K is for Karaoke

R.a.n.t. of day 04/13/15

Karaoke is one of those things you absolutely love or ultimately hate. For awhile I was in the ultimate hate group. Mostly because I'm a bad singer and have enough problem with my self-image. Singing a horrible song in front of others would only exacerbate my predicament. I remember one night two of my siblings wanted to go out for the night and I decided to go along. They both sang karaoke but I refused. Flash forward a few years and now I have my own karaoke machine set up in my home bar. Not that I feel I sing any better, or have a better self-image, it's because I've come to a few revelations.

First, no one singing karaoke is a professional. If you are a professional singer singing in the bar, you are probably getting paid. (Well, not my bar unless you want to be paid in pretzels and beer). I've mellowed out over the years so I can see it for what it is, a bit of fun. That's my second revelation, it's fun. Though I still hate singing horribly in front of people, I do love to sing. I'm the guy you pull up next to at a red light, singing away to the tunes on the radio. And I won't care if you stare either, I won't stop. Take a photo next time, it'll last longer.

My sisters all love karaoke, so I decided it was time to put one in the bar, as I mentioned. I have many fond memories from my karaoke parties. I've had good singers and bad singers (count me in with the bad), I've had people sing who never sang karaoke before and friends who speak little English. The one time I did have a friend who absolutely refused to sing, I still gave him something to do. It was during my 'random karaoke' game. In this game, I give everyone a ticket with numbers printed on. It's double sided, so they each got half and the other half was tossed into a hat. The friend who refused to sing would draw random numbers out of the hat, he seemed to enjoy that. Everyone else had fun singing the random songs they were assigned.

How to play 'Random Karaoke'. A random karaoke CD is placed in the player. At the start of a new song, a ticket is drawn. Whoever has the corresponding number MUST sing that song. The one time my friend, (the one who didn't want to sing but was persuaded, either by his girlfriend or the beer), was selected for 'Sweet Home Alabama' and didn't have to worry about singing horribly because everyone sang along. There are just some songs, everyone will sing too. Another guy friend's random song was Miley's 'Wrecking Ball'. Craziness, craziness. Well, as I said, fond memories.

Question for discussion:
Have you ever done karaoke?
What songs do you like to sing?
What are your favourite party games?
Can you name the Karaoke song at the top of the page?