Jaunted - Tag: Karaoke

New York : Whither Karaoke? NYC's Baby Grand Reinvents Japanese Pastime

Victor Ozols — 2009-05-09T17:01:56-05:00

Karaoke arrived in the United States in the early 1990's, and while the craze was short-lived in suburban areas, it gained a foothold in cities like New York, where the booze-soaked Japanese pastime was perfectly suited to our tight quarters and stressed out lifestyles. Now nearly two decades old, New York's karaoke culture has flourished and mutated into various forms, from Punk Metal Karaoke at Arlene's Grocery to Movieoke at Two Boots Den of Cin, but it's often at its best when stripped to its soul-baring essence.

Las Vegas: Missed Connections in Las Vegas: Movie Set Travel Edition

egw — 2008-05-09T14:32:04-05:00

This weekend's major movie release "What Happens In Vegas" promises to kill off the entire tourism trade to Nevada's largest city. Once people get the idea, however malformed, that an innocuous trip to Vegas could get you hitched to Ashton Kutcher without possibility of parole, no one will ever want to visit Sin City again!

Actually, even a movie this execrable probably can't keep people from going to Vegas. So, have fun, go mad and meet a cutie at one of these hot spots:

Hofbrauhaus :: It wouldn't occur to us to try to pick up hot guys at a German/Bavarian restaurant--sauerkraut breath is a killer!--but maybe if they're German and nude... 4510 Paradise Rd.

Ghost Bar :: HotelChatter has spotted Paris and Tara Reid at this rooftop club at the Palms, but you can meet regular people (and Canadians) there too. 4321 W. Flamingo Rd.

Krave :: Its reputation as an LGBT hot spot precedes it, but if you like drag karaoke, relatively cheap covers ($10 in Vegas is like 10 cents anywhere else) and "gorgeous" girls with pink hair, you'll enjoy it too. 3663 S. Las Vegas Blvd.

Related Stories:
· Missed Connections coverage [Jaunted]
· Las Vegas Hotels [HC]

[Photo of Vegas in the '50s: avaloncm]

Philadelphia: Geeky Philly: Karaoke and Tapas in Chinatown

pbb — 2008-02-14T13:00:01-05:00

Geeky Philly: What to do once you've seen the lightsabers and droids at the Star Wars show.

For some reason, nothing strikes us as more geeky than Japanese food. So when we heard that Yakitori Boy had raw fish, private karaoke rooms and "Japas" (that'd be Japanese tapas), we knew we had a winner.

Downstairs, a yakitori bar is front and center. We pulled up seats in front of the big grill and checked out the skewered offerings which ranged from shrimp and corn to more exotic bits like chicken hearts and quail eggs. You can indeed mix and match your plate tapas-style, and the bar serves up sake, shochu and beer to go with.

Upstairs, the private karaoke rooms are perfect for parties. You can order off the menu and obviously drinks are on tap. If you want to relive your trip to Osaka, there are Japanese songs on the karaoke box, too. You'll pay for the room by the hour, but rates are pretty cheap, about the same as what you'd spend for bowling or shooting pool.

Related Stories:
· Yakitori Boy [Myspace]
· Philly for Geeks Map [Jaunted]
· Karaoke coverage [Jaunted]

New York: Is Fancy Karaoke The New Bottle Service?

egw — 2008-02-04T11:30:01-05:00

They could have models and bottles, but all they want are Madonna and "Friends in Low Places." Hip hop stars flocked last week to Spotlight Live, the Times Square karaoke bar which is just a more expensive version of those divey party rooms. The extra price gets you back-up singers and a band, which apparently was enough to entice Naughty By Nature to perform at the spot during a Bad Boy entertainment party last week.

Mya, Ne-Yo and Beyonce have all reportedly stopped by Spotlight Live to belt out bad karaoke tracks. Unfortunately none of these performers were stupid enough to get caught on camera, but Tyra Banks was not so lucky when she decided to perform "Proud Mary" last year; Best Week Ever has the video.

Oh, and since every performance at the bar is broadcast to the street below, you could see someone famous, too!

Related Stories:
· New York's Hottest Tuesday Night Ticket [MTV]
· Clubland's Toughest Door Is in, uh, Times Square? [NYM]
· Karaoke coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: jwillys]

New York: Celebrities Do Terrible Karaoke At New York's PM

egw — 2007-03-22T09:12:20-05:00

Everyone's got one night out in his past that he'd like to live down. Unfortunately for ex-"That '70s Show" actor Wilmer Valderrama, that night was Sunday, when he ran into ex Lindsay Lohan at a karaoke party at New York's PM nightclub. The ex-rehabber herself was on her third go-round of the night with Justin Timberlake's "Like I Love You" (use of falsetto = ten points!) when Wilmer commandeered the mike to sing Matchbox 20's "Back To Good," a song this blogger wishes had died in the '90s. It's not even a great post-break up song, like Ben Folds Five's "Song for the Dumped," or Alanis Morissette's "You Oughta Know," or... okay, we love karaoke.

Maybe Wilmer got the wrong idea because Lohan's first song of the night was "Dirrty." In any case, she didn't want to get dirrty with him; the New York Daily News writes she called out "It's too late!" and then retired to a banquette to drink champagne with her friends. She obviously didn't follow the song's lyrics, which request the ex-love, "If you see me out... try to turn your head, try to give me some room." At least he didn't respond by requesting the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back."

PM is just a hop, skip and a jump away from the Hotel Gansevoort.

[Photo: What Would Tyler Durden Do?]

Related Stories:
· PM Lounge [Official Site]
· Lindsay Lohan Is a Lady [WWTDD?]
· Wilmer croons & La Lohan hisses [NYDN]
· Hotel Gansevoort [HotelChatter]

Karaoke Room Crashing and More

amandak — 2007-03-08T09:30:01-05:00

We keep an eye on the gals at Japan Nomads, who tend to come up with a combination of the downright obvious (Japanese love baseball) and the ah-we-never-knew-that-about-Japan moments. Last time we checked in they reminded us of those weird noises on Japanese toilets, and recently they've been blogging about weird noises at railway stations, too:

Each train station has a different melody for the arrival of the train, some play "Mary had a little lamb", while others play "old MacDonald had a farm". On top of these songs, most trains stations play piercing bird calls from their speakers every few hours.

But if you want to sing the songs, not just listen to them, then of course you've got to head for your karaoke room. Or maybe somebody else's:

One of the greatest experiences to try is room crashing - sneaking past the staff and into another karaoke room to see if they'd like you to join them for a rollicking number. The experience can be a lot of fun with drunken Japanese singers excited to practice their English with the foreign visitor. Be warned however, the karaoke staff will not look fondly on this interruption and will scold you back to your room.

Funny how the Japanese can be so polite and then so strict all at once.

[Photo: styrka]

Related Stories:
· The Fake Flush [Jaunted]
· Karaoke In Japan [Japan Nomads]

Vancouver: Chasing Vancouver: Jean-Claude Van Damme is a Karaoke Ninja

Katherine — 2006-08-04T12:04:50-05:00

Click here to go straight to Chasing Vancouver map

After all the rampant wholesomeness of the past week, things are getting downright sinful in Vancouver. Danny DeVito and Mark Wahlberg committed gluttony, Kristin Davis and Matthew Perry got lustful, and Jean-Claude Van Damme - actually, crazy isn't technically a sin, is it? However we are faitly certain karaoke is a sin. The Vancouverite also came across a huge cache of celebrities-in-Vancouver gossip, proving you can take them out of Hollywood...you know the rest.

Details about this Chasing Vancouver project, after the jump.