Heaven

http://www.flickr.com/photos/winton/4863754294/#

What more can I say?

Jennifer Aniston is a karaoke-phile

Yes, Jennifer Aniston is one of us. She is on location in Clarksville, Georgia and had a karaoke night out with the cast. To top it off, she hired a KJ to host a girl's night out at the place she is renting. By the way, Aniston can sing. Ellen Degeneres says that she would "put her through to the next round".

Wow. That's a gig I would like. Jennifer... if you are reading this... give me a call next time you're around Milwaukee, ok?

What a little technology can do....

Here is Mishka the husky, saying "I love you".


Here is Mishka the husky singing Justin Bieber:


That's the miracle of technology.

Glee is bigger than the Beatles!

Wow. Who'd thunk?   The Beatles were bigger than God, but Glee has surpassed the Beatles. Glee has had 75 hits listed on the Billboard top 100.

Caveats: The Billboard Hot 100 isn't everything. And it isn't everything it used to be. Billboard Hot 100 does not necessarily mean song sales. The Beatles are way ahead of Glee on that. The Glee version of Don't Stop Believin' hasn't quite gone platinum.

But still, it's pretty impressive that in a few short months, Glee has managed to place 75 songs on the Hot 100 list. That beats out the Beatles, who "only" put 71 songs there. Not quite up to Elvis and James Brown (108 each), but still pretty impressive.

There are some who say that Glee is just karaoke with a plot. Those are perhaps the same people who say that American Idol is just karaoke with a million people in the audience. Why does everyone seem so interested in putting down karaoke??!!?

I think it's time for the nattering nabobs of negativity to finally admit that karaoke is an art form.

Rant on piracy

I saw an ad yesterday that offered a karaoke system with 53,000 karaoke songs for less than a penny per song. Wow. That puts my "paltry" collection of 8,500 songs to shame. And here I paid more like a buck a piece for the songs in my collection.

Let me state the obvious. The karaoke songs are pirated.The website is offering stolen goods for sale. It is illegal to sell them and it is illegal to buy them or use them.

I'll a little ticked off about this. I have spent thousands of dollars just for songs so that I can be a karaoke host, and this ad says that my arch nemesis ("John the Piratator") could get together a bigger collection of songs for a few hundred dollars.

Let's just say that someone is looking to hire a karaoke host. They compare John the Revelator with John the Piratator. Of course, I'm the better looking guy, but the Pirate has six times as many songs. And the Pirate presumably has a lower price, since I am spending a significant amount of my income on new songs. Who will get the gig?

I dunno if I have lost any gigs to John the Piratator. Maybe, maybe not. If I have lost some, well, it's irritating because it's unfair. But for me personally, it's not a huge problem. Karaoke is my hobby job. If my accountant tells me next April that I made just enough to cover business expenses (equipment and music, mainly) then I am cool with that. I am not relying on that income to put food on the table like other KJs in the area.

The thing that really worries me, though, is the effect on companies that create the karaoke tracks - companies like Sound Choice. They are facing the very real possibility of going out of business. In 1999, their sales were $12 million. Ten years later, in 2009, their sales had dropped to $1 million despite the fact that karaoke is more popular than ever, and despite Sound Choice's reputation for authentic karaoke tracks. 

Sound Choice has chosen to combat this by suing KJs and clubs that make use of pirated CDs.  In July of last year, they went after 15 bars and KJs in Phoenix. In January of this year, they targeted 60 restaurants and KJs in the Richmond VA area. Just recently, there were over 100 KJs in L.A. who received letters of "intent to sue" (see page 11).

This is a desperate move on their part. It's risky to start suing your customers. Even though I am clean, I don't relish the hassle and the stress should they decide they want to audit my books.

But, on the other hand, I completely understand their position.

Sigh.

Quote from Davy Jones

Anyone from my era will recognize the name "Davy Jones". He was the cute one.

Well, that's not quite what I would say. I would say that he was the British guy in the Monkees. I would say that he was the guy that all the girls said was the cute one. I was so jealous. Of course, I am still jealous. His wife is a flamenco dancer who is 33. He is 64.

He was recently interviewed by the San Francisco Chronicle.

I used to be a heartthrob, now I'm a coronary. There's no place I can't go because of the Monkees. I can go into a biker bar. I can go into a punk club. I try to avoid karaoke bars so I don't have to get up and sing "Daydream Believer."

It's ok. I'll sing Daydream Believer for him. If he could hear me, he would be so jealous.

The lovely ladies of kids television

You have probably heard... Katy Perry did a little skit with Elmo for Sesame Street. A little skit with a little too much cleavage. Sesame Street pulled it.


Sigh.

I recall a character named Susan on Sesame Street, which first aired on my eleventh birthday. My brother was ten years younger than me, so I watched Sesame Street with him. And I watched Susan. I had a crush on her. She was pretty hot.

Ok... so Big Bird. Does his voice remind you of anyone else? Can you detect the inflections of Pee Wee Herman?

And this reminds me of another woman that I had a crush on: Miss Yvonne!



These lovely ladies put a smile on my face.