Karaoke Forums

After ALL the posts about the negatives of karaoke, I thought it would be refreshing to hear about everyone's favorite karaoke experience OF ALL TIME. If you could only pick one experience since you've been into karaoke, what would it be. Mine happened about a couple of months ago, my daughter is pregnant, and is due in a month, (yes I'm going to be a Grampa, and proud of it). Anyhow, she and her boyfriend came to my show back in April for my birthday, and he had a few shots of liquid courage, and was convinced to sing to my daughter "Havin' My Baby". Imagine a 25 year old guy who has never heard of Paul Anka, or certainly never heard that song. He got up there, and REALLY belted it out while looking into my daughter's face, and occasionally touching her belly. This kid is a very typical 25 year old, served in Iraq, and likes heavy metal. So he didn't sound ANYTHING like the original, but man, it was a moment I will NEVER forget. I even told my girlfriend that if we never made another cent doing karaoke, it was worth the investment just to have the memory of that performance. BEST of all, someone got it on video, and later gave me a copy as a belated birthday gift. Well, that's mine, what is yours.

Rosario
Serenity Now Karaoke

I guess it would be a toss up..

The night a few years back, when I sang with Ron Perlman.. at the Brass Monkey..

Fun times that night, as one of his entourage, (All girls) grabbed me by my
Shure SM58 and forced me to "Dirty Boogie" with her, most of the evening, when I was not singing. (The girl can dance)

The other best of the best was my birthday party last December.. 400 of my closest friends showed up to see me KJ my (_!_) off..

Fun times for sure, and we added a birthday party for the US Marines.

Cut the cake with an Officers sword, ceremonial first piece of cake, etc..

Here's a crappy video of a white guy trying to sing rap..

I'm on camera so I'm not in the video.

Notice the air guitars in action..

[youtube]xIEIkpmYrOM[/youtube]

Great topic!
Mine was last New Year's Eve.
Right near the end of the night, someone decided to sing Don't Stop Believing by Journey. As soon as it started, the whole place broke out cheering.
Then the singer invited her friends up to sing with her.
Next thing you know, the whole stage was crowded and the dance floor and every available space near the stage was packed. by the time the song got to the end, every single person in the bar was up there singing their hearts out. So much so that the music could barely be heard. Not one person wasn't singing.
It was absolutely fantastic!
I have to say that the crowd was as diverse as it gets. Grandmas (tattooed ones, even!) grandpas, bikers, 20-somethings, yuppies, granolas and everything in between. It was great to see the epitome of the saying" Music brings people together".
I still get a warm glow when I think about it.

Pic is a little grainy because I only had my cell phone with me. DOH!



On a side note: Does that mean that they all should have lost their turn in that rotation? !

In July my granddaughter was celebrating her third birthday. She is very outgoing, cute as a bug, sings like an angel. Before my show actually got started she said, "Grandma, I want to sing." This is an outdoor family friendly venue. She jumped on the stage and held the mic correctly, and sang a capella Mary had a Little Lamb. VERY serious look on her face. Of course the entire crowd clapped, she said, "thank you" on the mic, handed it to me, and then kind of a quick curtsey. I have NO idea where she learned all that but it was adorable. I ended up buying her a small karaoke setup for home so she could practice, and as luck would have it, I just acquired a real kids' show so she'll get to sing a lot more.

I LOVE it when kids sing...when my daughter sang for the first time in public, I had to pay her $5. I wept through the whole song because she is an amazing singer and I guess my pride just turned to liquid and ran out my eyes. I love that my grandkids are great singers and aren't afraid ot the stage or to hear their voices amplified. After not doing kids' shows for a few years, I'm very anxious to get back to it....especially as it is the venue I started at 10 years ago. It'll be like going home, except the kids that sing now are the kids of the kids who want with me 10 years ago!

Here's a little short one from 2007, much fun too..

Look close, I'm in the orange shirt..

[youtube]Vvd1yACvi0c[/youtube]

Yet another epic Karaoke gig.. Nice turn out..

[youtube]gkgHjOSw8CI[/youtube]

The one moment that really stands out to me, five minutes from the end I noticed a lot of the regulars had stayed and weren't going to get another song. . . just as I realised this, I caught the majority of the bar singing along to the filler music. . . the penny dropped, I closed the show, and told everyone that there would be one more song for everyone to join in with, which they all knew as I just caught them singing it. . .

Bridge over troubled water.

Every body sang along, including non singers. . . and despite that few people can sing it well all the way through (due the key) a whole bar makes it sound amazing. . . everyone was swaying and hugging each other as they sang out the lyrics. I never cry. . . but for those brief five minutes I was very close.


I'd never try and stage that moment again, whilst Bridge over troubled water is a beautiful song, there a few occasions it would be suitable in a party atmosphere. . . but for one night only it was perfect.

Karen's post reminded me of a kid I heard singing Secret Agent Man. I think he had to sing the song from outside the bar, but he did a great job.

A bittersweet great moment--somebody asked me to sing a song for them (never happens, so it was sweet), but the song was My Way (one of my least favorite songs, so it was bitter).

I sang the Neil Sedaka song, Laughter in the Rain, a few years ago at a place, and people got up and danced. That was neat because it's not a song that people would normally dance to.

This actually happened just around the time I started hosting. I used to be able to go other places to get some ideas on how to run a show or how NOT to run a show, either would be great info. Well, I happened into a small bar in a not-so-small town about an hour from my house. The bar is a dive to say the least!!! Dirty, worn down, grungey,,,you get the picture. This place is sorta divided into two halves separated by a short wall about belly high. I walked in and right away noticed that customers that were already there had divided themselves into two groups, separated only by the short wall. There were the cowboys on one side, and the punks on the other side.....HMMM,,,,I said to myself, "Self, there's gonna be a fight tonight". But I stayed anyway just because it was karaoke. The host is a young man who is very friendly and pleasant to be around, so I thought maybe I can just pick his brains a bit. Well, I sorta analyzed the room, and thought "OK, what songs will not tinkle any of these people off?". So I came up with something from the Eagles. Good choice I thought to myself. ERRR,,,Wrong! Absolutely NO response from anyone from either side. When it came back around to my turn again, which was very quick because there was only about 5 singers at this time, I chose Neil Diamonds Sweet Caroline. Thought that one would be good.....ERRR,,,wrong again! no response.

Ok, said to myself again, "SELF? try something totally off the wall". Next go around, did "Fight for your right to party" by the beastie boys, thinking, ok the cowboys are gonna kick my hind end....Wrong again!!! this time everyone started cheering. And I didn't get my butt kicked either. Next rotation, I squawked out "Twisted Sisters , We're not Gonna Take It"....more cheering. Well, by the time i had to leave, i had the place dancing, singing along with what few singers there were,,,and the cowboys and the punks didn't have even the smallest of issues. They told me how much fun they had, and wished I would come back soon. Needless to say, I couldnt of course, but still it was the best one-time experience at a show i've had.

Good Topic!

Bar none, my greatest karaoke moment came on the Saturday following 9-11. At the time a friend and I had sang Drift Away by Dobie Gray as a duet and it was very popular in the particular club where we were very regular, regulars.

As Drift Away faded out we broke into an a cappela version of America the Beautiful, within a minute the entire bar, (approx. 150 people) were standing with arms around each other, singing, crying, hugging and generally sharing the moment.

Rosario - Congrats grandpa ! and thank you for posting this. I'm really enjoying all these posts.

I would have to say without a doubt it was my surprise birthday party. My birthday wasn't for a few more days. For the first hour nothing was out of the ordinary, so I had no clue. One of my regulars came up to sing and asked for a chair for me. She sat me down and grabbed a mic. Then started reading a story. The story of my life ! She had secretly talked to my mother and put together an amazing tour through my life.

I can't remember exactly how the story played out, but through every line I was handed a remembrance. I was born a princess - they gave me a crown and cape. Then my parents walked in ! My parents have never never been to my karaoke show. They live a few hours away and aren't bar people. I was floored ! She went through a few more moments of my life handing me all kinds of things. A baton for when I was a drum majorette, a trophy signifying all the band awards I won, a baseball bat for when I played softball etc..

All 3 of my brothers walked in with their families. Before each one walked in a story was told from my past with them and a momento given to me. She read through more moments of my life and I was handed even more things. Then she told the story of how I met my fiancee at karaoke and he walked in with a monkey mask on. I couldn't believe he was able to get out of work to be there !

At the end all the guys in the bar lined up and handed me a rose and a toast was announced and everyone through toast in the air. Then she had me sing a song to my family. The place was a blubbering mess.

Normal karaoke that night went out the window. Anyone who was there was along for the ride. The owner was in on it too, so it wasn't a problem.

I sang a song with every regular that came up to sing that night. My parents sang along to the song "Bodies". There in there late 70s. We ate cake and laughed hysterically at my Dad and brother singing. Friends I haven't seen for years were there.

I had well over 50 singers and had a blast ! I would have never expected my regulars to do something like this and was absolutely floored.

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

Great topic!

I'm probably in reflection mode right now because this person just passed away, services haven't even been held yet. I think the greatest was watching this guy sing. To be up there and having so much fun and really enjoying it. He was born with issues and confined to a wheelchair. Using his hands was a struggle, so he definitely couldn't take care of himself. It took alot of times being around him to understand something that he said. So you can see his singing wasn't even what you'd get from a bad singer. You'd only make out a couple of words for the whole song and it was great. He was always with somebody up there, so it was nice. He loved doing it.

I think those moments have to be tops right now over any other great experiences I've had.

Sorry to hear about your friend Joe... My condolences.

Mine has to be a night several years back... (no suprize since I havan't run a regular gig in that long).

It was the end of summer and I was running my show in a small biker bar off I94 in Wisconsin.

Had a younger crowd in that night... one of my regular singers brought his younger brother and all their friends for one last blow out before his brothe shipped off to boot camp.

things usually picked up later in the night as the summer festivals ended for the day and that night was no exception... had a rather large group of older bikers come in... made it a pretty full house...

One of the kids was drunk & stupid... was very close to getting his clock cleaned by several of the bikers over a pool game... would not have been a pretty sight if everybody got involved.

I personally started every rotation off an icebreaker for the newbies and an indicator to the rotation. was loading my song and decided to put at least the youngsters in check... they would respect a real American Pride song with their buddy shipping out, and the bikers at least grew up in the generation when being An American meant something to most people.

I dropped in "God Bless The U.S.A." and dedicated it to all the service men and women at home and abroad as I do whenever I sing that song...

2 seconds flat, the room was calm. By the time I got through the first line, lighters were being pulled out and everyone was hugging... YES I said hugging... Turned out the majority of the bikers were Vets.

Bar had their best night all year... everyone was buying everyone drinks... groups were getting up to sing (50+yr old bikers up with barely 21 crowd doing "Down With The Sickness") and the vets were enjoying having an audience to tell their combat stories to.

I actually had one of the vets, who I had never met before or seen since, give me a simple, hand made, keychain with Red White and Blue beads on leather ties. To this day that chain goes with me whenever I leave the house.

Thanks

Just had another last night. My daughter turned 23 at midnight (28th). Twenty to one, I made an announcement of the fact and pointed her out to the crowd.
She instantly froze and got the "deer in headlights" look, having thought she'd escaped it. The whole bar broke out in cheers and on the count of three we sang happy birthday to her. The entire bar (it was busy) sang, with not one person excluded, even the grumpy owner. He then bought her a beer and gave her hug. It was, by far, the best birthday response I've ever had.
Turned out to be a great night considering that I was dreading going.
Definitely one of the best moments that I will never forget.

This is a really great story Babs. Very moving... *sniff*

I'd like to thank all of you that shared your stories with us, (wish there was more response), but oh well. Guess there isn't enough drama in GOOD stories. Maybe I'll have to start a thread about your WORST karaoke experience to see how many stories that will produce. Thanks to everyone.

Rosario

Ok here is mine...it was actually quit a spiritual moment for me.
It was the first time I sang "I Can Only Imagine" by Mercy Me. The bar got very quiet and 2 young ladies came up to the dance floor and were dancing as I was singing, at one point they looked up to my eyes and I at theirs and what I saw in their eyes, well let's say it felt like I was lookng into the eyes of Jesus himself. Very moving. The next time I sang that song it was early, about ninish, and some families were still finishing up dinner. A young boy, maybe 2 or 3 climbed up on the stage and started to dance as I was singing, he was looking up to me as he danced and when I looked down into his eyes it was the same experiance as before ...I almost was so overcome I couldn't finish the song. Immediatly after the song I had to step outside for a while, it was a very powerful and emotional experiance.
The 3rd time I sang that song I was looking for that experiance again, it was not there. I have not sang that song in public since and up until this post I have not shared this with anyone except my fiance.(a week from today will be my wife)[/quote]

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

I hadn't thought about it til just now.

Today is the aniversary of my first karaoke gig. Years ago when i started karaoke my father needed an operation. A few days after my first job, in his hospital bed he wished me luck with my karaoke business. Six days after my first show he died.

It was the 3rd of September, the day i'll always remember, cause that was the day my daddy died.

How ironic for a KJ to have their fathers death imortalized in a song so accurately.