Many of us singing troubadours love and hate a good contest.  In this love/hate relationship, why is there an alluring aspect to them?  Maybe deep down many of us want to compare ourselves, and by comparison we are reassuring ourselves that we have a good level of singing talent; or we are trying to find out at what level of talent that is.  Maybe some just have a compulsive competitive nature and the need to win (at anything).  While some are either doing it for the money, or both. 

However, I think that we are short changed if we narrow the judging of ourselves to just singing.  Super stars aren’t measured on mere singing talent alone.  Many karaoke contests gauge other aspects.  Usually it’s singing ability, stage presence, and crowd response.  While I’m not the best singer (i.e. missed timing, an off note…), I have been given the opportunity to score well by my stage presence, or by finding ways of getting the crowd to respond.  I’m not a fan of “hamming it up,” but I feel that if the first two are done well the crowd will respond well.

I competed at WPLJ, during their qualifying round.  I liked the aspect of scoring points in these three categories.  Plus the fact that they did not have picked judges, but the judges were the singers that judged among themselves.  Of course there could be a slight factor of unfairness.  Possibly there might be a circle of friends trying to score their other friends highly.  I find that behavior to be a shallow one.  They are not being fair to themselves, and their friends. I am a very conservative judge myself.  I critique others very carefully, and nothing gives me more joy than to score someone highly when they performed admirably.

Other karaoke contests that I have seen were either mere “popularity contests,” or highly political.  I would say that in those shows you are judged by “not how well you could sing, but how many fans you could bring.”  This contest at WPLJ’s had a more fair judging aspect. 

I like to think that the best judging can be accomplished if you could have professional singing stars and talent scouts doing the judging.  But the question will arise, “How can we afford to pay them?”  Forget about trying to buy them off.

Article from Arizona Karaoke Alliance Web site:

Sound Choice, a leading manufacturer of karaoke discs and member of KIAA (Karaoke Industry Alliance of America) has filed a federal trademark violation lawsuit against 15 karaoke venues and Karaoke Jockeys (KJ’s) in the Phoenix area.  Alleging use of illegally obtained and unauthorized copies of karaoke content on hard drives, Sound Choice is asking for a jury trial to determine damages for lost revenues, “statutory damages per trademark infringed by counterfeiting”, and all profits realized by the defendants as a result of their unfair business advantage from counterfeiting of the trademarks.  Intellectual Property lawsuits have been prominent in recent news with the RIAA winning a nearly 2 million dollar verdict for willful infringement and a Blogger being sentenced to a year’s probation after leaking a Guns N’ Roses album to the internet.

 
<paragraph left out here>
 

Sound Choice is a leader in the karaoke community and has invested nearly 20 million dollars in their karaoke music catalog.  In the mid 90’s Sound Choice routinely put out up to 5 new Karaoke discs per month and employed 75 people.  With the actions of those pirating their music, they now employ less than 10 people and  their last disc release sold under 800 copies, yet can be found on thousands of karaoke systems across the United States.  As stated in their suit,  “Sound Choice has been forced to undertake this litigation in order to ensure that it survives and continues to produce the high-quality karaoke music its fans demand, and to level the playing field for the legitimate KJs.”

You can find the rest of the article here:

http://www.azkaraokealliance.com/Karaoke_Legal_Talk.html#Blogger%20sentenced%20for%20leaking%20Guns%20N%20Roses%20album>

 
For further information regarding the KIAA:

http://www.thekiaa.org/

Your intrepid reporter attempted to qualify at one of the the semi finals for the “Karaoke Entertainer of the Year Contest“, put on by Star Media last night. The venue was WPLJ’s in Walnut Creek, on Wednesday night, September 30th. The KJ duties were admirably performed by Nan of “Bring Your Own Voice Karaoke“. This particular semifinal was for the R&B/Soul category. This category includes jazz, rap, hip hop, etc.

Considering there were 16 venues and three singers qualified from each venue to advance to the semifinals, there could potentially have been as many as 54 singers at WPLJ’s last night! In fact, only 14 contestants showed up, of which only 13 stayed around long enough to perform. Out of those 13, eight were selected to advance to the finals with two alternates, meaning 10 out of the 13 advanced to the finals in one way or another. Doing a little math, and noting that my name was not announced among the list of those advancing, it seems I was in the bottom three.

The lesson from this is either that I am way, way worse than I thought I was, or that the talent performing at last night’s venue really was that good. To find out for sure, you’d probably have to ask others who were present, but I really do believe that I didn’t stink that badly, and that the rest of the talent really was that good.

And so, while disappointed, I don’t really feel bad, because even being included in a group that talented (and trust me, no one there sucked) was a fairly large honor.

Due to having placed in the top three in a couple of other categories, I have an opportunity to try again, but the reality of it is that even though I’m a fairly decent singer, I’m not sure that I’d have any better chance at any other venue, or in any other genre.

If you’re interested in checking out one of the semi finals, you can find the venue locations for your part of the greater bay area on the contest website. You might want to poke your head in to see what it’s like to hear a bunch of really good singers all in a row, uninterrupted by the usual atonal, arrhythmic, drunk.

Week 3 had quite a turnout of entries. 14 SINGERS competed to move on to the semi-finals. the crowd was huge, featuring lots of new faces.The catagory was my personal favorite,,,,, Oldies. lots of great tunes were belted out. Our 3 from Dallimonti’s to move on were KIMMIE, STEVE AND EDIE. (( No, not the real Steve & Edie )) This week really turned out like I had pictured this contest going.
Nearly a full card of singers ( 16 is the maximum that can compete in 1 night )
A full house….. and tons of fun and drink. Stay tuned, I think it’s just going to get better.

From Dallimonti’s….. our 3 to advance to the semi’s will be   JIM, EDIE, & ANGELIQUE

the R&B semi finals will be held at WPLJ’s on Sept 30th.  I can’t wait to get out to some of these semi-finals to see the talent that is moving forward in the competition. The contest ran much smoother in week 2 , and we’re finding the contestants themselves are very qualified judges.,,,, I wish all of our 6 and the upcoming winners much luck as they advance.   come out and support your friends and fellow karaoke’ers at one of the venues, and especially Dallimonti’s at the end of each qualifying week ( Friday nights )

There’s a new show on the block, with a great place to sing.  It resembles Dallimonti’s;  however, it’s not an Italian food place, but they do serve the best steak and prime rib in town.  A little restaurant and bar nestled in a strip mall, within the city limits of Oakley, CA.  “Mike’s Beef and Brew” is a well patroned establishment whose owner has a passion for serving the best cuts of beef, at very reasonable prices.  Yes, the meals and the beer are very reasonable in comparison to places within Central Contra Costa County.  I enjoy a good beer when I sing, and the drink prices have a bearing on my decision of where I go.  A bottle of Bud goes for $3.25 versus $4.00 at other places.  I will drive a little further for a reasonable beer.

Your karaoke host is Joe Dillon, a.k.a. “Karaoke Joe.”  He will always find your song request from a laptop that sports the most current of songs.  The acoustics is good, and the lineup moves.  The short time that I was there I sang a song every 35 minutes.  For some of us Karaoke “junkies” it is an excellent turnover of singers.  However, as this venue catches on I cannot say that it will always maintain that frequency.  His show runs every Saturday nights, from 9pm to 1am.   

 So next Saturday I am going to grab some of my other beer drinking, hard singing, funlovin’ Karaoke buddies and were heading out to farm town USA.  Directions: Go East on Highway 4, and as you approach the Antioch on Hwy 4, you turn off at the  Hwy 4/Oakley exit, and go east bound on Main St.  It’s located in the Raley’s shopping center at the NE corner of Main St. and Carol lane. I hope to see y’all out there.  YEE HAW!!!!

Week ONE   is in the books………….  in the “top 40″ category

Dallimonti’s, as well as the other East Bay venues, is sending our top 3 to the semi-finals.  Our 3 are Vicky W., Dannielle R.,  and our own Jim M.

Next week  (Week Two) will be in the category of  R&B / Jazz ……….. and every venue will again send 3 more to the semi-finals. There is plenty of time, and various categories, in which to qualify, so get out there; qualify, advance, and try for your share of over $15.000.00 in prize money !!!!

As far as week one, it was very entertaining.  At Dallimonti’s, we only had 6 contestants this first week, but it was quality singing. The really nice part, and very fair, is that the singers themselves do the judging of their fellow competitors. They can award up to 20 points for vocal ability, and up to 30 points for showmanship.  Probably the best judging system I’ve seen in the many contests that I have either seen or participated in.  In most cases, the singing is very very good, and usually rates a pretty high point total.  But…….. this contest is named  “KARAOKE ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR” ……….  AND what that is saying, is ….. they are looking for stage presence, expressiveness, performance, and interaction with the audience.

And as I mentioned above, one may score many more points in the area  of “ENTERTAINER”, than in the karaoke singing itself. So my first tip, as an outside observer, would be ……….. wherever you go to qualify, ask the KJ if he or she has a cordless “MIC”  ,,,,, if they do,  take advantage of that………. grab the mic, move around, and get the crowd involved.  (the better you know the words, the better opportunity to move about, sing TO people, and get them involved … get them behind you and your performance)

So when it comes time for others to judge you,,,,,,, my philosophy is that “good singers” and “good performers” …. KNOW good singing and performing.  and if you have a great performance, it will be acknowledged by your competitors.

So, anyway, it’s exciting and lots of fun. Check out the links for rules and dates and locations, then plan to get out there and get yourself into a semi-finals.
Reminder: if you try to qualify at a venue during the week, and you don’t qualify, you can always come down to Dallimonti’s on FRIDAYS and still have a chance to make it for that week (or that category)    

 
Any questions?   Please leave me a comment.  

 
DRKeno  ( Dennis R )

…starting this week all over the Bay Area.
 

It is called “Karaoke Entertainer of the Year“.

Numerous bars and restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area are hosting qualifying rounds over the next 6 weeks. DALLIMONTI’S in Pleasant Hill will be hosting this Friday (Aug. 21st) at 9pm, as well as the next 5 weeks after. Come down and register……..
good cash prizes………. and while you’re there, get all the info, so you can have a chance to win in 6 different categories
( ie: top 40, country, R & B, etc )
>>>>>>>>
also, there are about 10 venues in the East Bay alone !!

See you there!

 
(Thanks to DrKeno for the reminder and the copy!)

If you are not yet one of the Karaoke obsessed who invest in their own CDG’s,  yet wish there was some way to practice your favorite songs at home and try new ones before venturing out, I came across a very well developed Karaoke website that may just fill your needs. And you don’t have to download a thing into your computer.

The Karaoke Channel is fairly cheap, running $9.95 /month or if you wish, $99.95 yearly. It boasts 5911 songs, with new songs added weekly. You can use  it for free, from a more limited list of songs to choose from (yet still quite a good selection).  There are all the desirable features you would want on a karaoke machine: vocal changer (not always available per song) and choice of lead vocals or not to practice with, and a nicely readable screen. The songs themselves are decent, with good backups, not just mediocre midis paired with poor vocalists. Take a look and check out for yourselves all the features.

 
http://online.thekaraokechannel.com/

Since my kids were really little, I have been interested in karaoke. Once they started getting a tad bigger, THEY started getting interested in karaoke. When my oldest started reading, we had Comcast cable, and if you’re not aware, Comcast actually has a karaoke feature on it. You can flip through all kinds of music genres and find all kinds of stuff, crank up the volume, and sing your heart out in the privacy of your own home. Move over Tom Cruise!! At any rate, it’s a great FREE alternative to going out to karaoke and nobody is up past their bedtime.

It seems that the older they get, the more they want to go to karaoke.  Good and bad, the way I see it.  I have some ideas brewing for the future generation of karaoke goers….I’d like to find a way to really fuel the interest in a healthy way for families to really get involved.  (Let’s face it, not much focus is put on family these days.)

Tune in next time when I put up another blurb about some kid-friendly karaoke stuff.

TTFN  =)