A Critical Overview of the Karaoke World Championships, Part One

He likes to sing, but he likes to watch more.

The Karaoke World Championships have begun! The qualifying rounds for the Washington State Finals were held at a different bar every day last week and will continue until Friday. The State Final will be held at the Columbia City Theater this Saturday.

I sat in on five of the seven qualifiers last week. And while I love singing contests, I decided not to enter. Instead, I spent the last week trying to find who the real karaoke talent is to determine how I measure up. Here's the unfiltered, stream-of-consciousness journal of my thoughts as I watched--and at one locale, judged--these events.

Monday, July 12, 2010 The Atlantic Crossing

9:00pm: I got here too early. I totally forgot they take an hour for warm-ups. Once again I'm at this place and don't feel like drinking. I'll just set up shop at this table a couple seats back from the stage and not order anything unless a server approaches me. Hey, that chick I went to Shoreline with is bartending again. I think her name's Diona. Man, I remember her being cute in the face but did she always have that body? So Josh's (Washington State Director of the KWC/co-owner of Absolute Karaoke) other KJ dude is running it tonight. I guess he still has his duties at Dante's. That means I'm going to be at more of these than him.

9:05pm: That dude in his 40s in the black blazer talking to the KJ reminds me of Michael Scott from The Office. It's the hair. He totally has that Steve Carell hair going on. That blond at the table next to me is cute. Let's get a look at her friend--nope, not cute at all. The Michael Scott dude just took a seat next to me. It's packed in here. Is this seriously because of this competition? Steve Carell just asked me if I was singing and I totally stumbled on my response. Is it because deep down I feel like I'm wussing out for not entering? No, I know that's not it. They call this thing a "karaoke" contest but it really boils down to a singing competition. My voice is pretty good, but it's not cut out for this type of competition. So, this guy's name is Dan and he just told me he's innovated a "mash-up" style of karaoke. He's going to use the instrumental from one song and sing the lyrics of a different song. This Dan seems like a sweet kid but that sounds like a train-wreck of an idea.