Terry O’Brien is a one-man band—but instead of cymbals on his knees and a drum on his back, the tools of his trade are speakers and cases of CDs.
O’Brien, 39, stages karaoke nights, drawing crowds year-round to bars in North Wildwood, Cape May, Cape May Courthouse, and Rio Grande. “I’d always loved going to karaoke and noticed nobody was really doing it here,” he says.
O’Brien is something of a Renaissance man. He came to Cape May in 1993 from Pennsylvania to act. Over the years, he has had roles in a few plays, in addition to fronting some Cape May bar bands. He also writes a column for Exit Zero, Cape May’s weekly newspaper, and his murder-mystery series that ran in the paper was anthologized and published last year as Murder-Oke and Other Spooky Cape May Tales (Exit Zero Publishing). The title story is about a murder spree. The victims? Terry O’ke singers.
Last summer, O’Brien had a brush with Hollywood when Millburn native Anne Hathaway came to Terry O’ke to sing KT Tunstall’s “Suddenly I See,” which was featured in The Devil Wears Prada.
O’Brien is not counting on another Hathaway appearance this summer, but it will still be a busy one. He’s added his first regular Kiddy O’ke show at the Boiler Room in Congress Hall (Thursdays, 6-8 pm) on top of his regular shows six nights a week. On his “off” night, O’Brien plays with the band Acoustic Mayhem.
“I don’t see myself hosting karaoke forever,” says O’Brien. “But for now I’m having a lot of fun.”
Here’s where you can catch Terry O’ke this summer:
Sundays: Owen’s Pub, North Wildwood; 9 pm-midnight
Mondays: Martini Beach, Cape May; 10 pm-1 am
Tuesdays: Atkinson’s, Cape May Court House; 9 pm-midnight
Wednesdays: Ugly Mug, Cape May (609-884-3459); 10 pm-2 am
Thursdays: Boiler Room at Congress Hall, Cape May; kids, 6-8 pm, adults, 9-11 pm
Fridays: Rio Station, Rio Grande; 9 pm-midnight