ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Almost every night for nearly three decades in Santa Cruz, California, Bob and Patti Vasconcellos have gotten a little gussied up...
PATTI VASCONCELLOS: I like to wear a dress.
SHAPIRO: ...Thrown their walkers in the trunk.
BOB VASCONCELLOS: I'm going to be 82 October 1.
P VASCONCELLOS: And I'm 78.
SHAPIRO: ...And headed to their local karaoke bar. Their signature song...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY HUMPS")
FERGIE: (Singing) My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely little lumps. Check it out.
SHAPIRO: From member station KAZU, reporter Elena Neale-Sacks did check it out.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
ELENA NEALE-SACKS, BYLINE: It's a Friday night at Coasters Bar and Grill next to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk. The place is packed with locals, tourists, college students. Tables and chairs surround a wooden dance floor where people take turns singing.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Singing) We going to rock down to Electric Avenue.
NEALE-SACKS: When Bob and Patti hit the floor with their walkers, the crowd goes wild.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Patti and Bob.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: Yeah.
(APPLAUSE)
NEALE-SACKS: Throughout the night, they take turns singing.
BOB AND PATTI VASCONCELLOS: (Singing) Babe. I got you, babe.
NEALE-SACKS: Patti belts out "She Believes In Me" by Kenny Rogers, Bob croons "Country Roads."
B VASCONCELLOS: (Singing) Country roads, take me home to the place I belong.
NEALE-SACKS: At the end of the night, Bob throws a special hand signal to let the host know they're ready to perform their signature number.
B VASCONCELLOS: And he sees it. It's in.
NEALE-SACKS: Then Bob and Patti take the stage again for "My Humps" by the Black Eyed Peas.
P VASCONCELLOS: (Singing) My hump, my hump, my hump, my lovely little lumps. Check it out. I drive these brothers crazy. I...
NEALE-SACKS: They first sang this song on a dare. It was and continues to be a big hit, somewhat to their dismay.
P VASCONCELLOS: We don't even like that song. We don't like rap.
NEALE-SACKS: They may not like it, but they sing it because other people do, and it's turned them into somewhat of a celebrity couple. Melissa Gray, the bar manager, says people ask about them all the time.
MELISSA GRAY: Do Bob and Patti still come in? I'm like, yes, they will be. Yes, they'll probably - yes (laughter).
NEALE-SACKS: Sitting at the dining room table in Bob and Patti's bright and sunny mobile home a few miles from the bar, Patti says she didn't fully discover her love of singing until she was in her late 40s and got bored of watching Bob knock over pins at the local bowling alley. So she went to the karaoke bar next door.
P VASCONCELLOS: I'd meander into the bar and listen to the singers, and I wanted - for the longest time, I wanted to be the one up there singing.
NEALE-SACKS: The bar was Coasters. One day, a friend asked Patti to sing "Crazy" by Patsy Cline together.
P VASCONCELLOS: And after that, I got hooked.
NEALE-SACKS: Several years later, Bob did, too.
B VASCONCELLOS: First song we sang is "I Got You Babe," and that got me hooked on it.
NEALE-SACKS: Ever since, they can't stay away.
P VASCONCELLOS: I'd say, out of 365 days in a year, we're there at least 350.
NEALE-SACKS: Except during the pandemic, when they stayed home and did hundreds of jigsaw puzzles that now adorn their walls. Patti and Bob say Coasters gives them a sense of community.
P VASCONCELLOS: It's definitely home away from home for me.
B VASCONCELLOS: And we've made a ton of friends. It's funny 'cause when we leave, somebody will always follow us out and put our walkers in the car for us.
P VASCONCELLOS: And sometimes it's even - they even argue who's going to help us.
NEALE-SACKS: Patti also says singing helps her forget her problems and just have some fun.
P VASCONCELLOS: And at our age, there isn't too much that does that (laughter).
NEALE-SACKS: They hope they'll be able to keep going for years to come. For NPR News, I'm Elena Neale-Sacks in Santa Cruz.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GOT YOU BABE")
SONNY BONO: (Singing) 'Cause you got me, and baby, I got you.
SONNY AND CHER: (Singing) Babe, I got you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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