The formation of karaoke communities

Most of my information so far about the communities has come from either direct observation, or the interviews with the two DJs, Colin and Ed. However I did get some tangential information. Tie (below) acts as a lynchpin for the community at Lion's Head, pushing tables together and including everyone in his conversation, but you can see a different perspective if you read the excerpt from Ed's interview.

(Excerpt from interview with Tie Conn)

Melaena: And do you always come in in a group?

Tie: Usually. Whoever shows up shows up. But I’m always here.

Melaena: Are these… how do you know all these friends? I mean, did you meet them at karaoke, or did you meet them at work, or…?

Tie: I met them everywhere but karaoke.

Melaena: Okay. And you brought them here?

Tie: Yes. That’s how I got my name on a mug, not because I drink a lot, but because I brought a lot of new people in.

Melaena: (laughs) Okay. You’re like their PR guy.

Tie: I’m like the kingpin. Actually.

(Excerpt from interview with Eva Pang)

Melaena: So is it different than just hanging out in a bar? Do you find that?

Eva: It’s a lot different. Cause, hanging out in a bar, you talk and stuff like that, but it’s not as interactive, whereas here you’re kind of egging each other on to pick a song and go onstage and sing it, and there’s a lot of encouragement. And then when you’re done singing, everyone tells you you did a great job, and they start talking about it, and they egg you on to pick out a next song.

Melaena: Okay.

Eva: It’s just a lot more active than, you know, talking about your day, kind of thing.

(Excerpt from interview with Ed Boyer)

Melaena: And what about the little communities that form? Does that happen everywhere?

Ed: That is the weirdest thing ever. Yes, there is a weird karaoke subculture. They’re different people… they’re very encouraging of each other, and (long pause) so careful about not hurting anybody else’s feelings. It’s like a big group ego, that sort of beats. And it grows together.

Melaena: Do you think it’s a delicate ego?

Ed: It’s very delicate, and then when it gets big enough, or even too big, then they start sabotaging it. “Oh, he can’t sing that good,” or “I’m better than him.” It’s funny how you watch all the little fish that start a show, and they’re very nervous about their songs. And then they get better about their songs because they’ve been encouraged. And now they start to sit together. Where they were all at different tables, they start to sit together. And now I’ve already started seeing some separation.

Like Alid, sits at a different table than Tie now. They’re both on the same soccer team, but one part of the soccer team sits on this side, and one part of the soccer team sits at the other table. Now I don’t know if that has to do with the women that are there, or if it has to do with “Okay, we are big enough now as a unit that we can now separate and we don’t have to be the “team” anymore.” “I am Alid in the team”, and “I am now Tie”, and everyone’s getting a little bit bigger.

And their song repertoire expands a little bit more, and they’re willing to try more things, and then they start to banter with each other, say, “Well, you could sing that, and you could sing that”. So right now it’s very, very good and there’ll be a time when it’ll start to fragment.

Melaena: And you’ve seen that before.

Ed: Yeah.

Melaena: So the same people that are encouraging each other…

Ed: …will start to fight against each other after a while.

Melaena: Interesting. And then where does that end?

Ed: They each have their own big tables then.

Melaena: Okay. So once they’re at their own big tables they don’t fight any more? They don’t bicker?

Ed: Another ego will grow. Another group ego.

Melaena: Okay. So it just keeps growing and splitting, and growing and splitting?

Ed: Yes.