It's 8 p.m. Tuesday and Kaleb Myers orders a Pepsi at a Lincoln pub and pizza place. "Is it fountain?" the 15-year-old asks the waitress.

"Yes."

"Can I get no ice?"

Hmm. No ice. Is this a singer's trick? Something that helps your voice emerge clear and pure from your throat?

Kaleb grins.

"No. You just get more pop out of it."

Smart cookie, this Kaleb. The young man is here from Waverly with his mom, Judy.

And I'm here missing "Judging Amy" because I'd heard about this whiz kid karaoke singer whose voice inspires people to throw money at his feet.

Kaleb has dirty blond hair, dark eyebrows, a quick smile and quick feet, which come in handy on the soccer field where he plays forward and wing for his high school team.

He is polite. Outgoing. And, according to his mother, an honor roll student, a very good pool player, and a darn fine singer.

While we wait for On the Road Again Karaoke and DJ Services to get set up, Kaleb and his mom spill the back story on his karaoke success.

Which is that when Kaleb was 6 his grandma invited his family down to the Rock Creek Inn in Jansen.

"They're having something called karaoke down here," she told them.

So they came down — Kaleb and his parents and his two older brothers.

It was like a small town "American Idol" before anybody had heard of cruel Simon Cowell.

His shy mom even got up and sang "Shake the Sugar Tree" by Pam Tillis. Her knees were shaking. Her hands were shaking. Her voice was shaking.

Kaleb watched.

"I want to do that too."

So the DJ put him on a chair and it was all over.

"I've always liked the spotlight, I guess," explains Kaleb.

The other day in health they were talking about illegal drugs, like heroin, and the rush people got from taking them.

That's how he feels about karaoke.

"I get nervous and then I get on stage and my adrenaline starts pumping and when I'm done it's awesome."

It happened to his mom too.

"I kind of got hooked," says Judy, 43, a pharmacy manager in Omaha. "I became a karaoke junkie for a while."

They'd go out every weekend and two or three times during the week.

Now they've got things under control. Once or twice a month is their limit.

"I'm just too tired with sports and everything," says Kaleb, who plays basketball too.

The first song he ever sang was "Friends in Low Places" by Garth Brooks.

A little blond kid on a chair singing "'cause I've got friends in low places where the whiskey drowns and the beer chases my blues away…"

"It was cute," says Steve Lupton, who owns the karaoke service that's running the show tonight. "Now he gets up on top of tables and sings Kid Rock."

Kaleb stays away from the table tops Tuesday. Instead he picks a Matchbox 20 song called "3 a.m."

His voice changed a few years ago and he had to adjust his song list. No more "Twist and Shout."

When he sings this song, his voice sounds like it's 3 a.m. and he's smoked a few too many cigarettes and his girlfriend just broke his heart. Which is to say it sounds exactly like Rob Thomas — the Matchbox 20 lead singer.

When he finishes no one throws money at his feet, but people cheer and a couple at the bar tell him how good he is.

"We really like hearing you," the young woman says.

Kaleb grins. Once, he was going to be a big star.

He won back-to-back awards at the Nebraska Country Music Foundation competition in Hastings.

His mom took him to a talent search and a couple of record companies called them. Then they found out they wanted big money to cut a record.

He had this little boy dream: He'd be the star and Garth Brooks would open for him.

Now he's not sure. "If it happens it happens."

He's too busy with school and soccer to think too much about it.

His mom knows he's as good as those wannabes on "American Idol." But he doesn't watch.

"I'm just not into the whole reality TV thing."

While Kaleb talks, the stars of Tuesday night karaoke sing in the cozy pub with Christmas lights strung through a beer can collection lining the ceiling.

Mike, the deejay, sings "Tiptoe through the Tulips" and "G" his wife belts out "My Give a Damn's Busted." Kaleb's mom, Judy, sashays through the room in her blue jeans and sparkly gold belt singing "Lovin' All Night," by Patty Loveless.

"Judging Amy" is almost over — closed caption — on the television next to the blue karaoke screen.

No one is paying any mind. Kaleb sings one more song in his teen idol voice, then a guy in a baseball cap has the microphone and he's crooning "Daydream Believer."

Everyone sings along. Kaleb. His mom. The reporter.

"Cheer up, sleepy Jean … oh, what does it mean, to a daydream believer and a homecoming quee-ee-n."

Kaleb's ice-free Pepsi is nearly empty and it's almost time to head home.

The Sleepy Jean singer finishes his song and heads over to our table.

"Nice job, man," he tells Kaleb.

He looks at the reporter before nodding his head toward the karaoke whiz kid.

"I think you've found a big talent here."

Reach Cindy Lange-Kubick at 473-7218 or clangekubick@journalstar.com.