Karaoke Forums

Yep! We're in the same boat there Johnny. The worst part when this happens is you know by doing the duet you will not get the chance to do the song you have been longing to do because there won't be enough time to get another rotation in. Then you're caught between a rock and a hard place... being seen as unsociable by not doing the duet, or not enjoying yourself because you're obliged to do a duet that you reallly don't want to do in the first place!

I'd be interested to know how each KJ would handle the following situation (which is an actual scenario I have witnessed):

The karaoke night has been going great with everyone enjoying themselves with a good rotation going. Group of 11 girls on a hen night come in and each one individually puts in a slip in their own name with their song request. When the rotation gets to the first one of their group, all 11 get up and sing the song. Next singer is the second one of their group and again all 11 get up and sing. Next singer in rotation is the third in their group.... and so it goes with all 11 singing (rather badly, of course) until all 11 names have been called. Yep, this reallly did happen and it quickly got very tiresome for everyone else in the bar.

My opinion is that the KJ should have skipped over the group's slips after say the third time they all got up.

Exactly what I would've done. As a KJ, one needs to be able to recognize these patterns heh heh.

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"K-Jay"
www.kjayskaraoke.8m.com

That does it. That is a nightmare, and I am putting in my small print rules:

9. All singers must have their names on the slip in order to sing.

I won't enforce it except in a situation like that.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Boy you people sure got alot of rules although rotation is one of the few things I enforce. . Everybody has their turn. If Bob and Mary is singing Mary can help Bob and Bob can help Mary but they cant duet with anybody else during that rotation.

When Im singing and somebody asks me to help and the host says that is my turn that is one of my nonos Now it is my turn to go somewhere else. When doing Neil Diamond I like gals doing chorus with me. Then I can get the vibes and juices going. If I cant do that without them getting screwed for it I wont even walk in the door.

If a gal turns in a slip with Mary and the gang then Mary and the gangs sings. I do make a note and the members of the gang cannot abuse the rotation to sing more. This still goes with my rule of one single and one duet per round. Then members of the gang will be one of my single regs one day. loosen up for gawds sake.

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Rules sometimes are just necessary cruelties, Ollie! Without it, people can and WILL run you over, or try darned hard to do it!

Duets is probably the most obvious choice of why you need some guiidlines... even when you explain to the duet requesters "look, you are all going to be up for eighteen minutes when all the other singers are up Four or FIVE in one rotation" they still say, SO, this one song is MINE, that song is HERS, that song is HIS...

Auugh, I just wanna gargle rat poison, swear ta GOD!

I have some rules, to be sure. But I never cite them, just put them in the book. My show runs like any other I have seen, the only difference is that my rules are written down in case there are any questions.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Me too Matt. I can loosen up and not lose control. Ninety percent of my singers are very courteous and dont need rules but for the drunks or unruly I can come up with rules in a second and I have security standing there with me. With large rotations of 30 or more I will revert back the stringents presented here. But nobody around here rarely sees big rotations anymore.

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OK, for me, each singer gets four (4) minutes. That's the average. If the singer chooses to perform with one or more other singers, then that's their choice for the round. Do I time them? Of course not. As I said it's an average.
When a singer signs up, their name is added to a large dry-erase board which is viewable by all (so there is no question on who's next in rotation). If the singer chooses solo, duet, trio, etc..., it matters not to me. If later in the round another singer in the rotation wants to bring up someone who has previously sung in that rotation, so what!
Example, a husband and wife team signs up back-to-back (i.e. Dick & Jane). Each gets their own line entry (one right after the other) and choice of song. Dick chooses to have Jane sing with him, and the reciprocal is true for the next song. If a different singer, later in the rotation, would like to share his/her time with either Dick or Jane that's not a problem either.
The point is, each line entry is not just a different name but it is a different person as well. That person (regardless of solo, duet, or whatever) must be present to sing before any other singer (regardless of whether they've previously sung in that rotation or not) is allowed to attach themselves to that requested song.
I’ve had little to no complaints about how I manage this. And as you all know very well, the audience’s secondary purpose is to monitor the rotation. The “Rotation Police” feels it is their duty to keep us (the KJ) honest by letting us know when and where we might have mismanaged the rotation (whether we have or not).

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EveningStar Entertainment & Events
JR & Michele LaPorte
Peoria, AZ

For me, duets aren't a real problem- it's groups, 'cause they LIE!


Duets count as both singers' turns. If I see a duet and solos in, I approach the two singers and ask whether they want the solos or the duet this round...

Exception to the rule: Early in the show, with only a few singers- They do the solos, and IF no additions show up by the end of the round I will toss them in at the end. A one time deal only.

Groups will put up a name and all jump up to sing, than put in another, and do the same. I put a stop to this immediatly, on mic.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

My easy answer to this and to Matt's comment would be to allow the group to sing one of the songs per rotation... they would have nothing to complain about because they would all get to sing one song per rotation just like everyone else in the rotation.



I sure hope Neil enjoys that ollie! [/quote]

Many times I have ignored duets, ESPECIALLY when the singers in question have hit me with many slips at once. They know that a Duet at my shows counts as a turn in the Rotation for both singers. Once or twice I have had a singer wondering the wherabouts of a Duet,so I tell them ok,instead of the solo number they are due to sing,I will put the duet in. The arrogant ones generally change their mind (cos they'd rather sing alone...the duet sometimes is just a device to get more stage time)......and if the other half of the Duet comes up enquiring,you can then say that you offered to put the song on...but their duet partner would rather sing his solo song.

Touche'

Actually that's a real good point. is the topic duets or groups? Have to handle them differently IMO. Groups require fuzzy logic that needs to be processed and handled individually, no hard fast rule can apply.

However I really don't understand how anyone can simply state that a duet counts as both singer's turn in the rotation. If each of the singers would get up and sing solo anyway what's the harm in doing two duets? When I get a duet slip I ask who's turn is it going to be under and hold them to that.

I'd like some real logic applied and not "The regs don't like it" silliness. The regs do it plenty with each other taking turns singing duets on their turns because they know each other and like to sing with one another. If anything it's most likely two regs who find out they harmonize well that decide to sing duets for the rest of the night and it's no different than each of them singing as an individual time-wise.

I'm really interested in the logic behind this because I can't see it. I'm not out to get a this is right/wrong type of situation but more understanding on how folks approach it from the other side because I just can't see the reasoning for it.

What's your limit? Do you allow one person two times on stage per rotation? Or if Bertha can talk her way into every song, do you allow every song to feature Bertha?

I limit it to one free duet because no one wants to see the same person up there over and over again.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

If everyone in the place wants to sing with Bertha why not? Bertha gets one slot in the rotation and if she's popular enough for everyone to sing with her why should I nuke it? If they're up there standing around and she's the one singing it's not a duet and you handle it appropriately. Lets even go one further can call it a duet in the truest sense; a song that is written for two people and has two distinct parts, one for each part.

I think we're making rules about one spot on stage to handle the aberration that someone is going to sing more than twice in the rotation as a duet. More often than not someone thinks "Hey this person is willing to sing XXX with me" after hearing that person. If it's going to take the same amount of time to sing as them singing solo songs what harm is it?

While I grasp the concept of consistency there is little reason why the host can't handle the aberrations as they occur. I had to do that this past Friday with people putting all kinds of name up, singing in groups and trying to get one singer to monopolize the night. After the 2nd group trip to the stage I caught on, metered them heavily, kept everyone singing and the bar had a good night. No complaints from the new crowd or the regs.

I guess that's why I'm asking such pointed questions. After going through the exercise of simply responding to the crowd and keeping the unruly ones in line I don't see how having a rule about that would have done anything except quell the excitement and keep things down. It was tough, hard work with the place but it paid off.

I'm looking for anything that can reduce that workload so if you can help out lemme know.

Because it isn't The Bertha Show. Everyone gets their 5 minutes of time, not a whole show to dominate.

While everyone can do what they want with their five minutes, they can't have 40 minutes per hour at my show. Period. If you want to do it different, fine. But you won't see "Bertha Live!" at any of my nights.

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[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

How often dies that happen? Are we making a rule for an exception?

Let's say that a KJ has a really good show with about 20 regular singers that come to his show almost every week. He 's got a good crowd of non-singers as well. One night Bertha comes in with her friends and family and everyone in her group wants to sing with Bertha. After having to sit through Bertha for 10 songs in a row with various partners, your 20 regulars get fed up and decide to go to another karaoke place from now on because they felt cheated by Bertha and her groupies and you did nothing to stop it. The bar owner gets wind of why all of his regular singing customers are no longer coming to his bar and fires the KJ for not preventing Bertha from destroying his karaoke night. Bertha and her family only go out once in a blue moon to karaoke so you have blown off a regular weekly crowd to let a prima donna take over your show because you didn't think it would have any repercussions in the long run. Good luck getting those regulars back once they have found a place that keeps people like Bertha in check.

It's a lot easier to lose a customer than it is to get one to come back after having a bad experience.

I like it. Simple, easy to remember, I'm sure it's easy for the customers to remember too!

Why is everyone hung up on the one aberration item? Again, you're talking a group of people who want to have Bertha sing. If you're doing your job that doesn't happen.

Lets go with the topic: Duets and let's go with a more, even most, likely scenario: Your have two regulars want to sing a duet. These guys are here every night you are, contribute to the show and generally make sure they and their party have a good time.

The rotation is steady, both have had a solo song or two and singer X walks up and says she's going to sing this with singer Y during her turn. Do you nuke Singer X's turn because he sang with Singer Y?

If so I'm interested in the how and why.