More details of the impending Poketo and Raina party! It’s just once of the festivities Ted and Angie are having for their Royal/ T + Poketo pop-up store. Yup Royal/T’s waitresses wear gothic Lolita maid outfits, so if you’d like to attend dressed up as your favorite anime/ superhero/ French maid/ video game character, it’s totally encouraged (by me) but optional.
The summer party will continue on Friday, July 10th as Poketo throws a Karaoke Dance Party at Royal/T. Bring your best moves to the dance floor. Or test your pipes by singing your favorite tunes and become the very first Poketo Karaoke Idol! Riches and fame, not guaranteed. But prizes will be plentiful for participants. Poketo pop-up Shop open all night. The Royal/T cafe and bar serving beer, wine, and Poketo’s Japanese street food inspired menu will be open throughout the evening. Come early for Happy Hour drinks from 8 - 10 PM.
Yup, it’s been a long while since I threw one of these. With work, random family stuff, and other non-karaoke activities, it’s been tough getting back on track. My original goal was throw a karaoke book party every week… er month… er few months. But my friends Angie and Ted, better known the artist-made goods collective Poketo have convinced me that this summer is the time for a karaoke dance off!
Now Poketo kids are bonafied karaoke freaks. Was at Angie and Ted a few months ago karaoking when all off of a sudden we all just got up and danced in their living room. Angie was doing the 80’s dances she’s so good at like the Roger Rabbit, and Ted, well I think he was pulling moves from his baggy-panted raver days. At some point I saw John administering the “trust test” to Ted, the exercise where where you fall backwards into the arms of someone to catch you. The whole night very junior high dance Asian American Christian fellowship activity night. If you’re a lapse Asian church go-er, you know exactly what I mean. Anyway, seems like the best karaoke nights would end in a dance off, which is what inspired us to throw the ULTIMATE KARAOKE DANCE PARTY.
Save the date for Friday July 10 at Royal/ T cafe (above picture) and gallery in Culver City. Yeah, we’re going to have a fierce singing competition, games, prizes, and serious dancing. And I’m super excited about the space also. If you haven’t been to Royal/T, it’s a pretty sweet open gallery / cosplay tea house that houses a bunch of Murakamis, Ai Yamaguchis, and other Japanese art as well as a rotating collection. The space is someone’s well-culled private collection I believe. A someone who happens to like having waitresses in gothic Lolita French maid outfits. Wuhoo!
To whet your appetite for this karaoke dance party sing-off, here are some pictures of me, Angie, and Ted doing our thing at Karaoke Max in West LA.
In this month’s Answer Fella in Esquire, I let the distinguished gentlemen readers know the answer to this burning question:
So you’ve been dragged out to a karaoke bar with your girlfriend and her entourage. If forced to sing, what is the ultimate song?
Read my expert advice in Esquire. Apparently, another karaoke fiend Sarah Lewitinn (DJ Ultragrrl and author of Pocket Karaoke) agreed with my choice. So it must be true!
What what? Another karaoke-related killing? Asians get really feisty over the mic (remember Malaysia?) so be careful when you wanna sing “Anyway You Want It,” but the rest of the room isn’t feeling your pre-pubescent Steve Perry.
A late night shooting in Koreatown has claimed one life, and left another person wounded. The incident took place just after 2:00 in the morning at the M2 Cafe & Karaoke bar at 4001 W. Sixth Street, according to KTLA. “One of the victims was shot in the head and was taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was declared dead. The other victim suffered a graze wound to his head and was expected to survive.” No arrests were made at the scene. M2 is described by one Yelp reviewer as being a bar/lounge up front with the karaoke rooms in the rear; it is not clear from available reports if the shooting took place in or outside the venue.
Suppose the noraebang (Korean for private singing room) is just another place where bad kids packing heat can showdown. But damn, can’t we solve our differences with another round of lemon sojus.
Via LAist.
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What if Bonnie Tyler said everything she was thinking during the superdramatic Total Eclipse video? Here’s a scene by scene literal interpretation of the classic vid, which is pretty creepy if you think about it because this middle age woman hangs out at this Catholic boys school and by the end of the video they’re oiled up, naked and dancing around her. Wait, and why are there blind possessed alter boys? What’s that thing you shouldn’t do that makes you blind? Hmmmm.
Fave lyrics include:
Slo-Mo dove (Turn around)
Creepy doll a window and what looks like a bathrobe then a dimly shot of dangling balls (every now and then I get little bit nervous and then I see the look in your eyes)
I’ll never go to church again, I think lost a contact lens (forever’s gonna start tonight, forever’s gonna start tonight)
This was a few months back, courtesy of my book cover model, Suzette Lee. Well, her bf spotted this to be exact. First Urban Outfitters, now the tough streets of the 718! I think he’s also selling Michel Foucault, so Hit Me With Your Best Shot is in good company.
Maybe I should sue because they included the words “ultimate” and “karaoke” together? God knows Karaoke Domination needs to start up capital.
Anyhoo, Gizmodo reviews this nifty, inexpensive USB mic mixer that works with the Karaoke Channel. The summary is, neat idea, bad delays, and no John Mayer. Oh well! I wonder how the shoot I did for The Karaoke Channel OnDemand is related to this.
Sometimes karaoke box rooms dank with peeling wood paneling from 1975, but whore house? I know in Asian sketchier karaoke places are synonymous with prostitution. I mean, they do rent by the hour. Here are some Manhattan puritans getting up in arms about the oldest Asian profession. Um, karaoke!
Will it be a flesh joint — or just a place to sing your favorite Fleshtones song? Will there be prostitutes — or just a lot of people screaming, “Roxanne”?
The owners of a planned karaoke joint in Bay Ridge say their place is the latter — but they were nonetheless stymied on Monday night when Community Board 10 voted nearly unanimously to nix their request for a liquor license amid allegations that the singalong studio was actually a den of prostitution.
The soon-to-be finished video karaoke parlor, Crown KTV, is still scheduled to open next month on 64th Street between Eighth and Ninth avenues — and supporters believe that the board’s vote hinged on a misunderstand of karaoke culture.
Crown KTV’s 13 private booths will rent for about $20 per hour and are equipped with TV screens that display song lyrics. Such facilities are quite common in Midtown Manhattan, but at least one board member was convinced they’d be used for prostitution.
“We don’t need no hookers here!” the member shouted at the March 16 hearing. But the men who are converting the windowless warehouse into a swank karaoke bar and family-style restaurant say the only link to prostitution will be the off-key renditions of “Lady Marmalade” coming from singers’ voiceboxes.
Thanks to my Bay Ridge cousin Jeff for the news from the Brooklyn Paper!
Follow Raina Lee, the author of Hit Me With Your Best Shot: The Ultimate Guide To Karaoke Domination (published by Chronicle Books) in her adventures through the karoake underground.
