Honestly, I don’t care that much for karaoke.
I’m a bit biased though. As a performing musician in the Tri-Cities, I’ve watched live bands dry up at many local venues as many places opt for the ‘entertainment’ provided by amateur singers via the ‘art’ of karaoke.
Blame it on the Japanese. That’s the country where the word ‘karaoke’ originated and it simply means “empty-orchestra.” There are no live instruments, only a recording of music – minus a vocal track and it’s in this space the karaoke singer takes the stage.
I’m sure lots of people rehearse their skills though and I don’t mean to criticize anyone, but it’s not just the talent that makes karaoke entertaining. Instead it’s the sour notes and most unlikely singers that make this form of entertainment a popular phenomena.
Reminds me of The Gong Show though and you can find diamonds in the rough or laugh along with your friends as some people sing their own brand of showmanship. If anything, I’ve got to give kudos to some people for trying.
Karaoke is popping up everywhere too – at dinner parties, night clubs and even local churches. You might say the Sunday worship service has been singing karaoke for years as it’s popular for vocalists to sing along with “tracks” from the pulpit.
This week is ‘Karaoke Week’ on Kingsport.tv. We’ve had this idea for weeks and thought it would be interesting to take the video camera into Junction 115 Grill in downtown Kingsport and hear what we might find.
On most any night, you can walk the streets of downtown Kingsport and hear people singing inside Junction 115. Some of those voices really ring out too and some – well there’s a reason why there’s no real critter problem downtown.
Junction 115 has been working hard to establish a successful venue downtown for several months now and it certainly is a novelty. You never know who will show up to grab the mike. Sometimes it’s Elvis, Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn and a number of impersonators and these performers take their act quite seriously too complete with in-character dialogue and detailed costumes.
Friday night, we left the office and walked down the street to the Kingsport Grocery Company before heading out on our adventure. The upstairs bar was alive with early Christmas parties and it’s terrific to see this venue continue to become a popular destination downtown.
Carl who was formerly with The Stir Fry was on the job tonight and he made us feel right at home sampling all kinds of micro brews including an interesting holiday flavor from Depot Street in Jonesborough – a maple/pecan brew worth bragging about.
We ordered up a pizza, told plenty of stories, greeted several friends and were ready to walk back down the street around 8 to start shooting.
Local photographer Eric Allen was there with some friends and mentioned they had thought about going to Asheville, but stated, “Why make the drive, when Asheville is in Downtown Kingsport?”
Walking back to the office, I helped Matthew pack our video gear and grabbed my camera too. We wanted to get plenty of media and were excited now to see what might come about. Here’s a link to the photos we took that night.
The Junction Grill is located on Broad Street right next to the new Stir Fry Cafe. Inside they have plenty of Christmas decorations, a disco ball and Johnny Cash has a prominent position on the stage right in front of the door along with plenty of other musical memorabilia.
There was a man with a bright red sweater belting out the Alabama song ‘Mountain Music’ when we walked in the door and he was surprisingly good. We found out later, this was the mayor of Mount Carmel – Gary Lawson.
We settled in with our cameras close to the bar and proceeded to watch the Junction DJ, Roy Huffman work through a list of performers of all ages. Some young, some old, some good and some – in training.
Even though I’m still a karaoke skeptic, I was intrigued by several singers tonight.
Tiffany Walker sang the Whitney Houston song ‘I Will Always Love You’ and hit every note with complete confidence. With her eyes closed, she impressed me with her passion and we found out later she had recently been in a coma for six months. Her performance seemed to suggest that she was truly living out her dreams.
There were several other singers, yodelers and fearless performers tonight who sang everything from classic country to pop rock songs.
The audience was polite and recognized the talent and were tolerant of the mistakes on stage. The DJ mentioned to me that the better singers usually showed up on Saturday, but everyone seemed to be having a good time despite the flux.
There were even moments when people were dancing out front – as the DJ played the records and the singers watched a television screen that slowly scrolled the words past them as they sang.
I know some people might be offended about my opinion about karaoke. No problem – it’s just an opinion based on years of playing with a metronome and discerning what the words flat and sharp mean as it relates to music.
There used to be a time when I was more tolerant of these reeling pitches as I still recall a girlfriend who had a real problem with singing in tune. I was polite then, but I’m a bit more opinionated in my old age and I don’t make a habit of scratching chalkboards either.
One thing is certain though. We had a good time at the Junction 115 Grill and there are a lot of people talking about this local venue.
I’m certain that the beer consumed in the Junction Grill is liquid confidence too and they sell it pretty darn cheap compared to most of the venues downtown. That reason kept the door busy all night long. Besides, who couldn’t resist wondering what was happening inside as they drive by with people clapping, dancing and laughing into the wee hours of the night?
We heard some great singers last week and look forward to sharing them with you on Kingsport.tv this week. We plan on featuring them each day and exposing some of the talent we were surprised to hear.
I guess there’s one thing I can say though and maybe that’s why people like Karaoke much more than me.
It takes a lot of guts to get up on stage and sing. I’ve performed for decades now and rarely have any butterflies, but I’m always backed up by a terrific singer and usually do my best to sing backup vocals, but when it comes to a solo – you can forget about it.
Perhaps I’m doing my part at being green and – protecting the environment.