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Capitol Hill karaoke revolution begins: Frances Farmer Organ Karaoke

No April Fool’s jokes on CHS this year. And, as far as we can tell, this item is not a prank pulled on CHS. That doesn’t mean we can really explain it. Only report. Tonight marks the debut of something called Frances Farmer Organ Karaoke at 11th Ave’s Vermillion. After tonight’s debut, FFOK is scheduled to happen every other Wednesday. But we get the feeling that — if you’re interested — you might want to check it out tonight. Here’s how organizer Korby Sears described his plans.

 

Karaoke, accompanied by a live organist, sung through either a megaphone or a microphone, where all the depressing songs have been lobotomized from the songlist, leaving only the manic tunes.

 That last phrase is pivotal (hence the Frances Farmer in the name). I’m trying to curate an Upbeat Only karaoke night. So if it’s a song you want to hold a lighter up to – it’s not gonna be on the songlist. No Downers: all Uppers.

 And no karaoke classics. Stuff like Bon Jovi, Journey, Pat Benetar, Lady Gaga – they have great songs, but those are like the white, middle-class males aged 18-55 of the karaoke world. They are getting their time. We’re looking for the underserved songs, the underpriviledged songs, the at-risk tunes that never get any love. If you look at the list, there’s selections on there that aren’t even sung (the Christian Bale rant on the set of Terminator 4, where I back you up by playing the Theme from Batman), or just wordless whistling (Colonel Bogey March from Bridge Over River Kwai). Or Free Spaces: if you had a shitty day, I’ll play KASHMIR by Led Zepplin, and you can just bitch about how much your life sucks.

This is karaoke for people who would never go to karaoke. Or can’t sing.

 So we’re trying to redefine karaoke here. We want it to devolve into…something. Don’t know what. That’s up to the people who show up. For the beta-testing, the general feel was like we’re in an underground bunker during wartime, going for broke with one final party before the Nazis find us. We ended the night signing off by singing The Star Spangled Banner, everyone rose, sang at the top of their lungs. Hilarious, poignant, quite different than a usual karaoke night.

That’s what we know. The rest is up to you.

WHERE: VERMILLION GALLERY AND BAR – 1508 11th Ave, Seattle, WA 

WHEN: Debuts this Thursday, April 1st, from 8pm – 11pm, after First Thursday Artwalk

REGULAR RUN: Every other Wednesday, starting on April 7th AND for every First Thursday Artwalk, 8pm – 11pm

ADDMISSION: Free. Like butterflies.

WEBSITE: http://ffok.net/ (Do NOT mix the sweet-tarts with the Xanax)
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frances-Farmer-Organ-Karaoke/335630546494?v=info

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maus
maus
13 years ago

but vermillion is great, so i’ll probably give it a chance