Karaoke Anyone?

Hail and well met this fine, feathered morning, my increasingly oblique peeps. Today's topic of discussion will be....

Karaoke.

Do you? Have you? Do you like? What do you like or dislike about it? What do you sing? Do you leave the bar when it starts or do you seek that bar out? Tell me stories. I'll entertain you on the mic at night, entertain me with your writings.

To answer my own questions, I truly enjoy singing in front of folks, but don't have the time, talent, or personality to find/start a band or succeed at an open mic night, leaving Karaoke as a great option. Been doing it at least monthly since about '96, and a couple times weekly for the last couple years. My singing and stage presence have markedly improved over that timeframe, and much more rapidly when I do it more often. I generally have a bass voice, but I like to keep people guessing. I'll sing just about anything once. I do a really good Ghost Riders in the Sky, Baby One More Time, Watching the Detectives, Devil Went Down To Georgia, Cross Eyed Mary, Bring Me to Life, Gin 'n Juice, Zoot Suit Riot, and Machinehead (and a couple dozen more)

One time when my hair was longer I put it up in Pigtails and sang Britney spears. It amused.
--- merged: Nov 13, 2011 2:55 PM ---
Oh.. If you enjoy watching or singing and you find yourself in the Northern VA area, drop me a private message if you'd like to meet up... I know decent places (mostly in Centreville & Manassas) every night but Tuesday.

 

I couldn't carry a tune is a bucket. Impossible for me to be drunk enough to do this. I do enjoy watching bad karaoke, though.

 

Karaoke is a blast with the right crowd. Lately it's been about once a month. I sing a variety of stuff, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ozzy, Poison, Candlebox, Radiohead, Snow Patrol, and Rush, to name a few. If I'm choosing the bar, it will have karaoke!

 

It's a laugh and can be great fun - but I have to fight my inner critic!

I perform solo, mostly my own songs and I can't get over the feeling (with karaoke) that I'm getting involved in something cheesy. That's just a kind of snobbery, though, so I learn to love my inner cheese, let my hair down and have a great time.

I've enjoyed it, but I couldn't make it a lifestyle. It's like ice skating - half the fun is making a fool of yourself and not caring. It's almost a disappointment when people step up who are really good. I can't help but feel that isn't in the spirit of the thing!

 

Bad karaoke is the only good karaoke. The only thing better than watching some drunk fool slurring his way through "Freebird" is having him pass out in the middle of it.

 

Couple years back, fellow with Hipster glasses and a faux-hawk and generally gothish clothes got up on stage and announced that he couldn't sing and wasn't about to try, and proceeded to sing the most brilliantly funny, awful rendition of Lenny Kravitz's "Fly Away" in something between Shelly Winters, Emo Philips, and William Shatner. People were cackling and falling out of chairs.

 

Not much of a fan of singing at Karaoke bars. though I do enjoy watching people sing. I prefer the private room style of Karaoke, if I'm going to sing. I get to sing a lot more and in the comfort of my peeps.

 

There was a time, a few years back, when I was at karaoke nearly every night of the week, every week. I love to sing, but I can't play anything, and all my friends who played were either already in a band, or had no interest in being in a band. And so I became a Karaoke Whore.

It's been a rare thing for me these days, though. Haven't really found a place I like here, with a crowd I like (the one place I did kinda like ended up canceling their weekly karaoke night. boo.)

My staples were Nobody (Sylvia), I'm the Only One (Melissa Etheridge), Love is a Battlefield (Pat Benatar), and either Total Eclipse of the Heart or Holding Out for a Hero (Bonnie Tyler.) I did lots of 80s, country, and 80s country

One place I went to, the DJ would call me up for a Mystery Song once or twice a night--he got to pick, and I'd have no idea what it was until the music started. That was so much fun

 

Scaryoke! Mistah Fingaz, the DJ whose shows I usually go to, pulled that on me once. Gave me a 'N Stink tune. I went Motown on it. It was fun.

 

I have, didn't enjoy it. Will probably try it again one day. I like singing.

 

10% of Karaoke is how you feel going into it. 30% is the song you pick. 30% is the DJ, 30% is the crowd. (Roughly). That's my opinion, though.
I think the reason I enjoy it so much now is that when I started doing it back in 96, I was deeply in lust (and starting to fall in love - 10 years later still a best friend) with the DJ, who dragged me out to her show. I just came to the show a couple times and got to know the regulars before I sang, and then I picked a talking song (Charlie Daniels, Uneasy Rider) that I already knew pretty well. So I had crowd, DJ, and Song. Then folks pointed me at Johnny Cash, which I have the voice for, and Metallica which at the time I had the hair for, and I was off and running.

 

I have to be VERY drunk to sing karaoke or with a crowd. I used to go with CinnamonGirl all the time when we lived in the same state. Recently I called her while she was out being a karaoke whore so I got to listen to her....and I think Lordeden too.

Lately, my buddy/roommate and I have been seen in the presence of a Karaoke machine....and it's the best Karaoke joint I've ever been to. (I've been to quite a few with Cinn)

It all began with my 30th birthday when S took me to Devil's Point for Stripparoke. Yes my friends, you can sing karaoke while a beautiful woman takes her clothes off. I sat right in front and made it rain on those girls while S sang. I was very intoxicated that night, but was too distracted by the glorious women to even think about singing.

The second time we went was on Halloween. S was dressed like Macho Man Randy Savage and even sang in character. It was awesome and the strippers LOVED him. We're planning our next trip, but sadly Devil's Point is nearly 2 hours away and the karaoke night is only on Sundays. We usually go on 3 day weekends or need to take the Monday off. We both say that if we lived closer, we'd be there every Sunday. We also tend to fight over Berlin. She's a lovely, sweet girl who can really work a pole. She has sat down and talked to me on a few occasions, making S jealous. It may have been because I tend to give her really good tips. For my birthday when S sang, Berlin danced to his performance, but the last time we were there he had a less than fun stripper dancing to his songs. She had good costumes, but just wasn't that good of a stripper.

Maybe I'll sing next time....but only if Berlin is my dancer.

 

haha, is that what you call it? I've only head that as referring to Halloween Karaoke (or karaoke night at the goth club.) Awesome.

I don't think he every picked NSync for me, but I definitely remember doing a Backstreet Boys tune, New Kids On the Block, and Cyndi Lauper.

That was fun. I forget what song it was, but the boys kept passing the mic around because they didn't know the words.

 

I miss 1470s karaoke night.

 

Sang Jace Everett "Bad Things" for the first time last night. Prob'ly not going to do that again in a hurry - Too high to sing straight, too low to shift down. OTOH, I sang Maiden, "Aces High" for a metalheadish friend's birthday last weekend totally expecting it to suck, and it turned out to be one of the best songs by anyone all night (though it was a bit of an off night....). I'm thinking of trying out Alicia Keyes "No One" or Fiona Apple "Criminal" This week. (Yes, I am all over the place....)

 

I don't sing in front of people. I don't think I could ever be drunk enough to sing - dance, yes...but not sing. I do enjoy karaoke with the right crowd though, it's quite fun.

 

I went tonight for the first time in ages. Only had time for two songs, "Tennessee Flattop Box" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

I really, really want to try "Edge of Glory," or "Bad Romance," but I didn't have the courage to try a brand new song in a brand new venue tonight. Maybe next week.

 

One of the biggest obstacles to my quitting smoking is that someone busts out with "Total Eclipse of the Heart" about once a week, which makes me grab my lighter and dive for the nearest exit. ("Black Velvet" will do it to.)

 

So.... Northern VA type folks if there are any out there. Karaoke this weekend: Tonight at Finnegans in Herndon. Tomorrow at Columbus Grill in Manassas. Possibly Sunday at Fast Eddie's in Centreville.
I'm the one with the moustache.

/ and here's an extra o to go on the end of the "to" one post up: "o"

 

i love going to any kind of karaoke. i'll go all over the board from hall & oates to alice in chains.

i think the thing i like about it is that here in l.a. when i usually go to a bar it might as well be an office. half of the people there are networking for their career and everyone has their armor up.

karaoke kind of defuses that whole vibe and makes it ok to be goofy or silly, because no matter how goofy you are, it's not gonna be as goofy as that drunk guy trying to hit the high notes in "love in an elevator".