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

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

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!