Karaoke Forums

The past couple of Saturdays, I've been doing fill in shows, first one was because the band did a no show, second one was after a football game.
Basically it means that I have a whole different crowd than the usual Karaoke night crowd. I had some of my regular singers there but not as many as I would on my nights.
Well fewer singers means one of two things, I either have to carry the bulk, or I have to put on my thinking cap. So I decided to do a blind song extra for each person that came up.
What I would let them do, is pick out one of their regulars, sing it, but then they would have to do the next song as well, sight unseen. It was a blast. I mean you could be doing a Kelly Clarkson tune then all of a sudden would have to do a Willie Nelson, just as an example. The folks loved it. I even did it where I would let them do their song then just pick another one at random on the same disc. So you could be singing Garth on one song and end up with a Village People tune as a bonus. You could be doing a Bob Dylan one tune and end up with Bohemian Rhapsody. Like I said the folks loved it and people that normally don't get up to sing wanted to do it just to see what they would get as their bonus tune. It worked out really well.
I know some clubs do what they call 'Kamikaze Karaoke' but I just thought this variation might be something folks would enjoy and they did.
Anyways, just thought I'd share. Just a way of making things interesting and hopefully gaining new audience members at my regular shows.
Thanks for your time.

James the Lion Hearted
Maninblack
White Trash Philosopher
Humble Karaoke Host

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I serve no man and am loyal to only one God.

Being critical of a person's success in any respect speaks volumes about the lack of your own.

Love as though you've never been hurt, Dance as though no one's watching, Sing as though God Himself were listening.

James, I've done that  at home parties before. Someone will choose a cdg, put it in, and we have to go in rotation with whatever pops up.

Makes for some fun listens, if nothing else. I've ended up singing Richie Valens, Johnny Cash, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Madonna, Backstreet Boys...... all kinds of stuff I'd never normally do.

I think  (singers point of view) that it's awesome when a KJ thinks up cool things like that for the crowd, it kinda breaks the monotony of hearing the same singers do the same songs week to week too.

.

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♥ Laugh your heart out, dance in the rain. Cherish the memories, ignore the pain. Love and learn, forget and forgive. Because you only have one life to live. ♥

Last time my wife said she wanted to try something different.......she suggested something just like that.....said why don't we try it back to back......I said it's impossible to do it back to back.....she said, well, we could invite another couple...........

Hmmm, was it a mixed couple, or 2 women or 2 men....
might be better off sticking to regular rotation, or things could get interesting, but then again, things could get real interesting.

James

_________________
I serve no man and am loyal to only one God.

Being critical of a person's success in any respect speaks volumes about the lack of your own.

Love as though you've never been hurt, Dance as though no one's watching, Sing as though God Himself were listening.

I call it " Scaryoke".

You can also have them pick from a jar of songs you've preselected. You pick the songs and put the numbers only on folded slips of paper. This way you have more control over what the scaryoke songs are, but they still don't know what they are singing. Picking fun songs like tv themes, ymca, childrens songs etc...

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

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

I like the idea of picking the mystery song from the same disc they sang on, I coulda used that idea last night.

A side note from Babs post: I keep some slips with outragous songs like that in a baggy for folks who want me to "look something up for them".Usually it breaks them from asking me again, but it backfired on me once. I picked "Disco Duck" for a guy who's hard core country, never heard the song before, but it's so friggin funny when he sings it, it's now his signature song.

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Well last night started off horrible, first of all it rained like cats and dogs, and on top of that, I'm still trying to shake off a cold that's been hanging on for the past couple of weeks. At one point there was no one in the bar at all, and I was getting pretty bummed. Finally folks started coming in, few at a time. Well I decided to go ahead and do the 'mystery song' again since it's been going over so well. I would let them sing their 'safe' song, then I would ask the other folks to pick a number, then they would have to sing that tune. As usual, others started getting in on the fun, and by nights end, every single person in the place came up to the stage. This includes, wait staff, bartenders, kitchen help, plus customers. At one point, still feeling pretty poorly, I take a short break to get a cup of coffee.(I know shame on me) Besides there were only like 25 folks there and Friday nights ends up being kinda like a social night for some, so they do sit around and talk. We all know each other, so it wasn't like I was ignoring anyone. Anyway, as I'm coming up to the bar, there's this new guy sitting there talking, and out of his mouth comes, 'I don't see what the big deal is, it's only Karaoke, it's not like a live band or anything' Well you could have heard a pin drop, it was like high noon at the O.K. Corral. So I ask him, do you sing? And to top it off, he's like yeah I do, but I do real music.......hmmmm, sounds like a challenge to me
So I go back to the stage and call him up, well of course he doesn't want to, but them I put him on the spot by saying, 'Hey come on in all fairness, you come to my show talking trash, the least you can do is back it up'. The regulars started applauding and whistling. So he finally came up. I talked to him, ask him what he wanted to sing, we looked through the books, found him a golden oldie tune and then the fun began. Now granted, the ole boy surprised me, cos he could actually sing and rather well at that.  He finished, and got great applause which was definitely earned.
I ask for the folks to give me another number, and of course everyone had to yell out all at once... So I told them, in all fairness since he was our guest and it was his first time, I'd let him pick the number. Well his next number was 'Whiter Shade of Pale' and any of you who have sung it knows that if it's sung properly, the chorus can be quite challenging. Well this ole boy didn't know the first note, not a lick, and I could tell it embarrassed him. So he bows out. Now the audience takes it as a sign of victory, but that wasn't really my intention. Well I ended up doing the song, with every muster of strength that I could muster mister. When I finish, he shakes my hand and admits that it's not as easy as it looks. I'm like well tell you what, you wanna do one together? He agrees, and I put on 'Whiskey for my friends, beer for my horses'.....brought the house down, it was dead on perfect. And of all things, the guy stuck around and ended up singing several more times.  
Lesson is, don't come to my show talking smack, or the Maninblack will set you back.
But the best part was taking someone who had never tried it before and making a believer out of them, that yes, Karaoke can be fun. In my book there is no such thing as 'just Karaoke'. Sometimes you just got to make folks feel comfortable enough to do it, some you have to give a gentle nudge, some you just to kick in the arse.  
Anyways, nuff said about all this.

James the Lion Hearted
Maninblack
White Trash Philosopher
Humble yet determined Karaoke Host

_________________
I serve no man and am loyal to only one God.

Being critical of a person's success in any respect speaks volumes about the lack of your own.

Love as though you've never been hurt, Dance as though no one's watching, Sing as though God Himself were listening.

Maniblack, I'm glad the night turned out well. I'll get the occasional person talking down about karaoke. It's usually someone who's in a band. But, yeah, once you can get them up there to sing, they usually come back and have a blast.  I've gotten to where now when I can, I'll go to the band nights at our bar, especially when it's  a new band, and kind of create this unity, bond, whatever you want to call it. It helps with cross-advertising for each other also. I've had several band members come to karaoke nights, and different bands have let me sing with them (which by the way is a rush!) And having people in bands sing at your karaoke shows adds an amazing energy to the show. You would think it would discourage so-so singers from singing, but I usually end up with even more people wanting to sing! I just seems to become a party for some reason after a band member sings.......

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First of all, I like your idea of the next song or a random number on the same disc.  I might try that the next time a Wednesday is slow or with some of the regulars that will pick a song for me if I pick one for them..

Secondally, great way to handle that!  I like your style, not that I haven't liked it before, just never said it....  

Susie

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You do it in the shower,
you do it in the car,
Ccome do it with us,
and be a star!!!!

Karaoke with Full House Entertainment

[scroll]Just because I have a short attention span doesn't mean...... [/scroll]

First of all, thanks to each and everyone of you who took the time to read this thread.
Please feel free to use any and every idea that I share with you here, I don't believe that I'm giving away any trade secrets..., but I do believe that all of us can learn how to make our shows better, as I have learned from you.

I could have used your support today, it was a nightmare. I had a gig doing a company picnic, originally scheduled for Saturday but got pushed back to today because of weather concerns. I get there and am set up ready to go, and of all things, there's no power!!!! The drop cord they gave me to tap juice from the building apparently had a short in it. Just so you folks know, I do as I'm sure many of you do, I check all of my equipment each week..cords, plugs, the whole works, so I knew the problem wasn't on my end. Anyway, they finally get me a cord, and we're good to go, still on schedule.
About an hour into it, in the middle of folks singing and having a good time, the lady that owns the company comes up to me. Without a hello, or hi, I'm so and so, she tells me that I need to play some dance music... I tell her, I don't do dance music, but I have songs that you can dance to. In a huff, she walks off and comes back with several other ladies, who ask the same question, can you play some dance music. Again I tell them, I don't play dance music, I do Karaoke. They're like, well we want some dance music, we're going to have some dancing contests and we need something the people can dance to. In the back of my mind, I'm thinking to myself, here's the nightmare that I've been waiting for, finally coming real. I try once again, to explain, I don't play dance music, but I have hundreds of songs that you can dance to. They wanted tunes like the 'Cha Cha Song', 'Electric Slide', you know what I'm saying. Well one of them makes the comment, 'well if you don't play dance music, why did we hire you?' Okay at that point, I'm like gritting my teeth, trying to keep my composure. So I finally hold my hands up, and tell them to calm down for a second and talk to me. I'm like, okay, no one told me that there would be a dance contest. I arrived an hour and a half early and this is the first that I've heard of it.
Now secondly, you hired me to do Karaoke, that's what I do. But if you'll tell me what you want, I'll deliver. Finally, they tell me, well we want something that people can dance to for contest. They had it where it would be divided up into age groups, and then they would do another dance contest for the different depts. of the company.
I start making suggestions, each of which they shoot down immediately. I finally have to put my foot down, in a gentle but firm fashion. I'm like okay, you really wanted a DJ, you had no intention of Karaoke, but netherless, I'm here, you're stuck with me, let me do my job, trust me on this. If when I'm finished, if the folks didn't have a good time, tell you what, the shows on me. You don't have to pay, and I go home, fair enough?
JEEEEEZZZZEEEEEE
So I finally get them out of my hair and I start to work. Now please keep in mind, that they came up in midsong and interrupted the whole show. So while they're trying my patience and folks are waiting, thank goodness I at least had enough sense to at least keep some music playing.
Okay so here we go, first group kids......well I crank up 'The Twist' and sing along...hey guess what? we have instant dancing. I play another tune, they're still dancing. I go through each age group playing everything from 'Boot Scoot Boogie',
'Shout', 'Surfing USA', 'Mony Mony'. I'm talking 2 hours of nothing but dance music karaoke songs. My buddy that works for the company comes up to me, and he's laughing, cos he knows what I'm up to. That's right, they wanna dance, then I'm gonna dance their arses off. I finally go through all of the age groups and dept. that they wanted, then out of the blue, I tell the audience, if you've got any energy left and feel like clogging your little feet off, then hit the dance floor and I finished it off with 'I am a man of constant sorrow' By the end of that song, they're so winded and tired that nobody's ready to dance anymore.
Well the lady that owns the company comes up, she's also winded, and says, can you slow it down a bit, you're wearing everybody out....
So of course I break it down with some slow dancing, 'Wonderful Tonight' songs like that.  
After the show, she comes back up and in a round about way, or should I say in her way makes apologies for interrupting things. I'm like hey that's cool, all you got to do is ask and I'll give you what you want, this is what I do, this is why you hired me.
I'm like, you know you make a living hiring people to go out to work jobs. All you can do is give them a job, it's up to them to do the rest, but there comes a point and time, that you HAVE to let them to do their JOB. She nod's and says yeah you're right.  
Okay, so I'm finally calmed down, the gig was saved, everybody's happy. My only problem was, that all of their personal activities took up so much time, that no one else got a chance to come up and sing, which sucked because I had a stack of about 15 waiting in line.
So what did I learn from all of this today.
1. I winged it, I was caught completely off guard, it's only fast thinking that I even pulled it off.
2. When you're hired to do a job, make sure you know in advance what's expected of you, never rely on second hand information, go straight to the source.
3. Make sure you take enough drops cords to your shows, especially if it's outside and a 100 feet from the building.
4. I don't care if you think it's right or wrong, anyone who disagrees at this point can kiss my lilly white bottom, but get some dance music... It's better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it.
5. Be patient, be understanding, but never let any gig sway your confidence. YOU are the professional, this is how you make your money, always try your best to stay in charge and stay focused.
6. Again, do your homework. Know where you're playing, know the layout, know what obstacles may arise, be prepared.

This is what separates you from the lowbidders and hackers. I can guarantee it won't happen again to me. And it's not enough that the show turned out okay,it's a matter of personal pride.  I love making money, but I want to know that I earned it honestly and gave it my all. Although folks were very kind in their remarks after the show, in my heart I know I could've and shouldn've handled things much better. Lesson learned.

Oh by the way, I got my money

James the Lion Hearted
Maninblack
White Trash Philosopher
Humble Student and Karaoke Host

_________________
I serve no man and am loyal to only one God.

Being critical of a person's success in any respect speaks volumes about the lack of your own.

Love as though you've never been hurt, Dance as though no one's watching, Sing as though God Himself were listening.

James,

I have to give my props to you for handling the situation like a TRUE PROFESSIONAL, even though those gals were pushing some of your hot buttons, but you maintained a level head.


To comment on the points you brought up about what you learned:

#1 & #5 - Being in the entertainment business, you HAVE TO adapt to each situation, sometimes things just don't go as planned to make it a successful event, if you don't adapt you're sunk. Keeping an open mind and a clear train of though really helps.

#2 - That's what properly worded contracts & event planners are for to make sure that all parties involved know what they are getting and/or to be supplied with.

#3 - Everybody should carry at least 1 backup of every cord & connectors that you use. You never know when some piece of equipment will fail, like you said, it's always better to have the backup around not doing anything than to not have it around when you most need it.

#4 - I agree that you SHOULD have some kind of regular music with you when doing any kind of mobile/private gig, even though it's supposed to be karaoke.

#6 - Advanced recon of a new venue is helpful, but do must people do it?.....nope. Most pros I know would recon a new venue for all the info or show up real early to scope out the pitfalls of a venue.



Well, .... you lived through it ........ hopefully you learned from it ....... this is what they call KNOWLEDGE. The more of these you go through is what they call EXPERIENCE.


Once again, many props to you....

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Lito
"It's all about having FUN"

The brother of the lady I work for on my regular gig also has a Karaoke setup. It's only for home use, but it's in a rolling rack,VocoPro Dual disc player, Crown Amps, with JBL's for speakers, Shure Wireless mics, I'm talking the whole nine yards, and he only uses it at home. Some people just have too much money.  
Having said that, he still likes my setup better, because with all his equipment, he still gets a crap sound, or should I say he did, until he brought it out and let me tweak it out for him. Anyway, he's helping me unload my stuff one day and he's asking me, how come you have two amps?  
My answer: backup  
You have two Karaoke players?  
Backup  
You have 3 sets of cords and cables?  
Backup  
You carry two cases of disc?  
Backup  
You've got 6 mics?  
Backup  
But you only have 2 15's and 2 12's for cabinets?  
Hey, I'm working on it....  
 
Yes I am a firm believer in having backup equipment. One of my grips against myself about Sundays gig, is that I have a 100ft power cord at home on a roller, but for some reason didn't take it with me. Which aggravated me even that much more, as I'm always telling folks to be self reliant, never depend on anyone else, take care of it yourself.  
Thanks to yesterdays gig, I almost have my new mixer, amp and rolling rack paid for. At that time, my current amp/mixer will become my backup, and I will be able to consolidate some of my current cases into the one rack. By saving that space, it will give me enough room in my truck for 2 more 15's. I'm getting there slowly but surely.  
 
James the Lion Hearted  
Maninblack  
White Trash Philosopher  
Humble Karaoke Host

_________________
I serve no man and am loyal to only one God.

Being critical of a person's success in any respect speaks volumes about the lack of your own.

Love as though you've never been hurt, Dance as though no one's watching, Sing as though God Himself were listening.

James,

Wow, what a day!!! Bless your heart!  Yeah, I learned quick you need to keep some dance music: last summer the owner of the bar I work for asked me to KJ/DJ a biker party on the upcoming Saturday, so with any free time I had during the week, I'm having to hit store after store trying to find dance mix discs, but I've had other opportunities to use them, I've been asked to fill in for last minute band cancels at our bar. Those nights I'll play 2 country, 2 rock or dance, and 2 karaoke songs. Those nights go real well.

But I do have one comment on your gig. (and I really mean this in the nicest possible way, sorry if you already feel like a bro to me, that I feel like I can say it), maybe if your pride wasn't in the way, you could have gotten people to sing in between the dance songs? But I truelly am glad you were able to get through it, and quite honestly, I think I would have had the same stuborn attitude you had . Nothing like getting your game plan set in your head, and have someone come up confrontationally and through you off balance!

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, you feel free to comment any time you like. I'm sorry but re-reading it, yes it did sound like I sang every song for the dancers, but I didn't. I had other folks helping me out, in fact some of them were folks that had signed up for regular karaoke. But for most of the show, they had back to back contest going. It was either a pie eating contest, dancing contest, or pie throwing contest, or other contest for the kids. The dance contest were divided up into age groups, with the kids, the teens, younger adults, then older adults, with two songs per contest. Then they had folks from each dept. of their company, again with two songs each per dept. So when you account for the time that it takes to call each group up, finally get them to the dance floor, play the two songs, let them announce who the winner was and then start over with the next group, it's pretty time consuming.
The whole thing started at 2pm, they took over close to 3pm, the event ended shortly after 5pm, which because of the time change it was already getting dark. So I really didn't have time for regular Karaoke during or after the contest.  

And please keep in mind, that when I start talking(typing) about things, I get all worked up again, so I tend to type like I'm thinking, about a mile a minute.
So yeah my pride tends to get in the way sometimes, and yes my pride tends to get bruised from time to time. But when I cashed their check and put the money in my wallet, my pride felt a whole lot better.
But thank you gahmc, you're comments and suggestions are always welcome in any of my threads.

James the Lion Hearted
Maninblack
White Trash Philosopher
Humble and Proud Karaoke Host

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I serve no man and am loyal to only one God.

Being critical of a person's success in any respect speaks volumes about the lack of your own.

Love as though you've never been hurt, Dance as though no one's watching, Sing as though God Himself were listening.

They have a saying in the Army--"Prior planing prevents pi$$ poor performance."  

I try to take that attitude into my gigs.  Duplicate equipment is a must, a lesson I learned the hard way.  

For weddings and corporate gigs, I always sit down with the person booking the show ahead of time to find out exactly what they want so I can be prepared.  Had you done this you'd have known about the dance contests and the length of cord you'd need to get to the juice.  Get it all in writing in a contract or some other document so that there are no surprises for either of you.  That way you'll neer be in the position of having to offer your services for free either.

That said, it sounds like you did a helluva job adapting to an ugly situation that presented itself and probably assured yourself a repeat booking.  Well done, live and learn, you've earned the right to fight another day!

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Spreading the karaoke gospel

Wow James - What a day you had. Not that it is your fault because it isn't, but I always ask the people hiring me before hand if they need any special music for the event. I also remind them that I am a karaoke host not a DJ, so if they are expecting me to fill song requests like a DJ they need to hire someone else. If it is a private party I find they usually want special music. A wedding for example  they'll need a song for the daddy daughter dance that isn't karaoke.

I don't have a DJ library of songs. Some people just aren't knowledgable enough about what we do to realize it is 2 different things - KJ and DJ. Not your fault, but you need to cover your butt  LMAO .

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

Thanks Maninblack!  And thanks for clarifying that people DID get to sing. I just KNEW you'd let people sing if they had slips up, and you almost broke my heart when I thought you hadn't  

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