Karaoke Corner – August 2010

 Rocky & Kristine’s

Karaoke Corner – August – 2010

By Rocky & Kristine Fields

 Hayley’s Idol

 Welcome to the August edition of the Karaoke & Live Entertainment Guide. Seems it’s going to be a scorcher this Summer. We’ve already broken record high temps in the month of July and it looks like there’s more to come. Get out and sing in those cool air-conditioned karaoke bars. Support our local establishments and make new friends. Be sure to get out to the fairs this year too! The Evergreen Idol competition finals will be held at the Evergreen State Fair in Monroe, where the winner will open for the Lifehouse concert. 

Speaking of great contests, Hayley’s in Everett recently hosted their Hayley’s Idol karaoke contest finals on July 14. The turnout was great, 23 singers in all put their best foot forward and sang like there was no tomorrow hoping to win the top prize of $200 cash! Second place took home $100 and $50 went to the 3rd place winner. 

The stage was well lit, as always at Hayley’s. They have a professional who runs the sound and lighting during karaoke. If you’ve never been to Hayley’s, you’ll be surprised by how large the stage actually is. It sits away from the seating so it’s like a really big production, honestly. You have to enter from the side in the back of the venue and it seems to make people feel like they’re putting on a “professional show” for the audience. You can really sense a difference in karaoke singers who sing at Hayley’s on that big stage as opposed to those at a small venue where everything’s a bit more relaxed.

I mentioned it before, but I’ll say it again, as it’s worth telling you, Hayley’s serves good food late into the night!  If you want good food and great karaoke, you really need to come out and eat, sing and play. 

Twenty-three Hayley’s Idol hopefuls truly put on a fun show to witness. The contestants were all dressed up and gave 100%. Every singer took over the huge stage like it was their big shot at fame and fortune. It felt like I was watching a big show production, not just some folks singing karaoke. I hope Hayley’s runs another karaoke contest soon, it was a pleasure to attend.

Congratulations to Curry, who took home the 1st place prize with his heartfelt rendition of Does That Blue Moon Ever Shine On You. He wore a black cowboy hat, a white shirt with black western trim, and did a fantastic job of wooing the crowd. You would have thought he was a professional if you’d have seen him!

Second place went to Michelle V. She took home $100 bucks and sang Foolish Games by Jewel to cement her fate. Third place went to Danny, who brought down the house with a cool rendition of Johnny B Good and he was awarded $50. 

Fourth place went to Christi who gave it her all with It’s A Man’s World, and fifth went to M.C. Lisa with her always awesome rap version of Jump Around.

All in all, the show was well worth the drive. I was impressed in so many ways, including the positive feedback the audience gave each of the singers, the sound was good and loud, and the energy in the room was absolutely electrifying!

Thanks to Hayley’s for putting on a great show, I know I’ll be back for the next one, if not to compete, at least to watch the finale. 

That’s it for this month’s Karaoke Corner. We always welcome your comments, suggestions, questions and compliments.  Contact us anytime at rocknkris@yahoo.com or call (425) 359-9450 to reach Rocky and Kristine directly. Find us on Facebook under Rocky and Kristine Fields. 

Hope you’re enjoying your hot, hot Summer! Get out there and enjoy all there is to see. Thanks for reading and as always, keep on getting your sing on!

 Rocky & Kristine’s

Karaoke Corner – July 2010

By Rocky & Kristine Fields

 Get Out & Sing

 Finally! Summer has arrived.  Honestly, this year is flying by.  It seems that with each passing year, the time seems to go even quicker than before. What’s up with that? If someone could figure out this phenomenon, maybe we could begin to slow it back down! 

Folks, this Summer is loaded with great karaoke contests, including the Evergreen Idol at participating locations, The Skagit’s Country Cruise Karaoke III, Oaktree’s Karaoke Contest, and Hayley’s Idol Karaoke Contest, and Kamel Toe Idol where you can win cash and prizes and lots more. Utilize the Contest and Events Calendar on the back page of the NW Karaoke & Entertainment Guide each month to find and enter karaoke contests. Win cash and prizes, and maybe make it to the big time! 

I asked my Facebook friends for some article ideas for this month and I got several great responses. Thank you to everyone who took the time to get back to me! I always love to print what you have to say, so don’t hesitate to fill me in via email or Facebook anytime. 

The question was posed… “What is your favorite and least favorite thing about karaoke?”  Here are a couple of your responses. Enjoy!

Dawn Johnson says, “My favorite thing (about karaoke) is that I have really made some great friends in this short time I’ve been singing. Thank you to everyone for accepting me!”

A little about Dawn; she started singing at The Skagit a little over a year ago.  She had never sung karaoke before and was a little intimidated at first. She got up there and gave it a try and has been a fan ever since.  She even won a home karaoke system from The Skagit’s last big iPod iKaraoke contest and has expanded her karaoke world to Myspace karaoke and to a couple of other local venues as well. 

Melisa Nelson says, “I LOVE the family I’ve made. I dislike haters.”

Melisa always brings a group of karaoke singers with her and is so encouraging to everyone!  She doesn’t think she’s that great of a singer, but she gets up there anyhow and tries some of the coolest songs in the book.  She’s a chance taker and rarely ever sings a song more than once.  That takes courage!

Shane Maroney added, “I started running karaoke (at Big Rock) last summer and its been a hit. Minors are welcome to come sing until around 10pm. And when the weather is nice, I run karaoke out in the covered area of the beer garden, which is open to the inside.”

Shane must be loving the karaoke life! We’ve known Shane for years. Rocky and I taught him everything he knows about hosting. You can find Shane at Big Rock in Mount Vernon, hosting karaoke with a great big smile and a pretty darn good voice too.

Rocky loves that karaoke gives people the opportunity to come out of their shell, and when they think that they can’t sing very well and find out that they can, it’s priceless.  It gives people confidence. 

I personally love that karaoke brings together so many people from so many different backgrounds and everyone is equal on the playing field.  You can be a rocket scientist, or a walmart employee, a homemaker, a cartoonist, or anything else but yet you can relate to everyone in the room and become friends who appreciate each other!

So not a lot of negativity here, just a lot of karaoke love. It’s wonderful to hear from other people their perspectives on things and I appreciate everyone’s input.

That’s it for this month’s karaoke corner.  If you have a great story idea, as always, feel free to send it along to rocknkris@yahoo.com or friend us on Facebook.  Feel free to call (425) 359-9450 also.  We love to hear from you!  Enjoy all the great fairs, contests, and karaoke good times this summer – you deserve it!