Karaoke Forums

by not giving due recognition to the singers, asking for some applause, and then calling the next singer (and the next one on deck, etc) to me is cattle-call. By not allowing the twenty seconds of fade out music before you just fade out mercilessly abruptly ending the song like a sword swipe and starting the next karaoke song and handing them the mic... that's cattle-call.

as you said in your post, every show is different. I said I dislike these... so if that's turning a "quick rotation into a negative", so be it.

Matt and Karen i can see both of your opinions on this, as i get the, uh-hum, best of both worlds every week. I haven't posted or even typed for awhile so i'll try to get my thoughts down without mumbling...much.

My 4 day a week show consists of mostly 20-30 year olds, with most requests being modern rock and the classic popular top 50. I only fade the outro-music after the singer returns the mic to the stand or looks at me dumbfoundedly. Most of my young singers want the extra limelight seconds to play air-guitar or make eye contact with the audience, scan for hot chicks, or to send a "shot out" to their group or party(although i wish they'd just leave the stage), but those things usually gets them MORE audience applause, which they relish in.

My 1 day a week gig which caters to a more mature crowd of 45+ consists of the 2-3 minute oldies songs and some classic rock songs. The mostly more seasoned singers there almost always insist any long outros are cut short to maximize the most songs in those 4 hours- even if it's a great outro.

In my experience, most seasoned singers are more mature and are considerate of other peoples time , whereas the younger kids are oblivious to time and don't think or care about anyone or anything in their "moment of glory".


So "cattle-call" for the mature and "every-second-counts" for the kids. I just give them what they want.

In Hawaii we charge $1 a song, so i'm more inclined to let someone completely finish a song and outro since they paid for it. Aloha. J.R.

Oh and to keep on topic, i usually sing only 1-2 times a night personally. at the 1st show i mentioned. Our place is fairly popular and we average about 13 songs an hour, except when we are inundated with line dance requests. People sign-up, PAY $1, and WAIT in the rotation to have those line-dance songs played but it does waste time in getting everyone off the dancefloor and back in their seats for the next singer. They usually poo-poo about one dance song not being enough, but if we're busy, then karaoke HAS to come first- it's what we advertise...along with giveaways, promo specials, and lastly, occasional dancing. I LOVE both my gigs!!

well I do all of those things - everyone gets recognition, applause, etc. I do what the singers want, not at my convenience or what I want or like necessarily. I guess I'll just say 'til you visit my show, assumptions will be the flavor of the day.

We don't have that here, but I believe in Illinois it was done for awhile. If I paid a buck to sing a song and had to wait for those line dancing goat ropers to get done, I'd be PO'd.

Just curious if I missed something, but did someone in this thread say they ran rotations like that? I wouldn't dig that either, but I have a strong feeling those type of shows are few and far between.

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hi-voxentertainment

I've seen a karaoke host cut off a long outro song like a brick---CUT! Take a long outro song like Hotel California, listen to 5 seconds of the outro, then cut it without a fade. I sounds bad. Slam bam thank you mam. I can see not listening to the whole outro, but there are ways to gracefully exit a song. Yikes!

How about this? I went to a show once where a lady was up to sing. The KJ took forever to find her song. There was no bumper music (even though the kj had bumper music). It was dead silence for like over a minute. People noticed the silence and the room got even quieter. The singer got really embarrassed because she didn't have a song to sing and had to stand there like an idiot. The next time she sang, she didn't stand up at the mic, she sang sitting down. It was pretty awful.

Well, when I used to go out to just sing Karaoke...I could easily get up 5 times a night, maybe more if we got there early and they had a unusually slow night. Myself, I certainly don't do a 'cattle-call' type. I do still run disks and will for awhile yet. I don't see that as any difference though. I don't ever chop intros off. If it's pretty busy or the singer has left the stage, I may chop off the outro. There is usually no dire rush to get up to sing. I'm sure I do waste some time, when the song is over. I say something about giving the singer some applause. I will then ask the next singer up. Usually it works out pretty good. Sometimes I will have a singer of a good upbeat song ready to go, to jump right in after a dance set. It all depends on the crowd and the mood and the tempo of the night. I like fast paced and organized, but not to a extreme. We're at a bar, having a few drinks, singing a few songs, dancing to a few songs, just having a good time. There is no immediate rush to do anything......MrD

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[highlight=midnightblue]MrD - KJ/DJ Specialist
Visit MrD on facebook - mrdsentertainment
& on myspace - larrynance[/highlight]

fvccvv

Well, perhaps you're not a dancer then. Not everyone in our venue sings, but everyone comes to dance to both karaoke and non-karaoke songs. This isn't your typical karaoke dive where everyone sits around and falls asleep. We fortunately have world class singers and entertainers, so the bar is set very high.

Last week members of The Guess Who, comedian David Spade, and producers of "So You Think You Can Dance" TV show came and sang a few songs and danced. Our regulars include professional impersonators and singers Fiji and Jasmine Trias of american idol fame.

MOST karaoke in my humble opinion, is ONLY entertaining to the person singing it (self-entertainment), "Real entertainers", professional or not, include stage presence, movement, and try to get the crowd dancing and become part of the performance.

I believe it makes for a more enjoyable evening for singers and non-singers, and we usually sell a lot more drinks when everyone gets involved. Some people come every show just to watch others sing and to dance to their songs.

This is something I do very sparingly ! The singer in question was giving me a hard time from the minute I walked into the door that night. I don't like being treated like a piece of meat. He had the menatlity of a drunk guy at a strip club. When I called him up to sing I could see he had heard me and almost purposely took his sweet time. That was the last straw. It did worked like a charm.

The amazing part is he pestered me all night about when he'd be up next. I even told him each time how many songs til he was to sing. No excuse for being rude to me and making people wait, so I made the call.

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My wife tells this story on herself. She was used to making her friends wait, sometimes for maddeningly long periods. Boys would put up with a lot, sometimes waiting two hours while she took her time getting dressed.

Then she got to college and started pulling the same thing on her roommate and new friends. About the third time she did it, they just left without her. She got the message and to this day is ready on time to leave for things. (Well, mostly, anyway. )

Sorry swinger... I didn't see your post 'till now.

Oregon City, called Allstar's Sports Bar (on Main St near the courthouse)

I wouldn't normally have went looking for new places up there, but Paul bought it a few months ago and they just started up karaoke. Troy was there running it so I took a trip up there. Not as good of a sound system as my usual spot, but the place is set up pretty neat. Might go hang out there from time to time. (they have a pool table)

Brooks has a pretty cool place called "Iggy's".... haven't been there for about 4 years or so, but it was a cool (but extremely smoky) bar. They have pool tables & shuffleboard.

I don't hang in Woodburn. Uh-uh, no way. Not my kind of town, I don't even shop there anymore:)

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Alright, so I kept track last night. Clearly, this wasn't the best time to do this, nor the fairest representation of the crowd I usually draw at this venue, so take it with a grain of salt.

I start at 9:30PM, and tonight, my first song wasn't until 11PM. Crazy!

Between 11PM and 2:15AM (when I stopped), there were 42 songs. An average of only about 13 songs per hour. Not sure how to average more, as I feel like the night moves pretty quickly, but there ya go.

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hi-voxentertainment

I'd be very much afraid to appear at your show with all those talented pros showing up

You would be most welcome at my show to sing and to watch if you liked! It's not every show we have celebrities, just occasionally. The regulars are pros from a local show but they don't take themselves too seriously.

Last week members of EVERCLEAR stopped by for a few drinks, and Leonard Shaw, keyboardist of The Guess Who, sang 3 steely dan songs, and when island star FIJI performs once or twice a month, he brings in his posse and it gets real crazy- five 300 pound hawaiian guys singing, chanting and pounding on the tables!

Last month we had Wayne Brady from las vegas stop by, although he didn't sing, but i played the karaoke version of his song "beautiful" and he just pointed and smiled at me. He had 2 gorgeous women with him, so approaching him was a little difficult. I waited until someone took a picture with him before greeting him myself. His backup singers came in another night and sang a few songs.

David Spade was with 2 blonde hookers who sang Like a Virgin while singing/screaming into the mics the whole time- completely drunk and throwing their high heels into the audience. It actually went over well as they partially stripped.

I am real fortunate that our venue is only one of a handful that not only stays open til 4am, but has a decent amount of class and really good food. Most of the late night party people come by after dancing, to sing, and visiting celebrities get shown to our club by other promoters and hotel/restaurant owners because we are open late and the owners and managers are extremely nice people. it helps that they employ very attractive female-only servers and bartenders. Some employees dance and sing as well..

Other past guests were members of Pearl Jam-they didn't sing, just sat at the bar. Sylvester Stallone, Norah Jones, Michelle Rodriguez of Lost, The Chi Lites, Temptations, 3 Doors Down, comedian Jon Lovitz, Expose, C&C Music Factory, Michael Rosenbaum of Smallville, Keahi Tucker, Colt Brennen, Jasmine Trias, Yvonne Ellimon, Society of Seven, cast of The Lion King, Earth Wind & Fire, producers of Gwen Stefani, etc.. have all stopped by, as well as the cast of the local impersonator show which has madonna, michael jackson, tina turner, elton john elvis presley, and the blues brothers.(impersonators of course).

Currently Kanye West is on the island and a local promoter has promised to bring him by to hang out tonite- (i'm not a big fan myself).

With all the talent that comes in, i'm just the kj glued to the board trying to make sure i please them all with the sound. Most of them are very cool, laid back, and naturally hype the crowd with their entertainment styles. I've learned a lot about stage presence, although i still am a little bit intimidated to really let loose at my own show.

It's really because of where i'm at- hawaii. Many celebrities take weekend jaunts from california over here and a lot of touring artists play here and want somewhere local to go out and drink after their gigs with their crew.

Also because we are located next to a famous club that books older 1980's acts and Motown reunions helps a lot.

For every famous artist that comes by, there's usually 5-15 other good singers in their group, be it back up singers, managers, roadies, or groupies.

I'm just the KJ here- it could easily be ANY OF YOU here doing my gig. I try and make sure i remain professional and accomadating to everyone famous or not. After awhile the "starstruck effect" wears off and you realise these people just want to have fun and "hang loose".

It's all about the location location location here- that's the only reason i have these professional singers. I'm VERY lucky that i'm able to have so much fun at this job.

I do have a few videos and pics taken by my phone, as the owners don't want me to bring a regular camera for fear of making the artists uncomfortable. They are going to install a live venue camera that can be accessed on the internet at the end of the summer- something a lot of venues have been doing recently to have their customers "revisit their vacation" while back to their daily grind.

I will post the address when it comes online. If anyone knows how to post phone videos here i would like to do that so you all would see what i'm talking about.
opps!....sorry for the hijack!
Warmest Aloha! J.R.

If you don't have a pc hookup for your phone the easiest way would be to send it to your email via text message, I do it all the time

Correction--if you want to post a link here ul it to your website or even YouTube. The rest is easy.

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

Since I play a minute or so of dance music between karaoke songs to keep the energy of the room up, there's no way I want to bring it to a grinding halt with a long intro from "Hotel California" or George Michael's "Faith" or Marshall Tucker's "Can't You See". I let the fill music run until about 10 seconds before the vocal.

I think it depends on the size of the room, the crowd and the type of atmosphere you're trying to create.

When it comes to outros, usually the singer will know it's a long outro and leave the stage.

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

I would be lynched if I cropped intros in such a manner. Outros yes, unless the singer is staying on stage do some ad libs, then I will let the outro play. If they leave the stage, then song either fades out or I will use the rest of the outro as the fill music call the next singer up.

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I don't think I'd be lynched, but I still wouldn't do it.

The rest of your post is EXACTLY how I do things. Great minds...

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hi-voxentertainment

My show seems to be going crazy lately....

I did a show yesterday that ended up with 60 different singers on the Compuhost list (and they all sang at least once).

It was a 6 hour show 8-2. It started slow with the first 3 rotations having less than 5 singers. But the fouth rotation lasted 3.5 hours!!!!, and the 5th rotation barely got started.

More normal is my 3 hour thursday gigs, 11-2. In the past if you showed up at 11:30 you could expect to sing 2 or 3 times. If you are there in the first 30 minutes (or if I start early) it is possible to sing 5 times. About 40-45 songs a night is the average.

However two weeks ago it was 40 singers, and only 2 people got to sing twice (and that was only because they were regulars and the bar let me keep it going for 15 minutes after 2)....