Tuesday, January 25, 2005
You can take me out of the karaoke box, but you can't take the karaoke out of me
There are only few things in the world that scare me. And I just faced one of them last night.
Imagine, a couple of trainees, very decent minded people, sitting in a room singing to karoke. Yes, that's normal.
But trainees singing Backstreet Boys, Westlife, N'Sync, S Club 7 and Brittney Spears with the enthusiasm of screaming teen-boppers? I don't think so.
My eardrums are torn and my sense of dignity is shattered. Not because I was terrified of the songs... but because *gasp* I knew how to sing them all. OH, THE SHAME!!!
The problem with an international crowd is this: 99% of the time, the songs we can relate to are pop songs, because it's so darn universal. And the US does it best, when it comes to three-tone pop songs that anyone can sing. My only real purpose for the night was to humor people as we watched bizarre mismatch of great songs to Canto-MTV and choreographed dancing to classics such as "Bye Bye Bye."
Throw yo' hands up in the air!
"Oooo....My love... my daa-arling..." - Me: Patrick. Ceha: Demi ... okay, maybe not.
Interpretive dancing to some song (Las Ketchups?)
But I have to admit, I love karaoke. My fond memories include Jen, Lars and I showing up wasted one morning for karaoke, where 20 HK Aiesecers welcomed us as they happily sang Canto-pop. We terrified them with "It's Gettin' Hot In Here," "Bootilicious" (by 'Destiny's Children', mind you), and "We Are the World," where we made up @ly choreography on the fly.
However, my fondest memories of karaoke go back to my Berkeley days, where we would go to our favorite karaoke bar as a weekly ritual. Singing in front of people is actually a piece of cake after a couple bottles of Kirin and Asahi. The Japanophiles and the Japanese had to compete with the Jewish fraternity though, as they found our hole-in-the-wall hangout as the best place to do sake-bombs.
People from all walks of life gathered there, and at one point, I was a "regular" too. My friends were great singers, and they often wow-ed the Japanese crowd because they were "white people who could sing Japanese." Like Steve who looked like a total Californian boy but sounded like Fujii Fumiya, and Klayton who could improv harmony on any given song (with the intuition of a choir boy). Steve is now a JET teacher in Japan and Klay moved on from SEGA to becoming an independent video game producer in Silicon Valley - I miss those guys. There was also a bald guy who was always at the counter, who would sing the best rendition of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "With or Without You." I think he was a cafe owner down College Ave. And my friend Robin, the mother hen of all of us. She usually took the initiative to drag us out to the bar.
Then there were the oddities: a freakish little man in a beanie, whom we used to call "Henna Ojisan (Weird Old Guy)" who wore heavy black-rimmed glasses that were 3 inches thick. The waiters and waitresses were working under the table to make some spending cash. And a lady in her late 50s, who was obviously trying to hide under 10 lbs. of make up. Sometimes her husband would also come by and sing some B'z. They both looked like they popped out of 70s Japan. They were all fun people though, embedded in the lifestyle of Berkeley. Eccentric and loving it.
I remember bringing Julio, a Dominican Republic @er, to the bar one night. (I SO wanted him to sing "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard" - LOL) He thought it was the funniest thing where people just got mellow, ate yummy food, and exhibited themselves on the corner stage. My trainees and LC members were subjected to this as well - it was so much fun. (... come to think of it, they sang Brittney Spears and Spice Girls). I fondly remember Jojo, our Tunisian trainee, who belted out "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston. He got a standing ovation from the entire bar. It's so warm and welcoming like that.
Ah... must go again, even if subjected to American pop-torture.
Imagine, a couple of trainees, very decent minded people, sitting in a room singing to karoke. Yes, that's normal.
But trainees singing Backstreet Boys, Westlife, N'Sync, S Club 7 and Brittney Spears with the enthusiasm of screaming teen-boppers? I don't think so.
My eardrums are torn and my sense of dignity is shattered. Not because I was terrified of the songs... but because *gasp* I knew how to sing them all. OH, THE SHAME!!!
The problem with an international crowd is this: 99% of the time, the songs we can relate to are pop songs, because it's so darn universal. And the US does it best, when it comes to three-tone pop songs that anyone can sing. My only real purpose for the night was to humor people as we watched bizarre mismatch of great songs to Canto-MTV and choreographed dancing to classics such as "Bye Bye Bye."
Throw yo' hands up in the air!
"Oooo....My love... my daa-arling..." - Me: Patrick. Ceha: Demi ... okay, maybe not.
Interpretive dancing to some song (Las Ketchups?)
But I have to admit, I love karaoke. My fond memories include Jen, Lars and I showing up wasted one morning for karaoke, where 20 HK Aiesecers welcomed us as they happily sang Canto-pop. We terrified them with "It's Gettin' Hot In Here," "Bootilicious" (by 'Destiny's Children', mind you), and "We Are the World," where we made up @ly choreography on the fly.
However, my fondest memories of karaoke go back to my Berkeley days, where we would go to our favorite karaoke bar as a weekly ritual. Singing in front of people is actually a piece of cake after a couple bottles of Kirin and Asahi. The Japanophiles and the Japanese had to compete with the Jewish fraternity though, as they found our hole-in-the-wall hangout as the best place to do sake-bombs.
People from all walks of life gathered there, and at one point, I was a "regular" too. My friends were great singers, and they often wow-ed the Japanese crowd because they were "white people who could sing Japanese." Like Steve who looked like a total Californian boy but sounded like Fujii Fumiya, and Klayton who could improv harmony on any given song (with the intuition of a choir boy). Steve is now a JET teacher in Japan and Klay moved on from SEGA to becoming an independent video game producer in Silicon Valley - I miss those guys. There was also a bald guy who was always at the counter, who would sing the best rendition of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "With or Without You." I think he was a cafe owner down College Ave. And my friend Robin, the mother hen of all of us. She usually took the initiative to drag us out to the bar.
Then there were the oddities: a freakish little man in a beanie, whom we used to call "Henna Ojisan (Weird Old Guy)" who wore heavy black-rimmed glasses that were 3 inches thick. The waiters and waitresses were working under the table to make some spending cash. And a lady in her late 50s, who was obviously trying to hide under 10 lbs. of make up. Sometimes her husband would also come by and sing some B'z. They both looked like they popped out of 70s Japan. They were all fun people though, embedded in the lifestyle of Berkeley. Eccentric and loving it.
I remember bringing Julio, a Dominican Republic @er, to the bar one night. (I SO wanted him to sing "Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard" - LOL) He thought it was the funniest thing where people just got mellow, ate yummy food, and exhibited themselves on the corner stage. My trainees and LC members were subjected to this as well - it was so much fun. (... come to think of it, they sang Brittney Spears and Spice Girls). I fondly remember Jojo, our Tunisian trainee, who belted out "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston. He got a standing ovation from the entire bar. It's so warm and welcoming like that.
Ah... must go again, even if subjected to American pop-torture.
// posted by sakit @ 2:05 AM 
