Karaoke Forums

I read option #1 but it doesn't work if they come in after your start time does it? It's not practical.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Keep reading....

Sorry I meant Option 2. Not practical if they come in after. And like you say, time is money. Who is going to pay for the extra hour if you come in early for them? And what happens if they're a no show?

Option 1, that's why they invented cigarettes. . So if a good singer sings Marilyn Manson and people walk out, are you going to ban that or the next good singer sings Elvis for the hundreth time?

As long as patrons buy and cause no problems, they sing. It's karaoke not The Diva's Show.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

C.Staley, very well said in all of your remarks. It is what I was trying to convey. Thank you for doing so in such a very effective manner.

Things are getting very competitive for me. I like to think of myself as a good KJ/DJ partly because I am very flexible. I know how to read crowds and situations and put on a good show. There's a time and place for everything. It is because of this that I can still compete at the (historical) "standard prices" instead of the "going-rate prices", which is much lower as many of you know because of rampant piracy.

I admit that I try to appeal to singer with the upper echelon of singing ability. This is my niche. I have said before that I might not have the largest number of singers, but I know I have a higher percentage of good singers than most. I will make decisions as to who and what will be sang at my shows based on a lack of entertainment value. It is only on very rare occasions, but sometimes I have to make this call.

This really is an ethical dilemma because we can argue this to death with none of us really being totally right or totally wrong.

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I'm not a cheerleader, but I paid for my pom poms with my own money!

Diana Moonglampers is still in office??? Toss them. Of all the data we are forced to ignore by folks with badges and guns, "cheap" and "tone-deaf" are not on the list as of yet (but this may be the basis of a landmark case).

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Okay, who took my pants?

But here's the thing. What if one had a group of people who came in, spent alot on drinks then screamed tone deaf songs that caused a lot of cigarette breaks? Or, like we have, a fellow who wants to sing Alice In Chains to the George Jones crowd? Wouldn't one try to coach the screamers on how to tone it down a bit? Wouldn't one negotiate with Alice to sing more mainstream hard rock in the beginning and let loose with all of the Alice he wants once the Georges go home early to bed? Are we afraid to approach these people and coach them or negotiate with them just because they are special needs but we would do it with someone else?

I know it depends on the show. Some are geared for the best singers and some are neighborhood dives that take anyone and everyone. But it just seems like audiences are getting so instant gratification that they will leave at the slightest thing. When we went to karaoke about 8 years ago, the weird stuff is what gave you something to talk about and you stuck it through just to be able to hang out with people you had fun with . Now it is everything has to be great every second or I'm out of here.

Chip, although some of what you have said is true and make sense, a lot of what you said has no class what so ever. All businesses have delicate matters to deal with and using tact is usually needed.

You cannot just tell them they can't sing. Whether it's a law or not a law, whether it's discrimination or not discrimination, whether it's in the USA, Canada or anywhere else, it's just wrong!

If this just simply was NOT an option and you HAD to let them sing, how would you handle it? That's where the GOOD answer lies!

Mcky had a suggestion, have them all sing together. Leopard suggested coaching them. I personally like the coaching suggestion. Maybe a compromise on singing together, every other round they have to sing together. And of course what mrscott is already doing can't hurt.

I personally don't have a suggestion. Very sticky situation that needs to be dealt with, with CLASS!

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

Then I'd have to let them sing... and I'd be looking for another gig because according to the original poster, they are driving patrons away... The job will be gone soon anyway and they still won't have a place to sing will they?

I think offering them their own hour of karaoke - at no cost- is a pretty decent way to keep everyone happy and keep the job too.

Do you feel this is unreasonable?

Considering that this is a "small town country bar", I would expect if you give these customers "special" treatment, you may actually offend relatives of theirs of which you are unaware. I would suggest you try to learn a little more about them first just to make sure you don't step on any toes. Perhaps in the interim you could encourage them to sing shorter, easier songs to ease the pain.

Buy them a round of shots. Maybe they'll like it and buy more. Maybe they'll get sick and go home.

Ask them to bring in more of their friends. It could lead to a whole new niche for you. The "special KJ". I try my best to make all of my singers feel special, but you could actually do it!

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KNOW THYSELF

No, as long as the kj doesn't mind working an extra hour for free. It could get him a good reputation.

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

Then I believe that would be your GOOD answer....

Thanks for those suggestions. However, an extra hour of karaoke "just for them" isn't and option, the day job interferes and we already start at 8. The small town issues are of definite concern, it's not a busy bar anyways and probably never will be, so we get what we can get when we can get it (confused? so am I, haha). The real issue is lack of options. 5 of 12-15 singers per night are "special", so it's hard to contend with. But, we are trying our best.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

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

Again bring it up to management and get them to act on it.. Then let us know what happens.

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT

You should definitely bring it to managements attention. I realize you said that



The way I see it at least you've covered your @$$ and put the burden of action on management. Otherwise when they come to complain about the numbers being low on your shift you will have already alerted them to what you think the problem is.

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My statements, opinions and conclusions are based on my own personal experiences, observations, research and/or just my own $.02. I'm not a "cheerleader", but that doesn't make me a Pirate.

If that is what it is then I guess the bartender is in charge and they could tell the patrons.

Does the bartender 86 drunks, call the cops, etc? If so then they should have the power to explain it to the patrons.

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I like everyone when I first meet them. If you don't like me that's not my problem it's YOURS!
A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet

At every one of my shows, I promote karaoke for what it's supposed to be all about...Having Fun! I will announce: It's not about whether you're a good singer or a bad singer, it's all about having fun, and that's what we'll make it! Fun for everyone!

Here's a little story that happened to me recently that really touched me:

At my last show, I went out into the audience (as I usually do, trying to encourage new singers to come up), and got a woman to reluctantly come to the stage, with my coaxing and some applause. This woman told me that the last time she tried to sing karaoke (about 3 years ago), the KJ pulled the plug on her, right in the middle of her song and cut her off and said, "I don't have to listen to this". At first, I thought she was kidding.

Anyway, she sang, not really that bad I thought, and people applauded. She only sang that one song and left shortly afterward. The next day, she came back in, early in the day before we started. She said, I just wanted to stop in and thank you for encouraging me to sing and making me feel special.

Wow, I was able to help her regain her self esteem which was previously shot down by an inconsiderate a-hole with no regard for people's feelings.

Anyway, this is what I do. And this is what I promote on my website. (Check out the About page)
So, if you loose this gig, so be it. But don't pick and choose your singers. Everyone has feelings and a story.

Alan
http://www.firelightkaraoke.com

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Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

Touching story Alan, and great opening to your shows. I may steal, hope you don't mind! Might try it out tomorrow night.

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

Everyone who said it was wrong to discriminate against the "special" patrons on the basis of their disability was right. But there is nothing that says that they have to be allowed to sing. If the reason you won't allow them to sing is because they are "special", then yes, you have broken the law. But if the reason is because they are terrible singers, then that's permitted according to the law. There is discrimination on the basis of race, creed, sex, disability, etc, but I'm sorry, guys, singing ability does not fall under any human rights acts, American or Canadian.
If you don't believe me, just call up and human rights advocacy society and ask them yourself.
Just try and bring suit for that and watch the whole courtroom laugh you right out the door.
Having said that, unfortunately, if you want to save your show, you will have to curtail their singing, at least to a certain degree. Sad, and perhaps not morally right, but morals don't pay the rent or put groceries on the table.

Does this group of people only come out occaisionaly? Or are they THERE EVERY NIGHT? And does thier special gruop size seem to be growing as they tell their freinds?

If only once in awhile then not to worry. But if its ALL THE TIME then yes you have a problem. And particulalry if thier group size seems to be growing!

But clearly the other patrons are made uncomfortable by this special group. That by itself is a "distruption" to the bar's business...particualrly if it is a small place...if it were a large place they would more blend into the crowd and not be as noticable.

But since they are not buying booze(except for the one guy), then this almost falls into the category of all-night water drinkers. Perhaps this could be an avenue to use to get them to move along.

Question.....do they tend to disrupt YOU DOING YOUR JOB by constantly whininig or pestering you incessantly or not leaving you along to do your KJ job?? Another possible avenue.............is it MAKING YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE IN YOUR JOB PERFROMANCE.....?

Has the bartender taken any action about this yet? Have you brought it up to him/her yet? Longer it goes unresolved the more difficult the solution.

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"You know that I sing the Blues and I do not suffer fools. When I'm on that silver mic, it's gonna cut ya, just like a knife"-The SWINGCAT