|
The Bay News - Jan. 17, 1992 " At first, people seem a bit tentative when they first try Karaoke," says Doc Thompson, owner of Cayucos Video and the only Karaoke machine apparently in the county. "But after they sinS a couple of tunes they loose their inhibitions and have a great time." And a great time is what Koraoke is all about. The strange device, originating in Japan and becoming increasingly popular state-side, is a lesson in '90's technology. After a song is selected by a wanna-be sensation a computer controlled high-tech jukebox grabs one of up to 50 compact discs in its storage compartment and slaps it on the player. Each CD holds about 18 instrumental tracks. The lyrics of the song ap-pear on a television screen a few lines at a time in large, bold letters. When the time comes for the performer to sing a certain passage, the Karaoke machine begins a modern day version of the bouncing ball." It will begin changing the color of the words on the screen from white to yellow ensuring the singer will have the proper timing. As the words change color, the singer simply sings them into the microphone. "The machine leaves nothing to chance," Doc said. Nothing except the melody. And that is where the trick lies. Karaoke participants must familiar enough with their tune of choice to vary the pitch at the right time. If not... Karaoke chaos will reign. But that, apparently, is alright. It seems Karaoke can be taken in many ways, but rarely (very rarely) can it be taken seriously. A good portion of the appeal of Karaoke seems to come from the quality of the apparatus. The crisp, clear sound of the instrumental tracks combined with the solid musicianship used to recreate the popular tunes will usually make even a mediocre singer sound good. Doc agrees. "Most people sound terrific on this.' he says. Of course, generous amounts of echo and reverb, both available on Karaoke, can't hurt either. The machine even pro-vides background vocals on certain verses and choruses. And there are even more options. |
"For songs that are arranged for a man/women duets," explains
Doc's wife and partner Nancy, "words turn blue for the men and pink for
the woman." Still there are those that have about as much singing talent as Roseanne (Barr) Arnold, and afterA few beers things can get downright raunchy. But Nancy says that even when somebody is squawking into the microphone, Karaoke does not loose its ap-peal. "If somebody is singing off key, people from the audience will actually come up and sing along with them to help the person out a little bit," Nancy explains. Then there is the opposite side of the vo-cal cords. "There was this one lady who sang so gorgeous that she kind of intimidated other customers. We found out later that she actually has a recording contract," Nancy said. Although Doc with his Wife and partner Nancy have had the sing-along machine for only a couple months the response from local residents has been, at least, ecstatic. Two recent appearances at the Cayucos Tavern had patrons resembling Star Search performers. Take Shell Beach resident Eric Schaffer for example. The 30-year-old writer/bartender went in to the tavern to view sports and instead ended up performing a spirited rendition of the Guess Who's "American Woman". "I changed the words around a bit," Schaffer remember, "Instead of American Woman, it was Cayucos Woman." He also noticed some strange psychological occurring with Karaoke. "The tavern usually brings in the wildest characters, but when they would get the microphone in their hands they seemed to turn into instant lounge singers. They would lean against the bar and wave the microphone around. They took it to heart." When Doc and Nancy aren't busy carting the machine to various nightclubs and parties, they set contraption up in their store and offer every seventh customer a free video if they sing a song with Karaoke. "That is usually a lot of fun." Nancy said. "Two older ladies sang a Neil Sedaka song one time when the store was packed. It was great." So whose songs are the most popular in the Karaoke world? "Probably Willie Nelson and Patsy Kline because they are so easy to sing." Nancy said. "Plus Patsy Kline has such a great voice that everybody wants to be able to sing like that." Indeed! |