HULA HULA BAR; SEATTLE, WA
Karaoke World Championship hopefuls make their play

By Ty Hughes

It was standing-room only for the local Karaoke World Championship finals at Hula Hula Bar in Seattle on Friday, May 23rd.

Six male and six female qualifiers were invited to compete for two spots available in the State Finals in August, location still to be determined. As it was, eleven singers showed up to a packed house, bringing friends and family to cheer them on to victory.

DJ Mikey, aka The Karaoke Geek, had his system all up and running a couple hours prior to the start of the competition. Several contestants got a chance to warm up their vocal cords, as did some of the casual bystanders. However, it should be stated that even the casual singers at the Hula Hula will blow you away with their amazing talent. These people can flat carry a tune!

Sponsored by Chartbusterkaraoke.com and Big Mama’s Karaoke Cafe, the Karaoke World Championships Regional and National Finalists will be lavished with gifts and cash. These Finalists will be awarded a trip to Finland for the World Championships, where they will compete for over $80,000 in cash and prizes! So, there was plenty at stake for these eleven hopefuls who came out for the Finals at Hula Hula.

They were: Alex Bloss, Leeni Ramadan, E. Marie Brown, Kevin Jones, Megan Jergens, Ray Misra, Gary Vandenberg, Ryann Flynn, Keli Reagan, Eric Sanden, Jonathan Akahoshi and Suzanne Brahm.

Each and every one of these singers deserved to hold their spot in the finals, possessing incredible talent on the microphone and in front of a crowd. One by one, DJ Mikey introduced them to an exuberant audience and they each had an opportunity to perform twice for the panel of illustrious, hand-picked judges. These judges definitely had a conundrum in choosing the best of the best here tonight.

The judges were:
Dean Olson; Stand up comic and actor with over 20 years experience, 200 TV commercials and 3,800 radio voice-overs.
Don Darryl Rivera; Cornish graduate with a BFA in theater and performing arts. Now starring at Seattle Children’s Theatre.
Brandon Hale; MSU film and theatre grad and lead singer for Outlaw Country Band, “The Dirty Shame” out of Montana.
Bill Williams; Cornish theatre graduate, currently the romantic lead in Zanna-Don’t, opening June 18 on Capitol Hill’s Balagan Theatre.
Duane Good; Stand up comedian and actor as seen on Comedy Central, NBC and Fox networks. Duane likes to use karaoke as a joke in his act.

Judged on vocal/sound quality, rhythm/tempo, vocal expression, stage presence and entertainment value, each singer worked hard to impress the judges and easily impressed a highly appreciative crowd on onlookers, judges in their own rite.

General Manager, Patrick, was extremely pleased with the turnout for the finals event, running around attending to the needs of his staff, always with a smile. The bar staff was right on top of things all night long, cruising the floor and slammin’ behind the bar. Megan, one of their star bartenders, was actually a contest finalist and warmed up for her performance with the cordless mic from behind the bar while mixing drinks - awesome!

DJ Mikey’s sound system is top notch; clean, crisp and well-distributed sound. He takes a lot of pride in his ability to dial in his singers individually to sound incredible.

The Polynesian beach/surf motif at Hula is festive, light and casual, making everyone feel comfortable and ready to party. Huge Tiki cocktails and big bowl drinks poured out of the bar and the $5 Happy Hour menu was quite popular, keeping the kitchen busy all night long.

As for the competition, the singers wowed the crowd with two song selections each and the entertainment level was stunning. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the show from start to finish. After all the songs were sung and the judges conferred, the winners were announced by DJ Mikey.

Going to the 2008 State Finals for the Karaoke World Championships representing Hula Hula Bar out of Seattle would be... Megan Jergens and Ryann Flynn!

Congratulations to both of them. We wish them well in the State Finals, which will surely produce some stiff competition.

Thanks to everyone who competed - the level of talent was truly something to behold - everybody deserves to win.

Check out DJ Mikey’s show at the Hula Hula at 106 1st Ave N. in Seattle Wednesday through Sunday and now he’s appearing at the Sports Page in downtown Snohomish on Tuesdays.

Check him out - good times! Tell him you heard about it in the Guide!