A Critical Overview of the Karaoke World Championships, Part Two
Monday, July 19, 2010
Chris Kornelis A cover of Susan Tedeschi's "It Hurts So Bad," was a highlight of the week.
The Atlantic Crossing was packed as usual. Pat, the KJ, turned in a really good rendition of "Georgia" for the sound check. I continued my roll of good performances and sang "I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues." The returning contestants were Steven B (3rd attempt), Freddie S (3rd attempt), and MYQUE P (2nd attempt). This guy in his mid-40s, Dave S, pulled out the Soft Rock classic "Love Is the Answer" by England Dan & John Ford Coley. He had a nice soft delivery and his voice really got good by the end. I was thinking he could be the "Dan W" of this week.
The first contestant was Jason S. He did a semi-decent "Soul Man" but clowned around through the whole thing and the antics took away from the fact he actually had a voice. Freddie S followed and this time he did Lou Rawls, "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine." He tried for a more popular song but this one just didn't fit him.
Dave S sang "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" and was disqualified because he broke the contest rule that you can't do a song over five minutes in length. Even if the song wasn't 6:42 it was a bad call. He sang it well but, unless you hit that dynamic part exactly like Robert Plant, that song's not getting anyone fired up. It's depressing and most of it is slow. If you're gonna go Zeppelin, go with something fun like, "Over the Hills and Far Away" or "Out on the Tiles."
Steven B went for "Born to Be Wild Again" and there wasn't any improvement from the last time he did it at Blue C Sushi. MYQUE P looked all business in a white button down shirt and black slacks. He sang "Use Somebody" with great command. He really stepped it up from last week and I knew it would be good enough for him to advance to Saturday.
There were ten contestants but the competition was light compared to the previous week. The best overall voice of the night was a cute black girl named Shondele L and she sang Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy." The most rockin' performance of the night was a black guy in his late-40s named Bruce H. He did a killer "Back In Black."
MYQUE P, Shondele and Bruce advanced. Last Monday all the winners here were females and this week they're all black. Shondele, unfortunately could not make it on Saturday because of a prior engagement.
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