The first song I remember ever learning the words to was "Delta Dawn" by Tanya Tucker. My older sister, Tracy, and I would play the forty-five single over and over again. If we were not sure of some specific word, we would just lift Mickey Mouse's finger (that was the stylus/needle), move it back a bit and repeat if necessary. Then we would discuss and reach a consensus. Once we had the song locked, as we did with that first one "Delta Dawn", we would each grab a hairbrush, jump up onto my bed (She was and is a girl. It was fine to jump around all over my bed, but she certainly was not going to have it in hers!) and sing our version to our legions of imaginary fans!
I moved on quickly from Tanya and "Delta Dawn" to "Detroit Rock City", "Love Gun", "Shock Me", etc. from KISS, and "Another One Bites the Dust", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", and "We Will Rock You" from Queen.
Karaoke seems to have been in my blood from a very early age; long, in fact, before I would ever know or even hear the word.
However, my taste in music had taken a turn as you can see, and would continue to move into more rebellious territory of punk and metal throughout my teenage years. Behind closed doors, I was also a very talented, trained musician for my school band playing the Saxophone from 12 to about 17 years of age.
All my exposure to music, from the classics of Beethoven, Mozart, and Strauss, to the walls of guitar and screaming from bands like AC/DC, The Clash, and Led Zeppelin insisted that once I was exposed to karaoke, that I simply SHOULD HATE it. So, hate it I did, for the first several years that karaoke became popular across the U.S.
In my opinion, if you had talent, you wrote your own music and worked your ass off to find an audience for it. That's what all the classical composers, punks, and metalheads who had informed my sensibilities had shaped me to believe and practice. The ultimate manifestation of this, WILD LOVE REBELLION, was born in 1992 upon my completion of studies for my Bachelor's of English--Creative Writing at the University of Kentucky.
Family, friends, and current girlfriend at that time were all very excited to see what my next steps would be. Medical School? MBA?
Nope.
"Hey, everybody. I honestly believe I can be of most good on this planet if I make art. I'm going to form a psychedelic punk hippie metal band called Wild Love Rebellion, and change the fucking world." Well, it wasn't exactly like that. Nowhere near that quick or compact nor as concise. In reality, there was a lot of stammering and avoidance...
WILD LOVE REBELLION was close to 5 years from first concept to implosion, and five of the most amazing years of my 47 so far.
<story continues below video>
WILD LOVE REBELLION "BET ON LIFE" VIDEO
"VOID" by WILD LOVE REBELLION
**I made the "Bet On Life" Video only using Windows Movie Maker. The video for "VOID" was shot and directed by me, and starred Jessica McGill Heim who was responsible for a great deal of the conceptualization during the shoot!***
During those years, if you had suggested I go sing karaoke, there very likely would have been very strong resistance at least in the form of screaming and profanity of many stripes, and possibly a real physical altercation. I simply found the word, the idea, and the entire practice to be INSULTING to MUSIC...And I? I was above it. AND? It--Karaoke-- was beneath me! (makes sense, right?)
Fast Forward to a few years following the disbanding of the band and the rebellion that was WILD LOVE REBELLION, and I was no longer a long-haired metal-punker in KY, but instead a short-haired, social spy, spreading ideas much easier with short hair and nice clothes. That new life took place in a place where I have always just found it difficult to be as upset about ANYTHING as I could when living in KY, and that place was Southern California.
At the age of 30, and pulling across the state-line into CA, I felt truly "at home" for the first time in my whole life and had not even unpacked my bags yet. My mind opened to a host of new things immediately upon moving to CA, but the only one we care to discuss here and now? KARAOKE.
After my friends in Irvine, CA found out I had been in a band, there were several occasions where they invited me to go out and sing karaoke with them. Usually, I politely turned them down. And then on one fateful day, a friend came to me and let me know that GIRL-X was going with them to the karaoke bar tonight because he knew I was very attracted to this girl but never had the opportunity to discuss anything besides work. He assured me that she MENTIONED me and mentioned WANTING TO HEAR ME SING...
That night, I went to karaoke for my first time. GIRL-X did not show up (she showed up to other stuff, we did hook up and it turned into one of the real-life worst nightmares of my entire romantic life--- another story for another time!). Because she wasn't there, I proceeded to drink far more than I should have, or normally would.
Thinking I was clever, I had put in the song "Love Will Keep Us Together" by Captain and Tennille...then proceeded to drunkenly forget I had ever done so. Neither the KJ nor my friends were letting me off the hook. I swayed to my feet and stumbled to the microphone. "Love!..."
It really was fun, but still not my thing for the most part. I mean, I had really only come to hang with this girl who never showed up, and only sang the song out of obligation. My buddy, FRIEND-J, pulled me aside and out to the parking lot to hit a bowl of some very potent bud.
"Hey", FRIEND-J said to me. "Just so you know we're out here hitting this right now because-- DON'T GET MAD-- I put you in for another song. No Listen. I want you to do one you can get into. GIRL-X never showed up and you still did that stupid Captain and Tennille song-- and honestly, dude? -- you should be GLAD she wasn't here for that. I mean I get it and all. But seriously, it was terrible. Awful."
"Thanks" I said to FRIEND-J dryly. "Thanks and Fuck you, dude. What song did you put in?"
FRIEND-J puffed the bowl so it was glowing red then handed it to me "Hit it", he instructed before continuing, "SUBLIME, man." He exhaled. "I put you in for 'What I Got'. I hear you sing it all the time-- you'll kill it, and I'm gonna come up and do the middle with you. COME ON!"
We went back in and sang had more fun, but I alone was disturbed at the very positive reaction we received to the very terrible version I knew we had just delivered.
After we got done, the whole group wanted me to explain my misgivings with Karaoke and I explained exactly how SHITTY I thought most of the singers to be, including myself, not understanding why they couldn't practice and really become good singers.
"Because, you dumbass", some other friend said, "Because if you can do that, you do that and you really go sing! This is karaoke. It's supposed to be shit. Well, it's supposed to be fun! Whether it's shit or not!"
As we talked and I continued to not just listen, but really WATCH the glee with which nearly everyone delivered their songs-- and sometimes the shittier the version, the more gleeful the singer, my epiphany struck me with all the force of a lightning bolt and my attitude toward Karaoke changed forever. My opinion was exactly 180 degrees different, in fact, for the first few years I would go to karaoke bars. All of a sudden, if singers WERE good instead of shitty, I took some kind of offense.
What the hell was someone who could sing that good doing here? My level of comfort and fun with karaoke grew slowly over the next years.
Then one day in 2012, I walked into The CARRIAGE HOUSE in San Diego. I stumbled onto the place while out exploring the area around the first place I lived here, in Clairemont. After "stumbling in on that fateful day, I would stumble out nearly every weekend for the past 4 years! There is a SPECIAL VIBE on that bar, and on the patrons and staff who inhabit, bringing it to life daily, 7 days a week.
Those first few times, I hung out there, the welcoming energy of atmosphere and crowd there became addictive. I would stand quietly, waiting for my turn, drinking Jack and Coke, simply fascinated with every single singer who would walk up and grab the microphone. Some were old, some were young. There were people of every ethnicity, sexual preference, musical tastes and/or exhibition of fashion... Some singers would walk up and humbly CRUSH the song they sang, and some would swagger up and cockily belt out the most terrible version of about every song you could think of.
I loved all of them equally. The whole experience was quite addictive for me. Addictive and inspirational. As I would drink and watch, my mind would wander as to the specifics of each person to take the mic, and often ponder about many girls and women who never sang at all. My mind would begin to consider every option that could have led that person to that microphone and delivering that amazing version of X or that horrifying version of Y.
My mind would then follow them out of the bar and into potential futures, sometimes pairing them with other patrons, sometimes with ciphers who bubbled into existence only to serve the purpose of moving them to the next point on my "mental chess board". Stories flooded into my mind regularly.
It did not take long for me to decide that I had to write a story and that this bar would have to be THE MAIN CHARACTER. And almost immediately after that, the decision was made that this story should and would be a movie. I worked for over a year on a story called "CARRY ME HOME" which will still be produced at some point (another story for another time. AGAIN). The story on this movie, while fairly simple is framed within a very specific structure that will definitely present certain challenges.
Following a brief conversation with a friend at The CARRIAGE HOUSE one night about exactly that, I decided that I would NOT write just the one story (one movie), but instead would work on a trilogy of stories and that the first one written (CARRY ME HOME) would likely be the last one ever to be shot simply due to its much more complex narrative structure.
My great love of crime, horror, pulp, noir and several other very specific influences made coming up with the basic CORE of the story for "The END of FUN" to manifest almost like magic. (SEE previous post for the actual scratch paper where I started developing the idea over a Jack and Coke).
A lot fell into place for me when I decided to bring a near fatal incident that had occurred about a year previous to this decision, as a major influence into the plot. I was thinking about the physical attack that had left my face, especially teeth, crushed on that fateful evening when a VERY BEAUTIFUL GIRL walked into the bar. A girl I had never seen before.
As my mind began tracing the potential scenarios that had brought her there, I started imagining all the scenarios that might have us leaving together. (DID I MENTION THAT SHE WAS HOT? And about 20 years younger than me???). Each of the scenarios my mind generated with us leaving together ended worse than the previous.
It was kind of depressing for about a split second, as I let my hyperactive imagination prevent me from ever saying word one to the girl, but then it all hit me. THIS WAS THE STORY.
HERE IS THE BASIC PLOT OF "THE END OF FUN":
A guy in his mid 40's walks into his regular hangout and a beautiful stranger a true femme fatale, leads him into the worst night of his life.
COME BACK SOON AND OFTEN GUYS! Feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, and questions below! SPREAD THE WORD! "The END of FUN" is COMING!!!
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