Toronto Star

Karaoke rocks their worlds

SHAUNA REMPEL

Three tips for becoming a karaoke superstar: Pick a song that suits your vocal range, round up as many friends as you can bribe with cheap beer, and most importantly, don't be afraid to "bring it."...

"The more variety the better," Toronto Karaoke Organizer Jonha Libster tells the Toronto Star. "'It's all about participation,' Libster says repeatedly during a Karaoke Meetup.com event he organized earlier this month at XO Karaoke on Bloor St. W., where customers rent out karaoke boxes or small rooms for private parties."

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SHAUNA REMPEL
TORONTO STAR

Three tips for becoming a karaoke superstar: Pick a song that suits your vocal range, round up as many friends as you can bribe with cheap beer, and most importantly, don't be afraid to "bring it."
"I might hold back in the car, but on stage I bring it, totally," says superstar hopeful Derrick Valenzuela, 25. The marketer from Mississauga focused on belting out Al Green's "Let's Stay Together" in his attempt to make it to next week's final at the Gladstone's Karaoke Superstar Contest. The month-long contest, which continues tonight, is only in its second year but is already a highlight of the city's karaoke calendar.
Playing off the über success of the American Idol franchise, the Gladstone's contest was so popular last year that people pestered the daytime bartender to get in the lineup. This year, co-host Peter Styles picks 15 names at random while a decibel meter acts as judge to measure the applause for each contestant.
A sparkle-covered cardboard "Applause-o-meter," although impressive looking, angered contestants.
"They'd say, `Oh the arrow touched the 11,'" says co-host Stephen Eyes. "People take this really seriously."
In Toronto, karaoke is alive and kicking and you can get your fix in a bar or a box, on a boat or a bus, even with a side of spaghetti. Musical styles range from Latin to hard-edged rock and you can belt out your favourites in nearly any language.
The more variety the better, says Jonah Libster, a man with a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of Toronto's extensive karaoke scene. The 34-year-old has been a fan of karaoke (which sounds more like Karah-O-keh when pronounced properly) since university and has made pilgrimages to "the motherland" — Japan.
"It's all about participation," Libster says repeatedly during a Karaoke Meetup.com event he organized earlier this month at XO Karaoke on Bloor St. W., where customers rent out karaoke boxes or small rooms for private parties.
An oft-heard phrase at Japanese karaoke sessions translates to "keep trying," he says. "The idea is, even if you aren't very good at it, just keep doing it," he says.
The several hundred GTA bars and businesses offering karaoke can thank American Idol and its spin-offs for giving karaoke its current cachet, says Libster. "Before, karaoke was just done by the odd geek who'd been to Japan and knew something about it. That's changed and Idol has something to do with it."
With American Idol earning nearly double the U.S. viewers of the Grammy Awards last month, it seems natural that bars would capitalize. The Gladstone's "contest" flies in the face of the spirit of karaoke, Libster says. While encouraging people to come out, a competition also discouraging others from participating, he says. The contest got pretty heated last year, said Libster, who made it to the finals. "There were some dirty tricks, like bringing in friends to cheer in order to win," he said.
Styles says contestants only sing for part of the night, to give regular folks a chance to get up and sing. "We want to be inclusive," he says.
And indeed they are. A group of college coeds cheer for one of their own but also dance and sing along with other contestants . The crowd laughs along politely when one singer makes a joke after accidently singing through a musical interlude during Kurt Cobain's "Smells like Teen Spirit."
For some contestants, this is all part of the dream. Yoko Yamamoto, a 29-year-old fashion designer and part-time model, says she'd love to be on Bathroom Divas: So You Want To Be An Opera Star?, the Bravo! quest for operatic talent that wrapped up its first season last month.
Horace Abel views the contest as early exposure for the self-released CD he'll be producing later in the year. "Deep down we feel some producer's going to be in the audience.... Ever since the Idols came out that's what everybody thinks about."
In the end, only four would make it to the next round and the grand prize of $1,000. Abel made it into the finals; Yamamoto and Valenzuela did not.
But Valenzuela says he's accomplished his goal.
"I don't care if I win. I just want to beat people," he declares. "I want to prove that I'm better."

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