Mic Rophone...
Yeah. Open mic nights are cool.
I've only been to one venue's: The Commercial Hotel Parramatta - MANY years ago now. I crashed and burned first time because I took a chance to play guitar and sing simultaneously doing Queen's Crazy Little Thing Called Love which I had taught myself by ear. However, it was my first time to use an electric guitar and at the time, I didn't realize how much longer the neck is compared with acoustic so when my hand slid down the neck towards the body for the solo, it went way too far and I couldn't find the right fret. On top of that, my singing was inaudible. Very embarrassing for me as I often went to karaoke there and was well liked for that. Next week, I rocked up and put my name in again and you could just see how wary the band were of me but true good sports that they were they let me share the stage with them, fronting the band on the microphone. I opted to just sing this time. Did Elvis' Heartbreak Hotel and previous 'lousy singer' reputation was thrown out the window by the band, thank goodness.
I do love karaoke but there is something about live backing that beats it for sound. I suppose with a band, you have the drums right behind you so there is sound travelling through you before it gets to the audience whereas with recorded backing, you don't have that. Maybe if additional speakers were set up behind a singer, recorded music could simulate the effect of live backing. The problem there would be feedback from the microphone.
The other thing of course is the buzz of sharing a stage with people whom you are aware of not letting down and there is the added tension that they may let you down so, emotions are running higher than with karaoke even compared with those times you are unfamiliar with the version of the song you're doing or if you have noticed other singers fall victim to technical glitches that night and you're hoping you don't suffer a similar fate. When everything goes well with a live band though, it's a great buzz borne as much from relief as from pure enjoyment.
So, who do we search for at myspace to find this recording then? Remember the policy on web links here, so just tell us the name after the 'dot com slash' in the link. Of course, if you'd rather keep it secret I'll respect that.

el barto...
OMG!!! How could I forget THAT one too??? LOL Italian Beyonce didn't really do it for me but my oh my that place had some eye candy in its day! Of COURSE it's really karaoke! What are you talking about???
Geez. Maybe we'll get to the hundred venue mark sooner than I thought with your helpful reminders ramping up the numbers like this! Hehehe
I know we went to your friend's / cousin's Granville one as well but I don't count that as it was a private function. Likewise another of Neil's gigs at Carlingford that I attended - even though that was pure karaoke from start to finish as compared with the Granville function.

So Club Retro / Bristol Arms makes what? 85 confirmed NSW venues now. Wow!
There are niggling feelings in the back of my mind that there are still more that I am forgetting. Small wonder given just how many I now realize I have been to! More to come of course:-
Still have the Kick-On and Aamazing Entertainment gigs to check out in Hornsby, a visit to The Steyne in Manly and I suppose I should give the Workers Club in Parra another chance as I told Rob I would come there. Had it not been for the rude and unhelpful guy at reception, I would have had that place notched on my karaoke post already a few months back. Plus there's the revisit to Campbelltown to see LeatherBaron and of course, Kelly's in Newtown to see what all the fuss is about. Oh and 1 or few of GregW's Newcastle gigs. Yep. Definitely shouldn't be long before I reach the 100 NSW venues mark now. Woo hoo!
Submitted by Johnny Burrows on 20-09-2007

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