I know the feeling of frustration when a karaoke performance hasn’t gone as well as I’d hoped. We’ve all been there. But fortunately, I’ve never lost self-control to the point where I took my disappointment out on the audience.
On Tuesday night, patrons at Cabana Jacks in Sandusky, Ohio were not so lucky. During the karaoke show, a performer was booed while on stage. I have to say, in all my karaoke travels I have rarely seen singers dissed in that manner, no matter how atrocious the performance. So this guy must have really sucked. And it was bad enough that the audience had to endure his vocal struggles. But The Smoking Gun reports that the failed singer did not take criticism well. He angrily tossed down the mic, and proceeded to get himself ejected from the premises — only to return and go on a rampage. During his encore appearance, he allegedly punched no fewer than three bargoers in the face.
The Smoking Gun article has a link to the official police report for this incident. Disappointingly, the police report makes no mention of what song this dude was booed for singing. What kind of detective work is that? 🙂 (Editor’s note: Cabana Jacks has not responded to a request to identify the song in question). Anyway, the guy is lucky his sorry performance didn’t occur in the Philippines. If it had, he might have ended the night at the morgue rather than the county jail . . .
Sing karaoke responsibly, folks!
H-Bomb's Worldwide Karaoke 
The KJ who does the shows at Neighbors (in northern VA) won’t stand for patrons that boo the singers. People refusing to calm down have been relocated to other rooms (or from the bar if they refuse to cooperate at all.)
His rule about this (along with several others) is printed in large type on the back cover of all the song books, so nobody can say he didn’t know. (Other rules include one-song-at-a-time, no dropping hitting or otherwise damaging the mics, and no free-style rapping.)
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@David: I have to wonder how many people look at the back cover of the songbook. Anyway, does your KJ also have a rule against singers who physically attack audience members? 🙂
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I don’t know if it’s explicit on the rule list, but the KJ (who used to be Army special-ops) also acts as bouncer. I’ve seen him toss out people who get violent either towards people or the equipment.
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