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• Varsity Lounge

Dannon Crews and Bill W. hang out at Varsity Lounge, 1517 N. Pennsylvania St., on karoake night. (Neal Taflinger / INtake for The Star)

9:50

Purported to be the oldest gay bar in Indiana, the Varsity Lounge is an Indianapolis tradition. It says so on the sign. A hole-in-the-wall immediately south of the intersection of Pennsylvania and 16th streets, the Varsity consists of two dark rooms divided by a double-sided bar. A neon sign on the back wall spells "PRIDE," but the "I" is a bottle of Miller Lite. The Varsity is warm, friendly and positively divey.

Taffy's long and convoluted work history includes a stint as a bouncer at a bar in Bloomington. Upstairs was a rock 'n' roll club; downstairs was a dingy gay bar. It was there that he first witnessed the power of gay-bar karaoke. The torch songs, the tongue-in-cheek camp classics, the double-entendre pop lyrics. If adult basketball and softball leagues are where old jocks go to relive the glory days, then gay-club karaoke is where high school thespians take three more minutes in the spotlight.

I hope that the Varsity Lounge crowd lives up to my expectations.

10:10 p.m.

I've seen Heidi Snider before. She sang at Metro when I was out on my not-quite-24-hour bar crawl in August. The 27-year-old professional singer is a sometimes ringer for Rockstar Promotions, the host of tonight's karaoke. A few minutes after she finishes, her friend Justin Brown steps up with a solid rendition of "Broken Vow" by Josh Groban. Snider and Brown, 23, are "KJs" for Rockstar, running events on the Indy gay-club circuit. Snider says the Varsity crowd is consistent, but the best karaoke singers are at Downtown Olly's.

10:31 p.m.

The Varsity is so laid-back that, save for a camped-up version of the "Monster Mash," the singers perform their songs straight, er, seriously. You know what I mean. The screen and karaoke computer are pressed against the wall in a room dominated by an unused pool table. The crowd hugs the bar.

10:45 p.m.

Tara Laird moved here to attend IUPUI. The 22-year-old student noticed the little bar down the street and, after she came in a few times, "they became my family," she says. Her friend and neighbor Daniel Lundy is celebrating his 34th birthday tonight. There are fancier places to visit on special occasions, but there's no place like home. Regulars don't even have to order drinks, Lundy says; they just arrive.

10:54 p.m.

Karaoke is a refuge for hack singers, but I've always wondered if more talented singers slum it up in the karaoke dives of New York, Nashville, or Los Angeles. Apparently not, according to Christopher Noffky. "It's usually people who can't carry a tune," he says. The 31-year-old Manhattan resident is a regular karaoke participant when he comes home to Indianapolis to visit.

11:07 p.m.

There were no memorable, life-changing performances tonight, just a crowd of singin' fools who seemed to all know one another. There are bigger, nicer, flashier clubs in town, and there are karaoke singers who are more competitive, more brash, more talented. But there's less pressure to impress when you're surrounded by friends. After all, the Varsity Lounge is an Indianapolis tradition.