Interview with Paul, March 4, 2007
Interview with Paul Dottler
(Excerpts indicated by tape counter numbers)
Tape Counter begins at 100
Community
117
Melaena: So do you always come with this same group of people? Or do you come by yourself, ever?
Paul: I come by myself and hook up with the group of people here. There’s a real group of regulars here that are a nice solid core group, and there’s some really nice voices here, and people that are very comfortable with each other. So it’s nice to get into that kind of group.
Melaena: Okay.
Paul: The other thing is, this place has a really nice short rotation so you know you get to sing a lot of songs.
Melaena: Yeah.
Paul: Cause a lot of places, you go and you sing maybe one or two songs a night.
Melaena: Yeah.
Paul: Here it’s four or five, so it’s a real difference.
Motivation
125
Melaena: So, what first got you interested in karaoke?
Paul: Well, I think we’re really missing something, right. And… in my parent’s generation there was a lot of house parties, where people would get together and they would sing. There were a lot of people singing in church choirs, there were a lot of people, uh… just there were a lot more opportunities for people to sing. And in my generation we don’t get that.
Melaena: Okay. Can I ask you a question?
Paul: Absolutely.
Melaena: How old are you?
Paul: 34.
Melaena: Okay.
Paul: Okay. So in my generation we’re missing that, in a lot of ways. The family gatherings, we don’t do singing at family gatherings so much anymore, which we really used to do. The church, with the disassociation in general from religion, we’re not seeing people learning to sing in church choirs. And I didn’t have any of that either.
But I come from a very musical family. My mother who’s in her fifties now, just joined a band, and put together a little combo four or five years ago, and is really enjoying that. So I come from a very musical background, but I haven’t had any opportunity to express it. So I find that karaoke really gives me an opportunity to get into that, to express myself that way, and to learn how to express myself that way.
Motivation
156
Melaena: So what keeps you returning to karaoke? What do you like about karaoke?
Paul: It’s a blast. I really enjoy the singing. It’s an opportunity for me to develop the skills, and like I said, without the exposure to a church group, I never really had the opportunity to learn how to sing, and karaoke I’ve been using to learn how to sing. So that I can do things like sing when I’m camping, so that I can do things like sing at gatherings with my family and whatnot, because there is a little bit of that going on as well. I’ve just never had an opportunity to develop it before coming here.
Melaena: Okay. So what about the audience? What role does the audience play?
Paul: Um… for me, the audience is pretty insignificant. Whether I’m singing here or in the shower, I’m going to sing. This gives me an opportunity to learn how to fit my voice into the music. Which I don’t get by singing by myself at home. That’s kind of what I’ve been missing.
Melaena: Why don’t you get that at home?
Paul: Well, I could sing along with recordings, I guess. But even then there’s that overlay. Right? When you’re singing karaoke, it’s all you. So you can hear when you’re flat, you can hear when you’re sharp. I look at it as training, for me.
Coming to karaoke isn’t about singing at karaoke. Coming to karaoke is about coming here to learn how to sing at other places.
Motivation/ Who is the Audience?
181
Melaena: What if you had a karaoke machine at home?
Paul: I’ve looked into that. But… I don’t know. There’s a social element too. Like, you’re here with your friends, and you’re having a few drinks, and it’s something to do while you’re here drinking. It’s a way to connect with your friends…
Like, I don’t go to karaoke by myself, ever. I’ll only ever go with people that I know. It’s social.
Melaena: What about going out to pubs in groups, and not doing karaoke? Do you do that?
Paul: Yeah. I do that. I prefer karaoke, or if there’s pool, I really like pool. It’s nice to have an activity that you can do while you’re there. It gives a little bit of focus to the evening.
Motivation
237
Melaena: So, is there anything you don’t like about karaoke?
Paul: I don’t get to sing as much as I would like to!
Melaena: Awwww. (laughs)
Paul: I’d do a dozen songs a night if I had the time. Especially here where it’s a small group. I used to sing a lot at Rosario’s, up on the north end, which is a very popular karaoke place, but you only get to sing one or two songs a night.
Melaena: Long rotation.
Paul: Very long rotation. And then you’re sitting through a whole bunch of people, some of whom can sing very well, some of whom don’t sing very well at all. But you’re waiting three or four hours before you get to sing.
Melaena: Wow.
Paul: And that really takes the activity out of going out.
Do men or women sing more?
248
Melaena: So, have you ever noticed that there’s more men than women singing, or women than men singing?
Paul: It tends to be pretty evenly balanced.
Melaena: You think so?
Paul: Depending on where the bar you’re at, depending on the club you’re at, uh, sometimes you’re going to have a slightly higher proportion of one or the other. If I had to say it’s a tendency, I’d say it’s slightly more women tend to sing. But then again, in any activity where you’ve got a situation where people are asking other people to look at them and pay attention, you tend to have a much higher proportion of women doing that. Dancing. You get more women dancing. I don’t know. I’m having trouble finding other examples.
Performative Gender Roles
261
Melaena: What about gender crossing in the songs? Do you ever sing songs by female artists?
Paul: Um, I don’t, but that’s because of the range. Right? Female voices are so much higher than mine that I just can’t do them comfortably. I certainly would, if there was some that was more in range for me, it wouldn’t be an issue. For me, there just really isn’t.
Dancing
295
Melaena: What about people dancing to the music?
Paul: You see it sometimes, not very often. It depends on the club. Here, never. There was a little bar I used to go to, the Inglewood. And fairly frequently you’d see people dancing.
Melaena: Why are they dancing? To me that’s interesting because it’s like a professional…
Paul: No, I think it’s just because they’re grooving on the music, not the singer necessarily. But yeah, it’s a boost when somebody’s dancing to your song. It feels good.
Melaena: It’s kind of an extra bonus, if somebody gets up and dances?
Paul: Oh, absolutely, yeah.
Melaena: Oh, okay.
Paul: You feel like it’s a vote of confidence, right? You feel like you’re close enough to what they’re expecting that they’re comfortable dancing.
Star Search Shows
328
Paul: It’s the popularity of American Idol. It’s not… People don’t watch American Idol because they’re fantasizing about getting the recording deal. People are watching American Idol because they’re looking at these people who have the guts to get up and sing in front of three million strangers, one of whom they know is going to be horribly brutal.
340
Paul: I don’t think, if you ask around, that people are pretending to be the artist. The fantasy isn’t there that, “Oh, I’m Billy Joel”. You’re not doing it for that, you’re not doing it to get chicks, you’re not doing it to impress other people. There’s some of that. You want people to think that you’re good, of course. You wouldn’t be doing it publicly if you didn’t.
But I think the perception there is, I’m missing this [music], and I want to do it, and this is an opportunity for me to do it. And it’s in a way that’s socially acceptable. You look around at all the pod people in the world, right, who are connected with their ear buds while they’re walking down the street, and half of them are moving their lips to what they’re singing, and afraid to let the sound out.
Well, here you’re allowed to let the sound out. Here, this is the entertainment. So… this is what we’re missing. This is what we’re trying to get back.
