The food is served on pewter plates and you watch the show, normally cheering for the knights wearing robes the same color as your seating section. We were purple. Or was it yellow? The place is a great good time. There was an astonishing occurrence shortly after this picture was taken.One of the sports was falconry, and in this huge arena, a knight would let loose one of these trained birds. An extremely rare African falcon of pale red color took up into the air, circled just a moment, and then flew straight over the crowd of thousands to land on Robynette’s shoulder.
Explanation. When Robynette was a little girl, she lived on her parent’s horse ranch in what was then Southern Rhodesia. They had gone to a nature preserve one winter and she had fed this falcon. As one of the rarest birds in Africa, it was brought to America to prevent extinction. (So America poached it so it wouldn’t be poached, foreshadowing our present military situation.) These birds can reputedly live to be 120 and this one somehow recognized Robynette twenty years later.
Back to here and now. I was still feeling spry later in the day, so I went to two Karaoke shows. The first, Jimbos, was a little too quiet for me. I also know to avoid the place any time near rent day. Still, I managed a good six songs. Instead of going straight home, I cruised past the Octopus and they have yet another new act in there. This gal had the wrong equipment, wrong setup, wrong sound and appeared to have no idea how to work a good show. Even her song list was crappy, like those old laser disks with song “collections”.
I had a quick chat with her and sang another batch of songs. Yes, I can sing as well as any Karaoke type, but I cannot yet play bass at the same time. This is good progress from a year ago. I’m thinking, is there some kind of Karaoke circuit in this town? Where are these beginning acts coming from? I should start asking around, since I can put on a dynamite Karaoke show with my equipment. Plus, I read a crowd, which is totally different from those who only think they can.
For nearly an hour, I watched this Karaoke show with interest. I think I’ve seen that setup before and I definitely have seen those PA speakers elsewhere in this town. The emcee, a dark-haired lady, had some guy trying to make all the adjustments, so I was able to see the workings of a store-bought Karaoke setup. I was not impressed. I’ll stick with a computerized system all the way. After a lean summer, I’m no closer to the $1,400 worth of new equipment I need, but when I get my act together, I do believe I’ll blow a lot of these other operators right out of the water.
What I’m saying is I have never gotten on stage and just played "at the audience". I believe in a great show every time, hence I'm more the of type that draws the audience into the act. I see these Karaoke people lugging around bagloads of disks and fumbling between songs. They seem to play what they can manage. I’ve already done all the things I intend to incorporate into my show. If you don’t have a Karaoke version of your favorite tune, I can put the words, or any words you want. If you put all the televisions to Channel 3, the words will broadcast throughout the club.
I can put theme music and bar advertising on the screen, even bingo numbers if you’d like. I can change the key and tempo instantly (where others need to burn a disk for each change), plus create your custom playlist. When you step up, no hunting for disks, I just click your file. The screen will even list who’s singing and who is up next, with the exact wait time. You want duets with the lyrics on different screens, you got it. You want a copy of your performance, give me five bucks. My show is already very (for around here) interactive, these are mere technical items I’m ready for. If possible, I would set a new and hopefully higher standard in Karaoke around this town. Some of the existing shows are so plastic it isn’t funny.
However, these things take time. I would point out that this is a different kind of “time” than the usual gang of musicians who do go on about the years of suffering before they “make it big”. I have not suffered and don’t intend to. I lack talent, not originality. Big difference. Talent can be faked. Ask Hannah Montana. She's heading straight for the bottom, a blow cushioned only by money.
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