Of course it's the
downpour of the CENTURY here in So Cal. The streets
are even flooding because this town simply doesn't
prepare for rain. So unloading wasn't fun, and I have
to tray and carry this shit around people that are
trying to eat and we're talking CRAZY cramped.
I honestly didn't think I'd be able to set-up. It
was pretty close. On top of that, this is karaoke
night and he needed to set-up around me. Basically we
were gonna go back and forth tonight. Well with the
help of Jessie JOOSE, and Rachel ROOSE - set-up went
fine, and even the karaoke guy found some space behind
my TVs.
Man not much of a
performance because of karaoke night, but what
I did do went well. My voice was really raspy on
the Rhythm set (as you can hear in
the
video
clip), and
it gave it a really soulful feel to it. I had a
great time singing. People were crowding around and it
was pretty exciting. By the second set though, people
were a bit upset that I was taking up THEIR karaoke
time, and that leads me to the reaction...
THE REACTION
Any of you who
talked to me back when I did this show in Columbus
will know that the line: "Karaoke is the bain of my
existence..." came up plenty of times. I hate karaoke.
Hate it, hate it, hate it. Now I will admit, the
karaoke here was 75% EXCEPTIONAL. People could
REALLY sing (The voice of the robot in FUTURAMA
even did a song!). So it was more enjoyable than most
karaoke I've seen. Unfortunately karaoke night is
HUGE. People sign up and they are PACKED until
close. They have to turn people away. Add into that
losing 30 minutes because of me...they were none too
happy. My first song they were excited, and even the
second...but then they were like: "Who is this guy? I
WANNA SING" And they happily voiced their
opinions. It's a tough situation, and I'm not too sure
why management thought tonight was a good night to do
this. Now people did have fun with it, but the
MAJORITY of the crowd seemed confused and angry
because the night is packed as it is, and they weren't
really told why I was there. Right off the bat the
General Manager loved it and wanted to give me
Thursday nights. The owner was a little more hesitant
because of the crwod reaction. The owner liked it too,
but wanted me to do one more Wednesday to see more
reaction. Th GM, the karaoke guy AND ME - were
all a little pissed about this. We already know what
the karaoke people are gonna say about it...why not
throw me on a night that has no entertainment? I'm
scared they're gonna LYNCH me next Wednesday...it's
just not the right night. So we'll see what happens.
But the 2 guys that really mattered dug it...and
that's what counts...
Then there was
Danny Ray. The big beer distributing-karaoke man. He
does karaoke at another place, plus distributes the
beer to nearly every bar in this city. Basically, more
connections than you can imagine. Remember back in
Columbus when I always said: "I need to find that one
guy sitting in the crowd that says: 'you've got
somethin' kid, and I can help you'" I found that guy.
This guy has the contacts, the money, and the vision.
He wants me to do a little appearence at this big ass
karaoke show on Saturday, and we'll go from there.
This could really be a nice stepping stone. He seemed
to understand the potential of such an act. The first
guy to really embrace it and say: "I can make you
some money..." Well, I certainly need it... Keep your
fingers crossed...
Also ran into a
morning DJ who apparently has the same agent as Howard
Stern. May be this guy's only claim to fame, but he
wants to put me on the air. Giddy-up. The coolest
thing about that is that you'll all be able to hear it
because I can put it on the net. Very
exciting.
So overall, the
night was perfect for the people that counted.
Unfortunately if the owner wants to go by the reaction
of the karaoke customers, next Wednesday will be the
LAST time I perform there. Nothing I can do
about that. Owner's really don't make much sense
sometimes to me. They seem so close and then they do
that. Why he doesn't seem to see that it will never
work if I'm INTERRUPTING something that's the regular,
is beyond me. Hopefully I can just go on earlier next
week and never interrupt karaoke. We shall
see...