting an abundance of talented singers.

“It's just bizarre here tonight,’’ says Kate Becks, 28, of Tempe. “I really love their karaoke, but tonight is off. Usually, there are a lot of people singing with really amazing voices.’’

After an hour of karaoke passes with mediocre to just plain horrible singers, 29-year-old Chris Blake of Scottsdale rocks the mike with his rendition of The Scorpions’ “Still Loving You,’’ which receives a thunderous applause from the audience.

“That song has a lot of passion,” says Blake, a singer and songwriter who recently moved to the East Valley. “People don’t usually see what I do coming. I do this because it’s my way of staying up to par ... Some people think I'm a celebrity when I'm up there.”

Blake might not be the next Jon Bon Jovi, but there's no denying that the guy is a ray of sunshine on a cloudy karaoke night. While Blake takes a break — to rest his vocal cords, perhaps — a trio of bubbly young women rushes the stage to ultimately sabotage the Divinyls’ brazen ’90s hit “I Touch Myself.” But the 30 or so bar patrons don't seem to care that much.

“Karaoke is about having fun,” says Jennifer Molls, 22, of Scottsdale. “And that's what everyone here is doing. They may not be the best singers in the world or even that good, but they're having a good time.”