US karaoke listings

I stumbled across a useful site today. This site lists karaoke venues all across the US: http://www.karaokeacrossamerica.com/
 

The site is attractive and quite user friendly. You give it a location (City and State) and you get a map and a listing of karaoke within a given radius.

I applaud the efforts of Steve Hess to help everyone find their karaoke fix.

If you like the site, it is time to get busy. Currently, there are (I think) about 1200 listings in his database. But, he only shows 2 of the 199 listings that I have on my website. Enter your favorite gigs. Many hands make light work.

The Soundies

Before MTV invented the music video, there were the soundies. In the early 1940's, soda shops and nightclubs had a box called a Panoram. For a dime, you could watch a loop tape with eight music videos on this video jukebox.

I have collected a few soundies below for your delectation. My thanks to the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City for their exhibit on Soundies.

Here is one of my favorite karaoke numbers: Minnie the Moocher, by Cab Calloway.


Here is another song that I love. The harmony of the Jordanaires is just crazy. I am sure a musicologist would be able to tell you something like "they make extensive use of the flatted fifth". I dunno. I just think it sounds cool. Juke Box Saturday Night, Glenn Miller


Here's a song that I think I need to learn: Caldonia,by  Louis Jordan.


I first heard the Bette Midler version of this song. One one way, it's sad that Midler basically stole the song - offering very little creative input. On the other hand, it got me to know the song and the Andrews Sisters' harmony. And Bette Midler has always been a heartthrob for me! Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, as performed by the Andrew Sisters.


There was some jitterbugging in Juke Box Saturday Night, but the dancing in Hellzapoppin' is completely awesome.You have to see this to believe it.


Duke Ellington - what more can I say? Here is  Cottontail, with more gymnastic dancing.


Here is another song that I first heard from a more modern group. The Manhattan Transfer did this song back when I was first listening to music. Here is the Nat King Cole trio doing Route 66. You gotta love Nat's smooth vocal stylings.


That's the end of the reel... time to insert another dime!

Two Duck Feet hit the road!

Back in mid-June, I officially announced that I had hung up my karaoke jockey mic. I intimated that something was going to fill that void, but at the time, I was close-lipped about it. It's time to lift the tarp and have a look at what I have been hiding. Here it is:

A duck?  What?

This is not just any duck. This duck is the logo and mascot for our new business venture. My wife (Madelaine, the Gypsy Songstress) and I have started the company Two Duck Feet. Our goal is to provide website development for small companies that see the need for a website that is distinctive, but yet competitively priced. Getting you feet on the web...

Visit our site. Tell us what you think. And help us out... We are looking for a name for the mascot!!

Thanks for everything, Julie Newmar!

Google Analytics is a great toy. I use it to track the number of visits that my websites get. This particular blog (http://john-the-revelator-does-karaoke.blogspot.com/) is pretty busy, I am proud to say. Since January, this blog has been visited by 3,007 different people from 1,457 different cities in 111 different countries. I have had visitors from every state in the nation, with the exception of Alaska. Sarah is just not that big into karaoke, I guess.

I just noticed something odd, though. A post of mine from the beginning of April suddenly started getting a lot of visits.

From the date I posted (April 3, 2011) to July 22, the page was viewed a total of 177 times by 108 different people. That's kind of impressive, but not totally surprising. I mean... it's about Julie Newmar! And patents! What could be a better prescription for a popular blog post?

But on July 23rd, it took off. There were 27 page views on that one day, and 37 on the next. As I write this (July 25 at 8:30 PM) there have been 15 today.

It is not totally weird for a page to get that many visits. I have a number of popular posts: My post on tele-osculation devices has seen 258 visits in the last month. And nobody even knows what that word means!

What is weird is that it suddenly took off. Up until the beginning of July, the site had not seen more than 9 visits in a day. Holy blog post about Julie Newmar, Batman! I need to get to the bottom of this!  Why am I suddenly getting so many visits?  Could this be the work of the Riddler????

My fingers flashed over the keys at the Google Analytics site. I quickly found that this was probably not the work of one person. The visits came from 62 different cities, with Oxnard, CA, Louisville, KY, Dunn Loring, VA and Parsippany, NJ heading up the list. I am hard pressed to see a pattern.

It occurred to me to check the news to see if Julie Newmar happened to have been in the mews - excuse me - the news recently. Sure enough. I found that, along with Adam West and Burt Ward, she spoke at Comic-Con in San Diego on July 25th, celebrating the 45th anniversary of the Batman TV series.

So, I missed by big chance to see Julie in person. I could have gone to San Diego. Of course, I would have been mostly bored by the conference cuz I am not really all that into comic books. But... I hold on to the hope that Julie herself might read this blog post and send me an email. Maybe she will visit Milwaukee and we can go to Starbucks and talk about patents?

Then again, maybe this post is all about the power of the internet to connect things and also about how to get your website noticed. That part is kinda cool.

Passing the baton...

I got into this hobby job -- being a karaoke DJ -- a bunch of years ago. I described the start in my first blog. I chronicled the start in two more blogs: Singing to the Choir, and Encouragement from my Wife.

I had a lot of fun in this hobby job. Hobbies are supposed to be fun, right? And it's great when you can earn enough money at a hobby to buy the toys that you need to do that hobby. That I did.

But, it was not about making money. And it wasn't even so much about singing karaoke. I could have sung karaoke at any number of places any number of times per week without having to schelp several times my weight in equipment.

It was about people.

I remember vividly a dream that I had while still in high school. I was at a bar (go figger) and Mr. Dumbrowski (proprietor of the bar affectionately known as Dumbo's) was talking to me. "Life..." he said, "... is pipple. Jus' pipple.  Thas it." He held his fingers together, holding his hand up as he said this. Then he poured me another tap beer. I'm not sure what the beer symbolized in the dream. Clearly, it symbolized something else that's important. A few more years of therapy, and perhaps I'll figger that one out?

This blog marks the ending of another era in my life, the ending of the "John the Revelator, KJ par excellence" era. I am stepping aside, and passing the mantle on to a very good friend of mine, Anthony "Sven" Chojnacki. Anthony knows that it's all about pipple. That's how I knew I could pass the business along to him. I invite you to have a look at his site, just unveiled this week.

What's next for me? Stay tuned for the next blog post!

Jack Black karaokes for UNICEF

He played a rocker wannabe in Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny. He played a rocker wannabe in The School of Rock. He played rocker wannabe Paul McCartney in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story.

Yes, I am talking about Jack Black. It should not be a surprise that he sang a little karaoke for the recent UNICEF benefit. The pic is of him singing War Pigs from Black Sabbath.

Karaoke Suicide - the play

I missed this play: Karaoke Suicide is Painless. I kick myself. But, I was busy that night. Or maybe I wasn't in Seattle? I don't remember. April was sooooo long ago.

The play is described as "A multimedia karaoke comedy that explores the correlation between air guitar and personal choice." That sounds like my kinda stuff. Intellectual and stupid at the same time.

This is a pic of the actress, Teri Wegant.  It really looks like I missed out. I understand that she was in Cider House Rules (I loved the book and was disappointed by the movie.) and also in The Search for Intelligent Life in the Universe.  My daughter did a reading from this Lily Tomlin book when she was in high school, so I have a deep personal connection.

The judge at the forensics meet did not give her the grade that my daughter deserved, by the way. My theory is that crazy people make judges uncomfortable. Like, it's too close to their own inner outer-limits?  I have no clue what that means, but I thought I would throw it in just in case someone thinks I'm brilliant.

Terri Wegant is holding a Shure SM58 mic, BTW. Oh, and she got a great review for the one woman show.

You know... I may have come off sounding a bit sarcastic about the play? Seriously... I do wanna see it. Someone bring it to Milwaukee, ok? Or Madison. I'd drive to Madison to see it. Meet me there. We'll go to Karaoke Kid after and have a good time on State Street, having gyros and way too much beer.


Sigh... just before I posted this blog I heard about yet another karaoke play that I missed, this one in Bloomfield, NJ. This one is a murder mystery, entitled "Karaoke Kills".

Various Paradises

It all started with Bach's Prelude #2 in C minor.



At least, that's what Wikipedia has to say about Stevie Wonder's song: "[Pastime Paradise] drew on the first eight notes and four chords of J.S. Bach's Prelude No. 2 in C minor (BWV 847)"



I had to listen to both songs many times to finally get it. It's there, though. Same chords. But I dunno. Did Stevie Wonder about Johann Sebastian's Box? It seems a bit of a stretch.

Pastime Paradise is track 8 on his Songs in the Key of Life album, which was released in 1976. Rolling Stone ranked this album 56 on their list of 500 greatest albums of all time. I have that album. The song caught me the first time I heard it.

What does the song mean? Back in those days (I should explain), songs had to mean something. ABBA came out with Dancing Queen in that year, and, speaking of Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody came out that year as well. I tell ya, songs meant something back when I was in high school.

Here is what Rolling Stone magazine had to say about the meaning of the song -

"Pastime Paradise sounds like a parody of a well-meaning protest song with its meaningless shuffle of words ("Consolation/Integration/Verification/of Revelations ... Though the words to "Pastime Paradise" may make you want to run from the room, the music will keep you there."

Nice. Remember, these were the guys who put the album at #56?

Rolling Stone may not have thought much of the lyrics, but I find meaning in them.
"We've been spending too much of our lives
Living in a pastime paradise
Let's start living our lives
Living for the future paradise"

In 1995, Coolio did a rap remake of the song. In his version, the words are less hopeful. And it comes along with an admonition for young black men.



I know it may be hard, but try to see past the silly hairdo and listen to the depth of the words:
"Tell me why are we, so blind to see
That the ones we hurt, are you and me"

When this version came out, I instantly recognized it. Of course, in 1995, our electric toothbrushes and sandals didn't come with Google search apps installed. Back in those days, we had our internet delivered to our doorstep every morning.

So it took me a while to track it down. But when I did, I dusted off the turntable and played it for my daughters. If you can say nothing more of my fathering skills, I took my kids' music education seriously. From the way they rolled their eyes, I could tell that they were very proud to have a father who was practically a professor of musicology. Or, maybe they just saw me as a fat old man trying to convince them that the 70's were cool?

Then, of course, Weird Al made a parody called Amish Paradise. This continues to be a popular karaoke song. In some circles, anyway.

What brought this all up? A good friend of mine, Steve, sent me this video. He knew that I would enjoy the song, since I am also a bearded, singing scientist who is just a bit nutty. Steve did not know my rich history with previous versions of the song.



You may not recognize the rapper in the video. He is IBM Fellow Dr. John Cohn. He is actually a very good speaker and a champion of the cause for getting kids interested in being engineers. If this video can reach just one aspiring rapper and inspire him or her to take a serious look at MIT...

Penelope Cruz - Karaoke junkie

Who woulda believed it?  Penelope Cruz? Karaoke?!?!?!

Here is a quote from her:
"I've gone to karaoke bars in almost every city I have been to. Every time I am on a movie location, we find a karaoke bar and take the crew out."

And another:
"I have a karaoke machine at home. I'm one of those people who do it by themselves when they are alone and I'm not embarrassed to say it."

Her go-to artist? Eminem.

But can she sing? Her singing voice was dubbed in the movie "Volver", but here is a clip of here singing in Nine.


But can she sing? I'm having trouble paying attention to the music.

More Charlie today than yesterday

Tonight, my wife was watching an old episode of Ally McBeal. A song was performed that caught my attention. It's called More Today Than Yesterday. It was released in 1969 as a one hit wonder for the one hit wonder group Spiral Starecase. (Tell the spell checker to shut up, cuz this is the proper misspelling of the group's name.)

Anyway, I like the song. I liked it so much that I dug up the karaoke version, thinking, "I can make that song sound good!" My intuition about this sort of thing isn't always the best. Especially when it comes to trying to sound like guys with really really good very high ranges.

After I decided that this was a song that I could not possibly make sound good, I inexplicably started humming a song from a commercial from way back. A catchy tune... upbeat, jazzy. Sung by Bobby Short. It was from a perfume commercial. How catchy was it? It was released as a 45.Yes, a song from a commercial became a 45!  No, I am not talking about I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing, but that's a good guess.

How catchy was the song? I have not heard it since 1976 (back when they still sold 45's), but I still wake up whistling it every morning. Talk about an ear worm!

By now, I am sure I have everyone whistling the song from the Charlie commercial by Revlon.

But was the Charlie song a parody of  More Today Than Yesterday? You be the judge.Try singing  "Every day's a new day." and then sing "... and they call it ... Charlie." I dunno. Call me meshuga, but I think the songs fit together.

In 1993, Revlon came out with another music video perfume commercial for Charlie fragrance. This time they picked the inimitable Little Richard (who I like to imitate, by the way), and paired him up with the gorgeous Cindy Crawford. This time they end in a parody of Little Richard's hit "Good Golly... Charlie... Good Golly .. Charlie."

Gosh darn it, that was fun.

Put down that duckie!!!

I was reminded today of a music video that I saw years ago. The music video might well be my favorite music video of all time. At any rate, it is my favorite music video of today. It features one of my all-time favorite Muppets, Ernie.

And it also features an incredible cast walk-ons, including: Itzhak Perlman, Rhea Perlman, PeeWee Herman, Jane Curtain, John Candy, Winton Marsalais, Joe Williams, Paul Simon, Woodie Guthrie, Dannie DeVito, Jeremy Irons, Ralph Nader, and last but certainly not in any way least, Madeline Kahn.

Here is the video. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did today.

Oh... and not only that, there is an Israeli version of the song under the title "Sim Et Barvazi". The DVD version is bound to be a big hit for Christmas, so order from Walmart early!

Just in case you were wondering, Celia Cruz sings this in Spanish: "suelta el paquito".

Sheep thrills and the tele-osculation device

The Gypsy Songstress and I have a little  running joke about sheep. They're so cute -- they serve as a symbol of our cuddly relationship. When I go on a business trip without her, my wife will hide a stuffed sheep in my luggage to remind me of her. 

The last time we sang "Embraceable Ewe" in a performance, my loved one brought out a little stuffed sheep during my solo part. Silly. When I get email from this delightfully playful woman, she will sometimes sign off with "Love, Ewe". She is my cuddly ewe.

Those of you who have Google mail will know that Google quite thoughtfully provides you with context sensitive ads. That's a polite way of saying that it enhances its ad revenue by displaying ads that are likely to have a higher click-through ratio. It does so by skimming through your emails for keywords that suggest you could have an interest in a certain product.

[Let me point out... The folks at Google are not reading your emails. There is no fellow in the email room at the Google office sniggering over your repeated mispelling of the word "mispelling". Or being titillated by your description of making a peanut butter sandwich. It's all done by a sniggering computer.]

So naturally, when I email my buddy that I just bought a 2 terabyte drive from Tiger Direct, gmail will show me an ad for the 2 terabyte drive that I just bought from Tiger Direct, knowing full well that I will click on the ad to buy another one for my buddy. Gmail knows that I am just that kind of guy.

But Google doesn't always get it right. Somehow it always misses the comma in the last phrase of the email from my wife: "love, ewe". It is intended to mean, of course, "I love you, and I am your cuddly female sheep". Google regularly places an ad for the Love Ewe on my gmail page. "We fully intend that the Love Ewe be used solely as a gag gift or home adornment." Such cute eyes.

Somehow, a little Gershwin tune keeps going through my head: "Embrace me, you sweet inflatable ewe..."

Let me point out... this has nothing to do with inflatable guitars. And nothing at all to do with a recent post on my other blog. Inflatable stuff is just not on my brain, ok?  This is not an obsession of mine. Really. I don't spend all day playing one of the inflatable guitars from my large collection. Or my inflatable saxophones. The inflatable maracas are kinda cool. And I don't even own an inflatable love sheep. At least not yet.

SO... today's topic is "How to use technology to keep the fires burning when you are on a business trip". You can sneak a stuffed lamb into your loved one's luggage to remind him of your undying love. You can (as I have often done) pick up a little stuffed sheep as a gift to remind her that the undying love is reciprocated. You can of course, make economical use of the limited space in a suitcase and pack a Love Ewe. And of course, in the interim, email is a good way to let the other know you are thinking of them.

Technology is so cool when it comes to helping requite long distance love.

Skype is of course another great way to keep in contact. Skype was indispensable on my recent trips to Berlin and Liverpool where my cell phone didn't work. (Us applied mathematician karaoke DJs really do get around!)

Skype also improves on the cell phone experience by adding video. Now, I have not tried one particular thing on Skype video, but I understand from a friend who knew someone who had this cousin... that video Skyping can be used in much the same way that the Love Ewe has not been recommended to be used. I do not endorse this activity, since it is probably regulated by the FCC. In much the same way that the FCC prevents the internet from sharing certain types of images that would have made your grandmother blush.

And that brings me around to the news item that got me going on this topic: the invention of a tele-osculating device. As you can see by the picture below, this very romantic device will allow you to share that ultimate intimacy, a kiss, with your loved one over the internet.

I'll take a set of those, and one of them there blow up sheep. I have another trip to Berlin planned for this fall.

This is your brain on karaoke

Here is another great news story that you may have missed. At least if you are not part of the "in" crowd for karaoke brain research.

Researchers asked subject to sing karaoke while being recorded. The researchers then had them watch the films and hear themselves sing. Meanwhile, the researchers monitored the subjects for signs of embarrassment.
The more damage participants had in the area of the front part of the brain called the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex, the less mortified they were about their singing.

Interesting. People get embarrassed when they sing karaoke? Never happened to me!

A week earlier, I had stumbled upon another article about the anterior cingulate cortex. I understand Time magazine will be doing a feature story on the ACC, since it is rapidly becoming the most popular brain structure.

This other article summarized a research paper where they quizzed a group of volunteers concerning their political leanings, and then did a little brain imaging. Here is where they talk about our favorite part of the brain:

Liberals are linked to larger anterior cingulate cortexes, a region that "monitor(s) uncertainty and conflicts," it said.

"Thus, it is conceivable that individuals with a larger ACC have a higher capacity to tolerate uncertainty and conflicts, allowing them to accept more liberal views."

I am trying to put this all together now... People with damage to the ACC aren't embarrassed by singing karaoke... People with a smaller ACC tend to be more conservative... Ummm... Here is my conclusion -

Avoid inviting Republicans who are poor singers to your next karaoke party.

 

 

Crack down on illegal karaoke houses

This news story caught my attention. It's got is all: karaoke, parlor rooms with scantily clad women, illegal immigrants, $300 bottles of booze. I'm just sad to have missed visiting this place in Alexandria, a suburb of DC.

Was that a typo? Maybe I'm glad to have missed it...  I quote from localkicks:

According to court documents, “High Society” (also known as “Tomato” and “Tomato Garden”) was a Korean karaoke bar/club that advertised as a “room salon,” a club containing private rooms where customers, primarily Korean men, consumed liquor.  Provocatively dressed Korean female hostesses would serve the drinks to and then drink, flirt, sing, and dance with the customers.  A bottle of liquor at High Society/Tomato typically would cost $300 and customers were required to purchase at least one bottle.

I dunno. The $300 minimum is not giving me such a warm fuzzy.

The owners were given light sentences but heavy fines for providing an illegal immigration service for the scantily clad Korean hostesses. They have had to forfeit $4 million in profits they have raked in over the past 4 years.

National Karaoke Week

OMG!  This one almost slipped through my fingers!

Today is the first day of one of one of the most important holidays in my universe. No, I'm not talking about Passover. That started yesterday.

I am talking about National Karaoke Week, April 20 - 26th, 2011. This national holiday is always the fourth week of April. I encourage everyone to go out and support your favorite karaoke joint.  Here are some websites with more information:

http://www.nationalkaraokeweek.com/
http://www.holidayinsights.com/moreholidays/april.htm
http://www.zanyholidays.com/2008/04/national-karaoke-week.html


I also encourage you to give generously to DontStopBelieving.org. This organization has the charter to find a cure for one of the most devastating karaoke addictions in our modern times. People all over the globe are afflicted with an insatiable desire to sing Don't Stop Believin'. They miss work to go sing. They alienate friends and forsake loved ones. If you or someone you know has this debilitating addiction, please direct them to DontStopBelieving.org where they can find the help and support that they so desperately need.

Karaoke in Berlin, part 2

While I was in Berlin, I heard about another karaoke venue that is not to be missed. Did I mention that I missed it? It seems there is a guy who started bringing karaoke gear on his bike to the amphitheater located at Mauer Park. Every Sunday, he shows up at the park and runs the Sunday Bearpit Karaoke Show. The attendance is over 1,000!

 

Here is another link where you can read about the Sunday Bearpit:

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/lifestyle/life/features/article_1632863.php/The-Sunday-Bearpit-Berlin-s-open-air-Karaoke-show

Next time I am Berlin, I will make sure this is on my tour.

Karaoke in Berlin, part 1

I spent this last week in Berlin. Friday night I finally got a chance to feed my karaoke addiction. I visited The Green Mango with Hiroyuki-san. Naturally, if you are in Germany, you need to go there with a Japanese fellow.
The place was hopping. We were lucky to catch the place on a night where there was a bachelorette party. I dunno. Maybe there is some mixture of luck. There were a lot of lovely young ladies, but there was also a male stripper. Maybe it's just me, but I don't normally expect to see guy wearing only a hand towel on stage at a karaoke bar. Must be my strict upbringing!

The song collection is excellent. They claim to have over 150,000 songs. I'm not sure, I didn't count. The books were well put together, with all the pages in plastic cover sheets. I know from personal experience that this is a big pain and expense even for a "tiny" little library of 10,000 songs.

As for the singing... I was quite impressed with several of the singers. In particular, there was a fellow who did two Michael Jackson songs complete with the moves. Excellent. There were at least two others who were great singers.

It seemed to me that most of the songs were German pop songs which I was not familiar with. There were a number of songs that are popular karaoke songs in the US, like "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", and "You Raise Me Up". I was happy to see that one of my favorite numbers, "You're Just Too Good to be True", was well received.

Will I go back there?  Yes... next September!

Julie Newmar

Ok, so I know that Julie Newmar has nothing to do with karaoke, or even with singing. But... I found out something interesting about her, and I just have to share it with somebody!

Julie Newmar is of course known for her portrayal of Cat Woman on the Batman TV show. When I hear her name, that's what I remember. I was only eight years old when the Batman TV series came on, but somehow that face and that tight bodysuit made an impression on my pre-pubescent mind.

Another image of Julie Newmar was firmly lodged in my post-pubescent mind. This image was from People magazine in 1977. At that time, I was old enough to understand the word "sexy" as something other than an abstract concept.

Actually, I don't remember reading the article. In fact, I didn't associate her name with this image until I found it on her official website.

Have I gotten your attention? Ok. Now for the learning part. Julie Newmar was awarded three patents. Really. Notice the heading on the top of the page? Having trouble finding it?  First look at her amazingly voluptuous tush. Then move your eyes slightly to the right and then up near the top of the image.

I am guessing most of the guys missed the word "INVENTORS". Probably because it's outlined text. But, I'm getting to a point here about her amazingly voluptuous tush. Why is her tush so amazingly voluptuous, you may ask? It has to do with two of Newmar's patents.

US Patents 3,914,799 and 4,003,094 are for "Pantyhose with shaping band for cheeky derrier relief". The patent issues the problem that "Usually the more flattening of the wearer's lower abdomen (tummy) that is achieved, the more tendency there is to flatten and denaturalize the wearer's derriere". Flat tummy, flat butt. Women who wear pantyhose generally want the tummy flat, but not the derriere.

The secret of this invention lies in "an elastic shaping band 21 (substantially more elastic than the fabric from which the panty portion 11 of the pantyhose is made and typically of the same material as a conventional waist band) is connected to the rear panty portion 17 and extends from the vicinity of the crotch zone 16 to the vicinity 22 of the elastic waist encircling band 13." (Please refer to the image from the patent for the numbers.

Newmar's other patent (US 3,935,865) is for a brassiere. The purpose of this patent is thus: "Many women want to appear freer in their movements and to give a braless impression, yet they need some support."

She developed a line of pantyhose based on this patent, under the name "Nudemar". I found one reference online that said this line was popular in the 70's and 80's. No doubt the picture in People boosted the sales along with many a tush.

We also learn from this patent that "Breasts of young women tend to be protuberant whereas breasts of older women tend to be pendulous. Protuberant breasts are supported by fibrous tissue strands known as ligaments of Astley Cooper." This brassiere patent also teaches that Howard Hughes developed bras.

As I was relating this information to my wife, a third Julie Newmar memory surfaced in my addled brain. This memory is, oddly enough, also related to patents.

The US Patent and Trademark Office has a page where one can search for patents by looking for inventors, keywords, or the like. Search queries are facilitated through the use of a simple language. To look for my patents, for example, you might type in something like "in/john and in/seymour and is/wi". This means that the IN (inventor name) field of the patent must contain the words "John" and "Seymour", and that the IS (inventor state) must be WI.

Naturally, they need to provide some examples for how to construct queries. One of their examples is "in/newmar-julie". When I first saw this, I just thought it was a cute joke that someone threw in. Little did I know, since I never actually tried typing this example in.

Incidentally, if you key in their example, you will only bring up two of Newmar's patents. The first of her patents is too old to show up in their online database. No patents before 1976 are at this site.

If you will excuse me, I am going to see if I can find some old episodes of Batman.

karaoke in Ann Arbor

I have just read an article about a karaoke DJ in Ann Arbor Michigan. There is evidently not much different between Milwaukee and Ann Arbor. Here are some quotes from Mark Carlson that I stole from the article.

"If a guy comes up and puts in for a Billy Joel song, he's a karaoke ringer and an unimaginative one."

Hmmm... I'm not sure about this one, Mark. Piano Man is not one of my favorites. It is repetitious with numerous verses that all sound alike and they keep coming repetitiously in a way that seems to repeat again and again before lapsing into yet another repeat of the same melody on the next verse, although you can switch octaves from one verse to another, they kind of all sound the same the way they go over the same notes and chords and kinda the same lyrics, but not the exactly the same although...

But I repeat myself. For five minutes and 46 seconds.

I did hear one great version of it, though. It was sung by three guys who kept the energy going by alternating lines. I was one of the three guys, by the way. I am sure it sounded great from the audience, too.


"If there are more than three people on stage, the performance is going to be awful."

Mark, I think this is almost always true. Except for this one time where three guys got up to sing Piano Man. They were totally awesome. Did I mention that I was one of them?

"I hate taking bribes, even though I could use the money!"

Another of my pet peeves. Like when a guy rushes up to the stage to hand me a slip for Piano Man. There are 417 people ahead of him. He says, "Hey, can I sing next?" I tell him there are 417 people ahead of him. He slaps down two wadded up one dollar bills and says, "My girlfriend wants to hear me sing. She it H-O-T-T hot, and I am gonna get lucky if I sing this for her!" He winks, and I consider this. Is it worth two bucks? I'll piss off 417 people whose idea of fair does not include someone skipping to the front of the line. If Jim Morrison and Janis Joplin came back from the dead, along with Jimmy Hendrix on guitar, they would want him at #418.


"If somebody comes up and says they're going to be great, that's a guarantee they're going to suck. Every time. But that's okay! The whole point of karaoke is that anyone can do it. You say you're going to be awesome? I really don't care. It's karaoke!"


Amen Brother! This must be a universal experience for KJs!  I have never heard someone with an awesome voice tell me ahead of time that they will rock. Never.

When I get someone tell me they are great, it's usually instead of giving me a bribe. "My girlfriend wants to hear me sing. She is h-o-t-t hot. You won't regret letting me sing. People will love it!"

I'm sorry, dude. You're missing the point of karaoke. There are 417 people who came here so that they can get on stage. If they wanted to go to a concert, they would have gone to the Morrison / Joplin / Hendrix concert next door. I understand Ray Charles will be on keyboard.


"People rarely buy me drinks. They just don't think of it, I guess." 

Yeah, same here in Milwaukee. Every once in a while, I get an older guy offering me a drink. Or a younger guy will just hand me a shot without asking. But, I make it a point to not drink when I am KJing. Just me. Professional. And by the way, almost every bar I have worked at offers free drinks to the entertainment.


Someone keeps a long list. It's a list of songs that you should never sing at karaoke. They're musical atrocities or uncreative lay-ups. "Don't Stop Believin'." "Sweet Caroline." "Livin' on a Prayer." "Bohemian Rhapsody."

That someone is me! Here's the list. I surveyed 19 websites that had lists of bad karaoke to compile my list. Here are the rankings for the four songs:
      Don't Stop Believin' is #15.
      Sweet Caroline is #19.
      Livin' on a Prayer is way down at #116
      Bohemian Rhapsody is #14.

Three songs I never want to hear again: 'Piano Man'. 'Wannabe'. 'Baby Got Back'.

Piano Man is #37, and Baby Got Back makes a good showing at #13. Wannabe is just a wannabe. Surprisingly, it did not make it on my list of 184 songs.

I don't want to come off as an expert or anything here. All I have is 32 hours of laborious scientific research behind my list. But Mark, you might want to start hating Paradise by the Dashboard Light. I'm just saying.

The article ends with a fabulous quote that, as far as I'm concerned, sums up the whole meaning of karaoke:

"The best karaoke singers are the ones who get up there and do it like they mean it. They have fun with it, and everybody in the bar has more fun because of that. I don't care what your voice sounds like, just let us hear you!"

Thank you, Mark!

Karaoke and alcohol

If you are in Sydney, Australia, be forewarned that alcohol and karaoke don't mix. I quote  Superintendent Mark Walton of the NSW Police Force


... it's clear some premises [karaoke bars] are still conducting activities which encourage patron intoxication and that's of great concern to police,


Imagine... a karaoke bar that encouraged people to drink. Unbelievable.

In Japan, the situation is a bit different. 

Speaking of Venn diagrams, math teachers also seem to get the relationship between karaoke and alcohol.
A group of 70 math teachers spent nearly $2,000 in federal funds on alcohol at one dinner while on a KIPP retreat in New York City in January 2005, the audit states. And at two separate retreats for school leaders in Cancun, Mexico, KIPP charged the federal government more than $7,000 for alcohol and more than $2,500 for DJs, karaoke services, and basketball equipment, according to the audit, which was first reported in Education Week.

If you would prefer your karaoke without the alcohol, may I recommend the Drunk Karaoke machine, which simulates the drunken experience.

Question about home karaoke

Question:

Hello there!

I hope you don't mind that I am emailing you out of the blue, but I found your blog when I was trying to figure out if my dvd player would show lyrics from a karaoke cd. I am not very technically knowledgeable but from what I've read it seems that this is not possible. I was wondering if there was a machine specifically made for just playing karaoke cds, but not for microphones, etc... a karaoke dvd player if you will. My boyfriend has a number of speakers and microphones from a former music career and we are starting karaoke nights with some of his friends. We have microphones and numerous speakers so we don't need that, I just need something to show the lyrics on the tv screen. I read somewhere in your blog that they make ipod adaptions. Would this allow me to download karaoke music onto my ipod and then use this to take the lyrics and music from my ipod to the tv and stereo system? Again, I apologize for my lack of technological knowledge. 

Thank you for your time!

Sarah

Answer:

Hi Sarah,

No problem at all. I get these questions periodically.

First question:  Can you do it with a DVD player?  When I bought my first karaoke CD, I plugged it into my DVD player, and it actually worked. :) It played the music and the words showed up on my TV.  Because it worked, I bought another CD and another and another. All of a sudden, I was a karaoke DJ. A modern day success story.

I got another DVD player and it did not play karaoke.  :(   There was no indication when I bought either one as to whether it would play karaoke. So... try the karaoke CDs with whatever DVD player you can find. Maybe you'll get lucky?

Second question: Can you run karaoke on your iPod.  I currently have several hundred of the songs that I do on my iPod. All I need is a powered speaker and the iPod and I can sing for my supper. Your iPod can also drive a TV set, BTW. I don't know if you found my post on that, but it's a cheap cable and a setting on the iPod. (To read more, look at the tail end of this post.)

The movie files are not all that much bigger than an mp3 file. I just checked... I looked at 89 files that I had converted. The total disk space is 775 MB, or roughly 9 MB per song. If your iPhone has 8 GB, then it might hold close to 1,000 songs? If you have a 160 Gb iPod, then can fit about half a zillion songs.

But... it's gonna take some work to move them from a karaoke CD to the iPod.  First, you need to rip them from the CD to files. Each track will have a .mp3 file, just like those that we know and love, and also a .cdg file which has the lyrics. Second, you need to combine the music (.mp3) and the lyrics (,cdg) into a video file. Normally this would be a mp4 file, since this is a format supported by the iPod. (If you donwload a movie through iTunes store, it is stored in mp4 format.) Then you just load them to the iPod with iTunes or some other program.

Ripping... You can't use the normal ripping programs like iTunes or Winamp, since they don't support the lyrics part.  I use a program called Siglos Power CD+G burner. There may be a free add-on to WinAmp, but I haven't tried it.

Combining into mp4 file... I use another program from Siglos called Power CD+G to iPod Converter.

Another option... if you haven't already invested in a big pile of karaoke CDs... is to buy the karaoke songs in the iPod (mp4) format. Karaoke.com has a number of songs available in this format. When I last looked, the selection wasn't huge. That may have changed. I don't know if anyone else sells karaoke songs in mp4 format.

I think this might be enough to get you there? Feel free to ask more questions.
John

Karaoke Terror - the movie

Just to let you know, there is another movie about karaoke out. It's called Karaoke Terror. I'm not planning on seeing it.

Here is a review:
http://deadlydollshouse.blogspot.com/2011/01/sing-us-song-youre-karaoke-man.html

Subway karaoke contest

I debated about whether to write a post about Subway's karaoke contest. My first thought was that the contest is purely and obviously commercial. I mean... you have to sing their lyrics about about their new sandwich to "Sweet Home Alabama". Ok, I love that song, so I poked further.

The first prize is  £1000 (€1,500 in ROI in Ireland). I'm not even sure what that means. Pounds (I think) and euros, but ROI?  I dunno. I could look it up, but the contests is only open to residents of England or Ireland. Ok... I know some folks in Ireland.. I am related to some folks in England. Like King Henry VIII. Not a close relative, mind you. Through marriage.

Is it worth writing a post, though, that only applies to the 14 British and one Irish viewer I had in the past month?

Then I saw the video. Yes, this is worth posting. Good luck to you, unnamed Tubway goddess! I love your mic.

More karaoke quotes

Here are a few karaoke quotes from the web that I either found insightful, or incite-ful.

"Karaoke symbolizes a freedom that hardly any other actions in the field of entertainment can offer. It delivers persons the courage to come up in front of an unknown audience to sing songs even inside the face of potential shame."

http://articlesbase.cz.cc/refreshing-music-songs-information/

"The video below is a shining example of why karaoke should be made illegal, and why people taking part should be shot"

http://markjdaniels.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/karaoke-anybody-got-any-ear-plugs/

"I love the art of karaoke. Few activities are possibly better done drunk than grabbing a microphone in front of your friends and emoting your musical guts out as a computer generated rainbow and blank-faced extras project on a screen behind you. "

http://deadlydollshouse.blogspot.com/2011/01/sing-us-song-youre-karaoke-man.html

"Karaoke is like watching an Ashton Kutcher film—you need to knock a couple back to even consider it."

http://hermosabeach.patch.com/articles/two-times-the-charm

Update on Kate Moss' karaoke addiction

I reported earlier this year about Kate Moss' addiction to karaoke. Sorry to say, it gets deeper. Her new mansion, at 7.5 million pounds, will have a stage and karaoke machines. Rumors that I will become her live-in karaoke host have been greatly exaggerated.

Near miss on getting discovered

Ok... this is a near miss. According to the Sacramento Bee, James Garner was discovered doing karaoke. Yes, James Garner was discovered singing karaoke. He wasn't quite discovered by a talent scout. It was a drummer. But unfortunately, it is not the James Garner you might be thinking of. Not the James Garner of Maverick and Rockford Files. This is James Garner, the Elvis impersonator. I guess he's pretty good though.

Ashley Sullivan is another near miss. She got her start doing karaoke at Applebee's in her home town Springfield, MA, where she won first prize of $500. From there, she went on to American Idol, where she begged and pleaded her way out of a thumbs down.

Getting discovered the karaoke way?  Ehhh... not quite.

Celebrity karaoke - Fred Schneider of the B-52s

Love Shack showed up in the number one position of karaoke duets in my meta-analysis. It's no surprise that Fred Schneider has created a stir when he sings it in karaoke. In a recent interview, Schneider said that he got tired of all the people taking pictures with their cell phones. He still goes out for karaoke, but now he dresses in cognito, and sings lousy.

Whatever it takes, Fred. Somehow I manage to avoid getting my picture taken just by dressing normal and singing well.

"Bunga bunga" or karaoke?

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has been under fire for allegation of some pretty wild parties involving numerous nubile beauties. The term "bunga bunga" has been invented to describe a party game involving the prime minister, numerous nubile and nude women, and a swimming pool.

Berlusconi's lawyers have conducted interviews of 29 people involved.  It turns out these wild parties involving numerous nubile nude nymphs were actually just karaoke performances, and the people ate fruit. At least that's what Aidia Yespica has said.

Boy did that get blown out of proportion! I am sure the wire tap evidence that the prosecutors have provided will show that this is all just a big misunderstanding.

Karaoke in San Luis Obispo

Last week, I had the great pleasure of speaking at a conference at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. I spoke on Jan 26th. I did not get into town until Jan 24th.

I make a big deal of the timing just to make sure there are no untoward allegations. It seems that at 11:03 AM on Jan 20th, police were summoned to a park bench on Higuera in San Luis Obispo, where "An elderly man with a straw hat was sitting on a bench in front of H&G Clothing, singing karaoke."
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2011/01/28/1462305/whats-your-emergency.html

This was not me. Honest. I don't own a straw hat.

Ryan Cabrera karaoke scandal

I submit my nomination for the single worst sentence in journalism for the year 2011. I know it's still early in the year, but this one is deserving of some recognition:

Ryan Cabrera and two women who sued the 28-year-old pop star, alleging they were seriously hurt after falling on the driveway of his home, have agreed to have the case decided by an arbitrator.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/ci_17194733

Cabrera was at a Burbank karaoke club in November of 2008. He was given a ride home by two ladies. They had a few drinks. On their way out at 3:30 AM, they slipped in his driveway, which they claimed was steep and poorly lit, and slippery. Both were injured. One woman claims to have been in a coma for weeks following the incident.

A lawsuit was filed in June of 2009, and the parties have just agreed to take this into arbitration.

I just don't know what to think of this. They went to karaoke with Ryan Cabrera?!?!!?

Celebrity karaoke - Fantasia

In 2004, Fantasia Barrino won American Idol. Since that time, she has appeard in a Broadway version of The Color Purple, she has written an autobiography, and she had her own VH1 reality show. As of September 2010, she can add "I have sung karaoke" to her list of accomplishments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/fashion/05With.html

Celebrity karaoke - Bill Murray

I think we all remember Bill Murray's portrayal of Nick the Lounge Singer on SNL.  Just in case you have forgotten his smoothly polished lounge act, have a look.

Avid followers of my blogs may remember that Bill Murray is no stranger to karaoke. (See "Karaoke Goes to Hollywood" for a complete list of movies with karaoke scenes.) There was a karaoke scene in the movie "Lost in Translation" where he performed the song "More Than This".


It should come as no surprise that Bill Murray is a karaoke singer. It was a bit of a surprise, however, for a small group of people singing in a karaoke booth in NYC just recently. They got a knock on the door from someone who wanted to join them. They reluctantly let the guy in, but did not notice who he was. Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the door. They were told that the guy partying down with them was none other than Bill Murray.

More of the ongoing DSB-omania

I found this excellent version of Don't Stop Believin' as performed by Elton John , Lady Gaga, Sting, Blondie, and Shirley Bassey. Enjoy!

Celebrity karaoke - Kelsey Grammer

I loved him on Cheers. I loved him on Frasier. He played the same character in the two series - an overly-intellectual  psychiatrist with just enough of his own neuroses to keep the show going. I suppose that says something about me, that I can relate to an overly-intellectual, slightly neurotic psychiatrist?

Kelsey Grammer recently made the tabloid news for allegedly partaking in not one, but two, acts of such moral depravity that they were shunned by the more mainstream media.

The first (and more socially acceptable) of the alleged acts of depravity was the insinuation of his ex-wife that he enjoys a little cross-dressing. They are going through a divorce and she was appearing on the Howard Stern show, so you know that this is very reputable gossip.

But, that's all not that bad. Quite a number of accomplished actors have donned female clothes for various roles. Robin Williams, Tony Curtis, Dustin Hoffman, and Joel Grey immediately come to mind. I don't recall if George W ever appeared in such a role. Maybe not.

 The second act of depravity perhaps fits better with the slightly neurotic Dr. Frasier Crane, or even better with the character of Sideshow Bob on the Simpsons. Yes, you guessed it. Kelsey Grammer was caught singing karaoke. In public. And not just any song, but James Taylor's "Don't Let Me Be Lonely". You can judge for yourself, but I think he did pretty well. As for how well he pulls off the cross-dressing, I'm gonna wait until I see pictures to say how well he does.

Yet another update on getting discovered through karaoke

Today I came across another near miss on my ongoing quest to find a star who got discovered as a result of singing in a karaoke bar. Well... it's not even really a near miss, but it is a sweet story.

Meghan Linsey was a karaoke host in a Nashville bar where she met Joshua Scott Jones. They started dating and formed a duo called Steel Magnolias. They entered a talent show called Can You Duet, which is a country music's answer to American Idol. They won the second season.

As I said, this isn't a story of them getting discovered in a karaoke bar. They discovered each other. There was no wildly excited talent scout in the audience who handed them a business card, saying "call me in the morning".

I suppose that someone could argue that Can You Duet is really just a karaoke competition on steroids. I have heard that comment made repeatedly against American Idol. It is usually intended as a disparaging remark. "This is not important culture. The contestants have no real talent. It's just glorified karaoke."  American Idol is a very popular show. And the winners and also-rans go on to get recording contracts. And what's so bad about glorified karaoke anyway?

Linsey and Jones did get a recording contract with Big Machine Records, so they did make it to the big time. They just weren't discovered through karaoke. Maybe this story fits better in the category of karaoke romances.


Want to know more about them?
Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Steel Magnolias.
Here is a review of the duo.

Conan O'Brien on Japanese karaoke

CONAN O’BRIEN


According to new reports, Facebook is not popular in Japan because Japanese people are traditionally introverted and private. The report was written by someone who has never set foot in a karaoke bar.

Laugh lines, NYTimes

Getting discovered through karaoke - Taylor Swift?

Was Taylor Swift discovered while singing karaoke? As my readers no doubt know, finding a singing who got discovered through karaoke has pretty much been a full time occupation for me since my first post on the topic almost a year ago. My most recent blog on the subject was Dec 23.

I came across a claim that Swift made it to the big time by getting discovered singing karaoke. Here is a quote from the article:

Taylor has taken the country world by storm, in a career that could have been made into movie magic itself, the Cinderella story of a girl who was discovered while singing Karaoke in a small-town restaurant.

This isn't exactly my definition of getting discovered, but I think it's close enough. The definition I have given involves a karaoke bar. If Taylor Swift was truly discovered by singing karaoke in a restaurant, I am willing to say that I have finally found a singer who made it big through karaoke.

I had a look at the Taylor Swift official website to verify this. There is a "My Life" page, but Swift does not go into how she got discovered. Next stop, Wikipedia:  

At age 11, Swift made her first trip to Nashville, hoping to obtain a record deal by distributing a demo tape of her singing with karaoke songs. She gave a copy to every label in town, but was rejected. After Swift returned to Pennsylvania, she was asked to sing at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, where her rendition of the national anthem received much attention.

From this, it would appear that Swift didn't make it big with the karaoke tapes, and that she didn't make it big until she found her way to the US Open. Lemme state this: peddling karaoke tapes to record companies does not qualify for my definition of getting discovered through karaoke. (Mary J. Blige was another artist discovered after peddling karaoke demos.)

A report from CBS News from May of 2008 had this to say about the discovery of Swift:

The 18-year-old Pennsylvania native, who grew up on a Christmas tree farm, started singing at the age of 10 at karoke contests, fairs and festivals in her hometown of Reading. With the support of her family, she headed to Nashville at age 11 to pursue her dream. By age 12, she was already writing songs with local songwriters in Nashville. Back in Pennsylvania, she landed an important gig singing the National Anthem at the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which got a lot of buzz.

This article says that Swift did the karaoke contest thing before she did the karaoke tape peddling thing. From this article, it would appear that she didn't get discovered until her post-karaoke contest days. (BTW I don't consider karaoke contests to fit my definition, either.)

The original article mentioned that Taylor was singing in a restaurant. Where did the restaurant thing come in?
I quote again from the CBS article:

After performing at Nashville's premier songwriters' café, The Bluebird Café, she was noticed by Scott Borchetta, who signed her onto Big Machine Records.

Cafe? Oh! Maybe that's the restaurant? The Wikipedia article on the Bluebird Cafe says that it is a nightclub, and it does not contain the word karaoke.

Based on this research, I am going to say that this rumor is false. I still have not found any credible evidence of a singer who made it big by being discovered singing in a karaoke bar.

Wisdom learned in a karaoke bar

Ok, so this guy, Alexis, went to the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas. No. Seriously. True story.

And of course, he went to sing karaoke. Cuz, like, what else does someone do when they are in Vegas? You know?  I mean, how many hours can you stand dazed in front of a one armed bandit? Especially after standing dazed in 1.6 million square foot of the absolute latest and greatest in consumer technology?

Yup. I would have been in the karaoke bar, too. Gambling just doesn't excite me. Save a bar stool for me, Alexis!

A singer named George told the crowd that he was missing his wife. Then he did a great rendition of "My Girl". Naturally, Alexis (Remember him?  The reporter who went to CES?) had a little chat with George after he sang. Alexis asked him for his secret to a happy marriage.

George told the following story to Alexis:
I've been coming to CES for so long, and all the guys would always want to go to strip clubs. So, I was on my phone at a strip club and there is this girl in front of me on a pole and she's dancing. She says, "You don't like what you see? Put the phone down." Then she says, "Who you talking to?" I say, "My wife." And she goes, "Get the hell out of here." I gave her the phone, and I said, "I'm here for [my coworkers] not for this."

My own secret to a happy marriage has been to sing with my wife every day. Maybe I should take George's advice, though. If I were to go to a strip joint and let my wife know that I was thinking abut her... What more proof of my love could a woman want?

My favorite posts from 2010

The Best and the Worst
Jan 9, 2010, Top slow dance songs of all time
Jan 15, 2010, What is the worst karaoke song?
Mar 13, 2010, What is the longest karaoke song?
May 25, 2010, What should I sing?
Oct 26, 2010, Best songs of the 80's
Dec 8, 2010, The most maligned karaoke song

Getting discovered series
Jan 26, 2010, Getting discovered through karaoke
Jan 31, 2010, Update on getting discovered
Sep 18, 2010, Air guitars and the best karaoke in Milwaukee  
Dec 19, 2010, Is this getting discovered? 
Dec 23, 2010, Yet another update on "getting discovered through karaoke"

Karaoke in the movies
Mar 7, 2010, Karaoke goes to Hollywood
May 20, 2010, More on karaoke goes to Hollywood

So you wanna be a karaoke host series
Mar 19, 2010, How can a KJ help bad singers?
Mar 23, 2010, Part 1, Generic karaoke system
Mar 30, 2010, Part 2a,  Examples of all-in-one systems
Mar 30, 2010, Part 2b, Working dog category
Mar 30, 2010, Part 3, File formats for karaoke files
Apr 4, 2010, Part 4,  Microohony
Apr 6, 3020, Part 5, Mixing it up
Apr 28, 2010, Running Dual dound cards
Apr 27, 2010, Part 6, Karaoke system amp
May 5, 2010, Part 7, Getting those karaoke vibrations going
May 5, 2010, Part 8, Watts and RMS and Ohms, oh my
Jul 10, 2010, Where can I download karaoke songs?
Aug 8, 2010. My new powered speakers
Oct 6, 2010, Rant on piracy

Jewis Christmas songs
Dec 30, 2009, Jewish Christmas Songs
Apr 9, 2010, Jewish Chjristmas Somgs, Update
Dec 12, 2010, Jewish Christmas songs, once more
Dec 25, 2010, The definitive list of Jewish Christmas songs 

Downright silly
Apr, 2010, Was Marvin Gaye?
Apr, 2010, Flickr mot accepting downloads
Mar 7, 2010, Which came first, the doobie or the brothers?
May 19, 2010, Rock On!
Oct 15, 2010, Waiting for the call (Nobel prize in karaoke)
Oct 19, 2010, Heaven 
Nov 3, 2010,  OMG is that bad PR!
Nov 19, 2010, Half naked karaoke that I have missed
Nov 22, 2010, Odd places for karaoke
Dec 12, 2010, New strange places to sing karaoke

Music history
Apr 4, 2010, Which came first, the doobie or the brothers?  How bands got their names
May 3, 2010,  More origins of band names
Jul 16, 2010, How a song about a woman became a state song
Sep 26, 2010, Where did AC/DC get their name? 
Oct 25, 2010, Heavy metal, horror flicks, and Jewish music

Sociology of karaoke 
Aug 21, 2010, Is karaoke a performance or a sing-a-long?
Oct 12, 2010, Bad karaoke dates, and one good one
Nov 24, 2010, Finally some real research on karaoke!
Dec 22, 2010, Stories of losing your karaoke virginity

Celebrity karaoke
Jun 17, 2010, Kelly Clarkson sings karaoke
Jul 14, 2010, Undercover karaoke (with Jewel)
Sep 28, 2010,  Gloria Estefan?  Sings country??!?!?!? 
Oct 2, 2010, Quote from Davy Jones 
Oct 9, 2010, Jennifer Aniston is a karaoke -phile
Oct 30, 2010, Claudia Schiffer "admits" to singing karaoke 
Nov 8, 2010, Gwenyth Paltrow on Glee!
Nov 15, 2010, Celebrity karaoke - Gerard Butler
Dec 16, 2010, Celebrity karaoke - Paul Rudd
Dec 27, 2010, OMG!!! Miley Cyrus sings karaoke!