Colorful new bar joins Las Vegas karaoke scene

Each day begins with a song: A father and his 6-year-old turn a Tesla into a boombox with brake lights.

“Every morning I sing ‘caraoke’ with my daughter, who’s just learning how to read,” notes Jonathan Fine, founder of Las Vegas hospitality group Fine Entertainment Management, speaking of his car’s sing-along music option, unique to the brand. “Her favorite thing on the drive to school: We let her watch the screen, because it’s reading, and she doesn’t get to watch screens a lot, so it’s kind of a treat for her.

“It’s just fun looking in my rearview mirror,” he continues, “and she’s singing Taylor Swift.”

In a way, karaoke is in her blood: A decade ago, Fine proposed to his wife onstage during a live band karaoke session at The Rockhouse bar and grill at The Venetian, one of many properties in his company’s portfolio, which also includes AmeriCAN Beer & Cocktails, the BLVD Grille and the PKWY Tavern chain.

His newest — and perhaps most fitting — venture: Smelly Cat Karaoke Bar, opening Friday at the Grand Bazaar Shops in front of the Horsehoe Las Vegas.

The 3,500-square-foot venue occupies the space that formerly housed New Orleans-themed bar Bourbon St. Parade, and some of its flourishes remain: drumhead table tops mounted atop brass instruments; a sizable, red-hued stage, a rainbow-colored upright piano.

What’s new?

Some sweet framed portraits of anthropomorphic felines in cowboy hats and braids, a back wall graffitied in famous song lyrics — “Bright light city gonna set my soul / Gonna set my soul on …” — and a cocktail menu with drinks named after tunes you know by heart. “Girls Just Wanna Fun?” Don’t we all. The main ingredient: Vodka, naturally.

The room, which was designed for live performances and includes a second level and outdoor balcony, seems well-suited for the Smelly Cat concept.

The idea here is turn loose your inner Axl Rose for all to see — just maybe draw the line at punching paparazzi.

“I don’t think there’s a karaoke bar like this that I’ve seen,” Fine says of his venue that takes its name from a tune that Lisa Kudrow’s Phoebe famously sings on “Friends.” “I’ve been in 100 karaoke bars in Nashville, New York, Miami, and typically, you walk in, there’s someone at a counter and you rent a room.

“Here, when we do karaoke in the bars, everyone wants to perform,” he continues. “They want to act like they’re the lead singer — especially in Vegas, with all the talent, the people that are in shows, we get those people coming into our bars to perform. So we thought, ‘Hey, if there’s 50 million people visiting Las Vegas, there’s got to be a couple thousand that want to be on a stage.’”

Still, Fine was initially hesitant to launch yet another project, even though developing a full-fledged karaoke bar was a long-gestating idea of his.

“We’re doing a lot of stuff right now in Las Vegas and in Reno, and I said, ‘I don’t want to do anymore,’” he recalls. “And the owner of the mall is like, ‘You gotta come down here and see the space. It’s amazing. It’s built out.’

“When we came down here, I was with Kenna (Warner, vice president of operations for Fine Entertainment),’” he adds. “And she’s like, ‘We should do the karaoke bar concept here. It’s great.’ It’s a small refresh, little changes in the building. We saw the opportunity to do this and we ran with it.”

What about that name, though?

“Every karaoke bar has the name ‘cat’ in it,” Fine notes. “‘Cool Cat.’ ‘Hot Cat.’ Whatever it is. And so we just had this working title of ‘Smelly Cat’ and we never changed it. It just stuck.”

Fine and company updated all the audio-video equipment in the venue and added TVs.

He wants this to be the place you to come watch the big game and then belt out “If I Could Turn Back Time” at halftime.

“We’re making this a karaoke bar that also shows sports versus a sports bar that also has karaoke,” he says. “It’ll integrate all the stuff we’re already doing.”

And if you get a little stage fright or your singing voice is about as harmonious as the pained grunts of a water buffalo struggling to pass a kidney stone, no problem: All staffers here are entertainers in some form.

They’ll keep the music going even if it’s best that you don’t.

“We try to find an eclectic group of people that can keep the energy going, so if there’s six people in here, the bartender is still singing, the server is playing an instrument,” Fine says. “The vibe is always going.”

Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @jasonbracelin76 on Instagram.