I've often wondered why pirated karaoke videos so rarely show up on YouTube: After all, the only elements you need to put your clip online is an old karaoke laserdisc, some format-conversion software, and a living situation that lends itself to boredom. But it looks as YouTube is taking its copyright-watchdog obligations seriously: I spotted this thumbnail after a "karaoke" search, and sure enough, it had already been pulled for "terms of use violation." Which means that somebody's monitoring the situation and making sure the videos are taken down.
Either that, or YouTube suspended this guy for flagrant moniker misspelling. It's 2007—who the hell doesn't know how to spell "Lionel Richie"? His daughter's, like, totally famous!
From a bit called "Spin The Wheel Of Clips" that aired on Friday's Human Giant 24-hour live marathon. It would be impossible to explain the context and/or punchline, but suffice to say, I didn't know which entry I wanted to see more.
So far, 2007 has been the year of karaoke crack-downs: In March, a law was passed in Lilburn, GA. that bans karaoke from restaurants that serve alcohol; and now there's a proposed ordinance in Danville, KY. that would do away with sing-alongs and dancing in restaurants. WKYT has a report that you can watch here; as one interviewee notes, the ban would be an affront to American history, as "we've been dancing for thousands of years." Alas, that may not help when it comes to karaoke, as we've only been singing ABBA songs for about half that amount of time.
FUKUSHIMA--A 17-year-old high school student in Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima Prefecture, arrested for killing his mother, allegedly rode his bicycle to a karaoke parlor with the bag containing his mother's head in the bicycle's basket, police said Saturday.
According to Aizuwakamatsu Police Station, after the student murdered his 47-year-old mother at his apartment in the city early Tuesday, he placed the school bag containing the severed head into the basket before riding to a karaoke box.
If you're unsure about whether you're an insensitive bastard for wondering what the guy sang—well, yes, you are. But at least you're not alone.
[President-elect Nicolas Sarkozy]'s brief downtime on a yacht off Malta was today questioned by the Socialist opposition for sending the wrong signal to the nation.
Mr Sarkozy is relaxing on the 60-metre Le Paloma with his wife, son, a small entourage and five security guards. Despite the distractions of several plasma screens and a karaoke suite, he was said to be using the time to reflect on his future government and imminent parliamentary elections when he hopes to secure a majority to push through labour reforms and €15bn (£10bn) of tax cuts.
He must do a mean rendition of Serge's "Bonnie & Clyde"! No, really—it's pretty mean.
- Video of Tyra Banks performing "Proud Mary" at New York City's Spotlight Live; reader comments range from "I like Tyra singing" to "why do that other singer keep with the hand on the other guy." [Ziddio] - What happens when two Brit-rockers do karaoke together? The Carpenters and Kate Bush happen, of course. [AOL Spinner] - Samantha Ronson is returning to her celeb-packed Tuesday-night karaoke residency at Guy's in Los Angeles. [Myspace/bowiekaraoke]
1. Ne-Yo - "Because Of You" Ne-Yo clearly wants to convince the world that he's the heir to Michael Jackson, and after listening to Because Of You non-stop for two weeks, I'm at least willing to hear him out on that point. While it's obviously not up there with Thriller (or even Off The Wall), it's one of the best R&B albums in a long while, and it'll go about five singles deep before the year is over. "Leaving Tonight," the accusatory back-and-forth with Jennifer Hudson, is probably going to be the big karaoke hit, but "Because Of You" is as good sing-along as you can get, especially with that multi-layered bridge. 2. Klaxons, "Golden Scans" Is it "Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-aaaaah" or "Doo-doo-doo-doo-dooh, doo-doo-doo-doo-haaaaa"? 3. The Wildhearts - "The New Flesh" I've given up all hope that this long-running British-rock troupe will ever make it here in the U.S.; hard-rock fans nowadays are more interested in neo-grunge leg-press anthems than they are in fast, hooky, cartoonish metal. "The New Flesh" is the second single from the 'Hearts self-titled new album, and it sounds like the Mutt Lange house band covering "We Didn't Start The Fire." 4. Beyoncé - "World Wide Woman" This bonus B'day track got no love from commenters when we posted it on Idolator, possibly because there are few things cornier than a love song about computers. But I love the "double-you/double-you/double-you" chorus—and as as far as Internet-related jams go, I've heard much worse. 5. Devin The Dude ft. Snoop Dogg & Andre 3000 - "What A Job" I can't even pretend to pull off more than a few hip-hop songs at karaoke (though I can fake my way through "Fight The Power"and "The Humpty Dance"), but considering that the Dude speak-sings his verses, this could work. It would require some stellar guest-work, though.
In addition to a visit to Dimples, my two-week trip to Los Angeles yielded several moments of karaoke craziness, including a Tuesday-night trip to Guy's (where celebs once frolicked, but now frolic no more); a rendition of Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" at Brass Monkey that resulted in a free piece of birthday cake; and a quick stop at an unnamed Koreatown joint, which was just terrible. Thankfully my friend Katy (above) was along for the latter, so at least I suffered bad service in good company.
After that, I headed off to Honolulu, where McKinley High School was holding its 6th Annual Alumni Karaoke Challenge, during which more than thirty graduates of McKinley (and several surrounding schools) performed for nearly three hours. It was a very ambitious production; I can't recall ever seeing a karaoke performance that involved both a small dog and an Abraham Lincoln impersonator. The front row of the auditorium was lined with "karaoke senseis," who had trained many of the singers. The only singing I got to do was as part of the audience (the show closed with the school's fight song), and I never got to try my "Mahalo Back!" joke, but it was a good time nonetheless.
· Facebook · MySpace · My story on doing karaoke with the New Pornographers, which ran in the September 2007 issue of Spin, can be found here. · My story about the 2006 Karaoke World Championships, which ran in the December 2006 issue of Wired, can be found here. · Mike Kuhle's karaoke photos capture all the insanity of late-night sing-along. · When not crooning, I editIdolator, Gawker Media's music blog. UPDATE: Well, I don't edit it anymore, but it's still worth reading.
