Kar-eee-oooooooooh-keeeeeeeee!

edited June 2012 in JoCo Music
Since JoCo fans -- both Sea Monkeys and Land Ponies -- seem to be very enthusiastic about karaoke, I figured it made sense to start a topic about it. I created some MP3 and CD+G karaoke files of JoCo songs, some of which were used in the performances on JCCC2. (Jason Roop also did some of them, and JoCo himself did some.) I've also done the only (as far as I know) Paul and Storm karaoke track, and am working on a couple that contain alternative lyrics for JoCo songs. And I believe that I've also done the only Marian Call CD+G file (for "Love and Harmony," of course).

None of the Artificial Heart karaoke tracks are up on JoCo's Web site yet. Should they be? What other karaoke would folks like to see created? (The particular Creative Commons license used by JoCo, Paul and Storm, and many other artists allows it automatically if it's not for profit. Also, most artists recognize that it's good publicity and will grant permission for tracks to be created even if there is a charge for them.) Has anyone here performed JoCo karaoke for a non-Sea Monkey audience... and, if so, how did they respond?

Comments

  • As far as a non Sea Monkey audience goes, my daughter wants to go on Britain's Got Talent (I haz a shame) and sing JoCo. She hasn't picked a song but that would have to be pretty eric if it happened.
  • Did you mean "epic?"

    Yes, it would.
  • Yes I do, but ever since a phone text autocorrect it has been 'eric' in our house. What can I say it amused me.
  • Eric the half-a-bee?
  • Some freak from a menagerie?
  • NO! It's Eric the Half-a-Bee!
  • You are never more than 10 feet from a Monty Python skit...
  • They call it Six Degrees of Eric Idle.
  • Did you mean "Epic Idle"?
  • Either that or Bruce.
  • edited June 2012
    Idle Bruce? Laziest memba' of the Philosaphy Depaertment of the UNivers'ty a' Wollamaloo, mate!
  • Actually my name's Michael.

  • Thet's gonna cause sam' confusion 'round here - we'll just call ya "Bruce" ta keep it clear. Crack the tubes! Too right mate!
  • One of the more recent hires on my team is named Bruce.  Most of my co-workers didn't know the sketch and just stared at me as I sang the drinking song.  I was horribly disappointed.
  • I've done JoCo karaoke for non-Sea Monkey audiences. Depends on the audience. Some of the more straightforward songs like Re: Your Brains and First of May have been enjoyed. If you pick something a bit more 'deep' audiences just don't get it and if you care about the audiences' reactions I would avoid doing them.
  • Did you get them to sing along with "Re: Your Brains?"
  • edited June 2012
    Only my friends who already know the song, unfortunately
  • Oh… yeah, this is the thread I should have posted in. Silly me.

    I performed First of May for a non-sea-monkey audience, but the audience was rather small (it was early in the evening, and basically only my friends were there) and I don't think they could hear me most of the time anyway because I didn't know how to use the mic properly. I know @RandalSchwartz has performed quite a few JoCo songs to non-seamonkey audiences at random cruise stops around the place.

    Are you allowed to share your Love and Harmony file? That might be a fun thing to sing at my friend's karaoke party. :)
  • Every year around May 1st at some gathering or another friends demand I sing First of May. Usually to everyone's amusement.
  • By "non-sea-monkey" do you mean the very large number of Joco fans who were unable to attend any of the voyages, or are you talking about the even larger number of poor, sad people in the world who have not yet been introduced to the wonderfulness which is JoCo. How sad it must be to live lives without songs of squids, robots, monkeys, and lovesick vampires.
  • I assumed he meant the poor, sad people, but said 'non-sea-monkey' simply because we had karaoke nights on the cruise where we could sing exclusively to sea monkeys, which for most of us is the only opportunity to sing to an audience full of JoCo fans anyway, and for that reason, for some people it was the only time they dared sing karaoke at all. (JoCo fans make such a supportive audience.)

    Those poor people. But lately, I've met several people who knew of JoCo and didn't hear about him from me, so at least the fun is spreading.
  • There's a sizeable group of JoCo fans here in Laramie; that's one of the reasons I've made MIDI arrangements of many of his songs for my vocal range. Like this one of "The Future Soon" for a geek girl's birthday party (by request of the birthday girl). Would be nice if he came to visit one day; we have a big university campus for him to play.
  • Small observation- "Performed for fellow JoCo fans" is nicely inclusive.  "Non-sea-monkey" refers not only those who have never heard of JoCo, but also the rest of us who haven't been on any cruises. 

    It makes me feel rather like a non-star-bellied Sneetch without enough money to go through Sylvester McMonkey McBean's star-on machine...
  • Agreed; we have to remember that there are people here who didn't go on the cruise, some of whom have been fans and involved in this community for a very long time, and they're just as awesome as the ones who did. (I wish they could all go on the cruise, partly so they could experience it, but also just so I could meet them. If only there were some fair way to arrange a sea monkey scholarship fund.)
  • ...or an event that's not on a b#$%^& }}}}}

    NO CARRIER

  • Oh @BrettGlass, someday (hopefully soon) we will get the w00tstock festival, which most would argue is on the same level of awesome as the cruise and you will have the land-based event of your dreams.
  • I think @BrettGlass got distracted by his enthusiam for concerts and festivals far above sea level and forgot to answer my question. Are you allowed to share your Love and Harmony karaoke file?
  • edited June 2012
    Love and Harmony has two authors. Marian has posted a note on her Web site saying that she doesn't mind any not-for-profit use of her stuff, so all I'd need to do is check with the other author -- Joel Hermansen -- to be sure. I'm pretty sure Joel will say it's OK.

    Legally, the rule is that anyone can perform anything live (that's free speech). But publishing and commercial exploitation usually require permission. (For example, an establishment where performances occur may need to pay fees to a performing rights organization.) There's also some question as to whether compulsory mechanical licenses cover karaoke. (Most people assumed they did until recently, when one US District Court ruled that a synchronization license was required. But that court doesn't have jurisdiction throughout the whole US, so the waters are now muddied.)

    The upshot of all of this: I can definitely make a karaoke file and use it myself, or bring it to a karaoke event, without asking anyone. I can probably also give it to a few people privately, if they agree that it's not for publication. But unless the author has already granted blanket permission (e.g. via a Creative Commons-type license), it's best to get permission before putting it up for everyone to download.
  • Well, I went to the friend's karaoke party I mentioned in the other thread. I brought my half-pony half-monkey monster, just in case anyone sang Skullcrusher Mountain (I knew most of the people there would know Still Alive, and a few knew some other popular JoCo songs.) I showed the fake-birthday girl and her husband the ponkey while we were waiting for the karaoke bar to open, and it turned out the husband (despite being aware of JoCo) didn't know Skullcrusher Mountain, so I decided to sing it myself, even though I was fairly sure I couldn't do all the high notes.

    I ran out of breath after the first few lines, and finished the song using anaerobic respiration, so that by the end of it I was nothing but a pool of molecular lactic acid eating a hole through the floor. BUT, then everyone sang Still Alive, and I miraculously was. It was fun. :) A couple of people sang along on Skullcrusher, and the guy who hadn't heard it before laughed at the appropriate places, rather than just laughing at my singing all the way through (there were a few other people who probably hadn't heard it before, but I couldn't really see their reactions.) Somebody asked me what my ponkey's name was, and we were both surprised to realise it didn't have one, so I said she could name it. My half-pony half-monkey monster is now named Consuela, after the maid in Family Guy.
  • Is it possible to find an accurate "Want You Gone"instrumental version for this? There are some edited versions, but they also remove bass, which is a lot of this song identity. I think Valve may have the rights to that, but still, did someone try to replicate to instruments?
  • I, too, am really hoping for a decent karaoke version of "Want You Gone" at least in time for the cruise.  It's one of the few songs that are entirely in my range. :)
  • Valve has the rights to the song, but they've never complained about covers of it. Would they feel differently about a karaoke track? Probably not, but it'd be easy to ask.
  • I once specifically asked JoCo whether those two Portal songs on his new album were Creative Commons licensed (because the packaging says they aren't, but he'd said something on Twitter to the effect that the whole album was CC) and he said they were.
  • Interesting. If we can get some confirmation of that, then we'll know we have not only mechanical but synchronization rights.
  • I just searched around for it, and I didn't find his tweet saying so, but I found a tweet from @Spektugalo asking if they were, and a slightly later reply (which happens to be about UltraStar karaoke files) implying that he got a positive answer (though Twitter won't show me the tweet it's replying to.) I think it was that reply that made me tweet at Jonathan saying something like 'Really? But it says on the CD packaging that they're not! Awesome!' (this was in September, months before I got my level 4 package, but I already had a CD because @aliceandstuff sent me one from PAX) and he probably did not actually reply to me to confirm that, but silently stuck to what he'd already said to Spektugalo.
  • @Khorino and @harmony760 Back when I used to design player pianos, I somehow kept "forgetting" to implement a karaoke function. "Oops! Gotta fix that damper-pedal squeak" I'd blurt. In short, I have not traditionally been a big karaoke booster.

    But I just got some new hardware and software, so I figured my first experiment should involve ruining a perfectly good recording. Here is a lead-vocal-minimized (but not completely obliterated) version of "Want You Gone (Elegant Too Remix)."
  • @srdownie Yeah, it would be great if it weren't for sometimes that you still can hear him and the bass being also removed. I hope that we can get a complete version someway.
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