BOYNTON BEACH — “I’ve got you under my skin,” blares 16-year-old Austin Friedenberg, singing Frank Sinatra’s hit with the enthusiasm of an American Idol performer.



His voice booms with more confidence as the audience cheers with approval.



Except he’s not performing on stage in a grand theater or packed club. It’s a Tuesday night in a Dunkin' Donuts west of Boynton Beach.



“I just have so much coffee running through me,” he quips as he sits down after his performance. “I never really expected to perform at a Dunkin' Donuts but here we are.”

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The Tuesday night scene of coffee, karaoke and crowds has gained momentum for the past three months. How did it all start?



Almost three months ago a group calling itself Florida Retired Old Men and Women Eating Out (nicknamed FORMEOS) that often had lunch at the Dunkin’ Donuts on Jog Road in Aberdeen, approached owner and operator Craig Rader about hosting karaoke nights at the store.



Rader, who co-owns the store with his father, loved the idea. He bought an iPad and installed Singing Machine software on it.

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“I’m really down to try anything,” said Rader, who hopes to host trivia nights and open mics as well adding that he wants it “to be more like a neighborhood coffee shop.”

Word — and music — quickly spread that Dunkin Donuts was the place to be on Tuesday nights west of Boynton Beach. The performance line begins to grow at the storefront around 7:30 p.m.

“It pretty much blew up Tuesday night. It was our busiest night ever,” Rader said. “Apparently people sang a lot more songs than usual because the iPad had never run out of battery (before).”

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The age range is anywhere from 8 to 88.

Some of the singers are a part of Rader’s neighborhood west of Boynton, he said. Even Rader’s Craig’s 80-year-old aunt Theresa Rader is there every week.



The senior loves the Miami scene and Craig Rader says she sometimes even winds up on stage with rappers like Diplo. But she finds Dunkin’ karaoke equally enjoyable.



“She likes to have a good time wherever,” he said.

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She’s in attendance Tuesday night, her purple hair shaking to the beat.



At first mostly seniors took the stage, but it doesn't take long for college students to reverberate the walls of the store with ABBA, Lady Gaga and Shania Twain, usually from the vocals of Dixie Chicks, a group of local high school grads who perform with their dads watching.



“Theresa, it’s Telephone time!” Caroline McGinely, 18, says as she walks up to the mic readying to perform Lady Gaga's 10-year-old song "Telephone."



Theresa sets her water bottle down and start miming a telephone. The girls belt the lyrics loudly and the adults shake along to the beat.



When the song’s over, Theresa stops dancing and focuses on shimming her butt.



“C’mon girls you gotta twerk,” Theresa urges as she bounces club-style before the group bursts out in laughter and runs back to their seats.



The crowd only grows.

“I don’t recognize half the people in here,” Frank Stanzione, one of the FORMEOS that proposed the event. “When we started out it was all of these old people and now look at all of these young people.

“My wife says ‘Oh go hang out with those old people.' But she doesn’t realize how many young people are here.”



The songs go until the I-Pad dies although one performer serenades Billy Joel's "For the Longest Time," singing purely from memory.

“Ugh it’s wrapping up early,” McGinely says. “Usually it lasts until 10.”

That's OK, though. There's always another Tuesday night as the Dixie Chicks depart, passing through the doors promising a return to the Dunkin stage. "Next week... next week."





blefever@pbpost.com

@blefever10