urban wanderer

Wednesday, June 30, 2004   this from a karaoke website Karaoke's evil word - RIGGED Imagine this, you have made it into the final 18 in a local karaoke competition, in which the one and only grand prize is a substantial amount of cash. So you turn up to the venue relatively early in order to get a good seat, and to have a few drinks of "liquid courage" to warm you up. Just as your nerves slowly start to calm down, "they" walk in. I'm referring to the "beautiful people". A group of young men and women with perfect bodies, stylish attire's and flawless faces. They race over to the karaoke compere, like eager fans to a rock star, individually hugging him and slapping high- five's. Then they discreetly wave to the judges and that's when it hits you: they are all connected to everyone affiliated with the final decision of who wins the grand prize. As if fate couldn't have been nastier, the compere makes you be the first singer for the competition, so you perform your song, (even though you know the judges will never remember you, being the first singer.) You actually are satisfied with your performance, and the audience react quite well. Soon enough, two singers of the "beautiful" group, get their turn to sing (coincidently one after the other), and yep you guessed it, they are positioned second last and last, remaining fresh in the judges minds. They both sing well, although you are convinced in your mind that even if they sounded like Dame Edna with laryngitis, one of them would win. You are right. Of course, the flawless beauty that wins, has not only won the previous competition, but also she works at the venue, and she is dating one of the judges. So there you have it. Sadly competitions that reek of the word 'rigged' are quite common. So how do we, the amateur lovers of karaoke get a fair chance in this world of pre-decided comps? Many singers keep entering in them to hopefully one day get their moment at the top, and I say good for you. Fortunately several competitions are limiting entrants to amateurs only, although some professional singers are so desperate to "snare the limelight", they will pretend to be amateur on paper. It's a difficult situation as many amateurs are very talented and often get accused as being "professional". I guess in situations like this its up to the future organisers of competitions to recognise who is amateur and who is professional. Karaoke is not just for the brilliant and talented singers, cause if that was the case, it would just be another "pop stars" or "Australian Idol". I write this letter as a victim of "rigged karaoke comps", because I feel I do a great job every time, and I know many singers out there feel what I am feeling. Karaoke is meant to be fun and adventurous, not tense and political. What is the use of putting in 100%, if it doesn't matter to the judges? So to all of the amateur karaoke singers out there, lift your head up, sing proudly, and don't let the big wigs walk all over you. Who knows, maybe we will prevail, and competitions can be won fairly and enjoyed by all. posted by uging | 11:20 PM Monday, June 14, 2004   Went to see this Rico J Puno, Marco Sison, Nonoy Zuniga, Rey Valera & Hajji Alejandro concert last Sunday & I had a blast. I was apprehensive at first because firstly I thought the ticket was ridiculously priced at $105. To think that I only paid $75 for an Al Jarreau show (and that included dinner), why will I pay hundred bucks to see a bunch of has-beens who are not even in my list of best Pinoy singers ever (Basil Valdez ranks #1 & Joey Generoso at #2). Secondly, I'm on a tight budget since I'm saving for my Pinas trip on December & to splurge on something that I'm not even interested in I thought was stupid. Lastly, it was on a Sunday. The day I'm least likely to be anywhere but my bedroom. So why the hell did I go anyway? My mom was here couple of months ago & befriended this nice-looking Pinay. I guess I don't have to tell you that she charmed (suckered?) me into buying the ticket, and why not, it was only $70 & I can pay later. So the day I had to pay she said that the $70 ones were all sold out & only the $105 were available. 'Namannn bakit ang mahal nyan? Kung yung Big Day Out concert nga, 30 bucks lang eh'. And she went 'huuu ikaw naman, kayang kaya mo yan, eh last night nga nagpatalo ka ng $100 sa slot machine eh'....ayun, she got me. And I actually won that night so I had the spare money. So there, I bought the stupid $105 ticket. Besides, some of my friends are going so I thought what the heck. And after watching the show last Sunday, I must say that it was worth it (although I'm not gonna be suckered again :P). I was amazed the way those 5 singers belted their hits, especially Rico J. And I thought he's the crappiest of the 5. He'll put any American Idol wannabe to shame. And Marco Sison. I always thought this guy is of the 'jolog' kind but when he sang 'My Love Will See You Through', I immediately jumped on the jolog bandwagon. It was just, as Cowell would say, 'superb'. Hajji sang my favorite 'Nakapagtataka' & Nonoy also sang a couple of his hits. Rey Valera wasn't the best singer but his songs drew the most applause. The end of the show we all waited in the foyer for autographs & some picture taking & although I didn't bother, I can see that the 5 were all very accommodating. Of course wherever there's Pinoy there's always chaos but everyone left with smiles on their faces. We all went to the Casino afterwards for some tucker & I stayed with a few friends for the Euro 2004 Group B matches. Twas a great long weekend. posted by uging | 6:16 PM		archives Band of Bloggers curves ahead girl with the indigo eyes the princess she likes to watch moka java true companion north star stories of the painted desert dream of the sirens bella luna bookmarked best jazz band in the world Soccer madness Pinoyexchange NBA online quizzes weird stuff fun & games Weekly Top 10: Fave George Benson & Al Jarreau tracks 10.Lady Love Me One More Time 9.Feel Like Makin Love 8.20/20 7.This Masquerade 6.Love Times Love 5.Turn Your Love Around 4.Were In This Love Together 3.Boogie Down 2.Mornin` 1.Breakin Away Musical heroes: Def Leppard Def Leppard, in many ways, was the definitive hard rock band of the '80s. There were many bands that rocked harder, and were more dangerous, than the Sheffield quintet, but few others captured the spirit of the times quite as well. Emerging in the late '70s as part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the group actually owed more to the glam-rock and metal of the early '70s — their sound was equal parts T. Rex, Mott the Hoople, Queen and Led Zeppelin. By toning down their heavy riffs and emphasizing melody, Def Leppard were poised for crossover success by 1983's Pyromania, but skillfully used the fledgling MTV network to their advantage. The group was already blessed with photogenic good looks, but they also crafted a series of innovative, exciting videos, which made them into stars. They intended to follow Pyromania quickly, but were derailed when their drummer lost an arm in a car accident, the first of many problems that plagued the group's career. Def Leppard managed to pull through such tragedies and they even expanded their large audience with 1987's blockbuster Hysteria. As the '90s began, mainstream hard rock shifted away from Leppard's signature pop-metal and towards edgier, louder bands, yet the group maintained a sizable audience into the late '90s and were one of only a handful of '80s metal groups to survive the decade more or less intact. Def Leppard had its origins in a Sheffield-based group Rick Savage (bass) and Pete Willis (guitar) formed in their late teens in 1977. A few months later, vocalist Joe Elliott, a fanatic follower of Mott the Hoople and T. Rex, joined the band, bringing the name Deaf Leopard. After a spelling change, the trio, augmented by a now-forgotten drummer, began playing local Sheffield pubs, and within a year they had added guitarist Steve Clark, as well as a new drummer. Later in 1978, the recorded their debut EP Getcha Rocks Off and released it on their own label, Bludgeon Riffola. The EP became a word-of-mouth success, earning airplay on the BBC. The group members were still in their teens. Following the release of Getcha Rocks Off, Rick Allen was added as the band's permanent drummer, and Def Leppard quickly became the subject of the British music weeklies. Soon, they signed with AC/DC's manager Petter Mensch, who helped them secure a contract with Mercury. On Through the Night, the band's full-length debut, was released in 1980 and instantly became a hit in the U.K., also earning significant airplay in the U.S., where it reached number 51 on the charts. Over the course of the year, Def Leppard relentlessly toured Britain and America, including opening slots for Ozzy Osbourne, Sammy Hagar and Judas Priest. High N' Dry followed in 1981, and it became the group's first platinum album in the U.S., thanks to MTV's strong rotation of "Bringin' on the Heartbreak." MTV would be vital to the band's success in the '80s. As the band recorded the follow-up to High N' Dry with producer Mutt Lange, Pete Willis was fired from the band for alcoholism, and Phil Collen, a former guitarist for Girl, was hired to replace him. The resulting album, 1983's Pyromania, became an unexpected blockbuster, due not only to Def Leppard's skillful, melodic metal, but also to MTV's relentless airing of "Photograph" and "Rock of Ages." Pyromania went on to sell 10 million copies, establishing Def Leppard as one of the most popular bands in the world. Despite their success, the band was about to enter a trying time for their career. Following an extensive international tour, the group re-entered the studio to record the follow-up, but producer Lange was unavailable, so they began sessions with Jim Steinman, the man responsible for Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell. The pairing turned out to be ill-advised, so the group turned to its former engineer, Nigel Green. One month into recording, Rick Allen lost his left arm in a New Year's Eve car accident. The arm was reattached, but it had to be amputated once an infection set in. Without a drummer, Def Leppard's future looked cloudy, but by the spring of 1985 — just a few months after his accident — Allen began learning to play a custom-made electronic kit assembled for him by Simmons. Soon, the band resumed recording, and within a few months Lange was back on board, but once he joined the team, he judged the existing tapes inferior and had the band begin work all over again. The recording continued throughout 1986, and that summer, the group returned to the stage for the European Monsters of Rock tour. Def Leppard finally completed its fourth album, now titled Hysteria, early in 1987, releasing it that spring to lukewarm reviews; many critics felt that the album compromised Leppard's metal roots for sweet pop flourishes. The record was slow out of the starting gates — "Women," the first single, failed to really take hold. But with the second single, "Animal," Hysteria began to take off. It became the group's first Top 40 hit in the U.K., but more importantly, it began a string of six straight Top 20 hits in the U.S., which also included "Hysteria," "Pour Some Sugar On Me," "Love Bites," "Armageddon It" and "Rocket," the latter of which arrived in 1989, a full two years after the release of Hysteria. During those two years, Def Leppard was unavoidable — they were the kings of high school metal, ruling the pop charts and MTV, and teenagers and bands alike replicated their teased hair and ripped jeans, even when the grimy hard rock of Guns N' Roses took hold in 1988. Hysteria proved to be the peak of Leppard's popularity, yet their follow-up remained eagerly awaited in the early '90s as the band set to work on the record. During the recording, Steve Clark died from an overdose of alcohol and drugs. Clark had long had a problem with alcohol, and following the Hysteria heyday, the band forced him to take a sabbatical; he did enter rehab, but to no apparent effect. In fact, his abuse was so crippling that Collen had to play the majority of the guitar leads on Hysteria. Following Clark's death, Def Leppard resolved to finish its forthcoming album as a quartet, releasing Adrenalize in the spring of 1992. Adrenalize was greeted with mixed reviews, and even though the album debuted at number one and contained several hit singles, including "Let's Get Rocked," "Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad" and "Make Love Like a Man," the record was a commercial disappointment in the wake of Pyromania and Hysteria. After the release of Adrenalize, the group added former Whitesnake guitarist Vivian Campbell. In 1993, Def Leppard released the rarities collection Retro Active, featuring a new single, "Miss You in a Heartbeat," which scraped the lower reaches of the Top 40. Two years later, the group released the greatest hits collection Vault while preparing their sixth album. Slang arrived in the spring of 1996, and while it was more adventurous than its predecessor, it was greeted with indifference, proving that Leppard's heyday had passed, and they were now simply a very popular cult band. Undaunted, Leppard soldiered on, returning to its patented pop-metal sound for Euphoria, which was released in June of 1999. "must listen" DISCLAIMER: The title URBAN WANDERER as well as the link titles to other blogs are song titles from a jazz band. I used these titles as a gesture of appreciation & gain no financial benefits from this & in no way used to promote my blog. For the real deal, visit their website.