Colored lights pulsate in time to the music as guitars wail, drums beat and bass throbs. It’s a Friday night at the American Legion Hall in Albert Lea. As the evening progresses, the crowd enjoys classics from country, rock and pop, only they’re not listening to recordings of Elvis, Johnny Cash or the Hollies. They’re listening to themselves: It’s karaoke night at the Legion.

On one typical Friday in January, the singers ranged from elementary school kids to retirees and the repertoire, though heavy on country classics, included rock and pop from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

“It’s about having fun,” said Laurie Mullenbach, the KJ — karaoke “disc” jockey — for the evening. Her goal is to help people of all ages relax and entertain each other.

“It’s about just getting together with friends and family and having fun with them, whether you sing or not. It can be a good icebreaker,” Mullenbach said. “It’s all in fun” is both the catchphrase on her poster and her philosophy as she supports and encourages the ones who stand up to sing.

What is karaoke? The word is Japanese, and means “empty orchestra.”

People get up and sing the words while prerecorded music plays. On Fridays at the Legion, patrons write down the names of songs they want to sing on slips, along with the all important song number. Mullenbach has a binder with all of her songs listed in alphabetical order.

When it’s their turn, the KJ puts on a CD with the music and some background vocals. When the music starts, a video component with the lyrics appears on a TV screen, which helps the singers by showing when to sing each word or phrase.

“It definitely helps if you know the song well,” said Dale Johnston, one of the regulars. He likes to sing Elvis Presley songs, among others.

Knowing the song pretty well helps because there is no score to look at — something that can be a plus for those who don’t really know how to read music in the first place. You sing from memory and from the heart.

The Friday night Karaoke experience has been set up and run by Mullenbach since November 2003, with some help from her husband, Bruce. They started out a few years before that when they put together an old stereo system and a Radio Shack Close-n-Play karaoke unit to help at a friend’s party, and they found they enjoyed getting people involved in music the KJ way.

Mullenbach didn’t actually expect the Friday nights at the Legion to be as big a hit as they’ve become; in the beginning, she thought maybe it would last a year or so. But it’s still going strong, with people of a wide-variety of ages and backgrounds filling the bar at the Legion most Fridays.

When you walk in you can see why; people having fun are definitely in evidence, as they sing solos, join in the refrains, dance with their sweethearts or just sit listening, like Barry Coughlin, who comes in at least a couple times a month to enjoy the music.

Eli Dahl, 11, was there, eating a late supper with his parents when he decided to get up and sing Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.”

“It felt good,” he said.

He didn’t give up when he saw the song had far more words in it than he remembered from the video game he had first heard it in. Like with everyone else, his offering was warmly received, with many others joining him on the refrain: “Smoooke on the waaater … Fire in the sky-ie.”

Penny Mellum, another regular, sang a request handed in by her daughter Katie.

“We’re here almost every Friday,” said Katie.

It’s a family thing for her, as she often spends time at the Legion Hall with her parents, other relatives and her friends, singing and listening to others sing country music.

“I was brought up with country music and I like to sing it,” Penny said.

She finds karaoke-style singing relaxing. A nice way to end a busy week.

“You nailed it!” is the compliment Mullenbach doles out to deserving singers.

Laurie’s Karaoke Corner appears every Friday night at the Leo Carey Post 56 in Albert Lea from 8 p.m. until midnight. Mullenbach hopes all sorts of people come in to share the experience.

“What’s a perk for me in my job obviously is the fun people have each Friday night, but it’s also those who come in and blow me away with their awesome voices,” she said.

Just ordinary people, she added, with amazing voices.