Smile Like You Mean It

Many of the karaoke-industry veterans I've been speaking with for the book have mentioned a brief television-ad campaign to introduce karaoke in the U.S. in the early-to-mid '80s. I haven't been able to find any such clips on YouTube yet, but there are some amusing Asian commercials floating around there, such as this '70s ad for a karaoke-style television that comes equipped with a cassette player (presumably for recording musical performances) and a microphone (presumably for singing along with said performances). Note that the salesman never, ever loses his jarringly smiley expression.


YOUTUBE: Toshiba TV with a built-in casette late 1970s

Pretty Ladies, Around The World

- Don't forget: Tonight marks the debut of NBC's The Singing Bee, just one of two network karaoke shows that will premiere this week (Fox's over-exclamatory Don't Forget The Lyrics! airs tomorrow). Here's hoping Larry Blackmon is getting some of that Jeff Zucker moolah for Bee's repeated "Word Up" references.
- Slate examines the world of online karaoke: "The first songs I uploaded were soft, unthreatening numbers by Dido and Patsy Cline. Next up were Sarah McLachlan and Madonna—again, fine songs but not particularly interesting. I preferred Salt-N-Pepa and Heart to Lilith Fair. But on SingShot, my vocal talents had reduced me to a cliché: an angsty college girl." We've all been there.
- Sadly, it's hard to tell whether this latest entry from Jim Davis Inc. is new, or a reprint from 1991. Tomorrow on Garfield: Odie discovers moonwalking!

You Had Complete Mastery

Another YouTube-resuscitated obscurity: Zumpano's 1995 clip for "The Party Rages On," which perfectly mimics the karaoke-video aesthetics of the time. The forlorn-looking duck pond and the lonely train tracks are particularly spot-on touches.

YOUTUBE: Zumpano - The Party Rages On

Get That Paper

The weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal included a brief how-to lesson from Naoki Ueno, a 47-year-old Japanese karaoke instructor. Among the tips:

- To expand your vocal range, Mr. Ueno suggests making a small ball with five pieces of tissue paper. Put the ball between your teeth. Loudly say "Aaaah, ah"; keep repeating until you run out of breath. Do this twice. This exercise applies pressure to your vocal chords and helps keep them flexible, Mr. Ueno says.

- Karaoke pros sit, rather than stand, on stage. This stabilizes your upper body and your breathing, which allows you to sing the higher notes more easily, Mr. Ueno says.

Oddly, these were also the only two notes Brando ever received for the first Godfather movie.

WALL STREET JOURNAL: Music: Karaoke [Link will expire on 7/8/07]