By Gal Tziperman Lotan

“Check, one two, check, check.”

Junior music industry major Chris Sita tested his karaoke and DJ system at afterHOURS Friday.

Top 40 and ’90s music blared through the venue. The “Classic Karaoke” event was held as part of Homecoming 2007 activities.

Ben Hoffman, a middler music industry major who managed the club that night, sat at a small round table in the corner.

“Normally student organizations do karaoke and bring a lot of club members, but Chris just does his own thing,” Hoffman said. “It’s kind of a slow night.”

Starting the evening off, Gabrielle Farrell, a high school senior at the Health Careers Academy, stepped onto the stage and sang “Hero” by Mariah Carey.

With hands tucked into her pockets, Farrell watched the white lyrics on a blue projection screen turn yellow as she sang them.

Her friend Marcus John, a senior at MATCH Charter High School, said they were studying in the library and stumbled upon the event.

“She got some coffee and decided to sing. It was a wonderful finish to my night,” he said.

Greg Siciliano, a sophomore biology major, sang U2’s “With Or Without You” and Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You” in falsetto, swaying lightly on the stage.

“I just like to sing, though I’m not very good,” he said. “I expected more people here, but hey, you get more chances to sing with fewer people.”

Ben Gram, a middler music industry major who has been working at afterHOURS for two years, said Siciliano is “a karaoke regular, famous around the Northeastern karaoke scene.”

Gram said afterHOURS’ weekly karaoke nights have drawn up to 70 people in the past.

“Tonight there’s a hockey game and the Celtics are playing, so there’s less attendance,” he said.

Jeff Geisperger, a freshman electrical and computer engineering major, sang “Oops, I Did it Again” by Britney Spears.

“It’s the first song I ever karaoked, so I try to sing it every time,” he said. “I love karaoke and have no shame in singing any song.”

Sita started his DJ and karaoke business, Sounds Abounds Entertainment, in 2002 as a high school sophomore in Eatontown, NJ.

He has been working as a sound technician at afterHOURS since last fall and said Tasha Henderson, assistant director of Student Activities and afterHOURS manager, asked him to host the karaoke night.

Freshman Kristin Echanique sat in the center of the room nursing a Starbucks drink with her parents who came up from Randolph, N.J., earlier in the day for Parents’ Weekend.

“I expected more people, but it’s Parents’ Weekend and there’s a lot of other stuff going on,” Echanique said.

Her mother Joyce said she was “having a great time.”

“I was dying for a Starbucks, and it’s great that the music is going,” she said.

The three were enjoying the atmosphere.

“He’s going to sing,” Joyce joked, gesturing toward her husband, Frank. “It will definitely clear the place out.”

Seth Pyenson, a senior economics major, said he heard about the event through a friend 20 minutes before he showed up.

“I wasn’t expecting to sing, but I expected to hear someone else sing,” he said.

Sita said the event drew a larger crowd toward the end of the night. It was scheduled to run until 2 a.m.

“A lot of people started coming in after 11:30,” Sita said. “People had fun. That’s what karaoke is all about.”