My First Karaoke Gig

Thursday, July 1, 2010

The first time doing something new is usually a nerve-wracking experience. Such was my first night working hosting Karaoke. It was nerve-wracking, scary, exciting, and also, way fun!

My debut happened last night at Celestine's Fine Dining, in Oakland. My mentor, Glenny Kravitz, would guide me through the intricacies of running a karaoke show from start to finish. Since this was only the second Thursday night of the Kravitz era at Celestine's, we thought it would be a slow night and I would have plenty of time to learn how to set-up our gear, engineer the sound system, and manage the song queue with the karaoke software. It would be a smooth evening, right? Fail! Not two minutes into our show did a group of 15 people walk through the door ready to sing. So much for the easy night Ash Wednesday, now it is a trial by fire! Ten more people arrived five minutes later and away we went with a full list of singers. Add to that it was the owner's birthday! Add ten more people and soon it was a big party.

Mostly I handled the queue while Glenny showed me how to adjust the sound for each song. By now, my brain was on overdrive trying to absorb all the information funneling into my brain all at once. I made a few mistakes during the course of the evening, and Glenny let me make them, yet most of the time I was able to handle the pressure and keep everyone singing, and happy. San Francisco Karaoke Mafia member John Baker showed up with his crooning talent and worked the crowd into a dancing frenzy. All in all, it was a great evening hosting songs to a vibrant and fun crowd of people who love to have a good time. Thanks Glenny for all your help, and thanks to Celestine, for ushering in the newest karaoke club to Oakland.

So, if you live in the East Bay and are looking for a good place to sing karaoke on a Thursday evening, look no further than Celestine's Fine Dining. Cheers!