Tweet Reduction Bloggery

So yeah, rather than Tweet each video as it comes, I think it'd be more economical to just toss up one here, and tell everyone that the Karaoke Contest Videos are online on my YouTube Channel. Yay, right? Right. Now that I've got all this posted, I can send one link out to Twitter. Meantime, here's my little surprise a capella number from Friday night...

Down to Business

It all boils down to this week.

On Friday, the finals of the Karaoke Contest happen. (Warning - The Bowling Alley's website sucks ass, view at your own risk) On Friday, I'll go up against five other people (four girls and one other guy) for the top prize: $500 cash money. Already, I'm worried.

Why am I worried? My singing skills are sound, and I highly doubt I'll flub much of my performance at all. I'm sticking to my big guns selection, too, the best songs I do period. I'm not nervous, performing in front of crowds is old hat for me.

No, the worry comes from, once again, what I perceive to be some seriously shady judging. Allow me to explain.

Last time, it was some bitch of a judge that decided talent wasn't important; it was more important to be politically correct and send one male and one female winner off to the next round. Forget talent, we had to be fair! Fuck that. But I endured, and came back this year to find: biased judges yet again, only this time, they're not gender-biased.

Nope, they're apparently genre-biased.

Here are the results for Semifinal 1:

1st place - Female, sang a Country song.
2nd place - Female, sang a Country song.
3rd place - Me, sang a Rock song ("Come Sail Away" by Styx).

And the results for Semifinal 2:

1st place - Female, sang a Country song.
2nd place - Female, sang a Country song.
3rd place - Male, sang a Rock song.

It's kinda hard to NOT notice a pattern. And then, there were flaws in the judging for the qualifying rounds as well. One night, Jill and I tried to get Andy qualified for the contest. When it came time for Andy to sing his chosen competition song, the judges were... Well, not at their table paying attention, that's for goddamned sure. Two of them were up and about, drinking beer and talking to their friends. The others? Who knows, I didn't see them again til they sat back down some 20 minutes later.

Look, I'm not pissy because I didn't win, or that there's a chance I might not win. That always exists, and I'm all kinds of cool with it. But when I don't win because people can't be objective and do the job they were asked to do - like judge a contest based on singing talent, stage presence and overall performance - THEN I get pissed. It's not just me that's getting ripped off

For example:

How can a girl score higher than me at all when her Stage Presence (did she move around, make contact with the audience?) consisted of standing there like a statue, occasionally bobbing up and down during instrumental sections, and staring at the screen like a deer in headlights? Stage Presence is also factored into Overall Performance, and if you're just going to stand there, well, your score is most likely going to be affected.

Something tells me the judges have no concept of what "Stage Presence" is, let alone how to judge it and couple it with singing talent to form Overal Performance Voltron.

And to favor one singer over another simply by their choice of genre? What about those of us who can't stand Country music, and refuse to sing it? Because you like Country more than Rock and Roll or Hip Hop or R&B, that means you have to favor those who sing nothing but Country?

Dirty pool, not cricket - in a word, WRONG.

So, to counter this, I'm doing two things: blabbing about my discontent here, on my world-stage soapbox, and taking over the Electric Avenue stage for practice sessions designed to improve my performance. If I lose on Friday, it won't be because I can't sing or can't perform, or can't deviate from any sort of set path. No, I'm bringing extra spice, aspects of my performance that I rarely bring out at all, even with Buck-It. My stage presence will be central to the performance as well. There won't be any statuesqe views of Eric that night.

No, if I lose on Friday, it'll be because of the same reason I lost last year: Shitty, stupid, inconsiderate, biased, clueless moron judges.

For those outside of Central PA who are interested in seeing me perform and deciding for yourselves whether I'm just being an egotistical blowhard or can actually walk the walk, I invite you all to check out my YouTube Channel. There, you can find both Karaoke and Live Band performances I've done over the past two years. But I'm not limited to those two years, mind you! I've been in the game for over 18 years at this point! Ever since the days back in Fred's garage when we were all kids...

Keep an eye on the YouTube Channel, too, because I'm planning on posting video of my practice sessions - provided Justin isn't being a douchenozzel about the whole thing. He's put me off practicing for an entire week because he wants help making his ManCave awesome. I've been decent and gave in, so this week, it's his turn...

Karaoke Contest 2: Electric Boogaloo

So yeah. Remember last year, when I got ripped off by a single judge because I wasn't female?

This year, not so much.

The first semifinal of the 2nd annual Karaoke Contest at the Moshannon Valley Super Bowl was last night. And wouldn't you know it, both of last year's winners - Autumn and Mike - were competing alongside me for the coveted three spots in the finals (the other three will be decided this coming Friday).

And in a not-so-stunning non-upset, BOTH WENT HOME.

That's right: I made it, they didn't. Or to be more specific:

AUTUMN WENT HOME.

That's called Karma. Autumn, while talented, did NOT best me either night. The first time, she got lucky because one judge wanted a female to go on to New York. This time, Autumn didn't have that safety net. She was judged on what she was supposed to be judged on (unlike last time), and she got the final answer: Sorry, honey. You're just not good enough to beat me in a fair fight.

Your decision to compete last night sealed your fate: There were way too many talented people in the field for you to even think you'd have a chance. Honestly, you would have fared better had you waited til next week. That's what Tim did: He took one look at the field for this week and said "Holy crap, not good, I gotta change up."

I have a feeling that's why Tim - who has been a most awesome friend of mine since way back in elementary school - will be joining me in the finals. I know I'm going to cheer him on this coming Friday.

And what the hell were you thinking?!? Jill had already sang "What's Up," and I might add, she did it a hell of alot better than you did! That decision right there only added an extra nail to the coffin. You sounded like a copycat: Especially given how many times you went up to Rhett's table to (apparently) consider a replacement song (three by my count)!

I can blame my apparent failure last year on a judge. This year, you can only blame your failure on yourself.

Me? I came in third last night, so I have some work to do. I wasn't expecting this Michelle girl to come out of nowhere and dominate the evening! And I had declared Tim's friend Barb a dark hourse after her warm-up performance, and I was right - she came in second! Congrats to both ladies on fine performances!

See? I'm not a conceited douchenozzel, am I!

But seriously: I've got my work cut out for me for next week. A straight performance simply won't be enough. Last night's two-for of power ("Fat Bottomed Girls" and "Come Sail Away") was good, and I had a ton of fun doing it, but it lacked something. I think I know what that something is, and I think I know how to correct it. So, for the next 14 days, it's practice time.

Meanwhile, I present the table's general concensus on what you have to do next time:

1) Branch out. Find some new songs. I have yet to do a single song I've done in this competition twice, and that includes songs I did last year. A good variety is the spice of life! Don't stay in your comfort zone, grow a pair and try new songs.

2) Ditch Homie. That advice goes for the rest of $9 Porno as well: You guys are awesome musically, but you need a new singer. Seriously.

3) Don't Copy. Also, don't do "Rapper's Delight." As we discovered last night, that song is tantamount to Contest Suicide.

4) RickRoll the crowd. I did, and from that moment on, I had lots of fun. Fun, in the end, is what it's all about.

OK, it's about fun, but its also about the difference between $500 cash money and a $100 gift certificate to the bowling alley. Daddy needs a new XBox 360, so Daddy wants cold hard Benjamins. All five of 'em...

Musings: Contests, Video Games, Music and More...

Greetings, Programs!

You have no fucking idea how jazzed I am about that link. And this link? Blew my gourd, man. I can't fucking wait! End of line...

This is the part where I talk about not posting anything for a while, and give weak, thinly-veiled excuses as to why. I'll let you all imagine how you think this line should go, this time...

Let's see. First comes contests. Remember that Karaoke Contest from last year? The one where I got totally screwed out of the second winner's spot (the first went to Mike Williams, who totally deserved it IMHO) because I simply wasn't a chick? The one where people kept telling me I got robbed? The one that got me the gig singing for Buck-It? Yeah, that one.

Time for Round Two, motherfuckers. Same contest, different DJ, same faces entering. No surprise, really. Of course, Mike was in week one, and early on last night (week three), it didn't seem like there'd be much competition.

And now, for the funny: Last years "Winner," Autumn Keifer, shows up, right? You'd think, "Hey, she beat Eric last year, right? Shouldn't she qualify over him?" Well, you'd think wrong. Not only did I take the top qualifying spot, but Autumn was beaten out of the second spot by another of last years' finalists, Jill Reed! See? SEE?!?

Sorry, Autumn, but let's face it: The only way you made it last year was because you lucked out: The one judge insisted on a female winner, instead of giving it to the true winner based on pure talent. I had you beat. I still have the video to prove it, too. And this year, you had best believe you won't be lucking out. This time, it's about the Cash Money, playa, and I'm about to get me those ends. Three places, three cash prizes. Mike Wills and I are taking two of them for sure. Whether or not you get the third is up to you. You had best bring your A Game and step it up a notch: There won't be any judging flukes this time...

I've been playing a whole bunch of Fable 2 lately over at Mikey's. Great game, great improvement over the original Fable: The Lost Chapters, but it still has a few drawbacks. Most notably, it's still too damned short. They really need to go multi-disc, because there's too much wait time between DLC updates, and the first of these (Knothole Island) was itself pretty freakin' short. Come on now, chaps! You can do better than this!

I'll know more in a few hours, but it looks as though Buck-It could be doing a show at Electric Avenue on the 31st, splitting the gig with our friends in Moxie. Their bassist, TJ, was Buck-It's bassist when I first joined the band.

Let's see, what else is there. Not much, really. I can't make any promises as to when I'll post anything. The semifinals for the contest aren't until late March (you've got 12 more weeks to qualify, Autumn, good luck), so there won't be much ranting about that anytime soon. Going to try and pick up the booking schedule for the band, see if we can't make 2009 our comeback year and get ready for Odyssey Two next year...

All Around The World

Yes, I know. I start alot of posts with that, it seems. But here's the condensed version: It sucked, sorry.

Lately, I keep hearing people talking about me. And it's not in the usual negative manner, either. No, this time, they're actually speaking well of me, which is a refreshing change of pace. But the whole reason they're talking about me is kinda unnerving, and I hope this post explains why.

"You got robbed," I heard from one kid at random while I was at Sheetz.

"What?!?" I didn't know him at all, and for him to say that to me off the cuff startled me a bit.

"The karaoke contest!"

"Oh, yeah..." I was trying to figure out how this kid, who certainly didn't look old enough to drink, would even remotely know that I was involved in it.

"Dude, I work up there. Almost everyone up there says that it should have been you."

"Yeah, I've been hearing that alot lately..."

After me saying "thanks" a few times, the conversation ended. It's a conversation I've repeated alot in the last few weeks, too. Other contestants, their families, a few other folks who were there; they all think it should have been me to go on to New York with Mike Willz. And to be perfectly honest, Mike and I talked about it, and we both thought it was one person until that night. When we found out it was two, we both sighed in relief, knowing that the likelyhood was that he and I would be going.

And there's the thing: I talked to Mike. I got to know him a bit. We've even talked about co-hosting a show at the Rowland sometime in the future. Point is, we became friends. And it's like that with alot of musicians in our area. We're all friends, or we all have mutual friends. We do shows together.

Contests like that, while fun, are ultimately, for the poorer among us, just quick cash and prizes for our talents. Most area musicians don't even do them (some see it as the bar leagues to their local 'big leagues', itself the bar circuit). Me? Well, working at the Avenue running a karaoke show has made it more or less part of my entertainment job as a whole, so to me, it's just another night at the office.

But my office is a stage. Rock on!

The competition angle isn't what we're really in it for. We all win, place, or show, but it's always someone different among us. That night, it was Autumn and Mike, not me. I've cashed out a couple of times before, and won quite a few fun ones, so it's no big deal. Wasn't a cash prize involved unless you made the nationals, anyway, and then the competition is just too tight to make it worth it.

I've known Autumn forever. Her whole family is musical, so it's no surprise. Her mom and aunt are themselves wonderful singers, her dad an accomplished sound engineer (and probably musician as well) in his own right, so the genes are there for her talent. Mike, I'd just met some weeks before when I qualified, but he's certainly a highly talented guy, definitely in the upper echelon of our own karaoke circuit. To talk to, he's a very easy going guy, someone I'd certainly hang out with.

To us, it's not about who got robbed, or what judges, who'd never judged a karaoke contest before in their lives, don't know their ass from a hole in the ground. We had fun doing it, and entertained a whole shitload of people in the process. That's what we're really in it for in the end: we do what we do to entertain people, to make them smile and have fun.


Besides: I got the Buck-It gig. Sounds like it's chock-full-o'-WIN to me, not to mention the steady paydays to come from it. Screw $2000 for a national prize. I'll have that in a few weeks with these guys, and then lather, rinse, repeat...

All The Away

So, the finals are tomorrow night. Am I nervous? Not really. I don't really get nervous until the battle is over and we're all waiting for the final scores to come in.

For the finals, we're going to be doing two songs as opposed to one, which is the format I'm used to anyway. Doing just one song puts the brakes on showing off any sort of dynamic range with regard to genres and styles, and you've really got to try your damnedest to limit your fuck-ups. There's no second song to carry the first if you can nail it.

I've decided on one of the songs (which I won't mention here, just in case the competition is reading, which I highly doubt) that I'm going to sing, and I have a few choices for the other one. I might not make that decision until it's actually time to sing it. I've already done Luck Be a Lady and Bohemian Rhapsody in competition, and performed Silent Lucidity, Piano Man, and Faithfully as open Karaoke songs, so I've really got to pull out something huge for song #2.

I do have a few reservations, though, about this contest; thoughts that I can't help but think. I'm mentioning them without getting specific now, mostly because I want a record of having said something about it before tomorrow night.

Later today, I'll have the video from last week's Semi-Finals up on the YouTube Channel, as well as some Electric Avenue Karaoke from last Thursday. Right now, though, I'm processing video for the second of two DVDs (the first of which successfully finished last night) for Justin. His cousins Kelsey and Denise recently visited the US from Wales, and they made quite a bit of video while they were here. Of course, it's the design geek's job to author the DVD, but this time, it's going rather well.

Not like the first few tries, of which only one was successful...

I know, I've been quiet, especially with Hillary "Ice Queen" Clinton 'winning' (and I use that term loosely) yesterday's Democratic Primary. I can't really grouse much, since I'm a registered Independent and therefore can't vote in a Democrats-only primary. But as we get closer to the Democratic National Convention, you can bet I'll be speaking up more and more on that subject.

But for now, it's back to pushing pixels. The joys of our career choices...

Astral Plane I've Traveled Through

Well, the results are in, and I managed to qualify for the finals last night. So far, Frank Sinatra and Queen have done me right (and I hope I've done right by them as well), and now I have to pick two songs for the Finals. Later on today, I'll have some video of the last night's contestants for all of you to watch, including my performance of "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Yeah, I went there, big whoop! Wanna fight about it?

But that wasn't the highlight of the evening, no. "How," you ask, "could qualifying for the regional finals of an (supposedly) international Karaoke contest not be the highlight of your evening?" The highlight, as it turns out, began earlier in the day when I discovered that local rock heroes Buck-It were looking for a new lead singer. Bonus! So of course, I sent them a message, along with links to some of my work online (mostly my YouTube Channel, where anyone can find me singing and goofing off) and an invite to come check me out at last night's contest.

TJ, the bass player, replied, and came to hang out with us at the contest last night. The end result? I have an audition tomorrow at 12:30, and it's gonna be teh hawesome. We're gonna rock some songs from Coal Chamber, Seven Mary Three, Drowning Pool, Pantera, Rage Against the Machine, Alice in Chains, and more. I'm pretty sure I impressed the hell out of TJ last night, and I can't wait to carry that over to Dave and Bob as well. My guess is, TJ had quite a few good things to say, because their MySpace message to me this morning sounded incredibly positive! ROCK!

So, last night was a good one. Tonight, I'll be running a special Saturday Karaoke session at Electric Avenue, so if you're local, come on down and hang out! Of course it'll be a good time, because let's face it: good times are just how I roll...

Take Me Across The Sky

Fun time tonight. Semifinals. Going to break out some Queen, rock the house. Should be fun. Will post more later, possibly with video, depending on the Old Man. Anyway, time to jet. Almost time to ROCK AND ROLL!!!

Stalkerazzi?!?

So I'm hanging out with Justin and the Bob Guy a few nights ago, chilling out in the back house of the Electric Avenue complex. Out of nowhere, Justin says to me, "Hey, E-Rock, a friend of that Mike Wills guy took some video of you singin' up at the bowling alley and put it on YouTube."

First of all, Mike Wills is a fellow qualifier in the contest being held at the lanes, and he's a damn fine singer in his own right. Second, I had no clue that anyone there was taking any video whatsoever, so this came as a surprise for sure. So, of course, I hit the YouTube search box and proceeded to pour through about two weeks of video to find the clip. Here it is:

I'm singing Piano Man, my "signature song" if you ask alot of people. It wasn't my competition song, thank the maker (remember, my teeth took a dive on the last note of that song), but it's still a decent clip. The audio is surprisingly good, given where this person was sitting when they shot the video. Thanks, whoever you are!

PS: The video can also be found via my Favorites section on my YouTube Channel.

Luck Be A Lady

So I hear it through the grapevine that the Moshannon Valley Super Bowl is having a Karaoke contest. Took me a while since the start of the thing, but last Friday, I finally made my way up the hill to the lanes and took the mic.

Talk about fun! The joint was damn near packed, which rocked, since that gave me my largest audience in quite a while. And as the title of this entry proclaims, my weapon of choice that night was none other than the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra.

It was a slightly chilly Monday night in Manhattan, but I still decided that a long sleeved shirt was enough to keep me from shivering. The lights of Times Square were bright, and even though it was nearly midnight, things were as busy as ever. It was my first time in the City that Never Sleeps, and having already done the two things I'd set out to do (see Ground Zero and get a picture of me flipping the bird to MTV Studios, when I find it I'll repost it), Justin and I spent some time wandering up and down Broadway.

After getting a beer at Tonic, served by the single hottest straight-off-the-boat Irish girl I've ever seen (another picture I'll repost when I find it), we walked up the legendary street and came to The Colony Record and Radio Center. I'd heard about the place before - to any music afficionado, it's pretty much the place to find hard-to-find recordings and related media. It's also the home of the single largest in-store Karaoke CD selection I'd ever seen in my life.

This was our goal, to freshen up the songbook at Electric Avenue with some new discs. The associate, Joe, was a true New Yorker if I'd ever seen one. He had it all: The golf cap, the south Brooklyn accent, and the lines of years spent honing his craft on one of the busiest streets in the world hewed onto his brow. He asked us what we were looking for, and I'd already had the answer in my head for some time.

I was looking for the definitive Frank Sinatra collection, and Joe knew right where to look. "If you want Sinatra," he said, "then this right here is the way to go." I got the impression that he'd made this suggestion to quite a few customers before us, because this man didn't even flinch. It didn't take him a moment or two to scan the shelf and find it, he was on top of it like Brad on Angelina.

"It's the original orchestrations," he explained, "basically a carbon copy of Sinatra's studio bands. You won't find anything better, period." He handed me the case: It was a four disc set, replete with pretty much every single major hit the Chairman ever released, and then some. I quickly skimmed over the track list, and found the song I'd been looking for.

I'd sang it before, Tag has it in his collection. But that version (I can't remember who the publisher was, but it wasn't this set or any Sound Choice disc) lacked the intro to the song, pretty much castrating it and starting cold when the music hits full swing. I wanted that intro, because it established the song as a whole, and it made for a right-sweet opening once the full band hit. That extra 45 seconds is the difference between singing the song and giving a performance of the song, at least in my twisted little brain.

Somehow, Justin managed to get that set, valued at $150 by itself, as well as another $150 worth of Sound Choice and Legends discs, all for... You guessed it, $150. I couldn't wait to get back to the Avenue and pop disc three into the CD+G box, but at the same time, I still had the concrete jungle of New York City to explore, and plenty of time to do it in...

Since most of the crowd was the older set, I thought that Frankie would sit well with them, and I was happy to discover that I wasn't wrong in the slightest. When the music started, I noticed several folks make "oh my goodness" faces and comments amongst themselves. Others took a bit more time to realize what the song was, but when they did, they got big smiles as well. With the right song chosen, all I had to do was nail it.

And since it'd been almost four years since Justin and I had found that Sinatra CD+G collection at The Colony, it came like second nature.

But even the best laid plans of Nerds and Men go awry, and my performance was marred by one of the more embarrassing things that can happen to a man such as myself: My top teeth, which are false, de-suctioned themselves from my gums and decided to freefall to my bottom teeth, which are my own, just as I was hitting the last word. That note is probably the highest in the song, and since it's one of those "big finish" situations, you have to go for broke.

In what proves that I have a big mouth, I opened a bit too wide, and my choppers got away from me. Awk-ward!

That aside, I still managed to tie with the other qualifier, and it wasn't an easy win, either. The other four people who entered were all very good in their own rights, and each deserved to join us in our trek to the finals. This contest is no joke, the competition is hot, and I'm going to have to find some even bigger guns to pull out for subsequent rounds...

(This is the first time I've ever told a story within a story, or at least I think it is. Didn't turn out too badly, IMHO. I don't think it'll be a regular thing, but it's always fun to try something new...)