Ted Leo karaoke setlist

As per Brooklynvegan, here's the setlist for the indie-rock karaoke event this Wednesday in Brooklyn:

OUTFIELD - Your Love
PRINCE - Kiss
THE WHO - My Generation
KELLEY CLARKSON - Since You Been Gone
STOOGES - Search and Destroy
RAMONES - Blitzkrieg Bop
MISFITS - Where Eagles Dare
BILLY IDOL - Dancin' With Myself
AC/DC - Dirty Deeds
CURE - Just Like Heaven
CLASH - Rock the Casbah
DAVID BOWIE AND QUEEN - Under Pressure
JOY DIVISION - Transmission
YEAH YEAH YEAHS - Maps
SAINTS - Stranded
ARETHA FRANKLIN - Respect
BLONDIE - Dreaming
THE BOSS - Dancin' in the Dark
THE BOSS - Born in the USA
STIFF LITTLE FINGERS - Suspect Device
MINOR THREAT - Minor Threat
CREDENCE - Fortunate Son
AMERIE - One Thing
STEELY DAN - Reelin' in the Years
SANTOGOLD - LES Artistes
THE KINGSMEN - Louie Louie

What, no Chisel?

Andy Dick is a Very Nice Man

He is! A few days ago, while flipping through a circa-1990 issue of Spin, I found this print ad for Pioneer's Laser Karaoke machines (I'm in the advance stages of hypernostalgia, during which I get more excited about old magazines than new magazines). Noting the resemblance to a certain star of The Andy Dick Show, I emailed Andy's website to find out whether or not it was him; a few hours later, he called to tell me that, indeed, this ad was one of his very first paid gigs, for which he received a mere $500.

The lessons here: 1) Every celeb has a long-forgotten karaoke past; and 2) if you've ever sent a drunken email to Andy Dick's website about how much you loved NewsRadio, he probably read it.

A Truth That's Hard As Steel

Violence is never funny. Unless, of course, it's spurred on by a karaoke rendition of Dio's "Holy Diver." And committed by a drunk guy named Drinkwine.

"My Thin Sides" is Sidesplitting (Zing!)

Army Navy's debut album is one of my top 10 favorite records of the year; Paul Scheer is one of my top 10 favorite members of Human Giant. Never did I imagine I'd get the chance to see them together at a karaoke bar.

Shake the Sheets

One of the appendices in Don't Stop Believin' is a wishlist of 30 songs I've always wanted to sing at karaoke, and yet could never find. Coming in at No. 12 is Ted Leo + the Pharamacist's "Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?", one of my favorite tracks from the past five years. So imagine my surprise when I saw this announcement regarding New York magazine's upcoming indie-rock karaoke night:



Considering Leo's well-established cover-song credentials—and Andrew WK's ability to yell "party" over and over again—it's probably worth camping out at Studio B the night before, so you don't miss the sign-up sheet.

Karaoke 2.0

Time magazine's Josh Quittner endorses online karaoke as a mid-meltdown cost-saver.

McCain Staffers Knock On Heaven's Door

Deep within Newsweek's engrossing, 2,972-page (approx.) chronicle of this year's presidential campaigns is an account of McCain advisers Mark Salter and Steve Schmidt blowing off steam after the second presidential debate, in which their candidate wandered around the stage and made references to overhead projectors:

After the town-hall debate, Salter and Schmidt reunited with a dozen or so members of the traveling press corps at a karaoke bar in Nashville. It had been months since the duo had had a night out with reporters. Salter, who had sung in a band in college, was cajoled into singing a few tunes. Before long, and after a drink or two, he was into it. Under pressure from the reporters, Schmidt joined him for a chorus of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues." Schmidt even sang "Rocky Mountain High," to squeals from the increasingly inebriated reporters. But then he went off and sat quietly. Schmidt looked worn out, his burly body weighed by stress and the woes of the campaign, his relentless stare dimmed by exhaustion. He ignored political questions and talked quietly about his family. Salter, on the other hand, had found his groove. Standing in the middle of the bar, dressed in his ubiquitous corduroy jacket, he bellowed "More Dylan!" until he had belted out every Bob Dylan song the bar had. Reporters sang loud, drunken backup and tried to get Salter to join them in boy-band dance moves. It was the first time anyone had seen Salter look as if he was having fun in a long time.

McCain, alas, wasn't in attendance, meaning the Nashville crowd missed out on his hilarious Beach Boys parody.

How He Did It [Newsweek]

T-Pain's "Karaoke" Video

One part Duets, one part "Yankee Rose."

First chapter now online

Thanks to the overzealous digital scanners at Google, the first chapter of Don't Stop Believin' is now online. This chapter is more memoir-focused than the rest of the book, but it does include references to public-access puppetry, skeevy central-Pennsylvania sports bars, and Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strike."

Facebook group

It's up here.