My first synagogue gig

It would be a cold day in Milwaukee when I would do a synagogue gig. Seriously. It was cold. Seriously cold. It was 20 below when I unpacked my gear at the synagogue. Did I mention it was cold?

The youth leader had scheduled a "coffee house" night for the youth. Groovy idea. There were poetry readings, and two different bands that the youth had put together. Good stuff. And there was karaoke.

I hired John the Revelator to do karaoke for a youth event at my congregation. John was a pleasure to work with. He obtained song requests from me before the show and added them to his already extensive collection. John was flexible, accommodating, easy going. He worked well with the kids, putting them at ease and treating them fairly. They liked him and talk about performing karaoke again.

Debbie I.
Religious Education Director
Cong. Beth El

First church gig

My church has a "Friday fun night". I had never been to one, but I volunteered to bring in karaoke for one of the events. I was kind of expecting a general collection of people from the church, and that this one would include a few more people who were into music.

I brought along all the gear and arrived forty-five minutes early to set up. That was great, since I found that I was missing an adapter when I got there.

So, I learned that it is important to know where the nearest Radio Shack or Best Buy is. I ran to the Best Buy, bought the adapter, and ran back.

Needless to say, when I got back, I found that the adapter was already on the end of the cable, and that cable was plugged into the mixer, just where it was supposed to be.

Hmmm... maybe I learned something else? I guess not, cuz I can't think of what it might be!

I have a pic here of my adorable wife and number one groupie, the Gypsy Songstress, doing a mic check for me.

I taught Algebra for a while at UW Milwaukee. I had my groupies there. Math professors have always had more than enough groupies. When Jagger and I would get together for a beer, that was the big conversation topic. His groupies were generally more strung out than my groupies, but other than that... it was all the same.

I must say... being a karaoke DJ and being down to just one groupie... that's a good thing. I recommend this to all math profs and all rock n roll legends: Become a karaoke DJ, and get yourself one good groupie.

But I digress.

The crowd was not quite what I was expecting. How was I to know that "Friday Fun Night" was the night for families with young children? I don't know if Jagger will sympathize with me on this one. Has he ever played a gig for people mostly under the age of 10? Ok, maybe the Backstreet Boys could.

I like kids. That's not the issue. I adored my own, I love my grandkids. (Yes, I have two granddaughters.) The only problem was that I really did not have the songs that they knew.

Since then, I bought some nursery rhymes. No one at a bar will ever sing "Eensy-weensy spider", but I have it in my book. I am ready for the next Friday Fun Night.

"A very special thank you to John Seymour for the karaoke. It was such a hit I'm getting requests for it every month. I'm also listening to my 2-year-old sing 'YMCA' as I type this!"

Sally

New year's sing-a-long party

My third gig was a private party. The guy that hired me is a cheapskate, so I did the gig for free. Not that I minded, cuz this cheapskate happens to be me!

My lovely wife and I have a tradition of bringing a bunch of musically inclined people together for New Year's eve. They bring along their guitars or other instruments, and we have our piano. It has always been a great time for everyone.

This past New Year's, we invited the same sort of people over, but in addition to the guitars and piano, I had my karaoke gear set up in the corner of the living room. It was a bit crowded.

I naturally had to show off my gear, cuz guys are like that. Irv's interest was piqued. Irv is a softspoken fellow, very nice guy. He plays guitar well and sings well. He started asking what sort of songs I had, so I got out the book. He immediately found some oldies ... songs from the 50's and 60's. Songs he grew up with and knew well.

I played them. He sang. Several of us sang along. Someone else found a song they wanted. and we sang that.

I had originally set up the equipment so that the monitor faced toward the corner so that someone could sing out to the rest of the people in the room. That monitor naturally got turned around so that everyone could see the words.

The complexion of the party changed. It very quickly entered into new and uncharted territory. A completely novel karaoke genre was invented on that evening. The people at that elite party unwittingly became pioneers in an experiment that will become a landmark moment in the history of karaokeology.

No one knew, on entering our place that fateful evening, what lay in store for them. Not even I, as a trained scientist, a trained scientist who graduated with nine credits in psychology. I'm talking three whole classes, including one class in primate psychology.

Even that class in primate psychology with it's study of the behaviors of bonobo chimps could not have possibly prepared me for the auspicious turn of events.

Ok, so maybe we just had a good time?

I just hadn't anticipated the idea of a karaoke sing-a-long. I always thought of it as a solo, or maybe duet kind of thing.

Nobody got out their guitars that evening. The piano did not get played. And the party went well past the normal hour for folks like us. Way past our bedtimes.

We had fun.

My second gig

My second gig was in December, 2007.

Every year, my company (QuadTech) has a holiday party. It's always the last day before Holiday break. Everyone brings a little something to eat, and pretty much everyone brings a little something to drink. We are instructed that we must work at least until 11:00 that day.

Many teams go all out for the cubical decorating contest. My team, not to be outdone, brought in one string of lights AND a green garland. I added to the festivities by writing on the board the equation of the catenary that described the shape of our hanging garland. I suppose the judges felt sorry for the teams that had worked until three in the morning for a week to set up the Elvis Workshop (or wait, was it "elves"?) and the "Christmas on Battlestar Galactica" cubicals.

As for me, while everyone was noshing and sloshing, I set up my full set of karaoke gear for the first time. I had literally been painting the subwoofers the previous day, so this was a maiden voyage. I came with a book of about 2,500 songs.

My car, by the way, was not all that happy with me. the night before, while I was packing, I started thinking seriously about going out to buy a larger car. Please don't tell Url, my car. It was only a fleeting thought. I still love ya, guy!

The engineers came by to critique the equipment and laugh about my lack of woodworking skills. They were jealous. Or, maybe they were just engineers?

But eventually, people became lubricated enough to get up and sing. I was completely floored by one ringer who got up to sing. I hadn't known that the guy was a professional. He goes by the name of "Downtown Harrison". Check out his website - he has some clips. Whether you want Elvis or James Brown or Nat King Cole, or Cher, he has it!

There were a few other surprises for the day. The biggest surprise was my office mate, Mike. Not only does he know some country songs, but he could sing! Not bad, actually. Here I thought he was just good for a bit of trivia now and then. The picture shows my wife, Gypsy, myself (drinking as usual) (it was soda) (honest) (would I lie on the internet?) (everyone knows that everything on the internet is true), and Mike.

I should also mention Paul. I love to listen to Paul sing. He has been in bands and he puts everything into his singing. Keep it up! (Sorry, I don't have a pic of him gettin' into it!)

Although the party was going on throughout the building, the karaoke just kept getting more and more popular as the crew got more and more liquored up. By the way, did I mention that QuadTech is a great place to work?

Other than a bit of constipation, I had a fabulous time.

I will end this blog with the endorsement that I got from Karl, the company president:

John the Revelator helped to make our Christmas Party a blast! He helped break the ice in the early stages and slowly made everyone feel comfortable singing and performing with their friends. It's a great way to get people to interact with each other in a fun environment!

Karl

Karaoke in Milwaukee

I'll take a break from my extremely engaging story to mention some of my favorite karaoke spots around the Milwaukee area.

For the smoothest run karaoke in the area, I recommend going to Clifford's Supper Club in Hales Corner's. They have a raised stage behind the bar, so everyone can see you. In addition to the words coming out on a screen in front of you, there is a huge TV behind you, so everyone can sing along. The DJs are very good at keeping the show moving. But... since this places is popular, it may take an hour to go through the rotation.

Last weekend, my lovely and I went to a little spot in Lannon, WI (near Sussex?). We participated in "Neil and Larry's Classic Kick A$$ Karaoke" show. Larry is a very personable guy. If he weren't competing with me for karaoke gigs, I would probably like the guy!

One place that runs karaoke a lot is the New Yorker Bar in downtown Milwaukee. I am not sure just what nights it runs(Friday and Saturday? Maybe more?), but I guess the equipment belongs to the place. The bar is not big, the equipment is nice, and they have a lot of good songs. If you like Frank Sinatra, you could sing all night.

Another more intimate spot is the Bavarian Inn, which is not all that far from Bayshore in Glendale. If you get there, be sure to say hi to Marlavours Marla. The crowds are not huge, so the rotations are short.

I know there are plenty of good spots for karaoke around town. These are just my current favorites. Let me know yours!

Encouragement from my wife

My wife is a wonderful person. She makes me feel loved. And we have this special musical connection. We both love to sing. We go to sleep singing to each other and wake up singing to each other.

Gypsy has sung semiprofessionally since a teen. Recently, she resumed her performing. She started singing at retirement centers and nursing homes. She would bring in her guitar, bring in some music for the piano, and play for them as the Gypsy Songstress. It didn't pay much, at least not in terms of money. Gypsy brought them her lovely voice and music, and she came back with so much more.

My wife told me that she loved it because the audience was so accepting. She connected with them, and it didn't matter whether it was a polished act. Everyone had a good time. That's what I think karaoke should be.

I went with her on a few gigs. I brought my drum, I sang harmonies, and every once in a while if I was good, she would let me have a song as well. I enjoyed it.

Gypsy's pursuit of her passion inspired me to pursue my own passion. I started putting together equipment. I found a few mikes, I bought speakers and a wireless mike and an amp on eBay. I hit stores around town to find speaker wire and mike stands and stuff. I found a mixer at a pawn shop in Michigan. I had to take it apart, but luckily it went back together and worked.

I built a pair of subwoofers. I did a lot of studying about how to do this. What I learned in all my study was that I don't know how to build subwoofers. But, I had the parts. I took the time. I put them together. And they work. I am sure that most any audiophile would turn their nose up at the speakers. But they work, and they didn't cost me much. As I get gigs, the money will go into upgrading the equipment.

I designed a DJ box. It is a rectangular box on wheels, just about three feet high. The shell folds out to become a 4 foot by 20 inch table, and in the box is the amp and mixer, as well as power strips. I can set my laptop up on the table, as well as the DJ mike a lamp, and I have plenty of room for all the drinks that people buy me.

Ok, so I'm not an accomplished carpenter! I do think the design is nifty, if I do say so myself. It folds up nice, it is a good way for me to make sure I have all the pieces I need, and I get a really good workout carrying it up the steps out of my basement.

I started buying karaoke CDs left and right. In a few months, I had collected over 100 of them. Each of them was downloaded to my laptop computer. With some software from Siglos, I could then run karaoke from my computer without bringing piles and stacks of disks.

And I was ready to start DJ-ing!

Singing to the choir

On a whim, I plugged a karaoke CD into my DVD player. Not only did it play the music, but the words came up on the screen. I have since tried several DVD players that don't support this wonderful feature, but the folks that engineered this one felt it was important that I be able to do karaoke in my living room. Thank you, whoever you are!

Our music director at church was getting married and the choir was throwing him a shower. The music director is a truly unique individual. He is probably the best pianist that I know, he is an excellent warm and caring choir director, and he is modest to a fault. At the time, I had collected perhaps a dozen karaoke CDs. I offered to run a karaoke show for the shower.

I set about looking for disks on sale so that I knew there would be enough of a selection to make everyone happy. By the time of the gig, I had about 20 CDs. I threw together the equipment that I could scrounge and ran my first show.

It was quite a hit. It was like singing to the choir! Everyone wanted to sing, everyone was attentive to other's singing, and people were excited to sing together or solo. I heartily recommend a karaoke party for any choir!

I learned a few things from that gig:

1. The kind of speakers you get for you computer are not beefy enough for a karaoke gig. Also they are not particularly handy to cart around.

2. If someone can't hear their own voice, it is hard for them to stay in the right key. You need to have speakers pointed toward the singer. I later bought a set of Roland MA-8 speakers for this purpose. Actually, I now have two sets.

3. I didn't have nearly enough Beatles songs to keep Karen happy. I now have a dozen, and she seems pretty content.

4. Omni-directional mikes are not such a good idea for karaoke, unless you happen to like feedback.

Oh yeah... one more thing I learned...

5. I really wanted to do this again!

How I got into this...

I started singing karaoke about five years ago. There was a karaoke host in Madison by the name of jOHNNIE, who ran Koool Karaoke. Ok, a hokey name, but Johnnie is about the nicest guy you could imagine. He is a very caring guy and not surprisingly, he had quite a following.

From Johnnie, I learned that a good karaoke host is compassionate and supportive Karaoke is not about contests and winning and having the best voice. Karaoke is about having fun.

Johnnie is the guy that gave me the moniker "John the Revelator". Where did he get it? From the Blues Brothers' movie. Why did he attach that name to me? I dunno. I like the blues, I like jazz... He just called me up to the stage one day, and called me that. Hey, that's cool. I liked it. Funny, he asked me twice afterward whether it was ok if he called me that.

When I go to sing karaoke, I use this name for signing up. There are usually a few people by the name of John, and the name avoids confusion. (That, of course, is the rational explanation. To be honest, I use the name because I like it!)

So Johnnie taught me a bit about what karaoke means, and Johnnie gave me a nickname. He also inadvertently got me started on the path to DJ-ing. There was a song that I wanted to do, called "Steamroller Blues", written by James Taylor. He had it in his book, ut the CD was unfortunately messed up, so it wouldn't play. Drat!

I had done the song at karaoke a few times before, and I had started to make the song my own... adding a little scat, working the rhythm, the dynamics, etc. Since I couldn't sing it from his copy, I bought myself a copy, and proceeded to make the song and the CD my own.

That was my first CD. Once I had bought the first one, it became a little easier to visit karaoke.com and pick up a few more. Before I knew it, I had a dozen or so CDs.

To be continued...