REVIEW: Really different show?

EXCLUSIVE where2sing.com KARAOKE GIG REVIEW

Paradise may include karaoke, but it seems not on a Wednesday night. Here I am in Surfers Paradise, but a quick call to the two places listed on W2S discovers that neither is running. OK, there's the Surfer's Paradise information kiosk, but they only know what's in the local paper, and it has nothing listed for Wednesday.

Though they do suggest Hard Rock Cafe, I'm pretty sure that it finished there when they closed the little front bar. Nevertheless, I trot along and ask them, and, sure enough, they no longer have karaoke. But a very helpful young man there tells me that the 'Down Under Bar', just across the road, has karaoke on Wednesdays and Mondays - but, since I walked past that establishment earlier and saw the girl writing things on the blackboard that specifically didn't include karaoke, I'm doubtful. I now go and re-check, and there is no karaoke on either day.

And so I decide to head inland for tonight's karaoke, at Parkwood. It would, actually, be only about 10 minutes from me, but with a bit of misreading of the map, and that Parkwood seems to be ignored on all the signs, it takes me twenty minutes. However, just as I'm driving into the Parkwood area, I see the Parkwood Hotel on the main road - so it is indeed a very easy place to find.

It's one of those big sprawling pubs that hopes to draw its clientele from a local and varied community, and so the venue is also large and varied. There's plenty of parking, and a large outdoor area which includes a bistro which is just closing as I arrive. I head inside, and the large main bar in where the karaoke is held.

You enter the room at about halfway down its length, at one end being the serving bar, and the other end is divided into one half being pool tables, and the other half being a stage. A really high stage. And it is on the stage that a singer is doing an excellent job.

But my first mission is at the bar, and, bearing in mind that this place seems to wish to cater for youngsters, and that this often means fairly untrained bar service, I'm delighted when the girl who serves me is both charming and efficient. The beer is $2.10, and I'm undecided as to whether the girl is well-trained, or has naturally polite and charming manners.

The next two singers are also very good, even though the sound is slightly less impressive. I can see two large speakers sitting on the floor at the back of the stage, but they look rather old - and the sound is muddy and unresponsive. There's a monitor sitting just in the front of the middle of the stage, appropriately wrapped in a black cloth, and the KJ's equipment is set up on the side of the room just in front of the stage. This is obviously an excellent position for mixing, and the girl at the controls does make regular adjustments.

I have previously seen advertising from this host stating things like 'not your ordinary karaoke' or 'a different kind of karaoke', and I'm wondering what it is that might be different from any other karaoke night. There's an older gentleman hanging around and looking like the karaoke owner, and later I hear that he is, and that his name is John. John doesn't look very happy, and in fact I didn't catch him smiling once. Perhaps this is not a good night for this highly experieneced host, because the extent of his hosting seems to be 'that was so-and-so, good job so-and-so, and now we have so-and-so singing ...'. Regular karaoke, that is; different karaoke, that ain't.

The girl does a bit of talking, and invites all newcomers to come and find a song on the list - and since I can see no books around the venue, I wander over and ask her if she has a book. She points me towards the books on an opposite table with the sort of manner that suggests I'm blind for not noticing them there. I go across to find a song. There are two songlists, and I check to find that they are both only in song title order, but do have a good listing of the host's other venues in the front. Each page has about 40 songs, and the last page in the book is about page 300 - that making about 12,000 songs including some repeats. This host has a truly big songlist, and onw which is constantly updated with the newest songs - and a flick through seems to confirm this. I choose my song, write it on the slip, and walk back over to the console.

Although the girl is fiddling with something on the console, I am standing at her side and therefore within her field of vision. She even turns my way a little, but is saying something to the host, so I know she is aware of me even whilst she appears to be chatting about something inconsequential. The host can certainly see me waiting and holding a song request slip, but he doesn't make any move, and the girl steps over to him, gives him a little kiss on the side of his head, and they share a brief joke. Even when she turns back and they are both looking in my direction, neither of them shows any interest in me, and it's only when she comes back to the console that she suddenly feigns recognition and . . .(full story on where2sing.com)

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