Karaoke Forums

Dfwsunking please do not take offense to what I'm about to say sir. Most of this stuff you probably already know, but this is just a constructive reminder from a guy who's trying to help. From a few things I've picked up in your posts...

Your own vocal skills are unimportant as a KJ.

Your people skills are of utmost importance!

It is far more important to be able to memorize 12 names in a row and get them right than to nail any song. When a singer approaches you they want you to know who they are. When you call out the next singer they want you to look at them, and not stare blankly out into space, which is not only rude but tells them that their last song didn't register with you. When a singer comes in after a month's absence they want you to greet them by name and be told how much they've been missed.

These are the types of things that make a successful KJ. Not singing abilities nor MC skills.

Some other homilies as long as I'm doing this:

And overly enthusiatic KJ is often his own worst enemy.

Be careful about wanting to take over a room from another KJ. You just might get your wish. (Lots of pitfalls there. I much prefer starting my own room out from scratch.)

And most importantly:

It's not about me. It's all about them.

Best of luck to you man and be sure to keep checking in to let us know how things are going.

Bill H.

Hmm.. that's funny. Knightshow, you posted the same thing to me when I first posted on here with a simple question not to long ago... As Karen posted a few messages back, you quickly learn on here who to READ and who to skip over.

Not exactly "hair metal"... although they were a mid/late 80's band. They were more like a heavier version of The Doors... Think they were heavily influenced by them if I recall correctly.

They probably only have two songs that people might request to sing... "Fire Woman" and "She sells Sancuary"

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I agree. But let me also add, if you are a good singer it can be an asset, and don't hog the show. People will feel comfortable singing with you, or as in my sat gig... "back me up so I don't sound too bad."... Which I will to a point... just enough to give them confidence. Its funny how if you stand there and mouth into a mic, the person will sing with more confidence. So its a hosting/ singing combo... but its still about them having a good time.

Don't hog the show!!

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

Admittedly, I consider myself a good singer but certainly not fabulous. What gets me a free beer is my ability to make people laugh. After being flashed, I focused solely on karaoke bastardization doing humorous versions of songs like I touch myself, Private Dancer, and Kiss you all over. From there, I got more serious, even made a few karaoke audio tracks myself like Damn it feels good to be a Gangsta by the Geto Boys and Bad Reputation by Freddy Johnston.
I'm not saying I have it all worked out but I'm hoping that my ability to make karaoke fun and memorable will provide the means and encouragement to get others to relax and have fun in the process. I certainly don't want to be the one singing every song. That's what got the last KJ at the place I'm trying to get a gig at fired. What I do want is to make the karaoke experience so memorable that people will want to keep coming back for more.
Any tips on how best to accomplish that are certainly welcome.

I can only speak for myself. I am an accomplished singer, so I use that. I tend to keep myself in the rotation to:

- Slip in an upbeat song after a bunch of slows (whiskey lullaby, ack!)

- Slip in a duet with a popular or new singer (grease megamix)

- Mark the top of the rotation, put in a dance break, etc.

Now, this is not set in stone. It depends on the crowd, the bar, the number in the rotation, and other variables.

This works for me, and the feedback I get from singers, non-singers, bar owners, and other experienced KJs is overwhelmingly positive.

As host, the real skill is reading your crowd and mutating your show to suit who you are in front of, and make it entertaining not only for the singers, but the non-singers as well.

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

Hopefully I didn't contradict myself! !

dfw

If you can pull off what you have in mind, I know it would work in my neck of the woods.

Meanwhile, I couldn't agree more with Bill and Koyote... most notably... read the audience.

Particularly... beware of getting so "into" and excited about some "shtick" you've rehearsed that you don't read the audience correctly in order to realize that "tonight is not the night for that shtick"

My shtick while entertaining hasn't always been shall I say, "flawless". One time, I was at bar where they had karaoke and know the DJ quite well. There was a couple having some kind of engagement party and as such, I decided to sing the most appropriate song I could think of. At a medium pace by Adam Sandler.
I get up on stage and as I'm singing I'm injecting the couple's names into the song. "Spit on your hand and stroke my (@$%&#!) at a medium pace (Justin and Suzanne)." Justin is singing along word for word, and is really enjoying it. His bride to be on the other hand was not pleased and towards the end of the song, her Dad ran up on stage, grabbed the mic out of my hand and told me to shut the (@$%&#!) up and get out! I assumed he was management, closed my tab and left.
Had Justin who was singing along at any time signaled to me to tone it down I gladly would have. The bride to be should have been complaining to her future husband rather than her "Daddy" as well. In spite of this, I understood and wasn't really mad at the Dad. What did make me irate though was the fact that when this guy ran up on stage, the KJ did absolutely nothing! He knew the song, and has heard me sing it on more than one occassion. If the KJ was ok with letting me singing it, he should stepped in and let me finish it as he knew that this guy wasn't the management. I one time saw a guy walk to the stage and unplug the mic on this guy as he was singing which although the performance was bad, was completely unacceptable. The KJ didn't hesitate to toss his (@$%&#!) out. Because if you don't, you ultimately end up with Karaoke Anarchy or Kararchy as I like to call it and then the KJ has no control.
Anyway, I definitely learned a lesson in the importance of knowing your audience. As a KJ I would never sing that song with kids in the room and probably not until after midnight and only after I've worked a few shows and know the audience. (Most) ladies do find it entertaining though when you walk through the audience and serenade them with it. Guys usually piss themselves laughing.

As most of you know I run a wide open room. And this may sound strange, but as host and KJ if I were to do a song like that, it would offend quite a few singers who don't mind it coming from a singer in the room. And who may even sing explicit language material themselves.

As a host I'm expected to be above the fray.

You're still imagining yourself as the center of attention when you get your hosting gig dfwsunking. I think you will be surprised when you actually start doing this.

So as a KJ, what do I do if my friends in the audience ask me to sing it and don't want to sing it themselves because they ultimately will.

What ifs my friend. What ifs.

You will find out that as KJ you will be asked to sing all kinds of things. Often it's to see if you are a fool enough to do them.

Great perspective, Bill H. We can't be prepared for all the 'what ifs' before they come along and giving some thought to it beforehand will probably make for a better decision in the end.

The one time I sang the (@$%&#!) Song (about a kitty) it was at my Fri night gig and it was a room full of youngsters - they were getting a little on the questionable side of good taste and were ribbing me about being a little conservative. They chided me, I went along with it, pretending to be offended...then I put that song up, sang it very convincingly, and had them rolling on the floor. Definite shock value when a (oh, I hate this phrase) a middle-aged woman gets up and sings that song.

There are certainly times and places for things. You really have to understand your room well, tho. Offending is not part of my business plan that's for sure.

Hey Karen I wish I had been there!

I actually do a few raps that get pretty suggestive. But when it's a rap... you know it goes by so fast that it doesn't seem to register the way that a song like "Medium Pace" or "F### Her Gently" does.

As far as "Medium" goes, it's probably the most potentially offensive song that gets sung in my room. Even though it doesn't have any F bombs IIRC. It just is to some people. The guys that do it are really careful when they put it up. Usually only in the last hour. And I don't even have to tell them. It's just instinctive.

If that's the one from the Sports Zone ( Party DRs.?), I heard he was pretty much given no choice.

If it wasn't him, same thing. Like I said, at least in our area, almost every PC host that's lasted more than a few months now has a player as well.....

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

You need to learn in a hurry: The wedding party was certainly more important that night than any single singer. The host might have thought you stepped over the line of good form and was relieved when Dad interfered. The only time I have pulled a plug on someone was on that very song when he decided to invoke someone's name who *did not* want to be part of it. He left in a huff, hasn't been back, she and her posse still come in. I know which one I won't miss.

A bad singer singing a song should never be interrupted. A person singing a song that patently offends a group of folks who are there to have fun should always be ushered off the stage. Equivocating the two is a big mistake, acting like there is no harm in the latter is a HUGE one.

I see your point but tend to disagree on this one for the following reasons:
1. It wasn't a private party. It was just some people who decided to show up at a bar to celebrate an engagement. As such, there really was no "host". It was Yucatan Beach Club where they sometimes have wet t-shirt contests, lingerie parties and other events. If "good taste" was a real concern, they wouldn't have met there to begin with.
2. The groom to be was singing along word for word. His bride to be was dancing with him most of the song too. If either one at any time signaled to keep their names out or stop, I would have gladly respected their wishes. The only signal that was given was the mic being pulled out of my hand.
3. If the song was going to be offensive, the KJ should have asked me not to sing it when I first requested it. I would have been ok with that too.
4. I was watching the audience when I was singing and didn't see any other indications that people were patently offended. Most of them were laughing which in fairness may have been why the Dad decided to take matters into his own hands.
5. If offending people is a dire concern, then KJ's shouldn't allow anyone to sing any songs with profanity or that could be deemed offensive whatsoever. I've been to places like that and have no problem when they state the rules from the get-go. Inversely, what I've noticed is for that very reason, the turn-out isn't as good. It is a bar after all. The bars I've noticed (Admittedly, I haven't been to any in Garland) that have the best karaoke turnouts are the ones where the only rule is if the KJ has it, you can sing it.

Anyway, I did learn a lesson or two from the experience and like I said, wouldn't dare doing something like that as a KJ. I'd much rather err on the side of professionalism than entertainment. If I saw someone singing and thought they were out of line, I would warn them one time only to stop. If they don't then yes, I would cut their mic and/or tell them to exit the stage too. In the instance I cited, I was never given that opportunity.

every venue is different, but common courtesy is the most common demoninator. I tend to agree with you on profanity, but WILL censor myself when I'm at a NEW venue and I don't know the crowd.

Dropping the F bomb or the A word or whatever on new people is just ASKING for flack.

That's the difference between a seasoned host, and an enthusiastic person looking to get into the business with some ideas of their own. But that's the great thing about communities like this. You don't HAVE to reinvent the wheel! Others can tell you what they've learned along the way and you can either take said advice, or go it your own way. But don't get all frustrated when it finally hits you in the face with the reality of the situation.

Restaurants - usually no profanity is allowed.
Bars - usually okay. But even then, there are many that just frown on such things. Just because it's over 21 allowed doesn't mean it's a free-for-all with no common courtesy guidelines.

I gained a gig because osme idiots were doing stupid jokes over the mic, doing trivia, and the audience wasn't into it. I set up and in one hour they were convinced they'd done right in letting these folks go. What works for one place may not work for another. These folks, despite my feelings, DID get a succesful gig going, doing the exact same thing that got them fired. They just didn't know how to read their crowd!

It doesn't matter if it was a private party. It was a group of XXX number of folks buying booze. That's a party no matter how you slice it. If you're going to piss someone off don't let it be the person who's in your place celebrating their birthday/wedding/anniversary/first lay with their friends. When you do that you don't get self righteous; you apologize and ask forgiveness. Expecting the KJ to govern your actions is a bit much.

As for where you do Karaoke making a big difference in how you go about it I doubt you'd find much difference in Garland/Richardson/Plano from Dallas/New York/LA/Seattle/Portland. There may be a couple of rules specific to a show but how you treat people doesn't change from place to place.

However that being said you're welcome to come to the End Zone in Plano on Tuesday or Friday nights and sing anything in the book after 11:00PM

I've been at the same place for almost three years now. I use and allow profanity freely. It's the venue and the crowd. I could do a 'dry' show if needed, but would prefer to be allowed to do my own thing. I think when you stick something in a box and say anything outside this box is wrong, that's when you limit your audience.

I believe truly, the most necessary skill of a seasoned KJ is an ability to read and respond to a crowd.

I just secured another gig. It's at the best spot in town. There are two venues in one. On Fridays they do bands or DJ in the main hall (back room) and whatever upfront (smaller bands, acoustics, marathon tourneys (foosball, darts, pool). On Saturdays the back room is the hottest club in the Valley, and I've got an open invite to do my show in the front. They're having a grand reopening this weekend, and I'll be there Saturday. I can't see myself committing to a steady gig on Saturdays because that's me and my girl's 'date night'. This venue has traditionally been a younger crowd, so it should be interesting.