I’ll Be The Judge

Singing karaoke isn’t really my thing.

I know… I’m the hostess of Karaoke Apocalypse which, technically, is karaoke. But to me, KA is a rock band with guest lead singers. And although I’ve taken the mic plenty of times with my bandmates, I’ve only done traditional karaoke once. In celebration of Halloween. At Beerland. And it was Whitney Houston’s “The Greatest Love of All.”

So, yeah… karaoke… not my thing.

But… being judgemental can be a fun way to pass the time. (What’s that saying? “If you don’t have anything nice to say, come sit over here by me.”

When the National Karaoke League (NKL) asked me to judge their NKL Texas Karaoke Showdown on Sunday night, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be Simon Cowell.

I’m one of five “celebrity judges” (!!!), along with:

• Chris Rew, Comedian
• Talena Martinez, executive director of the Austin Children’s Theater
• Henri Mazza, Alamo Drafthouse Genius
• Jon and Drew, hosts of Beerland’s Rock and Roll Karaoke

The competition is among eight teams — five previous NKL champs and three wild card teams. They go vocal chords-to-vocal chords in three rounds: solo, karaoke roulette, and group. While only one team member can sing during the first two rounds, other team members are encouraged to dance, frolick, and do anything other than sing to help their performer win.

The judges panel is scoring in three categories: vocal quality, total performance, and crowd interaction/response. Ties will be broken with a secret ballot. (oooh! secret ballot!)

The Showdown is being held at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar at 9:30 p.m. Come on out and watch the show with Dave and me. It’s a nice low-key, Sunday night, “get out of the house” activity… and you know it’s going to be mega-entertaining.

Tickets are $8 — get ’em here.

And in case karaoke is your thing, here’s more info on the NKL.

The National Karaoke League is the home of competitive, team-based karaoke in America. Every season, each NKL division host weekly competitions for men and women ages 21 and up, in which league members sing their hearts out as members of “karaoke teams”. Everyone in the host bar gets to vote for their favorite teams and performers across three rounds, and at the end of each season one team is crowned “National Karaoke Champions.”