My Wild Night (Wild For Me Anyways)

A friend of mine from school, Bob is a lover of heavy metal who I've been able to turn on to many new metal bands in the form of several comps (more on the way). He's an army veteran who has early retirement, social security, and disability (and he's only 24-he suffered a brain enjury and some physical ailments in service) but he's a funny, cool outgoing guy with amazing vocal talent. He has a very powerful falsetto that reminds me of the vocalist of Dream Evil and can play a pretty decent guitar. Him and another guy from school had been going to Karaokee and this time I went.

But first we were over at the apartment of another friend from school, John. We went out to the hot tub and relaxed for a little whie (my first time in one). John and this other guy had dared each other to jump in the cold pool awile back and John did but the other guy refused. However, John jumped in again on this night and then Bob did the same. On a hunch I went ahead and did it as well and I even swam half way accross and then back. When I got out apart from being cold, I was out of breath and my right tricep was going numb (after all I hadn't had a real swim in about 8 years). I realized that was not a very bright move but I soon warmed up in the tub and all was good. We had some good conversations and I was having the time of my life. For the first time in a long time I've been able to sit around and BS with friends (first ones since Erik died and our mutual friends fell off the face of the earth). Well John was having some personal problems and decided not to go with us to the bar and two of the other guys are too young to go (19 and 20 years old) so it was just me, Bob, and this guy named Randy.

Randy did a song but then left me an Bob (he's become increasingly lazy and has not been to school or has been showing up pretty late-John's about ready to have him find his own place because of the stress it's causing him). Me and Bob stayed while he got drunk and I prepared to do my next song. Unfortunatly, the song he wanted to do was not in the system and they closed before my next turn came up. However, I performed for the first time in my life and while I did not do as good as I wanted to I had a great time and Bob and I are going back next week.

I did Two Minutes To Midnight, a song I had done for almost 10 years in the privacy of my own home. I finally found my voice and was doing the song pretty good so I thought I was ready. I THOUGHT, but it didn't go as well as I had hoped. Unforunatly, the music was too loud and the mic not loud enough and my voice was not what it should be and my voice cracked when I sung "To kill, the unborn in the womb". However, Karaokee is not about singing well, it's about having a good time. I did the latter and from other people's reaction and Bob's and Randy's I put on a great performance which was verified on my digital video camera. Despite my voice not working (and I now know where I went wrong) I showed that I am a natural performer and next time it will be different.

Where I went wrong was in several spots. First I never took anything for my acid reflux yesterday so heartburn was an issue. I also started to smoke a cigar before my time was up. Couple those two things with the mic volume, my voice didn't work the way I wanted to. Next time, apart from keeping myself hydrated (which is where I went right), I will also wear earplugs so I can hear my voice and control it better and keep my heartburn at bay. I was going to do Richard Marx-Hazard and Judas Priest-Hell Bent For Leather but I never got the chance. Next time though I will post my (and hopefully this time Bob's) performances on Youtube and give you guys links (my first one will probably just be kept for personal viewing). I'm still deciding what I'm going to put on the CD I'm going to sing to (I'm trying to decide between The Lost Dogs, Savatage, Dream Theater, more Maiden, Grave Robber, Tourniquet, Ayreon, and some other posibilities). I will only be able to get probably do 3 songs tops depending on what time we get there this time so it's a tough decision.

Glad you had a good time.

Sounds very interesting dude!!!

Hottub Time Machine!

We have very different views on what constitutes a "wild night". Sounds like you had fun though. Karaoke (sp?) is a blast.

Two Wild and Crazy Guys!!!

MetalGuy71 wrote:

We have very different views on what constitutes a "wild night".

I know that's why I put (Wild For Me) as a disclaimer . Normally, I'm pretty much a home body and don't go to bars. But I don't have a band and I have the heart of a frontman so I need an outlet to perform. The wild part has more to do with jumping into a cold a$$ pool and swimming back and forth despite not having swam in almost a decade (my neck and shoulders are still painfully stiff despite it being two days later).

I karaoke'd KISS' "Rock and Roll All Nite" at a campground a couple of years back. If I do say so myself, I kicked ass, though I was pretty drunk at the time. Fortunately so were most of the people watching. My wife was totally mortified.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately, depending on your point of view) no photographic or video evidence of my performance exists.

I never have tried karaoke. I'll have to pass on that.

Karaoke's awesome. Played singstar Wednesday with two friends. Good stuff, especially with a bottle of good ol' Jack and a couple of beers.

I think (if I can get 3 songs in) my playlist for next time will be:

Dream Theater-Pull Me Under
Savatage-Castles Burning
Iron Maiden-Stranger In A Strange Land

Not finalized but I sang all three this morning and I think I can pull them off.

Metallic Blaze wrote:

I never have tried karaoke. I'll have to pass on that.

It's been awhile, but I would get up and do it on occasion. Alcohol played a big factor though. Don't recall ever doing any metal tunes though.

I either went for goofy (Steve Martin's 'King Tut') or lounge singer (Lou Rawls 'You're Gonna Miss My Lovin'). One time I did get onstage with my buddies band and co-sang lead vocals on 'Bathroom Wall' by Faster Pu$$ycat.

That's a good Faster Pu$$ycat song.

The only time i did karaoke i sang "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas.

My lone karaoke experience was crazy. But thankfully I was good and drunk. It was at this bar (West End Gate in Manhattan) when I was visiting my brother years back. All the people where real professional sounding and I got dared to go up and be real bad. At the time I did whatever a pretty girl asked, so after a few rounds I sign up. I cannot sing at all, but thought I had a way around this by choosing Biz Markie's "Just A Friend". If you know it, this should have been a good strategy. I barely got started when I was shouted down. I mean real hate. True, it may have been the song selection and not my lounge singer version of it but at least give me a minute to get going. Anyway it all ended with me getting tossed for using profanity at my detractors. And let me say drunk cussing at angry wanna-be Mariah Carreys over a mic is quite empowering once you start. Oh, and the pretty girl ended up leaving with someone else. Never tried it again.

The older I get the fonder I become of just simply hanging out with the guys. The wild times were great but these days it's almost as much fun to sit around and talk about them.

jstate wrote:

The older I get the fonder I become of just simply hanging out with the guys. The wild times were great but these days it's almost as much fun to sit around and talk about them.

That's how I've always been. Hanghing out and talking is my idea of a good time. I've never done clubbing, bar hopping, or partying of any kind. This whole thing is just an outlet for my frontman aspirations. You're experience is BS, they should not have booed you like that because karaokee is really just about having fun.

BTW, you guys that had to be drunk to do it because you can't sing is funny because Bob CAN sing but still has to be drunk to do it. Yet, I'm the one with performance anxiety.