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I just have to vent. I printed up new song books, and on the first nite someone decides to rip part of a page out of the song book to use as a song slip. ALL OF THE BOOKS HAD MANY SONG SLIPS at the start of the show 45 minutes before.

Hey cant they realize it takes time to print these things.

This has never happened before, and it would not bother me as much if the books were about to be replaced, but this happened on the FIRST hour of use after re-printing.

Yes the singer was drunk and not a regular, but are people really that stupid. (obviously yes). The pages were inside sheet protectors as well so they had to get the pages out of the sheet protectors to rip off a corner..

Offer your songlist online, done. Kiosks are nice too.

That sucks Fred!

At least the page was in a sheet protector and can easily be copied and replaced.

If it were a spiral bound songbook then your entire book might have been destroyed.

In my area people love to look at books and it gives them something to do while waiting to sing.

If i made my my songbook available online then they'd pre-sign up when they'd arrive and just sit there impatiently waiting to sing, maybe not wanting to look at a songbook.

Some singers prefer to drink first and peruse through the books before signing up anyways. Most visiting tourists do anyways...

A kiosk, unless it's a great one like toquers, wouldn't work in any of my shows.

There is only 1 kiosk on this hawaiian island that i know of, and the singers complain about it because the 15 inch screen is too small, they don't want to use the mouse and keyboard, and there's only 2 kiosks and they're crowded next to the tables, and you have to sit down to use it.

Even if it were a touchscreen kiosk, i don't think people here, young or old, would dig it too much. Just speaking about where i'm at, that's all. Aloha. -john

Generally people treat my books well, just that one exception (and of course accidents with spilled drinks).

As for kiosks, nice idea but would not work to many places I do shows. I have shows at 5 different locations this month, and my main location is just too small to put out more than a single kiosk. Probably about 15 different places this year.

Not only that fixing a book is cheaper than replacing a kiosk that has had beer spilled into it. (more common problem with books at my shows).

Not only that usually about 1/2 my books spend time outside while singers pick their songs on a cig break, which is ok on good weather nights, on other nights with rain an outside kiosk would just fail.

Finally setting up another kiosk would involve a lot more setup/breakdown time to my rig (and the bar is too small to keep them constantly set up).

Songbooks:

I had that happening to me to one time. People just don't think. The guy who circled a song in my songbook with a pen, then has the nerve to come up with songbook and pen in his hand and points to the circled song, tells me he wants to put this song in and then denies on top, that he didn't circle it... that guy takes the cake so far.

Kiosks:

I use one Kiosk station for over a year now. I always keep it close to where I setup and never had a problem to do that. I use a MSI All-In-One computer with touchscreen for it. Setup time is about 40 seconds, space required is about nothing and I never had a problem with people complaining about to many people at once at the Kiosk. They're regulating themselves! If they see, there is one or two people at the Kiosk they just wait and walk up to the Kiosk when the other people are done. They know it doesn't effect their place in the rotation in any way.
And those All-In-One computers are laid out in a way that when someone should spill something on that table where it stands, it would only wet the stand it rests on, but not affect the computer itself. Besides that, I usually tell them that I don't allow drinks near any of my equipment and people usually keep it that way.

I had something like that happen twice at one of my shows. They actually took a knife and cut through about 20 pages, page protectors and all. If I had been able to find out who actually was the slasher, I would have made them pay for a new book. I don't mind replacing books either, when they are worn out, but when they are new and someone deliberately damages them through brainless actions, thats when I get a little peeved.

Fred, if you know who the culprit is, then I would actually charge them for an entire book. Make them pay for an entire book. Next time they won't be so bone headed to destroy something that doesn't belong to them.

Call me naive, but I didn't think people were that dumb either. Can't even imagine how pissed you were.

Regarding having the songs available online, I love it. Lets me know if you have new stuff. Can pick out my first 2 songs ahead of time and then can search the book for others. Gets you in the rotation right away. I'm not one who only sings 10 songs and will walk up to you and say put this one in. I'm always mixing it up.

We just had that happen but with our request list which we keep in the front of the book--right next to the pocket with the pens and slips.....Luckily the fellow didn't tear off any of the requests. My boyfriend saw how drunk the fellow was and just wadded up his "slip" and threw it away. The fellow never complained that he didn't get to sing. He had failed the "If you are too drunk to fill out a slip, you are too drunk to hold our mic" test.

I saw a "Karaoke Notebook" at Ace that was an interesting concept--It had page protectors that loaded from the left side and then you screwed the book shut which sealed the pages. Someone would need a screwdriver to get at the pages. Anyone here ever tried one of those?

Well, I guess you missed the times, when you had to deal with cdgs dissapearing from your cases during a gig, and for some of us, cases full from your locked car........... having to print one page, and slip it back into that plastic protector will sure set you back a few seconds, and a couple a pennies....... ....I've actually had pieces ripped from my speakers, mics, mixers, shirts, hair......other....lmao

Yah so many people are online these days on mobile with Iphones and Androids.

It was a bit unclear about who actually did the damage. I had two separate groups of drunks. One came in and asked me to sing a specific song (4 non blondes, what's up) and were clearly trashed drunk. Another singer turned in the "slip" which was a ripped page, specifically with that song circled (out of 200 pages). But on their request "slip" they asked to sing a different song on the back.

So I suspect it was the first group that ripped the book, and the second who used the ripped page as a slip. (sort of tag team Malfesance). Of course I cant be positive that one group or the other is mostly to blame (maybe it was all the person who actually turned in the slip). So I was a bit stuck with who deserves which fraction of the blame and did not want to make a public specticle of someone who may not have been the main culprit.

Either way neither were regulars, although my prime suspect had annoyed me one other time she was there, several months before.

Normally my books last about 30-40 shows in reasonably good shape. Special parties tend to be the worst abusers.

People ask for our books. Some print out their own, and most use the electronic formats. We've offered nothing else the last 4 years.

I'm thinking I should charge for books. Here, want a printed book? $20, it's yours. Tiny font, triple column. Use it as toilet paper for all I care, it's yours.

http://shup.com/Shup/443823/Songbook-Artist.txt
http://shup.com/Shup/443824/Songbook-Title.txt

Here's your songbook sir, how many do you need? Take as many as you want. PIRATE MY SONGBOOKS ARR

My sympathies Fred -- dealing with drunks is probably the least fun part of the job for me. I'm grateful that I haven't had that happen yet (knock on wood)...

Well, here in lovely N.E. Ohio, people can be extremely ignorant and destructive with other people's property. I've actually had people tearing out pieces of pages from my songbooks to scribble down some bar beast's phone number!

One night, as I was starting the show, I told the crowd that I had all new songbooks, and I politely asked them to do their best to return them in as close to the same condition as possible. No sooner had I said that when some a$$h@le took one of my brand new books, folded it lengthwise, and placed it in his back pocket!

After that night I kept the songbooks, request slips and pencils with me at my rig. This way the patrons would have to get them directly from me. Anyone that I didn't know personally was required to pay a $25.00 deposit for a book, which they would get back when they returned it to me, in the same condition in which they received it. This drastically cut down on the damage to my books, while only making a couple of people upset with me. But then again, those were the ones who were trashing my books to begin with.

I don’t have any problem as far as my books being destroyed deliberately other than accidental spilled drinks.

I get pi$*ed when a kj comes to my show & take the karaoke rules (do’s & don’ts) from the sheet protector off my book. I know they're kj’s because some of my regulars goes to their venues & they tell me that so & so has the same karaoke rules as mine word for word. Why even take it? Would it be so hard to just copy the whole page since they’re there all night long?

The case of the disappearing song books. No, not really. They were being stolen at least once or twice a month. Too much hassle, so much time & money to replace them. So I bought a few of those department store UPC barcodes at ebay, (non-functional but look so real) attach it to the side of my books with a note printed that says “Alarm Protected at the Door!” I never lost one after that. Deceiving? Yes but hey, I'll do anything to keep the book from being stolen.

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

I just don't use books anymore. Write it down on a slip, I should have the song, for some odd reason I don't I will let them know.

Most people come ask and I enter their request in computer.

Too lazy to research this toqer, do you have info on your system such as cost, initial set up, set up at gig including time and space needed? Screen shots? I want to get an edge on competition and superior sound just doesn't seem to hold much if any weight.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

Ignorant in deed!

Sorry that happened to you Fred.

People are pretty respectful usually of my books. I hate though when I see a book open on a table and the people decide to use it as a coaster. Aaaarg! or they mark the song with pencil or pen. That's the worst I've seen.

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In my opinion songbooks are a must. I have done shows with no songbooks for people to look through and they all just sit around like zombies thinking of something to sing. Never had anyone rip pages out, but at least once a week a drink gets spilled on some pages.

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