Karaoke Forums

A few years ago when I was just getting familiar with karaoke, I had the privilege of witnessing the most amazing karaoke song I've ever seen. I remember details about it even today - 15 years later.

It happened in a bar / pool hall! The place had karaoke right there in the middle of a bunch of pool tables. Most of the time it was just a distraction, tolerated because it was better than having no entertainment at all. Sometimes there was polite applause, but the show really didn't have much going for it.

Until an obviously shy 30-somethings couple were called up to sing. As they headed up to the center stage, it was obvious they both had downs syndrome. Sadly but honestly, no one paid much attention and expectations were nonexistent. The two turned and faced the customers standing around in the elevated bar area.
There was a pretty good crowd and these kids were terrified. Frankie, (the KJ) announced that they had never tried karaoke before. The girl leaned into the microphone and added very solomnly, "But we've been practicing almost a year." She was obviously serious. Some (@$%&#!) in the crowd made a bad joke about their eyes being far apart. No one laughed, but I could see it hurt the girl on stage's feelings.

The music started and the two looked at each other. They crossed their fingers and ..almost.. managed a smile. The KJ quick reminded them to use the microphones like he'd showed them earlier, and they obediently put them to their mouths. The intro over, words came on the screen,.. they missed the first few words.

Panic instantly shown on both faces. Frankie helped them by singin a couple words and they picked it up - sort of. For about a minute they struggled through a basically total failure... but they stayed up there trying. When the song's familiar refrain came around the two again looked at each other, (knowing it was their best part of the song?) and ..almost.. smiled as they sang the first line. They were almost on key and on time.!.. but not quite. The crowd was somehow drawn to these two kids. Watching them struggle so hard was at first painful, but when they hit the refrain,.. a few smiles and a little applause encouraged them. They sang the refrain a little louder, and took a step toward each other, now touching shoulders as they sang the familar part of the song - badly.

Then the verse again, and they missed the key and they knew it. The girl wiped a tear away as she continued to sing - way off key and ahead of time in her nervousness. The boy reached for her hand and took it in his, without looking at her, and you could see her squeezing his hand back. They were way off... but they had a lot of heart. They were really, really trying hard. You could feel their determination, it was like they were reaching for the unreachable star right there by the pool tables. He sang louder and closer to the right key. Frankie again sang a few notes with them but it didn't help. They stayed way off... she kept wiping tears, he kept holding her hand... and they came to the refrain again.. More of the crowd noticed the big effort going on on that 'stage'. These two were fighting for their lives! Their struggle was obvious and their strength and determination was amazing. Frankie tried again, and again, .. and they just couldn't get it. some of the crowd started singing to help them. The final verse began and they were visibly shaking on stage, the microphone was almost a blurr. they were now swinging their locked hands in an effort to give each other more strength to 'catch it". About half the people in the place were encouraging them by singing along with the final verse. The kids just got farther away from the melody, but they kept on going!

...and the final refrain began. Amazingly, the young, very special couple came in almost exactly on key and on time! You could feel the tension lift from the room. Smiles of relief on faces. The two singers were as surprised as anyone that they were suddenly on key.. but they both reacted with a kind of shy grin, and then they sang their hearts out..The crowd began to applaud. The two now squeezed hands again, out in front of themselves. A victory squeeze! They sang louder... the crowd was cheering. She was laughing and crying at the same time, he was wiping her tears, the crowd was applauding and whistling! The two finished the song, then hugged each other. The crowd went wild screaming their congrats! People at the bar were giving high fives to each other. Pool players put dwn their sticks to applaud. There wasn't a dry eye in the house. As the kids left the stage they were mobbed with handshakes, hugs and high-fives. They were laughing and smiling.. and very, very proud.

It took at least five minutes for the appaluse to quiet. I've never seen anything like it in my life. I swear I even saw Frankie wipe a tear.
Sometimes karaoke has nothing to do with talent.

Wow what a great story! I had to find the tissue box after that one as I was truly touched. Wish I could have been there!

Thanks for sharing that with us.

_________________
FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

Coolness indeed. It took major courage to go up there and sing. So-called normal people can get stage fright and sing off key too. I was at a car club dance some years ago and a member of the club has a Down's Syndrome son about 30 years of age. It was a Halloween party so the kid was dressed like Elvis (He really likes Elvis) I showed up as a punk rocker complete with an electric guitar. During a real rockin' song by the band, the kid asks to use my guitar. The most amazing air guitar I have ever seen. The band let him on the stage and he just killed the audience. The singer asked at the end of the song if he could really play guitar and the kid said "No, but I watch real good". The audience cheered. You never know when something wonderful will come from unexpected places.

Cool story; hard to read a large chuck of words; so I do some editing.

If we open our eyes, there are people around us every day that do things that would astound us but we are always so wrapped up in our own worlds that we never stop to see how others actually have it and the hurdles they overcome to live in our society. With all of the damn cell phones out there, where is the video on this one. I'm tired of the scandalous videos, I want an uplifting story to be documented. Great post.

_________________
IN HEAVEN THERE IS NO BEER, THAT'S WHY I DRINK IT HERE!

An outstanding post that brought tears to my eyes (and I'm at work). Thank you for sharing this wonderful story

_________________
[shadow=white][scroll]Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.....It's about learning to dance in the rain[/scroll][/shadow]

how i wish i were there to witness this...but i almost felt like i was with your telling of it...thanks for a wonderful, uplifting post...

i agree with bob...so many of us, me included, are wrapped up in our own little world...here's to changing that

Great story, Dax!

I hope this doesn't sound like a dumb or impertinent question (it isn't meant to be impertinent, believe me!) but I'm just curious: what song were they singing?

_________________
I love being a mom!

You know, it is really interesting to me that there are so many people who are really so disconnected from the rest of the human race (I am not referring to any posts above because obviously we ARE connected based on the responses)...

Years ago when I first started out, there was a young fellow who used to come in to my show and he was deaf...TOTALLY deaf. He would put up a song and get up on the stage and wait until he 'felt' the music start, and would start singing when the words appeared. LIke I said, totally deaf. He read lips to communicate with people. He had 2-3 songs that he liked to sing. The first time he 'sang' I was disheartened to see that there were people in the audience (not many, and I'll elaborate in a minute) who mocked him. Within his line of sight, too. Who did it? Well, let's just say the macho man crowd - the dudes who were obviously carrying more booze in their bellies than they should have. I used it as the perfect opportunity to make a point with them. I am not one to intentionally set out to bring someone back down to earth but with them I could not help it. In spite of their state of inebriation, I had a quick "Come to Jesus" talk with them about their tolerance level for those different than themselves, and then suggested that perhaps they would like to sing the next song, which would, of course, be a song of my choosing. It made me so doggone angry that they demonstrated this sort of behavior. Well, imagine my surprise when the next time they appeared, and the deaf fellow was singing, that they actually applauded him (along with everyone else in the room) - high fives all the way around, too.

At one of our current shows, there is a singer who shall remain anonymous, but this singer is obviously a little "different." At another show, others have gone so far as to put notes where this singer is sitting, writing such things as "YOU SUCK." I let this singer know that if this EVER happens at our show, I want to know and will resolve the issue immediately. The other night I had the perfect opportunity to "nail" a jerk who suggested that it was "time to get rid of the retard show." I stopped, my mouth dropped open, I let him continue to talk, and I'm sure the look on my face caused him much alarm because he abruptly stopped and asked me what was wrong. I looked at him straight in the eye and said, "DON'T YOU EVER SAY THAT AGAIN." Another singer was standing with him talking and she was just as shocked as I was. Again, this was a 'macho man' who was at an advanced stage of inebriation. Seems like there are mothers who are missing the boat with their boy children as far as teaching them a little less macho, a little more tolerance.

I know this behavior isn't limited to drunken macho men but any time I have experienced this sort of disrespect, it is arising from those very people. I wonder if they realize just how immature and intolerant they sound? I feel sorry for them, but not that sorry that I won't confront them.

You know, that's one of the strange things about that night. I don't remember what they sang... just how they sang it.. It wasn't about the song, it was about the kids finishing it.

[font=verdana] Johnny was telling me the other day about a gentleman that sometimes comes to his Saturday night gig and will request a song for Johnny to sing while he signs the words. There is also a regular at this gig that has cerebral palsy that loves to sing. He can’t keep up with the words, doesn’t pronounce all the words, and doesn’t stay on key, but to me, he is one of the best performers there as he has a lot more to overcome than just stage fright. The crowd always applauds his performance and congratulates him. There are many in this society that can’t appreciate someone that has a handicap, but I think there are more that do.
[/font]

_________________
[align=center]
Dusty Rose
Blue Rose Classic Karaoke
More Sound! More Selections! More Fun!
[/align]

What a great story! There's people like this in every karaoke bar. I applaud everyone who has the stones to get up there, put a mic in their hand, and open their hearts to us. I hate going to places that don't clap for the sucky people. For at least, they tried. You can't diss somebody who tries.

BM

_________________
"Anything worth doing, is worth OVERDOING"... - Steven Tyler of Aerosmith

Ah.... a fabulous and beautifully written story. It warmed my heart and, I'm sure, the hearts of many others. For me, furthermore, it describes what karaoke is about and who KJ's should "cater" to.

I leave it to you decide who was entertained, uplifted, enlightened and catered to during the performance Dax described.

One of the first times I did karaoke (actually I think it may have been the very first time I ever did it) I saw a similar thing, although the singer didn't have any handicaps as near as I could tell; he just couldn't sing very well. Nevertheless, when he performed you could hear that the song meant a great deal to him and it was one of those moments of beautiful awfulness that just about made you cry. I'm not sure if the rest of the crowd noticed or felt the same way I did, but I got his message loud and clear.

It isn't about how good you are, it's about getting up there and doing your thing. Everything is beautiful in its own way. Hey, those would be great song lyrics!

_________________
Reward: nine yen in drawer.

On the other hand.......

He has never been made fun of, But we have a singer, that is monotone, has no rythm, sings words that arent even in the song, and stretches out words that shouldnt be, and is just hard as heck to even listen to. The way I figure it, He pays for his drinks, and this is His entertainment.... more power to him.

_________________
______________________________________
I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

Okay I am blubbering like a baby after reading that. Thank you for sharing that amazing story and telling it so eliquently !

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

Maybe it's just my area, but we frequently have singers who are, shall we say, less than good (I rarely have those with handicaps), and I can always hear people saying how bad they are. It really chaps my @$$.

Two weeks ago, I had all of my awesome regulars out at a show, so it was one incredible singer after another. Had a new guy come up we'd never seen before and he honestly was pretty awful. But he was having a good time, and singing songs that no one else really does, so I gave him props every time. Well, people would often not clap after he sang, so I got irritated and got on the mic and said, "This fine gentleman has clapped for you guys every single time, so let's show him the same appreciation and make some noise." It got a good round of applause, but I looked up about 10 minutes later to notice the new guy was gone. I don't know if I embarrassed him or what (in retrospect, more than likely), but I have a low tolerance for disrespect, and by not clapping for him, that's exactly what they were showing.

_________________
hi-voxentertainment

Good for you Swirl

I think what you did IS part of the job of a KJ -- and one of the most important parts.

Swirl, doing what you did makes a difference. When a KJ ignores such circumstances, it condones poor etiguette.

Incredible story, thank you for sharing that. I'm not a religious person but that must have been quite a spiritual experience for everyone in the room.

I'll admit that when I first read the subject of the post I was expecting a story about a performance by a pro in an amateur's body. I'm glad it wasn't...this story is a million times better!

I had a young guy come in a couple of years ago, got up on the stage and was absolutely horrible -- he couldn't keep up, he missed the words, bad rhythm. But he was trying so hard. And he kept turning in songs.
I talked to him, found out he had a bad speech impediment, a terrible stutter. His speech therapist had suggested trying karaoke as a way to help him with his breathing and timing. And because the guy loves music, especially the Beatles.
This guy would come in night after night and just work so hard at it, just sweatin' bullets to make it come out right. And after a while, it started getting better. And better. And better!
The regulars, many were put off at the beginning, but they collectively realized what was happening and began cheering him on. Now he IS a regular. And he will sing anything he wants to, with confidence.
That, to me, is what karaoke is all about. Not the divas who think we should pay to hear them sing.