Okay, for the record I want to emphasize that I have never, I repeat never fancied myself or considered myself to be much of a singer. I'm the kind of person that can carry pretty much anything but not carry a tune. Heck, I'm not even a good singer in the shower. Those two years of high school chorus? Lip-synching.

About the only time I have sung (other in the car with the radio or tape deck turned up loud enough to drown out my awful singing) was when I was usually loaded along with everyone else and you know how that goes, when you're loaded everything sounds good and know one knows the difference.

I was in for a big surprise when I came to Korea in 1990 and soon discovered to my dismay that everyone was singing about something and going out to do it. Everyone knows about karaoke in Japan and elsewhere but back in Korea in the early 90s there were these places called noraebang - which roughly translated means singing (norae) room (bang) popping up everywhere. Similar to a karaoke, a noraebang had a number of small rooms inside where people could get together and sing along (with a small karaoke machine).

Some of these noraebang were (and still are) quite stylish with TV screens and videos, spinning disco balls, flashing lights, comfortable sofas and chairs. Many places sold alcoholic beverages and snacks so it was like having your own private party room. In the beginning the English song selection was quite limited to such standard karaoke classics like "My Way" and "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" but by the end of the 90s you could sing anything from "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf to "Don't Bring Me Down" by ELO.

Going out to a noraebang would soon become a popular activity in Korea, especially with students and colleagues, and soon I was being invited out. There was no way that I was going to be able to lip-synch now or even fake it because these karaoke machines also "scored" your singing ability. Most of the people I went to a noraebang with scored 90 points or above. I would soon learn what it meant to "lose face" when people found out just how bad a singer I was when I scored below 50 points.

And all the times when some students would say to me, "you good singer teacher" - I knew they were just being kind and perhaps worried about failing if they really told me what they really thought about my singing.

However, my singing debut in Korea was not in a noraebang, but instead at a student-lodging house better known as a ha-sook chip that in Korean that means boarding house. It was back in 1991 and one of my students had invited me to an "opening party" - Konglish (Korean-English)-for an open house at her friend's boarding house. There would be a lot of food, beer, and to my surprise-singing. It was a sizable party-around 20 people including the students and their friends-as well as the husband and wife who owned the boarding house.

The party was in a large downstairs room with everyone seated on the floor around traditional Korean tables called sang which resemble rectangular-shaped coffee tables. The tables themselves were laden with various kinds of Korean food: kimbap (thinly rolled sheets of seaweed with rice, vegetables, ham and fried egg inside) fried rice, fried noodles, assorted pickled vegetables (kimchi), ddok (a chewy, glutinous rice cake filled with sweet bean paste) fruit, and beer.

Before we could eat, everyone had to introduce themselves and say a few words to say how happy he or she was to be there and to thank the owners of the boarding house. Of course all of this was done in Korean until it came to my turn and I introduced myself in English and said a few words that only a few people understood.

After we had eaten and had a couple of glasses of beer it came time to sing. Koreans love to sing and university students are known for singing a lot of traditional Korean folk songs. So, just like the introductions, everyone around the table had to sing a song including me.

I didn't know what to sing. My mind was a blank. Everyone started clapping encouraging me to sing. Think Jeffrey. Think. A song. Quickly. Search your memory bank for any song. Hurry.

And that's when I launched into "I'm Henry the VIII, I am" by Herman's Hermits:

"I'm Henry the eighth I am,

Henry the eighth I am I am,

I got married to the widow next door,

She's been married seven times before,

And every one was a Henry (Henry),

She wouldn't have a Willie or a Sam (No Sam)

I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry,

Henry the eighth I am."

I guess if you're going to have to sing any ditty to appease a rambunctious crowd you can't go wrong with a rousing rendition of "Henry the VIII, I am." It worked for me and other than Peter Noone's version, my rendition that cold November evening back in 1991 was no doubt only the second version of the song ever sung in Korea.

Too bad I never came across that song at any of the noraebang I've been to in Korea. I am sure I could have gotten a 100 points.

And as for Herman's Hermits and any connection to my singing of that song, back in the 1960s I just missed seeing them at Ryan Crawley's Tap in LaSalle, Illinois.

Back in the 1960s a lot of bands like Herman's Hermits, The Animals, and The Turtles played at the Peru Youth Center in Peru, Illinois that was right off Rt. 80 and Rt. 51. These bands would stop off there after having played in Chicago for a set or two before heading off to another concert either south on Rt. 51 or west on Rt. 80.

One Sunday afternoon I was out with my grandparents when they stopped at Ryan Crawley's for a couple of drinks-my Grandpa Miller knew Ryan Crawley quite well and always made a regular habit of stopping at his tavern located on Rt. 351 (St. Vincent's Ave) on the north end of LaSalle when he and my grandmother went out. On that particular Sunday, after my grandparents had ordered a beer, Ryan told my grandfather how this band had just stopped in after playing at the Youth Center. He said they called themselves Herman's Hermits and that they were from England.

"Good lads," Ryan said. "They had a couple of Cokes and then went on their way."

In 1990, Peter Noone was back in the Illinois Valley (LaSalle-Peru-Oglesby-Spring Valley), this time for a concert during Oglesby Celebration Days. I was back home at the time and my best friend and college roommate Luke McQuade was visiting so we went to see Peter Noone. Luke and I got in the front row and were kind of heckling Peter Noone and this female Illinois State Trooper who for some reason was standing at the back of the stage for crowd control or something. That's what Luke and I were heckling Peter Noone about and soon, he was wondering why she was at the back of the stage, and at one point while he was singing, forgot some of the lyrics. Sorry about that Peter.

Funny how a lot of memories are connected in one way or another.