Which candidate would win a karaoke contest?

Since I am the foremost authority on karaoke in the Milwaukee area, people are always asking me karaoke-related questions. "What is the longest karaoke song?" "Why isn't it spelled kareoke?" "What is my favorite brand of underarm deodorant?"

Ok. So I lied about the deodorant question. Nobody ever asked me that. And come to think of it, no one has asked me the other two questions. But they might have. They just never got around to it.

And ok, so, no one hardly ever asks me a karaoke question. I can deal with that. I'm a big boy.

Well. This one guy at worked asked me this morning, "Hey John. How ya doing?" Naturally, I understood him to mean "John, could you please give me a list of all the songs that were performed a your last gig at Bootleggers?" I mean, I could tell that was what he wanted to know. Too bad he had to run off to a meeting before I could finish reciting the list. I'll catch up with him again tomorrow.

Alright, so I am not inundated with karaoke questions. I am still the foremost karaoke authority in Milwaukee, right?

Anyway.

Here is the top karaoke-related question that nobody has been pounding down my door to get an answer to: "If Obama and McCain were to enter a karaoke contest, which one would win?"

I gave this question all the serious thought that it deserved. I googled "John McCain" karaoke, and "Barack Obama" karaoke. Obama got 967,000 hits, to McCain's 618,000. Hmmm... Obama gets the clear lead in the polls.

But how about the real contest, the one that counts?

I would invite you to listen to McCain's version of a Beach Boys hit.
And here is Obama singing "Yes we can".

I guess we will have to wait until the votes get tallied to see who wins this karaoke contest.

Pics from Bootleggers

Here are some pictures that I have taken at my last three gigs at Bootleggers....















Come join me at Bootleggers every Monday night!

The hippie party

Dig the groovy threads on that Jeannie chick. She's the one that got this scene happenin'.


Naturally, Elvis was invited. After all, what's a 60's and 70's party without the king?!?


Willie Nelson stopped by, and so did one of the Beach Boys, and some guy who was with Styx?


The gals sang and the guys tried to compete.



We were honored to hear Alyson sing. She was one of 25 finalists for Nashville Idol!



And by the way, her aunt Jeannie can belt out a ballad, too!



Until, later, here are the Gypsy Songstress and John the Revelator, hoping that all your 60's and 70's parties are as successful as this one was!

Great party coming up...

Time for me to find a pair of bell bottoms, get out my sandals, buy a vest with leather fringes, get some love beads and find that old peace symbol necklace! Why is that, you may ask??

I have been invited to host karaoke at a 60's and 70's party!! Far freakin' out! I will be grooving out at this happening place on Sept 13. Sorry... it's a private party, or I would be asking more people to make the scene.

That following Friday, I will be singing at Trinity Village, assisted living center. I have sung there before and have gotten such a warm reception that it's well worth it to take half a vacation day from work.

In the mean time, I have been soliciting the patrons at Bootleggers for songs that I need to add to my collection. In the past month, I have purchased nearly 700 songs, which brings my total up to 4,510 songs as of this morning. See the latest songbook at John the Revelator.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable and restful Labor Day.

off to my third gig at Bootleggers

I have now had two gigs at Bootleggers Milwaukee bar and grill. I continue to be pumped about the place. Aside from having a bit of a wardrobe malfunction, we had quite a few excellent singers.

I was surprised to hear that the song "Vehicle" (Ides of March, 1970) is still popular, as well it should be. The song was done proud by "Beer Lover". The crowd loved it. Marcellus was another crowd pleaser. It is not my usual, but I could see that people wanted to hear another from him, so he sang two in a row.

Normally, when three people step up on stage, this is a good sign that you are about to hear karaoke with a lower case "k". People just having fun. Don't get me wrong, that's a good thing. Karaoke is all about having fun. So, when I got a slip from Anthony, Travis and Rob, my expectation were not set real high. But! All three of these guys can sing! The first week and this last week as well. Welcome!

There are a few people on the staff at Bootleggers who also have wonderful voices. The week before, Ben (the Monday night manager) had asked if I had any Gavin DeGraw. Last week I brought in "I don't want to be". Ben was studying to be an opera major. I'm glad he decided to use his voice for more popular singing!!

I am so glad to have Bethany the cocktail waitress sing! Rashida, you rock. Joanne, Kari and Abby... I love old time rock and roll, too! Liam the Kiwi visited us all the way from New Zealand!

Cristal has sung both nights that I have hosted. One person came up to me while she was singing "SHE'S AWESOME!" I would have to agree.

After my first night at Bootleggers, I added 252 songs. After the second night, I added 194. Hopefully the last four CDs will show up in the mail on Monday so that I can quickly load them on my laptop for the show.


If there are any songs you would like to see added to my book, email me: Revelator.Karaoke@gmail.com. I will do my best to bring them in.

Gig at Bootleggers

Monday afternoon I got an email. The regular karaoke DJ at Bootleggers had broken his ankle, and they needed a karaoke DJ to fill in. That night.

I will be honest. Doing a regular gig in a bar was not part of my original business plan. I didn't relish the idea of dealing with cigarette smoke. I didn't relish the idea of packing up heavy gear at 2:00 AM. And, to continue being honest, I have been in some seedy hole-in-the-wall bars looking for that ultimate karaoke experience. I didn't relish the idea of hosting karaoke to twelve drunk guys and a dog.

But, they said that I could use their sound system. I wouldn't have to schelp around my amp and a bunch of heavy speakers. But still I worried that maybe their amp was ... well ... something not all that spectacular.

So, it was with some trepidation that I agreed to help them out this last Monday night.

I could not have been more wrong. I was totally way wronger. First, the place is huge, brand new, and just has a good feel to it. With the ventilation and high ceiling, I did not notice smoke. The "little Monday night crowd" was a few more than 12. Last Monday night, there were 300 people. I could not believe it. A Monday night?!?!

Did I say I had some concerns ahead of time that their sound system would be lousy?!?? OMG. I was wrong on that as well. I have never had that much horsepower at my fingertips. The space shuttle astronauts never had that much horsepower. What I thought was the stage was actually the box for one of the subwoofers.

The patrons were another pleasant surprise. All upscale, good attitudes, positive vibes. They were there to have fun. And, get this, most of them could sing! I had a blast.

I came home and bought 25 CDs of pop hits.

I am now the regular Monday night karaoke DJ at Bootleggers Bar and Grill, 1025 N. Old World Third Street, Milwaukee!!

John the Revelator sings!

I have had two interesting gigs just recently. They were not the regular karaoke gigs where I was the host. Instead, I brought in my karaoke setup (or at least a small portion of that) and sang. By myself. Almost like an entertainer.

My wife does not look at it as being real musicianship. True, part of the performance is canned. Who wants to go somewhere to hear canned music? That's just being a DJ, right?

I would like to hear some other opinions. If a person sings along to a karaoke backup, and does it well, is that legitimate art/music/entertainment?

Well, I disagree, at least somewhat. I sing. I think I do pretty well at it. If you could only hear how great it sounds inside my head! When I get a chance, I'm going to record myself singing to the karaoke backup, and post these.

There was something else interesting about these two gigs, though. Both gigs were at assisted living centers.

There are some unpleasant memories brought up here. My father was in a nursing home the last five years of his life. Ok, ok, an assisted living center is not a nursing home. I understand the difference, at least intellectually. At the gut level, though, there is a reminder of unpleasant stuff.

I have my wife, the Gypsy Songstress, to thank for helping m dig past this. She starting performing for assisted living centers and nursing homes a few years ago. She brought her guitar and brought piano music. Good stuff.

When I was available, I tagged along. I brought my drum, I sang some harmonies and every once in a while, she let me sing. Actually, she had me sing a few songs whenever we performed together.

These two gigs were my first solo gigs. I loved them.

I selected a theme: "I promise you the moon and the stars". All of the songs I sang had something to do with the moon or the stars. And all the songs were from the 30's and 40's.

Here is my playlist: Fly Me to the Moon, It's Only a Paper Moon, Stairway to the Stars, Moonlight in Vermont, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Moonglow, Catch a Falling Star, Moonlight Serenade, When You Wish Upon a Star, Shine on Harvest Moon, Stardust, I Only Have Eyes For You, That's Amore, The Nearness of You, and Blue Moon.

I knew that it was a hit in my first show when three women sang along, and knew the words for all of the songs!

I am pondering over a new theme. I am keeping my eyes open for another singing gig.

Graduation party

Gary asked me if I expected any of the kids to get up and sing. I think Gary was a bit skeptical, but I knew they would!

I have known Gary, all my life. When I heard about his son's graduation party, naturally I offered my services. Much to Gary's surprise, Richie thought it was a great idea.

Richie's friends came. They sang. Here's what Richie had to say:

The karaoke provided by John was superb. He started it off himself, and before the end of the party, everyone was enthusiastically participating. When the party was over, no one wanted to leave. John even sang a special request from the audience without the music! Thanks so much for a great party pleaser John!

-Richie

The rest of the story I will leave to the pictures. I think they had fun. So did I.

H

big gig coming up

I am pleased to report that I have a really big coming up. I will be hosting karaoke at the Quad Graphics summer picnic. I expect that there will be something like 5,000 people at this event all told. Most will not be so brave as to sing, but a good many of them will have a look, since I will be located in the food tent.

My marketing side says, "Wow! That's fabulous exposure!" My sensitive side says that not everyone in the food tent will care to listen to people doing karaoke. I need to carefully control the volume so that the people who really want to hear will be able to hear, but those who really don't care to hear will ot be bothered by the music. Needless to say, I can't imagine why anyone would not want to listen to karaoke, but I will try to be respectful.

This past few weeks have been a flurry of activity for me. I consulted with a sound system guy, Bob Witte, who looked over my system and offered some valuable suggestions. Get rid of your Radio Shack mixer was the first thing on his list.

Ok, this was tough for me emotionally. I bought the mixer at a pawn shop in Grand Rapids, MI. The price was, well, within my budget at the time. This was before I knew that there was a good market for this karaoke stuff.

Also, years ago, I worked for Radio Shack. This was while I was in college. At the time, I would get defensive if anyone would malign Radio Shack products. Hearing "Trash-80" would raise my hackles. After much therapy, I have learned to deal with this.

So, Bob suggested a mixer made by Mackie. Reasonably priced, but with features that would help me adjust gains optimally. I am indebted to Bob for taking me carefully through the process of adjusting all the knobs.

Bob also directed me toward the Shure SM58 microphone. Solid piece of equipment. I now own two. Along with three mics fom Radio Shack and one wireless mic.

Since the event will be outside, I also decided that it was time to buy another set of speakers. When there are no walls to reflect the sound, it can easily get lost. Open space requires a lot more power. I will be going in with two sets of big speakers and two sets of small speakers. My little Saturn will remind one of the Beverly Hillbillies. I just hope I can get all the equipment in one trip.

I have also been beefing up my song list. I will be bringing 3,844 songs to the party. In particular, I bought a set of 5 Doo Wop CDs that I hope get some airplay. The Box Tops, the Cadillacs, the Channels, the Chantels, the Chilites, the Chimes, the Classics, the Cleftones, the Clovers, the Coasters, the Crests, the Del Vikings, the Dells, the Dixie Cups, the Dreamlovers, the Drifters, the Duprees, the Earls, the Edsels...

Wait a minute. The Edsels? What gives? This group was actually very successful. They made it on Bandstand several times and recorded that immortal, moving masterpiece "Rama Lama Ding Dong". I can't wait to hear this sung by a true aficionado of the art. Bring plenty of Kleenex.

Ok, so I got the music book. I printed up business cards. Am I forgetting anything? How about a sign. Ok... looking into that. Print up new songbooks. Will do. Wait. Business cards? How about a website for the cards to point to?

I asked around, and went with goDaddy to host a website. The price is quite reasonable, and I was moderately pleased with the site building tools that they offer. Have a look at my site. Feel free to let me know what you think: RevelatorKaraoke@gmail.com.

I just hope that the exposure from this picnic is enough to generate enough jobs so as to support my karaoke habit.

happy karaoke,
John the Revelator

Singing to the choir again!

I can't imagine a better karaoke audience than a choir!


This particular choir has a holiday party at the house of one of the choir members every year. The home is great for a party... many moderate size rooms so that people can grab a bite to gnosh on and talk in small groups.

This year was just a little different. I brought in my small karaoke setup, which does not include the big amp and big speakers, and set up in the basement.

By the end of the party, everyone had moved downstairs to sing. Needless to say, all the singers were fabulous!

And Dawn is still our Diva.

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