Karaoke Forums

Another thread that wasn't about piracy goes south, sigh.

Why don't a few of you start a new forum at one-track-mind-karaoke.com?

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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.

I have. My experience in Tokyo is that the Japanese do things MUCH differently than we do. I of course wanted to sing some Karaoke "in the homeland" while there on business and was looking forward to visiting a true Japanese "karaoke bar". Instead we walked into this building lobby and my associate spoke to the girl behind the counter. She then escorted us to our "karaoke room". It was one of about 20 rooms of varying sizes (based on your party) which had a couch, coffee table and a mirror ball on the ceiling. They had a very elaborate networked system with a massive remote control you chose your songs with. The waitress came around periodically to bring drinks/food.

When I asked him about true "karaoke bar" type places, his response was "Oh no! That would be much to embarrassing for the Japanese. They must "save face" in public".

Having only been there once, I don't know if this is the norm or if it was HE who was embarrassed, but it was not at all what I expected.

I did however, sing "My woman from Tokyo"...while in Tokyo, which I thought was appropriate.

We have everything here in the suburbs. Small bars, dive bars, big clubs, band karaoke, DJ/KJ etc...

I find karaoke is different in different types of venues. Small bars seem to have more serious singers and more regulars. Your larger venues with karaoke usually have DJ music because there isn't as many singers even though there is more people.
We do have a couple larger venues that do karaoke all night once a week, but be prepared to sing once all night. I think that is why they don't have a lot of regulars. These type of venues usually run weekly contests also to keep people coming in because it is a big deterrent that you don't sing much.They are more the type of place that is fun to sing at once in a great while because so many people get to hear you, but not a place a serious karaoke person likes because they don't get to sing much.

Karaoke is live and well here on every level, but I think it has a lot to do with the population. The economy may have hurt a few places, but I'd say that is spread equally over every type of venue. I would agree though that karaoke is suited better for small venues and it is easy to find jobs with them.

The larger venues do pay a lot more as much as $600 a night if you are bringing in your own equipment. They are few and far in between though because most larger venues will have their own sound equipment and are paying for you to host only.

Private parties is where the big money is.

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

I have an acquaintance here in Kansas City who runs a show at the local Houlihan's. That's about as classy as it gets around here for karaoke, but that's not bad in my book.

A few years back, I had the privilege of seeing some video on a Pioneer website of some old school karaoke hosts from back in the day when a great karaoke show could really bring in the money. I just wish I had ever gotten to see such a show anywhere. (I'm sure some of the people here from the old Jolt forum know the video I'm talking about.)

1) The hosts were dressed to the nines -- the ladies had on glamorous evening wear and the men were all decked out in tuxes except for one young black man in a shiny metallic gold coat.

2) Of course all of the performers could sing. Some went out into the audience with a wireless mic and really worked the crowd others were adding some dancing and plenty of gestures to their performances...

The gentleman in the aforementioned metallic coat put on an incredibly athletic dance routine (including a back flip or two) to go with some incredible singing.

3) The singers all appeared on a huge projection screen with the karaoke words appearing underneath their images.

I have to give it to these old pros-- they REALLY put on a show. Maybe some of the reason we don't make the money now, that there use to be is we aren't delivering the same level of showmanship?

Now this is just a philosophical question I'm posting here -- I don't know the answer and I'd be lying if I said I did, BUT...

...while we all know that the hardcore singers don't want the host hogging all the attention do you need more than just the hardcore singers to have enough of a SHOW to attract people who aren't there to sing themselves??? Have we hosts as a group gone so far towards making the singers the star that we have lost the non-singers?

Or perhaps we are caught in an in-between world where we aren't putting on enough show ourselves, but also aren't doing enough to enhance the showmanship of our regular singers to make them capable of really entertaining strangers who don't know them from Adam?

One thing I do know -- I have never, been to a karaoke show with the entertainment value of what I saw on that old video and that seems like a shame to me.

I saw that, and it was obviously an all-star show put on by DK Karaoke. It wasn't your typical local show by any manner or means. I think if you see a video of a recent large karaoke contest it would be quite competitive in performances.

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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.

Sounds intriguing, got any links to such a contest? I haven't seen anything in my area to approach this level of showmanship.

Bill Ellis at Giovannis in little old Colfax, CA came pretty close to that kind of showmanship. He and his wife Lisa are professional grade singers and he also composes his own songs. They attracted a lot of good singers including some professional Elvis impersonators. It was a very creative atmosphere and other's also brought in their original tracks. There was always a good audience and dancing at almost every song. As an audience member I loved it but the singers always complained that the hosts sang too much. They would leave but always ended up coming back because it was the best show. Since the hosts gave in and toned their part down a bit I think the show lost a bit of it's luster but they are still at it although Lisa has stepped back and cohost duties are now shared by Babs, Julie and Colfax Willie. You didn't have to be a good singer to participate but I always felt the pressure to at least be entertaining. Bill was always in the background urging, "Sell it!"

As hosts we go back and forth trying to find the balance between letting the singers shine and keeping things entertaining if you don't get a good crop that night. There doesn't seem to be any one answer. It can change nightly.