Now I'm Losing Gigs To GUITAR HERO!

[sventvkg]

Karaoke was bad enough but now it's guitar hero. Better watch out, you could be next.

Ready my Angry Blog here:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...g=1&indicate=1Tuesday, January 22, 2008


EDIT: Here is the blog.
GUITAR HERO IS NOT LIVE ENTERTAINMENT!
Current mood: angry
Category: Music

Yea, it's fun. Yea, it's cool and difficult to master (nowhere near on the level of a real musical instrument), and yea it's an escape from your miserable existance but it's not something I want to see LIVE ONSTAGE in a venue that should have a REAL musician Performing! Anyone who has even the slightest bit of culture and refinement would agree. GUITAR HERO belongs in the home, at house parties or in a Frathouse basement but it DOES NOT BELONG AT HUMPY'S GREAT ALASKAN ALEHOUSE, REPLACING OPEN MIC MONDAYS!!!!! What The fuck are they thinking??? Now, I've dealt with some clueless fucking bar managers/club owners in my years of gigging but this one ranks among the most fucked up things I have ever heard! First of all, Open Mic Monday is Anchorage's if not the state of Alaska's most established and well known open mic Night, bar none. It's THE venue for acoustic based singer songwriters to come out and perform, work out kinks and new material, or just meet up with friends and chill. For Humpy's to cancel a popular and generally well attended open mic is fucking INSANE and sounds like some bar manager's attempt at self edification..Like they are so fucking hip and with it man...Yea!!...Yea Right! This is a stupid fucking Idea for stupid uncultured jerkoffs who have no appreciation of real art. If that offended you then you are part of the problem.

What can we do on a local level? I'll tell you. VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET. DO NOT patronize these establishments that disrespect the arts and disrespect the customer with bullshit non-entertainment like Karaoke and Guitar Hero. Oh, there is a place for these things...At home, at a party, in some Frathouse basement BUT NOT IN A LIVE SETTING at the expense of a REAL MUSICIAN!..I mean WHAT THE FUCK??? Again, if you disagree PROMPTLY remove yourself from my friends list because I do not want to know you and most likely we aren't friends anyway!

I strongly encourage everyone to call Humpy's and voice your displeasure with their decision for replacing Open Mic with Guitar Hero. If we use our voice we MAY be able to enact some change here and make the management rethink their decision.

It's no wonder I'm heading to Europe where they still have an avid appreciation for culture and the arts. It's LONG-STANDING over there and artists and musicians are revered and compensated. It seems like we've lost something in our society. Maybe it's due to the dumbing down of our educational system, our propagandized control grid media that keeps spooning us disinformation or a combination of several things. I do know that many people want to be the star even though they lack the talent and skill to justify being on stage. I can outsing, outplay and out write most of the American Idol winners and contestants since it's inception and Local Karaoke gives me a fucking nightmare headache inside of 2 minutes. How deep in the minority can I be? Are they majority of people out there THAT fucking tone deaf that they think these drunk college chicks actually sound good screatching their way through a totally off key version of a Carrie Underwood song? And I can play a guitar pretty Damn well...A REAL guitar that is..So you mean to tell me, watching some drunk ass GI or Fratboy attempting to play "Sweet Child O Mine" on a guitar shaped GAME CONTROLLER,. flubbing notes at that, is a more soulful experience then hearing me play and sing? IF so, FUCK YOU! That's what I have to Say...That says it all. Remember....We Reap what we sow and we've got some major fucking problems. I say we who do give a shit, need to vote with our wallets.

THIS IS A CALL TO ARMS. IT'S IN YOUR HANDS PEOPLE.

[tucktronix]

Originally Posted by sventvkg

Karaoke was bad enough but now it's guitar hero. Better watch out, you could be next.

Ready my Angry Blog here:

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fu...g=1&indicate=1

Weird, the link goes directly to my blog

[strathound]

Originally Posted by tucktronix

Weird, the link goes directly to my blog

Same here.

[sventvkg]

OK...Myspace is doing something weird here taking us all to our own blogs. Here it is:


Tuesday, January 22, 2008


GUITAR HERO IS NOT LIVE ENTERTAINMENT!
Current mood: angry
Category: Music

Yea, it's fun. Yea, it's cool and difficult to master (nowhere near on the level of a real musical instrument), and yea it's an escape from your miserable existance but it's not something I want to see LIVE ONSTAGE in a venue that should have a REAL musician Performing! Anyone who has even the slightest bit of culture and refinement would agree. GUITAR HERO belongs in the home, at house parties or in a Frathouse basement but it DOES NOT BELONG AT HUMPY'S GREAT ALASKAN ALEHOUSE, REPLACING OPEN MIC MONDAYS!!!!! What The fuck are they thinking??? Now, I've dealt with some clueless fucking bar managers/club owners in my years of gigging but this one ranks among the most fucked up things I have ever heard! First of all, Open Mic Monday is Anchorage's if not the state of Alaska's most established and well known open mic Night, bar none. It's THE venue for acoustic based singer songwriters to come out and perform, work out kinks and new material, or just meet up with friends and chill. For Humpy's to cancel a popular and generally well attended open mic is fucking INSANE and sounds like some bar manager's attempt at self edification..Like they are so fucking hip and with it man...Yea!!...Yea Right! This is a stupid fucking Idea for stupid uncultured jerkoffs who have no appreciation of real art. If that offended you then you are part of the problem.

What can we do on a local level? I'll tell you. VOTE WITH YOUR WALLET. DO NOT patronize these establishments that disrespect the arts and disrespect the customer with bullshit non-entertainment like Karaoke and Guitar Hero. Oh, there is a place for these things...At home, at a party, in some Frathouse basement BUT NOT IN A LIVE SETTING at the expense of a REAL MUSICIAN!..I mean WHAT THE FUCK??? Again, if you disagree PROMPTLY remove yourself from my friends list because I do not want to know you and most likely we aren't friends anyway!

I strongly encourage everyone to call Humpy's and voice your displeasure with their decision for replacing Open Mic with Guitar Hero. If we use our voice we MAY be able to enact some change here and make the management rethink their decision.

It's no wonder I'm heading to Europe where they still have an avid appreciation for culture and the arts. It's LONG-STANDING over there and artists and musicians are revered and compensated. It seems like we've lost something in our society. Maybe it's due to the dumbing down of our educational system, our propagandized control grid media that keeps spooning us disinformation or a combination of several things. I do know that many people want to be the star even though they lack the talent and skill to justify being on stage. I can outsing, outplay and out write most of the American Idol winners and contestants since it's inception and Local Karaoke gives me a fucking nightmare headache inside of 2 minutes. How deep in the minority can I be? Are they majority of people out there THAT fucking tone deaf that they think these drunk college chicks actually sound good screatching their way through a totally off key version of a Carrie Underwood song? And I can play a guitar pretty Damn well...A REAL guitar that is..So you mean to tell me, watching some drunk ass GI or Fratboy attempting to play "Sweet Child O Mine" on a guitar shaped GAME CONTROLLER,. flubbing notes at that, is a more soulful experience then hearing me play and sing? IF so, FUCK YOU! That's what I have to Say...That says it all. Remember....We Reap what we sow and we've got some major fucking problems. I say we who do give a shit, need to vote with our wallets.

THIS IS A CALL TO ARMS. IT'S IN YOUR HANDS PEOPLE.

[TotalPoser]

Did they steal the idea from that episode of South Park or what?

[RupertB]

Apparently not isolated to Alaska.

http://theguitarzeros.com/guitar_hero_nights.php

California
Garden Grove: Azteca Mexican Restaurant
Los Angeles: Hyperion Tavern
Sacramento: Marilyn's on K Nightclub
San Diego: San Diego Sports Club
San Diego: Club Kadan
San Francisco: 111 Minna Gallery
San Francisco: Overtime Sports Bar & Grill
San Francisco: The Dubliner Bar
> Colorado
Denver: 15th Street Tavern
> Florida
Winter Park: Paddy McGee's
Lutz: L.A. Hangout
> Georgia
Covington: 5 O'Clock Somewhere
Sandy Springs: North River Tavern
> Illinois
Champaign: Cowboy Monkey
Pekin: Nik's 4th Street Pub
> Kansas
Kansas City: 403 Club
> North Carolina
Fayetteville: The Rock Shop
Greensboro: Wisenheimers (coming soon)
> North Dakota
Fargo: The Aquarium
> Massachusettes
Boston: The Common Ground
Boston: Good Time Emporium (Somerville)
Boston: Orleans (Somerville)
Boston: River Gods (Cambridge)
> Michigan
Jackson: The Eastside Bistro & Sports Bar
Muskegon: Pop-A-Top Tavern
Ypsilanti: The Elbow Room
> Minnesota
Bloomington: Major's Sports Cafe
Ham Lake: Spectators Grille & Bar
Minneapolis: Memory Lanes/Flashback Cafe
Woodbury: Throwbacks Grille & Bar
> New York
Brooklyn: Barcade
Brooklyn: Living Room Lounge
Manhattan: Pianos (lower east side)
> Oregon
Portland: Red Room
> Virginia
Norfolk: Farhenheit
Reston: Champs Americana
> Washington
Spokane: Prago

> CANADA
Victoria, BC: Soprano's Karaoke & Sports Bar
St. John's, Newfoundland: Turner's Tavern
> THE U.K.
Lower Higham, England: The Railway Tavern
> DOWN UNDAH
Brisbane, Queensland: Calypso Bar & Lounge

[sventvkg]

THAT IS INSANE!! I had no idea...Should have guessed these idiots would never have an original Idea!.......

On a positive note they were circulating a petition at my open mic last night and were planning on getting many many signatures, media coverage about what's going on, and they were going to rally the troops to PACK the venue next Monday which is supposed to be my last open mic. Let's see if the management reconsiders...This is the most popular and well attended Open Mic in Anchorage and that's the thing that is insane about it.

Originally Posted by RupertB

Apparently not isolated to Alaska.

http://theguitarzeros.com/guitar_hero_nights.php

California
Garden Grove: Azteca Mexican Restaurant
Los Angeles: Hyperion Tavern
Sacramento: Marilyn's on K Nightclub
San Diego: San Diego Sports Club
San Diego: Club Kadan
San Francisco: 111 Minna Gallery
San Francisco: Overtime Sports Bar & Grill
San Francisco: The Dubliner Bar
> Colorado
Denver: 15th Street Tavern
> Florida
Winter Park: Paddy McGee's
Lutz: L.A. Hangout
> Georgia
Covington: 5 O'Clock Somewhere
Sandy Springs: North River Tavern
> Illinois
Champaign: Cowboy Monkey
Pekin: Nik's 4th Street Pub
> Kansas
Kansas City: 403 Club
> North Carolina
Fayetteville: The Rock Shop
Greensboro: Wisenheimers (coming soon)
> North Dakota
Fargo: The Aquarium
> Massachusettes
Boston: The Common Ground
Boston: Good Time Emporium (Somerville)
Boston: Orleans (Somerville)
Boston: River Gods (Cambridge)
> Michigan
Jackson: The Eastside Bistro & Sports Bar
Muskegon: Pop-A-Top Tavern
Ypsilanti: The Elbow Room
> Minnesota
Bloomington: Major's Sports Cafe
Ham Lake: Spectators Grille & Bar
Minneapolis: Memory Lanes/Flashback Cafe
Woodbury: Throwbacks Grille & Bar
> New York
Brooklyn: Barcade
Brooklyn: Living Room Lounge
Manhattan: Pianos (lower east side)
> Oregon
Portland: Red Room
> Virginia
Norfolk: Farhenheit
Reston: Champs Americana
> Washington
Spokane: Prago

> CANADA
Victoria, BC: Soprano's Karaoke & Sports Bar
St. John's, Newfoundland: Turner's Tavern
> THE U.K.
Lower Higham, England: The Railway Tavern
> DOWN UNDAH
Brisbane, Queensland: Calypso Bar & Lounge

[caveman]

It seems to me that the GH "in clubs" thingie may be a bit premature. This is based solely on my observations of who was trying GH out at department stores during the Christmas season. There were a couple of adults but the vast majority would need fake IDs to get in a club for at least the next ten years or so.

[sventvkg]

Originally Posted by caveman

It seems to me that the GH "in clubs" thingie may be a bit premature. This is based solely on my observations of who was trying GH out at department stores during the Christmas season. There were a couple of adults but the vast majority would need fake IDs to get in a club for at least the next ten years or so.

That's EXACTLY What we were all saying after the management told me what they were planning. IDIOTS.

[fastplant]

It's just a gimmick. I highly doubt that watching people play Guitar Hero will make a bar more money on a weekend night than a live band that has fans. It's more for the novelty that this is happening now. It'll wear off in time.

[rhat]

Originally Posted by fastplant

It's just a gimmick. I highly doubt that watching people play Guitar Hero will make a bar more money on a weekend night than a live band that has fans. It's more for the novelty that this is happening now. It'll wear off in time.

Hard to tell.....Drunks are a hard bunch to figure out. Kereoke does well... but then thats a little more like music. You get a bar with 15 singers in rotation on a kereoke rig and a high percentage of them are good .... it sells drinks. A good kereoke host and rig in the right bar can pack the place......If a bar gets a rep for a good system, that can change keys without speeding things up or slowing them down , 70,000 songs and a good host it can be a good working model for a bar. GH ,,, i dont see that being much more than a short run novelty. good bands and solos and duo acts will always have work.....if you lose out to GH hero ,, i think ya got a problem with your show. rat

[JBJ]

it's not that far derived from karaoke and i can tell you from the perspective of someone who plays live and also comperes karaoke night, 9 times out of 10 a club will make more money and have more people in the door for karaoke than any sort of band...

supply and demand, supply and demand.

[fastplant]

Karaoke is a bad example. Anyone can sing karaoke off the street, bad or good. Not everyone can play guitar hero off the street. And it'll get old fast watching people trying to learn in front of an audience.

[sventvkg]

Originally Posted by JBJ

it's not that far derived from karaoke and i can tell you from the perspective of someone who plays live and also comperes karaoke night, 9 times out of 10 a club will make more money and have more people in the door for karaoke than any sort of band...

supply and demand, supply and demand.

Why???? Why is Karaoke a better money maker then Live music? It gives everyone I know a headache. Assuming we are in the minority, I would like to know your opinion on the psychology of this? My take? Everyone wants to be the star. The Focal. That's the conclusion I came to in my blog. I will say this. If Karaoke is more revered then GOOD live entertainment with skilled and talented musicians, then I Give up. I fucking Give up on Humanity. I will always work, I will always gig. I create Gigs if Need be but this shit sickens me.

[rhat]

Originally Posted by fastplant

Karaoke is a bad example. Anyone can sing karaoke off the street, bad or good. Not everyone can play guitar hero off the street. And it'll get old fast watching people trying to learn in front of an audience.

The only differnce between kereoke and a shitty band ,,,is that you have to listen to the shitty band all night. A bad kereoke singer butchers one song then gets back in line. It gets real old hearing a band with a bad singer all night long. I was in a bar in del rio texas on a motorcycle trip ... there was this bar across the street. They had kereoke night. I would guess 75 percent of the singers were quite good ....I guess the place has a reputation for kereoke and attracts some good singers. It was a good night ,, we had a blast. Have you ever sang kereoke? rat

[Hollow body]

I've noticed that the only people watching karaoke are those waiting to sing, and they tend to look pretty bored with those they're waiting for.

[THX1138]

Welcome to the future of "live" entertainment.

Just wait til these places get their hands on the "rockstar" game. Then instead of just one shmuck up there tappin a color-coded fretboard, you'll have a whole "band" of shmoes "performing".

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto.

[cherri]

Audience participation. I could see it as a happy hour offering, but to replace a live band with a video game? Then it's no longer a music venue, it's chuckee cheese for grownups.

[fastplant]

Originally Posted by rhat

The only differnce between kereoke and a shitty band ,,,is that you have to listen to the shitty band all night. A bad kereoke singer butchers one song then gets back in line. It gets real old hearing a band with a bad singer all night long. I was in a bar in del rio texas on a motorcycle trip ... there was this bar across the street. They had kereoke night. I would guess 75 percent of the singers were quite good ....I guess the place has a reputation for kereoke and attracts some good singers. It was a good night ,, we had a blast. Have you ever sang kereoke? rat

I think you've missed my point. I was arguing karaoke vs guitar hero, not karaoke vs a band.

[sventvkg]

Originally Posted by rhat

The only differnce between kereoke and a shitty band ,,,is that you have to listen to the shitty band all night. A bad kereoke singer butchers one song then gets back in line. It gets real old hearing a band with a bad singer all night long. I was in a bar in del rio texas on a motorcycle trip ... there was this bar across the street. They had kereoke night. I would guess 75 percent of the singers were quite good ....I guess the place has a reputation for kereoke and attracts some good singers. It was a good night ,, we had a blast. Have you ever sang kereoke? rat

Yea I've sang Karaoke and won a bunch of money doing contests so what? Most Karaoke Bars that I've been too have MOSTLY Horrid singers that NO ONE but other drunk people waiting to sing want to listen to. Lowest common denomonator entertainment for only other wannabe's. I Have NEVER been to a bar with karaoke and witnessed 75% percent of the singers being good. I have a difficult time believing that but my definition of good is pro level..GOOD..Otherwise you don't belong on stage or deserve and audience in my view. YMMV.

I agree with the shitty band analogy though.