Greetings from another bleary-eyed Monday... I was just invited out for an evening of exchanging/shopping/girl talk, from a karaoke regular, and had to turn it out down so I could go home after my day job and take a little 'nap-py-poo' on the couch - sorry Rockin' Robin... Even though lastnight wasn't as CRAZY a night as last Sunday, it still had it's memorable moments:

• Rockstar doing double duty as host, AND bouncer.
• Joe Mitch rockin' out on the drums :)
• Selene winning the first-ever CCK raffle, which I picked the winning name! Prizes included a broken guitar string from 'Randy Andy'; a broken drum stick (not the chicken kind) from Kristie Lee; a CD with Alan's picture from when he was a young(er) lad; and a DVD of a movie titled, well, I don't know what it was titled, as it was in a foreign language, but I'm sure either Joe Chica-chica-chica-relli could tell us, or Alan...
• Joe Chica...relli playing lead guitar on one of their newer song additions, "Heartbreaker", which Selene rocked out to.
• Corey-Lim singing anything!
• Dylan rockin' out to 'Self-Esteem' ("La la la la la la la la la la")
• Marky Mark crooning away
• Brand-DONE channeling Elvis...
• Christine's 'lyric-sheet-free' evening
• Bob S. singing Johnny Cash
• Leah's awesome "Joelene"!
• Zach's stellar sound
• Isaac's new Ricky Martin routine, 'the helicopter', to "Message in a Bottle"; (raise hand above head, point finger, swirl around as if getting ready to take off, all while swiveling hips.) "Yeaaaa-aaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaa-aaaah-ahhhh-ahhhh"!!!

Some CCK newbies entertained, with the 'schmoopy' "I Got You Babe"; "Creep" by Radiohead; and who IS that guy who sang "Roxanne" -- off the hook!!

Next Sunday, I will be enjoying the mountains of TN, while Selene will be taking notes for the blog. Being a holiday weekend, I expect lots of notes! I will indeed be thinking of you all on Sun. night starting at 8:00pm, but may be actually "Behind the Wall of Sleep" before the last song around 1:00am, which will be a first since quite a long time! Or, who knows, I may just spontaneously break out into song -- much to the chagrin of my 6 yr. old niece...

Kristina :)

Happy 200th Anniversary show...you rock!

Another rockin' eve lastnight, as Bran-'DONE' guest hosted again, and to a PACKED house, as we celebrated 5 years of Crash Course Karaoke, and 200 shows! From their days at the Underscore (where I first made their acquaintance) one of the 'regulars', Chris Houterman showed up, along w/the Underscore's owner, Paul. And of course there were the current 'regulars', Rockin' Robin; Selene; Marky Mark; Kate; Isaac; Corey Lim & Dylan; Davy Monster; Bob Scoffield; John D. & Maria; Rockstar Richard, Christine & John A.

The newer 'soon-to-be-regulars' were there too; Chuck who 'got no' 'Satisfaction'; and Michelle who took us back to the 80's w/'Like a Virgin'. And there was Shelton who 'Heard it Through the Grapevine' in his smooth 'velvetty' voice. John D. & I 'Played that Funky Music White Boy', and Bran-DONE 'Jump(ed) in the Line' as the last song of the night, where just about the whole bar followed suit! And Ryan, our 'regular' Crash Course host made a guest appearance, and sang his signature song 'My Own Worst Enemy', while the Cookie Monster pinatta took a very bad beating, but bared some delicious goodies - Tootsie Rolls, Fireballs; Dum Dums - YUM YUM!

(My Own Worst Enemy music in background)

Ryan:

Will somebody, somebody please, Alan, Andy, Cookie Monster -

"Please tell me whyyyyyyyyyy,

my car is in the front yard

And I'm sleeping with my clothes on

I came in through the window lastnight...!"

I just realized that I was at Kenny's lastnight, longer than I was asleep! No wonder I'm ready to take a nap while I'm munching on my Cherry Dum Dum... a true sign, of a great night!

Kristina

Another fun-filled Sunday night!

Props to 'Bran-DONE' for his hosting gig lastnight! And his Long Island crew rocked the house! I'll call them 'the NEW Manhattan Trans...', er, rather, 'the Long Island Transfer', w/their awesome back up vocals to Brandon's 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love', and also their 'Mustang Sally'. And not only did Gary channel Wilson Pickett, but also Ryan, our weekly host, when he belted out 'My Own Worst Enemy'! Us 'regulars' thought for sure that it was time to introduce the band and pass the tip jar...lol!

Brandon did this cool thing where he played theme music in between songs, to introduce the next singer. For instance, Rockin' Robin's theme/intro. song was 'Different Strokes'; Marky Mark's was 'Chantilly Lace', before he sang Buddy Holly's "Oh Boy!"; and mine was, well, I don't really remember, as I was all set for Usher's 'Yeah!'. So during the break when Christine asked me what my theme song was going to be, a comedy sketch ensued...:

Christine: "Hey, so what's your theme song going to be?"

Me: "Here, I'll give you a hint. 'Yeah, yeah (Da da, da da!). Yeah, yeah (Da da, da da!)"

Christine: (Looking at me as if I have five heads...)

Me: "No?" Christine: (Still looking at me as if I have five heads...)

Me: "'Yeah...yeah!' Still no? It's Usher! 'Yeah...'

Christine: "OH! I thought it was 'Mockingbird'!

Ah ha ha ha ha!! Mockingbird?!! THAT was funny!!

Me: (to Christine) "Ok 'Janice (Joplin), just because I was a tad concerned at first about my version of 'Bobby McGee' sounding like Carly Simon doesn't mean that every reference is a Carly Simon one...lol!

On a side note, I think a Carly Simon version of 'Smells Like Teen Spirit", could be quite entertaining! Or not... And speaking of which - it was way cool of Nexus to belt out that very song! (In true Cobain style).

Some 'newbies' to Crash Course rocked out! Melissa crooned "No One" by Alicia Keys and Michelle gave us a taste of Melissa Ethridge; and Erika sang "Black Velvet! And, props to Rockin' Robin's "Ain't No Sunshine" –

"I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know, I know…
(19x, then DEEP BREATH) ...I know, I know..."

(7 more times, then cue Oxygen tank)

Selene's "Enter Sandman"; and John D. and Maria's rockin performances! As always, John D. got the crowd goin', this time while singing “Born to be Wild!”, and Maria and her sweet voice, singing "Dream a Little Dream of Me" just took everyone away! Rockstar started us out with the Doobie Brothers “Black Water”; Colin sang "Summertime"; Davy Monster did "Dust in the Wind"; Kathy belted "Magic Man"; and Christine gave a stunning rendition of Etta James', "At Last".

Kenny’s added a ‘catwalk’ to the front of the stage, which could either be way dangerous if you’ve had too many Pabsts, or way fun as I found out while venturing out there with “You Know That I’m No Good”. ‘MEOW!’

Tune in next week, and if you're lucky enough, you'll get to hear Geneva blow the doors off of Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason" again.

Here's 4 reasons to come to Crash Course Karaoke every Sunday night -- Alan; Joe; Andy, and Kristie Lee! You guys rock!

Kristina ;)

"All aboard!!! Ha ha ha ha ha ha… Aye, aye, aye, aye..."

Ok, that was me, channeling Ozzie Osbourne – how much FUN was THAT!! “SHARON!” I mean, uh, anyway...Sunday night ROCKED!! It was a great crowd, and everyone seemed to be having a BLAST! Most of the ‘regulars’ were there – Marky Mark crooned Buddy Holly and Johnny Cash, to name a few; John D. belted out ‘Play That Funky White Boy’, along with the ‘John D.-ettes’, Christine, Rockin’ Robin, and Yours Truly, singing backup. “Yeah, they was dancin' and singin' and movin' to the groovin' And just when it hit me somebody turned around and shouted Play that funky music white boy…!” Rockin’ Robin tried out the K.T. Tunstall song, “Woo-hoo”; Celine, now quite the comedienne, ("Aargh!") rocked us out with some sultry Pat Benetar, and Brandon gave us back the Beatles during ‘Yesterday’. And while Rockstar Richard channeled his inner Billy Idol with ‘Rebel Yell’, Christine channeled her inner Janice with ‘Bobby McGee’. It was a night for seeing faces from the past – Ms. Corey-Lim, and her beau Dillon, showed up after a long hiatus – props to Corey for the ‘blast from the past’ song, Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You Been Gone”, and to Dillon for “Santeria”! And just when a newcomer to the CCK scene got on stage and belted out “Sympathy for the Devil”, in walks the ‘almost-original-singer-of-the-song’ himself – Joe Holland -- a ‘regular’ from the Underscore days! Rockin’ Robin and I were just talking about him – just then! And then we serendipitously turned around and there was talking to our illustrious host Ryan – we ran right for him (sorry Ryan…) shrieking like teenage girls at a rock concert – making Joe truly feel like, well, a rock star! As always, the band ROCKED THE HOUSE! Props to Kristie Lee for her awesome backup vocals, to my “Crazy Train”, and to Alan & Joe for backin up to “What’s Up!” Tune in next week for some more updates! And don't forget CCK's 200th Anniversary is coming up on Sunday night, August 17th! See you then! Kristina