- Title: USA: Punk rock karaoke
- Date: 19th September 1999
- Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (AUGUST 30, 1999) (RTN) WARNING - LANGUAGE MAY CAUSE OFFENCE EXTERIOR OF "ARLENE'S GROCERY", KARAOKE NIGHTCLUB MANAGER OF KARAOKE NIGHT, OWEN COMANSKEY PERFORMING
- Embargoed: 4th October 1999 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Entertainment,Quirky
- Reuters ID: LVA4V8KAZ31S1DRUD03JEOOHTOSE
- Story Text: Traditional karaoke performance is taken for a twist inside an East Village nightclub in New York City.The performers not only sing along to punk rock music, they get a taste of what it's like to be a rock star, complete with a three-piece band to accompany their varied warblings.
The ghost of Sid Vicious might scream more than "God Save the Queen" should he venture into Arlene's Grocery in the city's funky East Village one evening.
Inside the nightclub, patrons alternately hip, nerdy and yuppy take turns at the microphone, belting out their approximations of Sex Pistols and Ramones tunes, trying to remain in-step with a back-up band that makes mockery of the originals.The amateur performers sometimes take to wearing the "uniforms" of the age.It all fits in as long as it clashes loudly.For women, that means too much eyeliner and ripped fishnet stockings.Men show up in combat boots and torn concert T-shirts.
Club manager and sometime performer Owen Comanskey sums up the scene best."People get the chance to get up and feel what it's like to go nuts on stage -- everyone's fantasy."
This is karaoke turned on its head, as the amateur singerseschew the traditional contemporary diva, old-motown and white boy group fare for 1970's era punk rock.
Additionally, the singers read songs off homemade lyuric sheets rather than monitors.
This twist appealed to a man named Addison who decided to try it after seeing an ad in the newspaper."You get to do karaoke and instead of having to choose between Celine Dion and Mariah Carey you can sing "Dead Kennedy's," he said, in explaining its appeal.
For others, the effect is therapeutic.Amanda Pollack, who told Reuters that she was in the middle of a divorce, may have been caught up in the genre's anarchic spirit, saying that singing was "the perfect thing to get the shit out of you that makes you crazy."
Those wishing to go onstage must sign up to perform.Club manager Comanskey acts as part grumpy emcee, part insult comedian, part microphone hog.More often than not he's announcing himself as the next performer of the evening.
Whatever else he is, Comanskey is a cheerleader for the kind of music the club encourages.Introducing the evening's list, he shouts "Just fuck Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire because this is what they want in New York City today." Although he claims never to have seen the Sex Pistols live, this transplanted Londoner makes the case for the club's live approach to punk."You gotta get in front of a band to sing them, you can't have a tape, you've gotta have a rock and roll band behind you."
While the Sex Pistols' songs are the most frequently covered, the club's band must meet the challenge of the performers' requests.On one particular evening a list of requests included Iggy Pop's "I Wanna Be Your Dog," the Clash revival hit "I Fought the Law and several songs by the Stooges and the Misfits.
For nostalgic punks and the grungy East Village set it's all cool as long as it's anarchic and out of the mainstream. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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