Karaoke Forums

Is there such a thing as a karaoke retreat?

If not, can we create one?

I'll explain, if there isn't such a thing.

I think California has a retreat called Camarillo State Hospital..

Karaoke every Friday and Saturday..

Obama has one called Camp David. Wonder if there's any karaoke there.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

Camarillo State (Mental) Hospital. http://csmhospital.webs.com/urbanmyths.htm

Can't help but notice reference to Eagles' song Hotel California.

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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!

OK... Let's hear it.

I guess what I'm thinking of is an annual 'karaoke convention' sort of. But I'm thinking more of a retreat...

Writing is my hobby. In the summer, they are various writing retreats open for interested adults for a week or sometimes two weeks. It'll be set up in random host city (Detroit, Philly, Houston), normally by an English dept at a college there. Adult writers from all across the country will descend on that college's city and stay in their dorms (that are vacated in the summer) for lodging purposes. We write and critique each other's work during the day. At night we go out and cruise the town since most of us will be new to that host city. We gain new experiences to write about. We mingle with different writers from across the US at the retreat from age 20 to 80. By the end of the week, you've made some new friends, learned a lot, had a fulfilling vacation, go home. Wait 'till next summer to see new faces, a new city, new experiences.

It'd be nice to have a karaoke version of this. This board picks a random city. We all descend on it for a week or a weekend or whatever we can. During the day we can have karaoke workshops about different things: How to do a proper light show with karaoke. New brands out there, new tricks. KJ's bring knowledge to the table. At night, we'll check out the karaoke scene as a group. This is not about critiquing anyone though. This is about an annual relaxing retreat to get out of your city and check out the karaoke scene elsewhere with KJs and just be in our own culture for a week.

We could have it sponsored by the venues we work at, hopefully. The may invest in it because it will hopefully make us more knowledgeable KJs which will in turn help out their venue get more money. For example, some here on this board have been KJaying over 20 years. Someone could come to this retreat with a 3-yr background as a KJ and learn a lot by hanging out with some of you vets, better than learning on the board.

Maybe there's already an annual karaoke convention that exists. But this is more like without the gaudiness of a convention. This can occur once a year, pick a different random city. All the KJs in that city can get together as the 'hosts'.

During the day, folks can set up or lead all types of workshops, discussion panels, that other KJs can attend. It doesn't have to be anything formal.

It'll be tough that folks may not be to travel with their equipment, but perhaps the host city committee can arrange for something. I'm sure once folks get together we can come up with something.

It's just a thought. There's probably something similar out there like it. I'm a newbie to this site so I'm pretty green about such things....

IMO, from what you have described, this sounds like you'd like to see something set up that is geared specifically for KJs (excluding Singers). I say this because, when you described it a little further, you focused more on Workshops to (possibly) train KJs in how to operate their equipment to peak performance levels. You spoke of show enhancements (such as Lighting). You spoke of how these Workshops could (possibly) benefit KJs and (possibly) bring in more money for the places where they work. I believe there have been some Karaoke Conventions (not what you would consider to be a "Retreat") in Las Vegas (home of all sorts of Conventions). Some of those K-Conventions did have a Workshop or two, where they had Guest Speakers talk about some of these topics which you speak of.

Now, looking at this from a different perspective (that of a Singer/Participant of Karaoke), I have been on several Karaoke Summits between the years 1999 -2006 (that is what we chose to call it (those of us involved at that time)). This started out on a (now defunct) Karaoke Forum by a fluke. It wasn't what you would consider to be a "Retreat," but it did bring many of us together for a weekend to just get to know each other and have a good time.... and SING, OF COURSE!

It started out one day, when someone mentioned they were planning a weekend trip to Maryland. One of the Forum members then mentioned that he was from Maryland, and would love to hook up. They discussed the dates of the planned travel, and then someone else mentioned that they happened to be free that weekend, and would love to meet up too. Well, one thing led to another, and before you knew it, there were about 20 of us who all agreed to make plans to travel out to Maryland and meet each other (most for the first time). That was in 1999. We came from all different States (mostly East Coast). The person who lived out in Maryland got the ball rolling. He and his Wife volunteered to be our Hosts for the weekend. They arranged for one local KJ to start his Friday Night Show an hour earlier (exclusively for us, so that we could get a little extra singing time in). Then, they arranged for a Local KJ to volunteer his services for Saturday Night. They had rented out an American Legion Hall for the party, and had a catered buffet set up for us. In addition to the Karaoke festivities, some Vendors (such as Sound Choice, Priddis, Pocket Songs, and Pop Hits Monthly) donated goodies (some very valuable) to be raffled off to us. On that Sunday, we all said our (some tearful) goodbyes.

After that, from 2000 to 2006, someone else on that Forum had volunteered to be our Host for a weekend (on an agreed upon date). We had our Karaoke Summits in Maryland, Virginia, Texas, Chicago, Ohio, and Pennsylvania). At one point, some of the Forum Members out in the West Coast decided to hold their own Karaoke Summits (to mirror the East Coast ones), since most of them couldn't make it out to the East Coast and Gulf Coast ones. At one of our Summits, our Hostess arranged for us to start Karaoke at a Bar where she normally hosted a show. She started at 12 Noon, and kept it going through 2 AM (when the bar closed). Her "Regulars" were invited to join us through out the day and night.

There is the Las Vegas DJ Show and the Mobile Beat Conference that do this for DJ's and KJ. There is also talk of opening up the Karaoke Summit to the public.

Back in the day, folks from the old Jolt forums would organize local and national meetups.

There are some local Seattle KJ's that have tossed around having a KJ meetup.

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-Chris

Yep, cueball you described what I'm thinking of

Would love to have KJs get together in an annual retreat