Sir Walter Scott, Karaoke and Lounge Music

    Sir Walter Scott, S. T. Coleridge and other writers in the early 19th century were in essential agreement that there is an “implied contract” between a performer and the audience. The contractual obligation for the actor or singer or other performer is to bring value to the observer’s life. The contractual obligation for the individual observer is to respect the artist’s effort to meet their obligation.

    In recent months my experience with karaoke has revealed that audiences are often less interested in the performers’ performances than they are in boisterous outbursts totally unrelated to the ‘show’ being presented. They interfere with the show. For some, karaoke is little more than an opportunity for drunken buffoonery.

    For some performers, it is less an expression of artistic talent and more a psychological catharsis ala Wilhelm Reich’s Primal Scream Therapy. A popular KJ (a DJ specializing in karaoke) wondered aloud, privately, about the screaming which ear-shatteringly occurs much too frequently at karaoke venues. It is often accompanied by what can only be described as “joyful jumping” as though whooping (screaming?) with seeming delight is not sufficient to satisfy the need to express enjoyment.

    For the true aficionado or musician, karaoke is an opportunity to practice songs in a more real setting than sitting in front of a computer singing along to a singer’s recordings. The nature of the venue is often the only clue to the quality of the karaoke experience. Now for the lounge singer, the true musician, the venue can also determine whether the observers are there to enjoy the performance or for some other totally unrelated reasons.

    I had the pleasure last evening of hearing a young female vocalist and the trio she fronts but was disappointed with the noisy audience. This new talent sorely deserves a quality venue where the audience is there to listen to the trio while they dine and not for gabbing or yakking as usual while totally ignoring this new arrival in the music world, St. Elouise.

    If you like female vocalists with a mellow, jazzy, smoky, lyrical voice and you fail to Google St. Elouise you will miss an opportunity to experience this song-writing,  future-chart-busting singer and her trio.

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Penguin Revisited

    As promised I returned to the Penguin Hotel last evening for a very pleasant evening of karaoke and refreshments with a large group of people at least as friendly as the smaller group I met earlier in the week.

    Karaoke music was ably and amiably presented by a new friend, Chris, a mature gentleman who was no stranger to the sounds that aficionados enjoy. Aficionados included Simon and a few of his close friends. (Simon has never said whether he has perfect pitch but I’d be surprised if he told me otherwise. His vocal command is striking.)

    Simon and Karen and Sherry and I were joined on the “Come On Down” spot by Michelle (between bartending duties), Chelsea (after finishing up her waitress side work) and others and we all were pleased that the ‘A’ Number One Lady, Monica, was able to sit and enjoy the show since her business was well tended to by the people she trusts working for her.

All in all it was a "gotta-go-back" experience and I look forward to that.

 Try it. You'll like it.

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Karaoke Redux

    Since my first comments a couple months ago about karaoke and joyful noises, I have been going to a variety of karaoke venues and am increasingly impressed with the number of participants who are exceptionally talented with their musicality, their timing and their vitality. I have also discovered a new dimension to my enjoyment — not only have I relearned singing after many years, I am enjoying the nostalgic element by singing songs that I enjoyed when I was younger.

    It pleases me, too, that some listeners enjoy my presentations. I’m finding that although the plaudits are nice, I keep going back for more simply because I enjoy singing, plaudits or not.

    I’m rather upset at the time of this writing that my Laryngitis seems to be hanging on relentlessly and singing, for the time being, is not what my throat needs — I have learned patience over the years but this unwelcome interruption is sorely testing it.

    I’ve become comfortable with some Elvis, some Willie Nelson and some show tunes which can be a hit depending on the location. I’m anxious to continue preparing additional Neil Diamond and one particularly challenging piece from The Phantom Of The Opera,The Music of the Night. That’s a bit heavy for many karaoke venues but there are some attended by actors and singers from local theatres where that might be found acceptable. Progress on that preparation is tabled until my throat heals.

    Snoopy from the Charles Schulz comic strip, Peanuts, has stated he “lives to dance.” I’m beginning to feel that I live to sing. I think it’s going to be an interesting trip.

Cheers

    Cheers? As in the place where “everyone knows your name”? Well, yes, but not the one in Boston. This one is a different Cheers. This one is just north of Manheim along PA route 72 near the PA turnpike interchange and that location contributes to the magic which occurs there with some degree of regularity for the present.

    That location is in the very near neighborhood of the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire located on the grounds of the former Grubb mansion, the home of John Grubb and his family from the mid 18th century through the mid 20th when, no longer a Grubb property, it became the Mount Hope Estate and Winery which the Pa Renaissance Faire now calls “home”.

    This fortuitous juxtaposition is what injects into Cheers a vitality of which no other establishment can boast. The actors, singers and dancers from the Faire (they refer to the Faire as the PRF) consider Cheers their neighborhood “place” and they are individually and collectively an ensemble of such exuberant talent that any karaoke event will become memorable regardless of the theme set by the chosen preferences of the participants.

    Last night, Kristin was in a Disney theme mood. Chris by contrast did his rendition of Sinatra’s My Way after a request by Mary, Cheers’ owner, whose welcoming warmth gives the place its comfortable character.  Chris has a presence and such vocal clarity that I’m sure even old blue eyes himself would issue “Kudos”.  Kristie Yamaguchi (not the skater, the singer) did a stupendous Janis Joplin -- I think if Janis were alive and had been there, she would have been jealous it was that good!

   I was in a show tune mood so I chose to do Razzle Dazzle  from the musical, Chicago. It’s become a favorite of mine and I keep getting more comfortable with it.

    The karaoke presenter, Brandon (L-N-B Entertainment), is also a performer and a fun emcee regardless of who’s ribbing whom. To borrow from Robert Frost (Birches), “[Karaoke at Cheers] would be good either singing or listening. One could do worse than be a [singer at cheers]”.

Karaoke and Joyful Noise

    I’ve kidded people with my observation that the word “karaoke” was Japanese for the phrase “can’t carry a tune in a bucket.” Recently I’ve decided that karaoke is the response to Psalm 100 which exhorts us to “Make a joyful noise…”

    Initially I expected that the joyful aspect would have been for the recipient hearing the sounds; but, seeing the “joy” in the behavior of some of the participants it seems they are the ones doing the enjoying.

    And then, after the performance, there’s the almost unanimous applause from the crowd -- for some of the performers, the applause is for a good performance. For other performers (who confirm my original assessment of not being able to carry a tune in a bucket) the applause is because their noise was not joyful and they are now finished.

    I enjoy participating because I love music. And karaoke, being neither glee club nor church choir, has no obligatory practice nights or public concerts and I can choose to go or not go according to my mood.

    Karaoke is an unusual blend of those who can sing, those who could sing at one time in their life and those who can’t sing and never could. But, a good time is had by all.