Tag Archives: The Bear

What do you expect for nothing? – Sept. 21

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I took the title of this post from the song “Rubber Biscuit.” I don’t quite know who wrote it, but the Blues Brothers sang it once upon a time. It wsa exciting to see karaoke compadre Allen owning a disc of songs from various Blue Brothers performances.

I tried out Rubber Biscuit at the Bear on Monday. It was _rough_ because they weren’t any lyrics for most of the song. Instead there was often the phrase [Ad lib singing] which left it to me to try to remember what Jake and Elwood were singing back in the day.

I managed to get through song and I still had a blast. Many of my colleagues said they hadn’t seen a karaoke song calling for ad libbing before.

I sang more Blues Brothers songs at The Maltese on Wednesday. It was fun, but I really want to sing “Riot on Cell Block No. 9” next week.

Worst 111: Round One

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The first round of the “Worst 111” karaoke countdown was launched at Madison Bear Garden on Monday night. I think it got a pretty good reception from the crowd although some of the songs were truely awful.

Some of the songs weren’t in the karaoke book, but I’ll try to catch up with part of the list on Wednesday at the Maltese.

111 – Rock Lobster — The B-52’s classic (but not as classic as “Love Shack”) was a little hard to master.
108 – Mambo No. 5 — I can understand why Lou Bega sold out on this song. The chorus makes the song. The melody? Not so much.
106 – Let Her Cry — It took a while for me to get into the song, but this Hootie and the Blowfish song really has some legs.
103 – Jenny From the Block — Kelly helped me with this song, but neither of us could capture the “magic” of J. Lo.
102 – Born to be Wild — I think I captured the Steppenwolf original better than Ozzy and Miss Piggy (whose version earned this place on the list). Maybe it was the two dancing women who helped.

That’s five down, 106 to go — minus the ones that aren’t in the books.

Counting down the worst

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Starting tonight at Bear-e-oke, we’ll be singing as many songs as possible from the Top 111 Worst Songs. My colleagues and I dispute many of the songs’ placement on the list. While not the greatest, they’re still pretty good songs.

They were apparently voted on by the users of AOL Music. I kinda question their taste — some of the songs were probably picked because they were overplayed (like “One Week” from Bearnaked Ladies). I also don’t know how many people voted for the list — I can’t use AOL’s service because they want a Windows machine.

Alas, it still should be a lot of fun to go through the list. It starts with “Rock Lobster” by the B-52s and ends with “Who Let the Dogs Out” by the Baha Men. Good times.

Un-bear-able

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Just another Monday at the Bear.

  • Hell – Squirrel Nut Zippers
  • Speak Softly Love (Theme from The Godfather) – Wow, I so didn’t know that song.
  • Beautiful Day – It was U2’s song, I only sang it.
  • This Love – From Maroon 5. I thought I didn’t know it, but it came through in the end.
  • Just the Way You Are – Much better this time out although I doubt it will ever become a crowd pleaser.
  • Good Morning Starshine – Nooby Nobby Low Low.
  • Folsom Prison Blues – Johnny Cash sang it right the first time.
  • Take Me Home, County Roads – Mountain Momma.
  • Wanted – I took the lead after providing back-up for months.
  • Rawhide – Another song about a cowboy (but with real horses, not metal ones)