Due to a half-dozen deadlines converging at once, I had to postpone the karaoke-video retrospective that was scheduled to take place April 30th at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. I’ll let you know when I have the new date. Please resist the urge to sob uncontrollably at this news.
Greetings, Soundcheck listeners! Thanks for checking out the site. If you’re interested in reading the original Wired article about the 2006 Karaoke World Championships, it can be found here. As for the book itself, you can read the complete first chapter free of charge—or, if you’re pressed for time, I’ve also made a few explanatory book trailers. One’s a quick summary of the book…
…while the other’s an overview of those wonderfully bizarre karaoke videos from the ’80s and ’90s:
If you like what you read/see, feel free to pick up your copy today.
Tomorrow, April 9th, I’ll be appearing on WNYC’s excellent music-culture show Soundcheck to discuss karaoke fandom. You can listen live at 2 p.m. via the station’s website, or check out the podcast later in the day. But you should really tune in at 2 p.m., because they’ll be taking listener calls, which are always fun provided no one asks me to sing.
I’ve nothing to add to this, except to note that it’s the natural result of spending 6 straight hours trying to learn iMovie while editing together old karaoke videos.
(Karaoke Wishlist is a semi-regular collection of old and new songs that are maddeningly hard to find at karaoke bars)
1. Jim Furns, “Live With My Dad” In its two-year run, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! has proved to be one of the most inscrutable and unsettling programs in late-night TV history. Technically a comedy, Great Job! isn’t always funny: It’s filmed like a mid-’90s public-access show—complete with abrupt close-ups, D.I.Y. makeup, and awkward interactions—and it often casts non-actors who come across as uncomfortable and/or completely insane. It took about three or four episodes until I could adapt to the show’s spastic rhythms, and even after that, I’m still not always sure when I should be laughing. All of which goes to say that “Live With My Dad,” one of the many karaoke-video spoofs to appear on Great Job!, might not do much for those who’ve never seen the show. But it does have a coordinated clap-dance, and is therefore embed-worthy.
2. Janelle Monae, “Violet Stars Happy Hunting!!!” Much of Monae’s sci-fi imagineering and bad-girl self-actualizing leaves me cold; her debut EP occasionally sounds as if it were recorded by someone who reads too much Phillip K. Dick and listens to too much Pink. But “Violet” is delirious fun, a sort of scaled-down “Hey Ya!”, but with ample do-doo-dooing.
3. Nervous Eaters, “Loretta” I’m not sure why this late-’70s pub-garage-rock-somesuch ditty is so hard to track down; I figured that Neko Case’s cover version would have prompted some New England indie honcho to unearth the Eaters’ entire catalog. That said, it’s out there if you know where to look.
4. The-Dream, “Put It Down” As if the Revolution-style drums and Mariah Carey jokes weren’t enough to make you love this song, The-Dream is reportedly trying to make “That’s Jesus!” a national catchphrase. This has yet to happen, but I commend The-Dream’s efforts, as well as 90 percent of the songs on his new album.
5. Phoenix, “1901″Sigh. Sigh. I’ll never win with these guys. For further reference, see pg. 213, item 6, which sadly remains unfulfilled.
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