Karaoke @ MindSay

Music video for "Circles" by Qua. Directed by Gus Kemp. From the album Q&A on Mush Records. www.mushrecords.com

After an eventful day yesterday, all I wanted to do was sleep.  But before going home, my brother dragged me out to a bar to sing Karaoke.  At first I was not going to sing anything, but when I entered the bar and heard how awful many of the singers were, I indulged.  I got the usual stage fright, the anticipation mounting, heart thundering, but once I'm up there with that mic in my hand, I'm in control.  I open my mouth and I become Stevie Nicks, I channel Tina Turner, I cry out Ozzy, moan my best Robert Plant, pull off a Ziggy Stardust, and bust out some Tenacious D's "Wonderboy" like I'm Jack Black's lil' tubby bitch sister.  Within a few moments my exhaustion transforms to exuberance.  I begin to feel like a star, only if it's on stage in a red neck tavern decorated with cheap tinsel and a bad painting of a northern Wisconsin wilderness scene complete with birch trees that look like they are wearing green afros for leaves.  While I'm there, I'm reminded of that silly scene out of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert where the queens entertain the outback rednecks after Bernadette tells off the local hateful ugly duckling.  Okay, so maybe I'm not up there in drag and kicking up my heels, but it's just a tad bit of glamour and a ego fulfilling pat on the back when I exit stage left and get cheered for just letting loose.

I'm not a professional singer, yet I can sound like one when I feel like it.  I may go flat every now and again when distracted, but there's nothing like letting yourself shine for who ever may be available to see.  Just getting over the anxiety of getting up to the mic is enough to remind me that fear passes fast once you decide to let out your voice.  It's sort of like when I used to sing at church, but better because you can drink, smoke, cuss, and holler.  In a way, it's a form of worship.  If you close your eyes for a second while you sing, there's this uplifting going on inside...

Now if only I could go home without smelling like a sweaty ashtray.

I had a crazy weekend!  Friday I went to Bastrop to see my Big Mama and the rest of my enormous family for the Fourth of July.  My Big Mama had 12 children and she helped take care of three of my Big Daddy's other children. Most of these 15 children had children and a lot of them have grandchildren, so you can imagine how many folks were down there!

 

When we came back to Houston around 6:00 p.m. I rested for about an hour and a half and then got ready to meet JustJames his wife Jayme, their friend Richard and Environgirl for some karaoke.  It was a bit lame because the DJ was horrible and for some reason people kept singing very low key, or sad songs.  James as usual kicked ASS! He sang a song by Rage Against the Machine, Head Like a Hole by Nine Inch Nails and I backed him up when he sang Superfreak by Rick James. I also displayed my dance moves as I backed him up.  I sang, Don't Leave Me This Way by Thelma Houston and Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin. Later, a whole group of us sang Bohemian Rhapsody. None of the people in this group included Richard, Jayme or Environgirl because they are ninnies and never sing. :P When I got home I pretty much collapsed. It seemed like as soon as I closed my eyes I had to get up again and go to work. I barely made it in time!

 

I will post pics of my weekend later.  I'm dog assed tired.  Ciao!

The Bob & Doug Show on Saturday was a smash! They broke all records for people, bar sales and the amount of money in the 50/50 draw. Incredible.

Me, I was tired as hell. For some reason I wasn't sleeping well for a couple of days so by the time I got to the show there was a tremendous haze hanging over my noggin. And, the elevator was broken. So I had to hump all the sound gear down to the basement the hard way. Wasn't ready for that. Thankfully Sandy Robertson was there and we coordinated it nicely.

Sandy is the fellow who booked Bob & Doug while they were here. A long time friend, they also stayed at his home.
 
But that's all behind us now. The Boys have returned to England as of Thursday.

I must say that what these blokes do, sing/gtr with karaoke backtracks, is pretty amazing. There is an incredible suspension of disbelief that accompanies their shows. People know it's backtracks, but they still love it.

You Guys Rock!

My side of the story is far shorter, and I don't have much pics to share, so I am stealing as much photos that I can steal from my fellow MindSayers who took pics at the bar.

A couple of nights ago, TorridGirl invited me to Richmond Arms for the Karaoke Night. I agreed to go, since she notified me ahead of time and I really didn't have too much planned after work Saturday night.

Saturday night came along, and between my scheduled two-round delivery, I had an hour to spare before going on my second round to The Woodlands / Northwest Houston. I used that time to change out of my uniforms (the hospitals don't seem to mind it when I'm not in uniform. And for my last delivery run, I paid another courier $20 to deliver my deliveries for me, so I can get to Richmond Arms earlier than I stated. (I've been paying him $20 every week to do my last run to the Texas Medical Center anyway).

I arrived at Richmond Arms at 11:15pm. Basically, I hauled ass from the SW hospital (departure: 11:00pm).

As soon as I arrived, I met up with the following MindSayers: Myclette, eGirl, and Torridgirl.  This time around, I finally met Jayme (mybitchinblog) and James (justjames).  This has got to be the biggest gathering of Mindsayers I have ever encountered in real life.  Jayme and James are teh awesomest!

This picture (stolen from Myclette) was taken shortly thereafter:

I was drinking Red Stripe, a Jamaican Lager, so I was pretty buzzed.  I don't remember what everyone and their mama sang that night.  Thanks for reminding me what I sang last night, y'all. I could've sworn, I did Alan Jackson's Chattahoochie again... j/k

Needless to say, we all had a good time.  As we continue to grow this Karaoke activity, I hope to meet more MindSayers.  I remember when Suni came down to join us from Jersey.  She's freakin' awesome!

Here's a pic from my mobile phone of Jayme and James:

Myclette, eGirl and I were the last ones there.  Myclette shot a video of me singing Chocolate Rain (check out her blog).  I sure hope eGirl is alright...  Yeah, she's alright.  She's a souljah!

I know, there's more to this entry, but I have got to get some sleep.  Check out the following entries that has more to the story than this one (they're all in Top Blogs):

That's How We Kick it In H-Town Ya'll! (kinda long, but with pics) by Myclette
You know you had a good time when its 2pm and youre still not awake. by MyBitchinBlog
Rockin' the house in H-Town by TorridGirl