The Karaoke Report 3-26-12

Sunday nights have been really staying busy at Fatty's.  Thanks to all the patrons who come in and support me and the establishment.

Epic Awesomesauce Moment of the Night/Buzzkill of the Night

What you're looking at through the lens of my really crappy cell phone cam is filming for The Real World: St. Thomas.  While it was epicly awesome that they came to film during karaoke, it was also a buzzkill for one simple reason: nobody wanted to risk being captured on camera singing karaoke for national television.  Mind you, the only way they put you on TV is if they get your consent first.  A lot of people don't know that do so they immediately get gun shy when the cameras show up.  Either way, can't wait to see if they're going to use footage from Fatty's on the show.  Oh and before you ask, no I will not be famous anytime soon.  I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

WTF Moment of the Night

On one of the very first pages of my song books I include for perusal some of us in the biz refer to as The Golden Rules of Karaoke.

1. Thou shall never allow your mic to 'make out with the speakers, it makes them squeal' and
"WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT"

2. Thou shall always sing into the mic - "MAKE IT HAPPEN"

3. Thou shall never go to the bathroom or outside when on deck to sing just to see if you could "TURN BACK TIME"

4. Thou shall never ask if the mics are on - they are on "ALWAYS"

5. Thou shall never walk in front of the monitor when someone else is singing. It is disrespectful and very rude - "I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER!"

6. Thou shall always applaud every singer. Some day you may be up there - "R-E-S-P-E-C-T"

7. Thou shall never sing back-up for someone unless they ask you. We do not need
"A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS"

8. Thou shall never ask the KJ if you can sing out of turn just because you've got "LEAVING ON YOUR MIND"

9. Thou shall not continuously ask the KJ when it will be your turn to sing - "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH"

10. Thou shall not change your song once you get on stage and it is all keyed up - "LET IT BE"

11. Thou shall not go to karaoke and drink only water. Support your Karaoke establishment, whom is paying for your entertainment, by just having "TWO MORE BOTTLES OF WINE!"

12. Thou shall not swing the mic by the mic cord, nor drop it, nor "BEAT IT"

13. Thou shall not get up on stage to sing with a drink or a cigarette in hand - "NA NA, HEY HEY, KISS THEM GOOD-BYE!"

14. Thou shall not try to take over the Karaoke show just because your parents or friends are in town. Go to a recording studio and make a recording if they want to hear "ONLY YOU!"

15. Thou shall never blow into the mic! "IT WAS NICE SEEING YOU!"

Even though these are loosely enforced nobody ever reads these because I get offenders at every show and some of them are repeat offenders.  I want to draw your attention though to #7.  I've had to enforce this one a lot lately but there's an unwritten code of etiquette that comes with that rule: asking EVERYONE who comes on stage if you can have the second mic is just bad form.  So from here on out I may start to ignore rule 7 and only award the second mic to people who indicated from the start they'd be singing as a duo.