It all began Tuesday in Bacliff… YES, Bacliff. TX where a new (upscale) icehouse has opened on Grand Ave. called Fishbonz. With an early start of 7PM, locals were impressed with our usual stage set-up featuring party lights and awesome sound (their acoustics are great!). A coupla Pearlanders (Lottie Rocks and Keith) made the trek out there as well to ensure a successful inaugural show for what promises to be one of the Southlands top choices for Tuesday nights.

Next, after a day off for radio, Thursday rolled around for our weekend warm-up show at Texas Wings in Pearland. This show just keeps getting better and better. Even though it rained (surprise, surprise), that didn’t keep the karaoke faithful from rockin’ the stage. In addition to Lil’ Blaine, Brittney, and Mama Burke’s Alvin Connection, a few familiar faces were also back in the house including, but not limited to, Sam P., Blue, and Ross.edu. We also had some new folks (John and AJ) grace the stage. The rain helped to keep more folks inside, who normally seem to gravitate towards Texas Wings’ large front patio. (I’m still workin’ on getting some sound out there) The dance floor was a happenin’ place to be this week; during, and in between singers. Yes, the weekend began Thursday night!

And then there’s the all-nite happy hour at Scott Gertner’s Sports Bar… With a steady rotation early, the “burfday girl” and her crew helped set the tone for outrageous fun. Everything from “Inner City Blues” to “I.N.D.E.P.E.N.D.E.N.T” was heard the first hour. Scottie’s Hotties took to ALL stages and table tops all night. My new full-time co-hostess Denise, along with Miss Ashley, helped to keep things groovin’ as well. Dex and Vic were back to croon the draws off a few of the “many” beautiful girls in the house. And LIVE brought down the house with “Can You Stand The Rain” on one of the first dry Fridays we’ve had in a while. But the performance of the night goes to Victoria, the “burfday girl’s” mom. She showed everyone some real ol’ skool with her rendition of “Proud Mary”. Yes the place was cookin’ as folks begin to get the word out that “Fun Fridays” are back, with NO COVER and FREE PARKING… Tell a friend.

On the 1, y’all…

Peter V.

I’m just sayin’… Fridays are comin’ back BIG time! Thanks to all those who helped make last night a success at SGSB. Much love to Fishbone and Friends, Karaoke King and the Revolution, E-man and the Crew, Ashley, Lea St. John, Pilar (my ad opted daughter), and my new co-hostess Denise… Can’t wait to do it all again next week!

More to come… for real

Let me see your Halo! Halo! Unleash Your Inner Diva!

Many people have heard rumors and talked about it and now the Beyonce Myspace Karaoke Contest has finally launched!  It runs until 3PM PST 6/30/09, so you do not have much time!  You better get your “Halo” on and sing your heart out for this one.

Beyonce is offering some nice prizes on several different levels. Fans will compete by singing their versions of Ego, Halo, and Sweet Dreams. Here are some of the basic rules to know before you get started, you need to be a legal citizen of one of the 50 states or Canada (except Quebec) and be at least 14 and your need to record this on Myspace and make it public. Also, your song needs to have at least 100 plays before it becomes eligible for submission. Make sure you get all your family and friends to listen to you!

Other important rules to note:

1. You may record any individual Eligible Song as many times as you want, however only the recordings of each Eligible Song which receive the most unique plays above 100 will be eligible for the Contest.
2. Your song submission must receive at least 100 unique plays to be eligible for judging. Plays generated by a script, macro or other automated means will be disqualified.
3. Song submission must be made and submitted using the latest available kSolo Recorder application, as part of the MySpace Karaoke player.
4. Submission may include voices other than yours, however, any prize awarded will be awarded ONLY to the Entrant associated with the MySpace profile, and the Entrant must be able to provide releases from all person’s featured on any Submission at the request of Sponsors.
5. Submission must not contain any POST-PRODUCTION VOICE ENHANCEMENTS (except for the audio effects and/or key change features provided as part of the MySpace Karaoke player).

More Official rules and regulations here

The skinny on what are you being judged on:

1. Singing Ability 50%

2. Entertainment Value & Appeal: 25%

3. Creativity 25%

Interestingly, the Judges will also choose the top three (3) non-winning Submissions as the First, Second, and Third place winners in the “Most Original Performance” category.

The Most Original Performance Winners will be selected on the basis of the overall presentation (25%) creativity (25%) and originality (50%) of their performance of the Eligible Songs.

So, you don’t have to be the best singer to win big in this contest it looks like.  As with all arts, creativity and originality can carry you a long way.

You can win this contest just like anyone who is trying to get to Carnegie Hall: practice.  Here is a short list of things to consider:

1. A good warm-up is essential to healthy and productive singing.  You should warm up at least 10-20 minutes. This is designed to loosen and limber your voice.
2. For any singing or karaoke competition it is a good idea to record yourself and LISTEN to how you REALLY sound, not how you think you sound when you sing along with the original singer.  Listen carefully and make adjustments as needed.
3. Do not try to copy the original singer. Sing in your voice, with your passion, and your interpretation.

My best advice is to have fun, sing like you, and go for it!  Be a diva!

Karaoke Party Machine

Thursday night’s show took off like a Houston Rocket(s) getting out of the first round. The crowd at Texas Wings Pearland exploded, as did our kabuki gun, as the final seconds ticked off in the Rockets big victory over Portland. In grand (Toyota Center) fashion we played Kool and The Gang’s “Celebration” for the hyped Houston fans in the house. With streamers hanging from the rafters, the party got into full swing as we all went “crazy” with some rockin’ karaoke for a solid three hours…

Our friend Kent was also celebrating his b-day in this two-for-one night full of great performances by many regulars, as well as some new faces in the place-to-be on Thursdays in the pear. The Manvel Boyz were back, with previous karaoke contest winner Poppy Pants representing nicely. Renee brought the classic rock that wowed ‘em, while yours truly somehow got talked intro the Grease medley with Rae Anne. We even tossed in the Hand Jive for good measure, which brings the point… How do you measure the success of a party? By how much mess is left behind. Last I heard, they were still cleaning up…

Not us, though. We had to break it all down for our quick turn-around for Friday’s show… SGSB. Fish and Biscuit did as promised with a big and fun group early, and we did the rest. I could tell from the “Carlton Banks” t-shirt my man was sportin’ that it was gonna be on. Between the ol’ skool dance challenges, and the retro movie clips that I was droppin’, this party was on and poppin’ from start to finish. People showed their behind on stage (literally) as we served notice that SGSB on Friday night is hosting Houston’s best urban-karaoke party experience…

After two back-to-back, high-octane show time starts, I was feelin’ rather lucky that Saturday at the sports bar was to feature an NBA game 7, as well as championship fight. Following the Boston win, and the second round knock out by Pacquiao, we proceeded to KO the crowd with some serious karaoke singers on stage. This was the capper on an unprecedented three-night stand of shows, attendance wise, that we’ve experienced in some time… and it ain’t even summer yet.

Practice your Karaoke singing and be a star at your next Karaoke night out! For more on Karaoke visit Karaoke Party Machine.

Happy Singing!

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (born September 4, 1981), AKA Beyoncé is an American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer and actress.  She was born and raised in Houston, Texas.

Beyonce first became a singing sensation in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the girl group Destiny’s Child.  Eventually, Destiny’s Child lost Beyonce as she began to explore being a solo act.  She has gone on to be one of the world’s top singers and performers.

For more information on singing resources and karaoke online, please visit the karaokepartymachine.com

Karaoke Party Machine

Everyone has this ability to become a singer who commands the crowd’s (and judges) attention. And that is what you want as a performer and especially as someone who is in a Karaoke contest.   Read the full story on using this special skill everyone has to help you win Karaoke competitions at my website Karaoke Party Machine.

KPM Rewound…

Last night kicked off the ALL NEW Texas Wings Thursday Night Weekend Warm-up with Karaoke Party Machine. The rain didn’t stop the word-of-mouth locals from creepin’ in to Pearland’s new hot spot. The folks in the house brought out all the classics, as well as some soon to be ones, during our four-hour tirade of some seriously jammin’ karaoke…

As promised, the atmosphere was far more intimate which set the stage for a super-fun inaugural karaoke jam session. People were raving all night about this new location and its layout; especially the patio area. It was a soft opening with a little bit of dust still layin’ around, but that didn’t diminish the party atmosphere that’s only gonna get more hype next week…

For opening night, Phong Le Mega-Karaoke DJ Center was in attendance sponsoring a special karaoke contest with prizes for everyone who entered. BIG ups to Poppy Pants, Raven, and Dirty Harry for taking home the top three prizes; the first two will also represent Pearland at the Mega Karaoke 3^rd Anniversary Bash on April 25^th…

My partner in crime Renee, was back on the scene as co-host, rockin’ the mic on (and off) the stage all night. Heather and Lottie Rocks added to that flavor as well; Chicks Rock! Kurt, Lord Rankor, and Lil’ Blaine did their thang, while Ross.com (singin’ to his “Foxy ‘fiancé’ Lady”), Danny G., and Hassani represented the west side of the Pear “oh so” nicely. There were also some new faces in the mix that really made the night special and helped send notice that Thursdays are about to take off once again, only this time it’s going a whole new level.

See ya on the mic,

Peter V. and the KaraokePartyMachine

Well, I poked aound the net at templates because there was no way I was going to build a site from scratch.  With a template, I could edit it to my liking and then focus on building my content. I decided to use a template from DreamTemplate.com  which has a pretty good deal going in that I have unlimited template downloads for a whole year for the price of what one template cost at other places on the internet.   What I liked about them was that they had more than just website templates. They have MS Word templates and templates for PowerPoint as well as lots of really nice flash templates. I went for the year long plan as I’m thinking about creating more websites devoted to other topic related to music in the future.

As promised, I will share some important aspects of getting this website off the ground. I am by no means a web guru, but in my quest to build the ultimate Karaoke site I learned many things and stayed up many, many nights studying tutorials on line in order to get an basic understanding of launching a site. I stumbled across several really good free video tutorials that show you everything and really over-deliver. One of my favorite was Tutvid.com. Go on over there and check out his videos. Awesome stuff!

The next thing  I needed was what is called an FTP client.  There are plenty of good ones out there such as Dreamweaver, CoffeeCup, and Nvu.  You can get trial versions of these and see which you prefer.  For me, I usually weigh the features and costs against the quality of the support and tutorials.  Being really new, tutorials are crucial.  I decided on Dreamweaver for myself.  But, Nvu is free and would be great for someone wanting something simple and easy to use.  Plus, they have great tutorials!

Finally, my host is bluehost. I would highly recommend anyone like me who is interested in getting a website to use them. Here’s why: tutorials and customer service. Now, like I said, I knew diddly-squat about putting up websites and I am up and running in a couple of weeks. Bluehost has a lot of all-in-one things.  Bluehost even gives you website designing software that you can use instead of something like Dreamweaver or Nvu, but I preferred to use my own due to mine having more features. But, if you just want meat and potatoes design that gets the job done, Bluehost has that.   What’s more  Bluehost provides you with a free domain or web address, you can add on a blog, a forum and get your own email for your company all included in the price. You even get credits towards advertising your website. 

Bluehost is really easy to use and when I messed up and got frustrated and deleted everything in my folder (a big no-no), I called them and told them I am completely lost. After only a few minutes wait, a friendly young man told me what I had done and restored everything and helped me get back on track.  Bluehost has video tutorials for just about everything you’d want to do with them. The only thing is there is no voice directions with the tutorials, a minor drawback. If you are like me, you want them to show you and talk you through it. But, I managed to get through the hardest parts without voice direction.  At any rate, check out the Karaoke Party Machine and let me know what you think of my progress!

Karaoke Party Machine

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