Karaoke Forums

I'm a host, blah, blah, blah ... I do it for the fun.  I do it for the people.  I like to entertain, and because I live in a modest 1 bedroom apartment I don't have the opportunity to entertain at home much, so I entertain at the tavern.  

That said, as a host, I am providing a service to patrons of a bar, no?  Drunks, for the most part.  In my experience, drunks are defiant by nature, and that makes some of them pains in the buttox.  

I have a list of guidelines printed in each book.  The basics - Slip etiquette, don't scream in the mics, behave, rotation logic, etc.  And yet, without fail, most will violate them without regard.

I am of the view that karaoke is a privilege, not a right.  Singers (at least in my location) don't pay to sing.  I do know of one location San Jose that charges $1 per song (and gets away with it as the place is packed).  I come in, set up, and let them do their thing on my equipment, for which I get a menial sum of money.

My questions:  Are these drunks entitled to sing?  Just because there in the bar (and some aren't drunk they're just ignoramous' who drink pop and water), are they entitled to (@$%&#!), whine and complain about free entertainment?  Do they have a responsibility to follow the printed rule/guidelines?  Shouldn't they take a more logical approach that this is a service provided for them as an upgrade to the jukebox and a distraction to their otherwise mundane evening?  As a KJ, am I off base asking these questions, or is it part of my job to let these (and not all singers are like this of course), drunks be as disregarding as they wanna be?

I've only been doing this for a year, and I have a lot of fun doing it, but I find it odd that some people who come into these shows feel like it's their right to treat the show as if it there for them alone and damned if I don't do things exactly as they say.

If he's that drunk, and still wants to sing......shove the mic up his a$$, and crank up the reverb......if he comes back wanting to sing another song......chances are he's comming home with you tonight.......can't tell you what to do if that happens, so far I've been lucky....I mean, no I didn't get lucky.....I don't know what I mean,,,,,,just hope he don't come back for more........

My opinion is that your base premis is wrong.  You're there to help sell booze.   But, by all means protect your investment.  If you don't want them to sing, tell them to get the F*** out.  It always worked for me.

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Okay, who took my pants?

In NZ it is actually illegal for bar staff to serve anyone who appears drunk. Karaoke sadly sees folks drink up large for dutch courage...somewhere in there there might be a happy medium...if there is I never found it which is why I wouldnt kj again if I was paid huge sums...becos I have backing tracks on a laptop folk at gigs have decided that it is their right to come and sing with me...often there have been more than feelings bruised. I am totally anal about my equipment and no @$$wipe is going to barge his way up to my mic and expect me to fall at his feet and kiss them

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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."

When I was working as a musician in bars I was of the view that I was hired help paid to entertain the bars patrons.  Nothing more.  That's what I was paid for !




Look at it as though you're a sub-teacher in a school.  Are you going to start disciplining kindergartners for being kindergartners ?   It's not surprising that drunks exist in bars, but it's up to the bars direct employees to discipline patrons,  not a hired subcontracter who's paid to entertain them.  Complain to the establishment.  But I'd imagine it's like parents who hire a babysitter finding out that the babysitter is slapping around their kid for being a little spoiled @$$.  You have certain rights, but they are limited.  I can understand you not wanting your equipment defaced.  Beyond that I'd ask the bar manager or owner how he feels you can deal with certain jerks.  For all you know these jerks might be the bar owners mother.  One never knows.

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Northeast United States runner up for the "Singing Hall of Shame".

For the most part, the bartenders takes care of the drunks in the club.  I'll help if needed.  If they are drunk and disrupt the karaoke, I'll deal with them.  If they get way out of line or don't want to do what I say, I announce to the crowd what the A$$hole is doing and they and the bartender makes sure they leave.

If you come to our establishment and someone gets to acting ugly; my crowd will firmly but politely show you the door.



Kelly

Even if they're paying to sing, it's still basically a contract issue.  They can sing, but they have to play by your rules, whether that includes paying money, treating the equipment gently or not using foul language.  Just make the rules clear and you should be in pretty good shape.

Keep in mind, of course, that being on solid legal ground won't help you much when a drunk is getting difficult.  But it does give you legal justification to have a goon...er, I mean, bouncer...propel him onto the pavement with a punt up the posterior if he won't play by the rules.  No refunds.

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Reward: nine yen in drawer.

I started out in a rough bar. Fights every night, drunks, and egotistical a- holes.

After a while I decided I needed a bouncer or I wasn't working there any more. I spoke to the owner and he hired one. A year later after things were under control I didn't need him anymore.

Having a good reppoire with the owner & management is key. If someone is that drunk they don't sing! I usually approach them with saying "As your friend I can't let you sing - you have had to many tonight - next time you come in I'll gladly let you sing, but not tonight for your own good". If that doesn't work I get the owner.

Posting rules in the books gets ignored for the most part, but it is nice to have as a back up.

There are all kinds of ways of handling hecklers, drunks and a-holes. If you have specific instances I'd be glad to tell you how I've learned to handle them.

I hate when people yell at me from the crowd. If they have a question come talk to me. I had a guy last night yelling when am I up. I usually ignore it the first time, but he did it again. I said over the mic. You must be new, everyone knows here if you whine you go to the end of the rotation. I'll pretend like I didn't here you. The crowd laughs. When he came up to sing I explained if he wants to know when he's up next this is how it works. I can't possibly help you if you are screaming at me from the crowd. Please come up to the stage and talk to me. Another newbie trained !

Swearing and screaming on the mic. First time a warning. Second time the music stops and I explain why and continue the song. Third time you don't sing the reat of the night. (3xs your out  LMAO )

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[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

You must be a bigger baseball fan than me Babs.  With me you get one warning and that's it.  Next time, you "hit the showers."  

Kelly

It depends on the situation. A lot of the newbies just don't know the rules or what I'll tolerate. No matter how ya do it I think the most important rule of thumb is keep control.

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[updown]~*~ MONKEY BUSINESS KARAOKE~*~ [/shadow][/updown][/glow]

They have the same law here. But sadly it is not enforced.. I know of a place that pays it's staff based on the sales of the bar and as such the staff does not care how drunk you are.. They want your money and will serve you until you are in the bathroom throwing up and then they will serve you after that too.. It is truly a sad situation....

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

One word...NOPE!!!!!  Follow the rules!!!!

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Will sing or fish for food!!I'm not quite right!!

Everyone is entitled to sing - to a point.  If I feel they are too intoxicated, I will cut them off from singing on my equipment - this is my right, fortunately the club I work supports this as well.  You work in a bar, people go to bars to drink (some to get (@$%&#!) faced - bottom line.  If they aren't in there drinking, they aren't spending money which means you have no job if the bar isn't making money off karaoke nights.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

The crowd last night was a football crowd which means more than the usual amount of drikers. Touchdown free shots. I let singers get away with murder until a certain point but with a good system they are more concerned with trying to sing and sound good.

I guess it is more about atmosphere. We crank crowds with high paced and  high energy and add free shots and it gets noisy. But even the worst respected the system and enjoyed it. Most of our singers are veterans and will intro a song or yak at the crowd I encourage this as it really helps if you have to recue a song WrongOne!!!

And  the Lexicon 550 compressor got a real good test I think I got the threshold set at -4. It might even be better than the 266xl We had a couple of opera type singers that sounded awesome.

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You know, as a singer, I'm always in awe of the KJ who can, night after night, do a show and deal with the public, drunken or not. There are lots of good patrons I'm sure, but it's those bad eggs that tend to ruin you over time.

I used to be a concierge for the Hyatt while I was in school. When I first started doing it, I loved it. But after a couple years I grew tired of the same unappreciative demands of some of the guests. As a student and working part time, I wasn't bringing in a whole lot, and niether was my husband in those days, but the perks were great.  We would get to eat at some of the finest restaurants all over San Diego, as well as free admission the zoo, Sea World, Legoland. We'd also get to do neat things like sunset balloon rides and hang gliding, free wine tours in a limo, stuff like that. We'd get invited to the opening of all the newest clubs downtown, free spa days and were always being sent gifts like bottles of wine, gift certificates for just about anything you can think of, food. It was awesome. But I did grow tired of those demanding guests. It did get stressful sometimes when you couldn't make miracles happen. Towards the end, when I graduated from school, I was never so happy to leave a job. Even with all those perks, I was just too burnt out to deal with another crazy demand.

Could you possibly be feeling the beginning signs of burn out? I think if I were a KJ, karaoke wouldn't be as special to me. But that's just me. I'm not speaking for anyone else on here.

That's all.

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-:¦:- ((¸¸.·´*The Tinkermom -:¦:-[/glow][/align]

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[scroll][glow=deepskyblue]????HAVE YOU HEARD THE PIXIES SING????[/glow][/scroll]

Tinkermom I do have advantages here that most dont Many years on shore patrol dealing with drunken sailors and marines (straight back from nam) I have tended bar managed VFW clubs and serviced many bars in several professional capacitities. I have been going into bars since 1946.

You do get burned out but a real over wieght fat guy last night blew me away with a total spanish song (one of the opera singers) He blew the crowd away Thats what keeps me going ...Fish and deal with wind rain and worst conditions And when you hook that big one All the bad memories are gone.....

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Join The Karaokle Singers Social Network. Upload Your Music!!

Tinker - I could just kiss you. I think there are few singers who understand that being a KJ isn't all fun - it's a job and after time you fight burn out. I think there are very few who would say they'd do it for free on a regular basis. Sometimes I have to tell myself on a stressful night "There are worse jobs". It's singers like you that make the job worth sticking with.

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

hugs sharon, sorry if it seems like I am ignoring folk, I am still accessing via proxy server and it is a pain in the derrier to be bannerised with stuff like secrect orgasim tips and there is a message from a russian girl for you banners so I havent been scrolling back to see who has written what, I just respond to a latest comment if the subject interests me

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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."

they're DRUNK!  most of them aren't going to remember how you treated them the night before.  in fact, i've got a guy, who is actually an incredibly nice and sane person when sober, who comes in EVERY night and sings the same two songs (poorly).   he is usually completely obnoxious and gets pissed a screams obscenities on the mig if no one pays him any attention.  i usually cut his mic off and don't let him sing anymore that night and i let him know why.  the next night here he comes again as if nothing happened.  
my point is, you have a duty to bring people into the bar, not to make them drink....i could go off on a tangent about that but i won't.  anyway, your job is to fill the bar with people and help them have a good time.  if one or two people are being idiots, i promise you the other patrons are not enjoying themselves as much as they could and would more than likely appreciate you contolling the other two.  if you don't the majority may not return becaus of the minority.

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All work and no play make Homer something something

Sometimes, you want to hang up the mics, and just go home. Your back hurts from lifting all the equipment, your ears are ringing from all the screaming, your voice is raw and your throat is sore. But then some girl comes in and has never sung before, and she is shy and timid but by the end of the night is a totally diva (in a good way) and you helped bring her out of her shell and give her a good end to a (@$%&#!) week, or some regular you haven't seen in some time sings a silly song and cracks you up and buys you a drink, and you remember that you are there to finesse the inner rock star out of the cubicle farmers, put
em on a stage and give them the chance to shine, and you know you did a good thing for the night. Maybe tomorrow will be even more awesome. That's how I try and do it.