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More aggressive marketing could have won me this job. The boat in the pic below is part of our downtown/river beautification efforts and several weeks ago started doing cruises on the Mississippi river. I thought about contacting them but let it slide.

Every night I take a bike ride on the bike trail that runs along the river and Friday night as I was passing the bridge to Illinois, I saw the boat (Pearl Button) passing under the bridge as well and I heard music. When I got home, I went to our local paper online and under community events I saw "Big Star Karaoke on the Pearl Button" for Friday's activities.

This guy has been to 2 or 3 bars in town, can't nail down a job, has limited songs and has audio equipment that is lacking. I know this as I've had others that saw his show tell me about it.

I truly missed out but I will try anyway, the organization gave my sister a business card a few months ago as the director of services saw one of my shows before I upgraded my equipment. Of course, the cruising season is about over so not a lot of spilt milk this season but they also have a restaurant in town and I believe and entertainment venue above.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Further proof to me that karaoke is only part of a total package...

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THAT would be a fun job. But I wonder if they get different people each week rather than a set of regulars and you would have to start from scratch each time to get it going? At least people would already be in "party" mode and the boat would look spectacular heading down the river with lasers shooting out of it.

OMG That gives me an idea. I did a wedding on an island and this boat does tours on the lake..

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Rip/Karyoker, as long as you are innovating, there is also a "Party Train" in our area. People book a trip from the big city to a resort destination and they have booze and singers in the club car. The acoustics might be a bit tough but you could figure it out. I can just see you announcing the next singer and they have to walk through 3 cars before they make it to the stage.

No party trains around here that I know of. I just put together a letter and sent it to the company. I had sent them a price list, flyer, business card and letter back in March when the director first gave his card to my sister after viewing my 2nd show ever (still using behringers, no rack, no lights). My letter let them know of all my improvements, local kudos from competitors and Djs and I included a screen shot of Ronnie's comments about my show.

Hopefully the guy stunk the boat up . I know, that's mean but it's cutthroat right?

Go for the boat Kayroker! Swim out to it, don't let it pass you by!

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Singer Overboard!!!!!!!!!!

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Is that the Mississippi River Queen? There were a few boats like that that used to come through Prairie du Chien, WI all the time.

I occasionally get a private DJ gig on a river boat. But never karaoke. Load in and out is a little of a pain but I've dealt with worse. The boats AC power sometimes can be an issue, never could use lights til I got some LEDs.

About 10 years ago the one of the river boat companies had an ad in the paper for a DJ. They wanted a DJ w/ system for 2 Saturday cruises(one afternoon, one in the evening). The pay for both shifts was a whopping $100. All their gonna get for that is a pirate and that seems fitting it being its on a river boat.

Mojo

Same here; there are a ton of party boats that cruise the lakes in Seattle and the load-in is a certified b!+ch! Not to mention the lack of parking adjacent to the boat (translation: You have to load-in and then try to find a space on the Seattle waterfront!) Also the boats only want to give you 30 minutes to load in since they have to pay for their docking time and have crew on the clock. So setting up your console, monitor, finding power, etc. really puts you under the gun time-wise.

Now for a $800+ wedding? I'll deal with it or possibly throw $50 to a roadie for helping out. But for a karaoke gig that averages $200? No way!

And yes I've been on my share of boat cruises where they'll get one of their deckhands to play music for $50 on house gear.

I guess if I had enough load-in time, provided parking and a nice chunk of pay I would entertain doing something on one of these party boats regularly. At their present pay scale, it's not worth it to me.

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[font=Lucida Console]DangerousKaraoke.com[/font]
[font=Lucida Console]"Sing for the day, sing for the moment, sing for the time of your life!"[/font]

You will find that over time you will miss many opportunities for jobs.

Some you will get because of who you know or who knows you. Some you won't get because of who the other guy knows. Could have been price. Could have been a reference from someone they know well.

Most of the time you will not understand how the lousy KJ ever got the job. I have seen the exact thing for years. The jerk always seems to get hired and you don't. Then things happen and the jerk loses the job and they still won't hire you.

The KJs that keep losing jobs because they are lousy are the ones that give karaoke in general a bad name. But somehow they always manage to get the jobs. Makes no sense.

The boat will eventually find out they could have made a mistake. They may not. They might not even do karaoke again if it really turns out bad. Almost everytime that scenario happened to me i never got called after they fired the other KJ. They usually hired a bigger loser.

My point being, I knew about this but did not go after it. Name of the boat is the Pearl Button, it is much smaller than some of the celebrated paddle boats that have navigated on the river over the years. There is no docking fee, the dock in the picture was built for them by them. Loading wouldn't be any diff than pulling equipment out of a van/trailer etc from the street and moving it to the back of the bar. This is a well to do business with a business venture overlooking the river as well. One job could lead to another.

On top of all that, it would be pretty cool cruising down the river in the boat and being in charge of the entertainment.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

I would be puking all night...sea sick.

Some advice.

Whenever you hear of a potetnial job you must act quickly. Never tell anyone else about it. They may know another KJ. Loose lips, sink ships.

Hey Rip - You may have missed the boat this time, but you can always catch a ride next time around. Go get um sailor !

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[shadow=pink][glow=deepskyblue]. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

Two words for you, crystallized Ginger. That works like a charm on seasick or any nausea. I guarantee it. Just take a couple of them before the trip and you will be fine. Sorry for the threadjacking, now back to the regularly scheduled program.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

Nobody gets seasick on the Mississippi river! It's a river, not an ocean. On this big of a boat, you'd barely feel any waves.


Thanks Babs, I haven't given up! I won't let the boat pass me by, I'm swum to the middle of the Mississippi river before!

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

It's almost not funny the number of times I've driven by a place, thought to myself I'd better learn to carry my promo packs...remember a few days later, go back, and BAM! Someone beat me to it. My theory is all the good companies are booked, at least in this area, and the low-life pirate types are running around grabbing up places - soon enough they fail and the place is searching again...sometimes only when you present a packet, they read it, and decide what they have has to GO....

We have rivers too and i still get sick.

It is a lot of work getting the equipment on the boat. Maybe more than it's worth. I would never do it again. They alway want everything upstairs. It's probably a seasonal gig. Get a steady bar job and you'll make more money. Never worry about jobs lost. Worry about the ones you get.