It’s nearing year’s end…and this has certainly been quite a year! The Karaoke industry is moving in new directions and Karaoke, as an entertainment medium, continues to flourish. Karaoke remains the number one form of live entertainment in Southern California with hundreds of venues from Ventura County to the Mexican border. And Karaoke Scene Magazine is delivered to all of them to be enjoyed by everyone.

The “Singer’s Showcase” right here on our extremely popular website, continues to be an overwhelming favorite with singers all around the world. This thing is really a blast! If you haven’t checked it out yet, you should because you have been missing a great time.

And for all you KJs out there, our “KJ Directory” at www.KaraokeScene.com is the perfect way to make sure the whole Karaoke world knows about you and your shows. Sign up now!

Our “Adventures of Karaoke Super Guy” series continues to evoke great response from our readers. Brigitte Wolf and Panos Papathopoulos have really put together something special here. We hope you all will continue to enjoy this light hearted, tongue in cheek Karaoke oriented super-hero fantasy.

And speaking of “Karaoke Super Guy,” when we first published the series we wondered what he might look like from the somewhat oblique description of him in the first installment. So, we decided to offer a prize to the person who submitted the best illustration of “Karaoke Super Guy” and his ordinary human counterpart, “Quincy Beanfang,” as chosen by our staff. We offered a $50 prize to the person whose drawings were chosen to represent our new Karaoke super hero. Although we had a number of submissions, unfortunately, in the opinion of our staff (and the writers), none of them quite hit the mark so we let it go for a while.

Well, we want to try it again. The writers are anxious to put a physical face and personality to the character and have asked us to please re-run the contest. It has been a while since the physical description of “Karaoke Super Guy” has appeared in print so, to refresh everyone’s memory, here is the portion of the first episode that describes him, both as a super hero and as an ordinary human.

Suddenly Quincy experienced a searing pain in his throat and his scalp felt like it was on fire. He turned to the mirror and couldn’t believe what he saw. Looking back at him was a stranger unlike anyone he had ever seen before. He was completely bald (with a weird criss-cross type pattern on his scalp, almost like the head of a microphone), muscular with handsome chiseled features and was adorned with a kind of suit which looked like it had been made from parts of his living room.

It was a typical evening for Karaoke singer, Quincy Beanfang, a 25 year old male nurse of slight build and quite ordinary looks.

Please be sure to submit a drawing of both entities, “Karaoke Super Guy” and “Quincy Beanfang.”

Please send your submissions for “Karaoke Super Guy” by email to info@KaraokeScene.com or you may mail them to:

Karaoke Scene
PO Box 2633
Cypress, CA 90630

Sorry, we cannot return the submissions.

Good luck to all of you!

Don’t forget, you can see your own photos in Karaoke Scene Magazine. We are still accepting photos from all over the world Karaoke community for publication in future issues. We appreciate all the folks who have sent us their photos and hope to hear from more of you in the future. Here are just a few suggestions:

Your photos should be about singing.
Please make sure your photos are sharp and clear.
Please be sure your photos are in a digital format (jpeg files); no prints.

Please send your photos by email to photos@KaraokeScene.com or, if you have a lot of them, you may put them on a CD and mail them to:

Karaoke Scene
PO Box 2633
Cypress, CA 90630

We look forward to receiving them.

Our staff is very busy working on the upcoming SongBurst ‘09 Singing Competition, the winter’s biggest singing contest, which will begin on February 14 (Valentine’s Day), 2009 at the Orange County Market Place. SongBurst will again offer both an adult (18 and older) and junior (17 and younger) contest. There will be thousands in cash and prizes as well as a terrific time for all, individuals and families alike. You can check out all the details at www.KaraokeScene.com and, of course, in our next issue.

Congratulations!!! Three time KJ of the Year winner for Orange County, CA, Donna Thomas raised a phenomenal $18,079 for the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles during her annual gala fundraiser at the TomKat Lounge in Buena Park. Karaoke Scene salutes Donna Thomas and all of the many folks who unselfishly gave so much of their time and money to help these children who need it so much.

 KaraokeFest 2008 has come to a close…but what a party it was! This was, by far, the biggest and best “Fest” ever with the finals for 3 major singing competitions and 5 Karaoke stages going all day and night. And did they go! Most locations had a one to 2 hour rotation for most of the day!

First of all we want to thank our sponsors, VocoPro, Ace Karaoke and ProSound for their generous support and enthusiasm for this event. They make it possible to have this day-long celebration of Karaoke every year for all of us to enjoy. Please support these fine companies for all they do for Karaoke.

As for the event itself, 90 singers competed in the 3 contest finals, the Crème de la Kids, Crème de la King and Crème de la Crème. The competitions started at noon and didn’t finish until around 11:30pm. What a day of fantastic singing! The 24 children in the Crème de la Kids contest were really terrific as they melted everyone’s heart with their performances. The 16 Crème de la King competitors brought back the memory of Elvis in a huge way and ignited the stage with their colorful outfits and exciting renditions of classic Elvis tunes. And, of course, the 50 Crème de la King Finalists rocked the Fairgrounds for over 4 hours with sensational performances and world class singing.

Special thanks go to the phenomenally talented Shawn Parr for another perfect job of hosting the Crème de la Crème Finals Competition and to my good friend, Manny Pacheco, the best emcee for a huge event like this that anyone could ask for. And making her debut at KaraokeFest was KRTH 101 super radio personality, Sylvia Aimerito, hosting the Crème de la King Final Competition. She was superb!

Our sincere gratitude also goes out to Crème de la Kids host, Tony DeFazio and to Crème de la King Contest Coordinator, Tony Christina, for all their efforts in making the dream come true for all of their contestants. Many thanks also to all of the gracious volunteers who gave so much of their time and energy to make KaraokeFest so special for everyone.

We would like to acknowledge all of our Karaoke Expo Exhibitors, Ace Karaoke, ProSound, SingIt.TV (Ethermedia, Inc.), YourVideoke.com, Starlight Entertainment and Greg’s Pro Audio. We, and the Karaoke community, sincerely appreciate your participation at KaraokeFest 2008 and we hope to see you all again next year.

Don’t forget that, for a limited time, you can purchase your own professionally produced DVD of any or all of the exciting singing competitions at KaraokeFest this year…a perfect memento of all the fabulous performances that made KaraokeFest 2008 such an entertainment extravaganza. The Crème de la Kids and Crème de la King DVDs are only $19.95 each (+ S&H) and the Crème de la Crème DVDs are only $29.95 (+ S&H), or you can order all 3 for only $59.95 (+S&H). Order yours today at www.KaraokeScene.com or by calling (714) 826-2212.

Thanks also to our fabulous Karaoke Stage hosts at KaraokeFest this year, Ace Karaoke, Greg’s Pro Audio, Blue Collar Karaoke, Helen Scheuplein and L-N-J Productions. These talented people make KaraokeFest fun for everybody all day long and we want them to know how much they are appreciated.

And, of course, our prize sponsors, VocoPro, Ace Karaoke, ProSound, Good Time Karaoke, All Star Karaoke, Music Book Deluxe and Tricerasoft.com. Their generosity speaks for itself and these companies are certainly deserving of everyone’s support.

Now that this year’s KaraokeFest is over, we can all start looking forward to the next big Karaoke event in Southern California, SongBurst 2009 at the Orange County Market Place starting on Saturday, February 14th. There will be both an adult and a Junior competition with thousands in cash and prizes!

And speaking of SongBurst 2009, in planning the event with the Orange County Market Place, we are discussing adding a third competition, “Karaoke’s Got Talent.” This would be for Karaoke singers who have other talents besides singing such as dancers, jugglers, magicians, impressionists, ventriloquists, musicians, mimes, etc. A decision has not yet been made about whether to add this competition to the others. Is this something you would like to participate in? Is this something you would like to watch as part of the audience? Do you think it would add an exciting new dimension to the show? Please let us know your thoughts about this new concept by emailing us at info@KaraokeScene.com or by calling us at (714) 826-2212.

Happy Halloween and Thanksgiving to everyone from Karaoke Scene Magazine!

 KaraokeFest 2008 is looming like a huge cloud of excitement over Southern California. This year’s “Fest” will again take place, by popular demand, at the L.A. County Fair in Pomona on Saturday, September 13 th…that’s right, Saturday. As you may remember, last year was the first time we scheduled “Fest” on a Saturday and it turned out fantastic (especially not having to get up the next morning to go to work).

The Crème de la Kids Singing Competition Finals will kick things off at 12 noon. Tony DeFazio of Starlight Entertainment is once again the contest coordinator and has done a remarkable job looking after the youngsters and providing them with this opportunity to show off their talents, and believe me, there are some extraordinarily talented children who will be competing at KaraokeFest this year. The show time for the Crème de la Kids Finals Competition at KaraokeFest will be 12 noon.

Next comes the Crème de la King Singing Competition Finals. As you may know, we at Karaoke Scene are huge Elvis fans here so we are really looking forward to this one. Tony Christina will be coordinating this exciting event. The qualifying rounds for this contest will begin on August 11 th and continue through August 24 th. For more details please check out page 17 of this issue. The show time for the Crème de la King Finals Competition at KaraokeFest will be 3pm. And we are pleased to announce that the Crème de la King Finals will be hosted by prominent KRTH 101 radio personality, Sylvia Aimerito. Welcome aboard!

The Golden Achievement Award nominees are listed on page 16 of this issue. These are individuals and venues that have been voted best in their respective categories by the Southern California Karaoke community at large (this time including San Diego). The winners will be announced and awards presented at KaraokeFest by radio and television personality (and KJ extraordinaire), Manny Pacheco. However, these nominees are already all winners just by having been selected from the many hundreds of venues and thousands of individuals in Southern California Karaoke. The “Best” and “Most Supportive” Awards will be presented at 5pm. The KJ and Venue of the Year Awards will be presented at 8pm. It is very important that the nominees be at the event to receive their awards. And remember, the Golden Achievement Awards are truly the “Oscars” of Karaoke and the very best way for the Karaoke community to express their appreciation. So please be on hand to show your support for these talented people and special venues.

The Crème de la Crème Singing Competition continues to send shock waves of talent across Southern California all the way down to San Diego. It looks like it’s going to be a sensational show at KaraokeFest when the 50 finalists (25 male and 25 female) will compete for thousands in cash and prizes and the coveted title of Male & Female Karaoke Singers of the Year (not to mention being flown to Salt Lake City for their very own recording session at the new “Home & Castle” recording facility, courtesy of the fine folks at Priddis Music). We are so pleased to have wildly popular L.A. radio and television personality, Shawn Parr, back as the host of the Crème de la Crème Finals Competition this year. Shawn always does a remarkable job hosting this event and we understand that he has some new surprises for everyone this year. Can’t wait to see what he’s got in store for us.

And don’t forget, in addition to the main show, there will be multiple Karaoke stages located throughout the Fairgrounds where everybody can sing all day long. Last year a bunch of folks made it a point to sing at each and every stage at least once. Sounds like a lot of fun!

Then there’s the Karaoke Expo featuring Karaoke & music industry related vendors who will be there to exhibit and/or sell their latest products. Visiting the Expo is always a great experience. The Expo will be located in very close proximity to the main stage where our show will be taking place. Be sure to make it a point to visit the Karaoke Expo.

All you need to enjoy all of the special events and activities of KaraokeFest 2008 is a ticket to the L.A. County Fair which can be purchased at many retail store locations throughout Southern California. You can also go to www.LACountyFair.com and purchase your tickets there.

Karaoke Scene would like to thank our sponsors, Ace Karaoke, VocoPro and ProSound. KaraokeFest would not be possible without the generous support of these fine companies so please show them your support.

The Karaoke Scene staff looks forward to seeing all of you at KaraokeFest this year on Saturday, September 13 th. Gates open at 10am and the “Fair” is open till midnight. See you there!