Karaoke Forums

Well, I'm too lazy to go into great detail but I had my first weekend job last night. I was so nervous that towards the beginning I had to two finger type as my hands were shaking so bad I couldn't keep my qwerty method fingers on the keys.

I spent a few hours at a karaoke/dj store out of town during the day and I could have spend more time there as it was awesome. They are going to help me customize a rack for my set up since most my stuff isn't rack mountable.

Anyway like an idiot, I'm running late and show up at the bar with 55 minutes until show time as my brother in law, sister and I began bringing equipment in. I was given a very small place to work out of but we managed and then gained another 5 by 3 feet of space and it ended up being ok. Blew a fuse minutes before I started playing music. The owner got the power back on and I started playing a filler tune at one minute after 8, so I was only a minute late and that could be credited to the blackout.


Slow at first, they had had my 11 by 17 poster posted for a week so things did pick up. Once I had singers, there was only one time I sang to keep the karaoke going. I got to see boobies from a birthday girl amongst other goodies. The crowd was great, I only had one minor snag and at midnight I let a singer do one last song, he was really good and sang new country. I received a number of compliments, the owner was pleased but we had agreed up front she was trying out a few different entertainers and she doesn't want Saturday, which is fine by me, I would prefer a Friday gig.

I actually had two glitches. Running compuhost, I recommend once a song starts, move your cursor! It's so easy to accidentally hit the stop button and I did it to a guy halfway thru the song. I felt horrible, apologized, offered to buy him a drink but he refused the drink but was cool about it and ended up singing the song later, he chose not to sing it back to back.

The other glitch? I had songs from a particular CDG in my book but I couldn't find them in my compuhost. Need to figure that out.

20 minutes to tear down and when I got in my sister's durango she wanted to know what I paid for a Finder's Fee. A guy gave them his business card. The one upscale restaurant we have here in town ( http://www.buttonfactoryrestaurant.com/ ) is putting in a entertainment venue above their establishment overlooking the Mississippi river and the manager is looking for entertainment. I'm excited about this as this could end up being quite the hot spot. I will call him Monday first thing.

All in all, a pretty good night. The owner had a few patrons tell her she should hire me as a regular.

This afternoon I am doing a private party at the Pearl Station on the riverfront. The money is finally starting to roll in!

Congratulations on a successful first gig. That's the one good thing about being a two finger typist, no matter how much your hands are shaking, you can still USUALLY hit the right keys. As far as finding songs with Compuhost, I like the (alt-s) feature, where it searches as you type, usually you can find a song within a few words. Sounds like you had QUITE the party going on there.

Rosario

Good for you!

I hope our sister accepts "A chocolate bar" as the answer to the finders fee question. Sounds like the guy found you, not her finding him

Sounds like a successful night and a good start. I remember those feelings of nervousness and excitement when I was starting out. It sounds like you are doing things right and learned a few lessons. If I were to make some suggestions, I would advise you to get there 90 minutes early, set up, and test the system. Then you have time to relax and chat with people. You'll be much more comfortable when you are ready to start. I still get to my gigs an hour before. People will appreciate that you start at the advertised time.
Use a mouse with your laptop. I've shut down CompuHost by mistake a couple of times. It restarts quickly and people understand, as long as it doesn't happen too often. I also had the problem of missing songs when I started with the computer. Turns out, I missed a couple when I was ripping them. Fortunately, I carry my disks as a backup, and was able to load them while running the show.
A final suggestion, I know you are very excited to have doors opening for your new venture, but when you get a lead, keep it to yourself until you have closed the deal. I could see other KJs in your area paying a visit to the restaurant that you mentioned now that they know there is an opportunity available.
Keep up the good work! Good hosts and professional shows will benefit all of us in the long run.

Thanks all. Good suggestion on the new job being kept a secret.