Her Eyes are on the Door

posted 13 May 2003, 10PM | 19 Comments

After a long day spent indoors working on partially successful design projects, last night's trip to the Brass Monkey karaoke bar off Wilshire was just what I needed. The crowd was a little thin, but that place always has a great sense of the absurdity and irony of the... "medium". A whole group of us went - another lovely stop on the farewell-to-Los-Angeles tour of dear Catherine, following her 29th birthday party on Saturday, and a day trip to Disneyland last week. I already miss her, and the rest of LA will, too.

After two gin and tonics and two Coronas, I performed my much anticipated and shower-practiced rendition of Maneater by sexy groundbreaking pop duo Hall and Oates sometime around midnight. My performance included comb, beer, and cereal-box sunglasses props, and a 45 second air-sax solo. It went pretty well... such sweet release. The woman is WILD, Wooo ooh ooh ohoh!

Any nominees for or stories about other Karaoke classics?

There are 19 Comments

1

13 May 03 at 03:28PM manda said:

jessica, the best friend a girl could wish to have, always dedicated that song to me. i have no idea why.... heh heh.

2

14 May 03 at 07:15AM ames said:

Hall and Oates! Philly represent!

3

14 May 03 at 07:23AM East Coast Adam said:

Here's a Plymouth Karaoke story for all you West Coasters...
Walking by Rip Tides one night I heard the familiar refrain of Silent Lucidity. Being a huge Queensryche fan I had to stop to see who was singing this beautiful song. A massive biker-esque dude was cyring into the mic as he made his way through the end of the song. Ever since then whenever I hear Silent Lucidity I can only think of this large man pouring his heart and soul into that song.

Gantz -- Props for Maneater... oh oh here she comes, she's a Maneater! Yeah!

4

14 May 03 at 07:57AM dave said:

all too often, people singing karaoke have no concept of which you speak, Rye. The absurdity and irony of the medium. I didn't go out to the bar to hear you sing Avril Lavigne. To be honest, I'd rather an impassioned rendition of I Will Always Love You, now that sufficient time has passed since its creepy dominance of the Billboard Singles chart.

Mack the Knife is always good.
But if I have a karaoke song that will make it into my obituary one day, it'll always be "Travelin' Band," by CCR. It's the most intense 2:30 a drunk guy can bring, with the screaming and whatnot involved.

The worst part about karaoke is the awkward part where the guitar solo belongs, when you have nothing to sing. I usually drink and smoke heavily during those 8 or 16 bars.

Did you get the sunglasses out of a cerealbox, Rye? Or did you make them out of a cerealbox? Regardless, Maneater was an excellent selection. I really enjoyed your version of Hip Hop Hooray back in Plymouth, though.

5

14 May 03 at 09:20AM ryan said:

hip-hop hooray?

i don't remember that. OPP sounds more likely.

6

14 May 03 at 03:23PM dan said:

I do have to represent the Milky Way back in Jamaica Plain (boston) as being the finest Karaoke. Diversity is key, in peformers as well as selections. Halloween was especially good, picture a huge headed anime cat singing and dancing. All the while you can bowl as well, candlepin that is.

7

14 May 03 at 03:29PM Jakob said:

If you ask me, you're not rockin' the mic right unless you make a gigantic ass out of yourself. Over-the-top rock posturing is a necessity. Past faves o' mine include 'Down Under', 'Steppin Out', and 'Burning Down the House'. Though I did once win second prize for my rendition of 'Should I Stay or Should I Go?' back in good ol' Bellingham, Mass. Essentially, if it's not from the eighties, it's crap. Next up: 'Eye of the Tiger'

8

15 May 03 at 12:26AM Adam said:

The Bee Gees. If you can muster it.

9

15 May 03 at 05:21AM dave said:

I took second place in a karaoke contest at my school...I sang "At This Moment," by Billy Vera and the Beaters (the prom song from Family Ties? anyone?). I was fake crying, on my knees, really feeling it. So was the crowd. Then I got taken down by a karaoke ringer. I'm sure of it. The next guy did "These Boots Are Made For Walkin," but he did it with one of his calves tied to his thigh, which he then put jeans over, so that it looked like he had one leg. Then he proceeded to do a full-dance rendition of These Boots Were Made For Hoppin.
Answer me this: Would you have called shenanigans? Or was that legit?

10

15 May 03 at 08:49AM Jakob said:

Shenanigans. Definite Shenanigans.

11

15 May 03 at 09:23AM Robert Smith said:

I'd had a couple of Pina Coladas too many. I honestly did no worse than anyone else that got up, apart from two - this brilliant guitarist and a really god woman who sang. But most of the people who got up were either completely out of it or just totally hopeless. Or a combination of both. The band knew 'Copacabana', I was hardly going to ask them to play 'A Forest' or something (laughs). As it was most of the crowd were pretty slack jawed, they weren't a Cure crowd. They weren't tough, they were just plain shocked I think (laughs).

The saddest thing was that I knew quite a lot of it. I kind of dredged it up from somewhere. It was frightening, I thought "I didn't even realise I knew this song" and was sort of lustfully singing along. It was almost like an out of body experience.

12

15 May 03 at 09:50AM dan said:

First off, I am a big fan of not doing the same bullshit played out crappy 80s songs. Im sorry, in the full sceme of life, its short and kitch is a waste of it. Granted, Im arguing about karaoke.
2nd, Robert's post kind of weirds me out.
3rd You have not fully expeienced Karoke until you have gone to a full on Japanese karoke establishment. Here in SF we have japantown and the private booth clubs feel like converted sensual massage parlors. You walk past numbered room with thin window, catching glimpses and the banshee wails coming from within. Funny, but in a cold disturbing way.
And yes dave, the prom song, I think of michael J every time I hear that song.

13

16 May 03 at 06:45AM dave said:

Robert's post freaks me out, too. But I would kill to hear his version of Copacabana.

14

18 May 03 at 01:20AM kenji said:

i'd argue that to take full advantage of the "absurdity and irony" of karaoke, you need not restrict yourself to ostantatious eighties songs. late 1990s nu-metal does the trick quite nicely. the absurdity of a screaming 2am rendition of system of a down's "toxicity" is not lost on most jamacia plain karaoke crowds.

15

19 May 03 at 05:52AM dave said:

I kinda always thought singing Syndrome of a Down at a karaoke joint gives them more fame than they deserve.

16

15 Aug 03 at 09:01PM aimee said:

Man oh man. I am such a singer of karaoke! Don't even get me started with James Taylor's "Carolina in My Mind." Holy crap! I got a standing ovation from the 8 people in the bar in Simi Valley, CA! I bought another pitcher and felt quite proud [pathetic--who cares?]

Anyway, I was at the Brass Monkey exactly 6 months before you were. I didn't sing there, though. Funny when you think about people going to places you've been. Just thought I would say hi. Hi.

17

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18

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19

7 Mar 06 at 10:26AM Tom said:

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