Jamie's Birthday Celebration

In April, my seester, Jamie celebrated her Birthday at Gabe's for Karaoke!  I made Dinner for her a couple nights earlier and we were able to hang out while I baked her Birthday cupcakes that I was bringing to Gabe's and gave her, her gift.  We also got some tears in while watching 'Moulin Rouge,' because the night needed that too!

Alan & Jamie at Karaoke!

Pat Benatar - 'Heartbreaker'

Toto - 'Hold The Line'

Bon Jovi - 'It's My Life

Journey - 'Separate Ways'

Tracy Chapman - 'Give Me One Reason'
"Les Miserables" - 'I Dreamed A Dream'
Melissa Etheridge - 'I'm The Only One

We kicked off the Birthday night with some rock & roll.  My new song was Bon Jovi's 'It's My Life' and I had a little help from Adam thankfully.  I'm actually far better at the harmony than the regular chorus since it's so high but it was really fun.  Adam and I already knew the song for "Project Mayhem" so that made things a little easier too.  Of course, there was rocking out with Journey, dancing, a "Les Miserables" super-set, and losing our voices by the end of the night.

The gorgeous Birthday Girl & my Seester!

Jamie had a bunch of friends come by for Karaoke night and they sang too so that was super fun!  We all toasted to her with plenty of cocktails and shots, sang lots of songs, had some themes, and sang 'Happy Birthday!' Overall, it was a fabulous celebration and hopefully we'll have some new Karaoke fans and regulars out of her awesome friends!

April Karaoke!

April was a really fun month of Karaoke!  I've been Hosting at Gabe's for five years so we celebrated my Anniversary in the second week.  It was really busy with lots of friends and regulars coming in to sing and join the celebration!  We also celebrated Jamie's Birthday the following week but I'm going to post a separate blog about that!  Let's hope this month of May is just as exciting :)

Tom Petty - 'Free Fallin'

La Roux - 'Bulletproof'

Dolly Parton - 'Jolene'

Whitesnake - 'Is This Love'

N'SYNC - 'This I Promise You'

Foo Fighters - 'Everlong'

Smashing Pumpkins - 'Stand Inside Your Love'

Garbage - 'Special'

Amy Winehouse - 'You Know I'm No Good'

Bon Jovi - 'Wanted Dead Or Alive'

No Doubt - 'Spiderwebs'

Prince - 'Little Red Corvette'

Allison Krauss - 'When you Say Nothing At All'

The Eagles - 'I Can't Tell You Why' 

The first week started late since the Kings game was on and it was fairly busy so I just sang a couple times.  I opened with my new song of the night, 'Free Fallin'' by Tom Petty.  He's a fun artist to sing so I decided to keep the energy going on my second song and then slow it down towards the end of the night.  It had been a while since I sang all my songs that week.  

Since we celebrated my Anniversary the second week I had a little Black & White Formal theme and suggested everyone sing Anniversary or Love songs.  'This I Promise You' by N'SYNC was a new song for me and from my very first relationship ever.  Always good memories!  The second song I did was 'Everlong' by the Foo Fighters and I raised the key which helped me out.  My girlfriend, Kristina, always promised me I'd get my 'Everlong,' and that someone one day would write a song just for me.  This song was played for me by a really good friend when I first met him years ago and I got my own song (actually a few) a couple years later.  That's where the final song of the night came in.  I saw the Smashing Pumpkins a few years ago and realized how beautiful their lyrics were and in my relationship at the time we talked about using 'Stand Inside Your Love' as our future Wedding song.  It's beautiful and was also a new song of the night for me.  Overall, the Anniversary Party was a blast!  Thanks to Adam for the flowers and to all my friends for coming out and making the night so special <3

Jamie, Adam, Marty, and I on my Five Year Anniversary of Hosting Karaoke at Gabe's!

This last week in April was super slow so Nick, Jamie, and I sang quite a bit.  I added a bunch of songs to my history and since we wanted to honor Prince we all sang a song by him.  My Mom's favorite Prince song is 'Little Red Corvette' so I decided to sing that for my new song.  Let's just say, either my Mom didn't really know the lyrics or if she did, she didn't admit it, because they're pretty wild.  I was almost a little shy singing them!  I decided to sing Alison Krauss later in the night doing 'When You Say Nothing At All,' and got a little teary-eyed.  I sang that at my High School Cabaret one year and saw my Mom crying in the audience and got choked up singing it in the Cabaret and still feel that way every time I sing it.  Even though it was a slow night it was nice to catch up with friends and have everyone trying some new music.

It was a really great month of Karaoke with lots of new music.  I'll be back in Wisconsin for a week but this month should bring some new people and fun as well!

Halloween Karaoke at Gabe's

Bring back the 90's!  We always celebrate Halloween at Gabe's with costumes and fun, at least my friends and I do.  This year's theme was 90's musician's and artists, and in all actuality, we welcome anyone coming in costume to the bar, especially when we're still a couple days away from Halloween!

I decided to go as Paula Abdul who broke out in the late 80's and early 90's.  'Forever Your Girl' was my personal theme, tights, pumps, leather jacket, and crop top.  I was actually pretty proud of my look and just slightly changed it up for a couple of the songs that I did.  Jamie had come as Alanis Morisette doing her 'Ironic' hairstyle and 90's flair.  Rachel came as Lady Gaga, and she served a healthy dose of her Poker Face in that amazing costume!  Neil had dressed as Billy Corgan, channeling his 'Zero' days and then swapped to 2Pac but might have been mistaken for Sir Ben Kingsley or Edward Norton in "American History X."  We also had a couple other costumes, Steve Jobs, Charlize Theron's character from "Mad Max," and then got some people into the theme of singing some great 90's music.

Costumes for Halloween Karaoke at Gabe's!

My songs for the night were 'Opposites Attract,' 'Cold-Hearted Snake,' 'Straight Up,' and my new song was 'Rush, Rush.'  It was nice that everyone knew all her songs and got my Paula vibe.  Neil stuck to the Smashing Pumpkins doing some of their hits including 'Everasting Gaze' which I had never heard before but yet again, another great Pumpkins rock song.  Jamie and Rachel both sang in their artists book but then stepped out and did some other songs as well.

Overall, it ended up being a pretty busy Wednesday night, and I think we all got more excited that Halloween was just a couple days away.  It was a great beginning to the Halloween festivities and got us in the mood for the party we all were going to that weekend!  I hope everyone else had a really fun Halloween as well and I apologize for the late post :)

Halloween Karaoke at Gabe's!

Too much fun singing
Sonny & Cher

In typical Halloween Week fashion, I Host Karaoke at Gabe's and people get dressed up and sing songs in character or just join in the festivities and wear costumes.  I do suggest dressing up as a musician, singer, musical group, or band, but all costumes are welcome.  It's always a fun night and although we normally do the Halloween Costume Contest on Wednesday, they saved it for Saturday this year because Gabe's had a band on Friday night of Halloween.  It still ended up being a really busy night of great music!

Rita Hayworth & Cher

Jamie and I got ready together and I was dressing up as Cher and she went as Rita Hayworth.  I sang all Cher songs including two duets, 'I Got You Babe' with her friend, Brad, who was dressed as Obi Wan Kenobi, and also a new song, 'After All' with Marcus (originally sang by Cher & Peter Cetera).  Jamie sang a lot of Jazz music, starting with some Ella Fitzgerald and a song from "Thoroughly Modern Millie."  She later joined Spark as they sang 'Come What May' from "Moulin Rouge."  Spark had the whole bar dancing to 'Jump in the Line' from "Beetlejuice."

Even though we had a full house of singers, not as many people were in costume this year because Halloween was falling on a Friday.  I had opened the night with 'The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)' and after my initial costume which had a more 70's vibe, I swapped into Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" Tour look, except toned down, because Cher is Cher, and you just can't mess with that ;)  I sang 'I Found Someone' and then closed out the night with another new song, 'Just Like Jesse James' which brought some true emotion because the lyrics are awesome!

It was a really fun night with good friends and always sets the fun factor for the Halloween week to come!  It was another successful Halloween Karaoke in the books!

Birthday Photo Post...1 Month into my 30's!

I can't believe it's already been a month since I turned 30!  I had a week-long celebration with friends, had a crazy couple of weeks at work, and then traveled to Punta Cana in the Domincan Republic to spend a week with my family!  Since there were so many great photos from my Birthday Week I thought I'd post an extra blog just to share some more pictures from the fun week I spent with so many awesome friends!

Karaoke Birthday Night with Jamie!

Love this girl :)

JB & I...Friends for nearly 8 years!

Kristina + Lyndsey = Rockstars!

It's been a great welcome to my 30's :)