Go on admit it. You love Karaoke. No? Well okay, but you've at least done it. Everybody has at least once, right?
There is just something inherently irresistible about the opportunity to play rock star for one night in front of a room full of your mostly drunken friends. Can't sing? No problem. As Brian Raftery points out in Don't Stop Believin': How Karaoke Conquered the World and Changed My Life, his definitive book on Karaoke, one of the rules that makes Karaoke such a beautiful thing is the fact that no one is paying attention to you sing anyway. Instead, they're all sitting on pins and needles waiting for their own turn at the mike.
The thing is, as hilarious and just plain fun to read as most of this book is, I'm not at all sure the humor here is that intentional. You get the impression at times that Raftery takes this whole Karaoke thing quite seriously. Well okay, maybe not that seriously.
In the book, Raftery chronicles his own Karaoke experiences, which take him to Karaoke shitholes and other such places all over the world. He hangs out with a heavy metal Karaoke band. He follows another group looking to win the World Karaoke Championships. And he sings Karaoke ranging from Sinatra to Fleetwood Mac to Fugazi (yes, that Fugazi).
But he also goes into the actual history of the, umm, "art form," as well as tracing the roots of its popularity in this country all the way from that lounge in your neighborhood's local Chinese restaurant to the ultimate manifestation of Karaoke that is American Idol.
What I personally found most thrilling about this book was that he mentioned Dimples. That cemented Raftery's cred as a Karaoke expert for me. Dimples is a Karaoke bar located right across the street from the NBC studios in Burbank where I spent many a drunken night during my two years living in L.A. back in the nineties. A guy who lived in my apartment building tended bar there and used to spiff me lots of free drinks.
Article comments