Meet up with the Seattle Karaoke Stars
at www.meetup.com
Karaoke enthusiasts come together through a website
and a common interests

By Fred Umayam

Isn’t technology great? Just 10 to 15 years ago we could never have imagined some of the conveniences that we enjoy today. Pictures and videos taken and transmitted from your cell phone, the realistic graphic capabilities of video games and HDTV, copy machines networked from coast to coast, the ease of telecommunications and being able to keep in touch with the world from the convenience of your home computer.
How has the karaoke industry benefited from technology? Well, in the last few years the rapid growth and success of the karaoke industry can be partially attributed to technology, especially through computers. Many karaoke establishments have been able to increase their music selections easier via several karaoke sites. It has allowed many people to own and enjoy their favorite karaoke songs through downloads, etc. The internet has become an essential part of our lives for information and communications.
Keeping in contact with friends and loved ones online is not only efficient, but it’s also affordable. You can practically do it for free! Anybody with a computer can search for just about anything online and find it! That’s exactly what Brooker did a year and a half ago, while using a search engine looking for karaoke groups. Brooker is your average karaoke enthusiast that happened to find a website that catered to groups in general. From this group site, he discovered the Seattle Karaoke Stars, a group formed for karaoke enthusiasts like him located in Seattle. The site is www.meetup.com.
Meetup.com is a website that was established for groups. It’s like an online organizer that offers everything you need to establish and maintain your group. It shows you how to keep in contact with members, post events, print event brochures, make signage for events, etc.
At the time Brooker discovered the group, it only had 2 members. These two members were listed but they were not active. There are hundreds of groups listed in meetup.com Each group on meetup.com has an organizer to make announcements and post events, etc. Since no one had stepped-up to become the organizer, Brooker decided to be the organizer of the Seattle group. He originally just wanted to find other karaoke singers to sing with because most of his friends weren’t into karaoke.
Brooker, whose real name is Eric, says when he was growing up in the Ballard area, there were a lot of guys named Eric in his classes. So he got his nickname by shortening his last name which is Bruckbauer.
Enjoying karaoke ever since he was old enough to be in a bar, he really established a passion for karaoke while spending time in Japan as an English teacher. He and his co-workers enjoyed going to karaoke establishments all the time. In Japan, most of the karaoke is done in private rooms that seat around 8 to 10 people. That would certainly limit the rotation time to sing again! You can order your food and drinks right to your room. Although that was nice, cozy and you can sing a lot, it’s not the same as singing in front of a larger group, in front of strangers.
The music that Brooker likes to listen to mostly is heavy metal rock. Typically that kind of music is not widely available in most karaoke shows, so the type of music he ends up singing is R&B, Rap and Oldies. Brooker loves visiting the various karaoke establishments in the Seattle area and recently won one of the top prizes in a contest that the Seattle group attended.
Being a relatively new reader of the NW Karaoke and Entertainment Guide, he now has the best resource for karaoke entertainment, contests and events at his disposal that he can pickup almost anywhere that has karaoke entertainment.
In late July, I had the pleasure of meeting the Seattle Karaoke Stars as they chose the Yen Wor Village Restaurant in West Seattle to have one of their group get togethers. I happened to be hosting that evening and saw Toby, aka T4, with a tabletop sign for “SEATTLE KARAOKE STARS” members to see which table(s) they were meeting at. I talked with T4 about the group and was immediately intrigued with what they were doing. Shortly after that, several other members showed up and they all put on a great show.
Diana Slater, the assistant organizer and official photographer of the group brought her digital camera, as she always does. She is not shy to take pictures!
The next day, as I went to the site, I was surprised to see the pictures already posted. Diana also has a great talent of adding clever captions to the pictures that she posts. I became a member.
Both Brooker and Diana check the site regularly, promptly welcoming new members and entering new messages and events. What a concept! Establishing a proactive group that has a willingness and desire to meet with each other and organize the events online! You can sign up for free, the group is very energetic and growing fast too! As of the writing of this article there were 49 members in the group. The Seattle group is the 9th largest in the country. It’s a new and exciting idea for me! Just in the last month they’ve had several group gatherings and four new members. There is also a group out of Tacoma that is starting to grow also.
If you are interested in organizing a group in your area, it’s fairly simple to do, details are available online. As a karaoke host, it’s a great way to get an instant crowd for a contest or karaoke event. The Seattle Karaoke Stars have been going to area contests and showing up as a group, winning some prize money along the way! You gotta love it!
If you are a karaoke host or owner of an establishment that has karaoke entertainment, it might be in your best interest to become an active member of this group. It’s a great way to make new friends and hang out with a talented group of singers who just want to “meetup” and have a great time!
So, on behalf of Brooker and Diana, thank you for checking out the Seattle Karaoke Stars on www.meetup.com and we’ll hope to see you soon!