Normally, I’m not a huge fan of social media — sometimes it seems to be more like “unsocial” media with negativism, fake news and scams — but when my wife discovered something on Facebook called “Quarantine Karaoke” and played a couple of videos for me, I just had to follow up and let you folks know about it. With her help, I was able to track down the source of this empowering site and a phone interview was set up with founder Joe Meyers from his home in Brewer and he showed me the true meaning of the “world wide web.”

Q: How did this all come to be?
Meyers: Well, it really generated out of my own sort of down-trodden feeling, being cooped up and quarantined. It actually started two weeks ago. My wife and I were on the couch, and I was like, “There’s so much bad news and it just keeps coming. I’m going down in the basement and I’m going to play some music.” I play the piano and I’ve been a singer for a couple of bands … so I went downstairs trying to flip my mood around. I ended up putting on a backing track and singing into a mic, and I recorded a video. Then I thought, “I’m going to put this on Facebook. I haven’t put a recording of myself singing on there in probably a year — I’m just going to do it,” and I’m wearing my PJs. Nothing shiny, nothing flashy here, I generally don’t concern myself too deeply with others’ opinions or thoughts. And I don’t take myself too seriously. So I put it on, and just on a whim, I made the status say, “Quarantine Karaoke.” I was just dancing and singing and enjoying myself.

Q: What happened next?
Meyers: Well, the following day it sort of hit me: What if I created a group and I uploaded that video and I encouraged others to do the same. (What if I) make a little musical community for anybody that’s stuck inside, which is everyone (chuckle), and invite them to share songs.

Q: Did you set up any guidelines?
Meyers: The only rules are to be nice and encourage others and lift them up, no negative comments at all, and that’s it. So I invited all my friends, which is around a thousand, and people just started accepting the invite immediately and joining in and inviting all their friends. People started uploading videos and it just took off organically — it was like magic. I was blown away, and I’m still blown away by how it started.

Q: When one considers the negative side of this digital domain, it’s so nice to have something on there that is positive and uplifting. And what you’ve started here is, quite frankly, flat-out entertaining to boot.
Meyers: Isn’t it. I continue to go onto that page and just be a user, just be a fan, and scroll through the videos and you never know what’s around the corner. You can see someone singing Christian music and the very next video is heavy metal and the next one is country and the next one is classic rock. It’s just the mixture of folks that it draws out. And the common denominator is a love for music. And if you can sing that’s therapeutic, as well, so it kind of helps bring you out of that isolation feeling. There’s a feeling of community within the group, and it’s awesome.

Q: What are the numbers now as far as participation goes?
Meyers: I’m actually looking at it right now. The number is at 470,000 members.

Q: Wow, now is that just around this country?
Meyers: No, it’s worldwide at this point. I looked at it the other day and I saw New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Germany, Belgium, Italy — all 50 states are represented — Canada, Mexico! I would love to really get down to the nitty gritty and see what countries are not represented at this point, because it has reached the far corners of the world. It has been thrilling to monitor that and see it spreading.

Q: What you’ve done here, Joe, is amazing. The uplifting of spirits all around the globe is a wonderful counter-balance to the pandemic that’s also spreading around the same world. Hats off to you, man — you’ve done good, Joe.
Meyers: Thank you, and I tell people all the time now that I created something that went viral by accident. I didn’t plan this; I didn’t think it would come to all this. I was hoping a few of my friends would jump into this group, and we could all kind of just entertain each other … and it took on a life form of its own. I mean, I’m just a guy in Brewer, Maine, who created this group. It’s surreal, and it’s done so much good for so many people; it’s extremely humbling.

Q: Now, as someone who is pretty inept when it comes to social media in general and Facebook in specific, could you talk me through the connection process?
Meyers: Sure. If you go on Facebook and at the top there’s a search bar and you type in Quarantine Karaoke — mine will pop up at the top and it will say how many members are in there: 470,000. Since this has come up there have been a multitude of copy cats that are also called “Quarantine Karaoke” … but you’ll see that they have 120 members or something like that. That’s really the best way to find it.

Q: What do you want to have happen with this “accidental” phenomenon you started?
Meyers: That’s a hard question. I would love to see this, at the very minimum, continue after the quarantine has been lifted. This is a window into people’s homes, in their natural environment. There’s a lot of moms folding laundry singing Adelle or guys tinkering in their sheds singing the Beatles … it’s kind of cool to see every-day, regular people that are singing all the time. There’s such an inherent, positive spirit about that that I would love to see continue and encourage people to come out and share.

Q: What do you have invested in all of this?
Meyers: I’m pouring in tons of time, energy and effort in maintaining a platform and a place for people that really, really love and enjoy it. So I’m dedicating and donating all my free time to that. It would be nice if I was able to turn this into a job and take care of my family while continuing to provide this service to people.

Q: And while you’re unable to do your day job you have the time to do this, what happens when you can go back to work?
Meyers: It really seems to be bringing a lot of people some much needed positivity — you wouldn’t believe all the emails I get from people because if this. I would hate to have to shut it down to return to my day job for the basic need and necessity to support my family.

Q: Is there anything, Joe, you’d like me to pass on to the folks reading this article?
Meyers: If there is anyone that is feeling isolated, away from their typical support structure, this is a great place to come and feel love and also share it. And I’d really like to thank the members that have been not only joining the group but also have been active participants. It’s been incredible to see the talent that’s come in, but also to see the vulnerability of people willing to put themselves out there and conquer their insecurities in doing that … that has been gratifying to see, as well.

Lucky Clark has spent over 50 years writing about good music and the people who make it. He can be reached at luckyc@myfairpoint.net if you have any questions, comments or suggestions.