rULES
rules of submissions to my site. this one you DO have to agree with
to make it fair for everyone involved, especially me, we need to have some guidelines as to how submissions work. this is not a granite monolith. it is a way of making it so everyone does their fair share of work and to make it as labor un-intensive for me. i have a hard time keeping up with what i get now and it only gets busier each month so please help me out here
regular shows: when you send me submissions here's how it has to work. you MUST send me all the information i need for the listing or you don't get it. fair enough? i'm not charging you for this so i don't think it's too much to ask. what is the information i need, you ask......here it is:
COUNTY
DAY OF WEEK
NAME OF BAR
and TIMES
ACTUAL STREET ADDRESS OF BAR
and TOWN IT'S IN
PHONE NUMBER OF BAR
NAME OF HOSTING COMPANY
if you look closely it is in the same format that i list it on my pages. coincidence? i doubt it. i spend a LOT of time maintaining this page and people usually only notice if i am too busy to list THEIR show. everyone who sends me a listing has obviously seen how my site works so why is it such a mystery why i need all this info to do it? please don't send me incomplete info which will from this point forward will sit in my inbox for all eternity
here's how the flow of logic works: if you send me info you must have been there, right? so what's the big deal to grab complete, accurate information for when you get home and start typing away to email me about it. think about it. a business card, a song slip, a napkin. anything you can simply write it down on. i don't have ESP folks, nor did madam Cleo come to work for me after her TV-psychic fiasco, magically conjuring up karaoke info for me to put on my site.
this site is essentially USER generated!!!!!
yes, i administer it but YOU people write it! at least the show listings pages. if you think i'm out of line or on my pedestal here think about this next time you go to a show you found through my website: how did that show info get there?
updates: when you send updates, changes etc... please, please send me the county the show is in and the day of the week on my site. i don't need an entire new, complete listing if it is already on my site. however, if you send me something like a host change at a particular show etc... i DO need to know what county and day of the week it is when you send it. if it's something near my house (you know who you are) than i'll know if you just say, "yo, dude. change me from tuesdays to wednesdays at Looney Lounge". but the majority of shows around the state i have no clue about since i haven't been there and i don't remember what county every town with every bar is in florida. LOL .........bottom line is i don't have the site memorized so any help you can give me is appreciated
hosts' page: the hosts' page is also user-generated but you guys can put as little as you want there. that's just advertising for you directly. if you just want a name that's your call and your loss. however, whatever you want me to put there MUST be in the correct format!!!!! i'm not writing a book on every person but what you send me will be what you see. i have a nameless host who constantly sends me stuff in the worst, mind-numbing penmanship with no punctuation, capitalization or anything else that resembles coherence. it's hard to even read, nevermind publish. should i start charging for layout here? i'm not a walking dictionary (and spelling corrections on my site are appreciated!) but c'mon people. give a little and help out......please. this is for you!
contests............use a little common sense. some people seem to use that page for extra notariety for a regular show that they happen to give away a prize at. a contest is something that has a definite START and FINISH date!!! from now on i will not list any contests that are not CLEARLY labeled as such. the start and finish dates will be posted on the site with the contest listing and it will be removed after the finish date. i have stuff on my site that i don't know if it's still running or not! that's pretty bad people. eventually i will purge all the outdated crap off the site but it will take time. any info you guys have towards that end is appreciated
thanks for your understanding and if you have any questions please email me and i'll try to address it. thanks.............................s
this one is where i explain what a fair singer rotation is.....no, you don't have to agree with this one
i have been to a LOT of shows the last 13+ years in many states and multiple formats and have i never been paid as a KJ.....ever! ok, i limped through hosting two shows several years ago for a friend on vacation long before i had this site but i haven never been a "real" KJ
that being said, in my opinion, the ONLY fair way to run a rotation is one that removes the KJ from it. namely, a sign-up list. before everyone goes YUK, let me explain a bit. removing the host from the equation makes for a fairer rotation. think about it, no questions about "when am i up" or "how come so and so is up again" or the famous problem of the host getting their buddies up for a good tip. the bottom line is that the fairer the rotation, the happier everyone is and the more succesful the show.....at least for the singers who are concerned about fairness and are likely to come back
it's pretty simple. the first person signs their name on a sheet, the second signs up second etc... as soon as you sing you are welcome to put your name back on the list. there is no secret, complicated rotation to keep track of. there are no "first time singer, second time singers" to deal with and nobody can argue with the fairness of the system. what can possibly be fairer than you sing, you put your name back on the list and wait happily while only listening to people who have not sung since your last turn. in this system everyone is a "new" singer every time they put their name on the list. the old concept of a "rotation" goes out the window because you are always at the start of the next rotation--get it? the length of the rotation is always how ever many people are there at the exact time you sign up. if you leave before your turn, you obviously lose your turn. a duet would count as ONE of those participants turns---the one whose turn it was in the rotation at that time. how many times have you been to a show where you have been there all night waiting for your turn and new singers walk in. it's good when new singers come in since that's what makes a succesful show. however, too often the host wants to appease the new singers by getting them up sooner (thinking they will come back if they don't have to wait as long) but usually they sing and leave. on top of that, the singers that go to the show and actually stay at the bar and spend money end up sitting there while a string of new singers unfairly go up before them and usually leave without ever seeing the next rotation. understand what i'm saying here. there is no reason why you should ever hear a new singer that has not heard you first!!!!
i will happily sit through 2 hours of singers and enjoy my time as long as nobody sings who has sung since my last turn and as long as nobody who is a "new" singer gets up before i sing again. i repeat the last line from the last paragraph: there is NO reason why you should EVER hear a new singer that has not heard you first!!!! why should the new singer be worth more than someone who already been there and supported the show? doesn't make sense to me
i know that there are plenty of people out there that would never want this since they are one of the people their favorite hosts cater to but be fair about it. what can possibly better than a system that rewards you for getting there early, staying late and has no loopholes to shortchange people in the order? i really think people are just so programmed that they don't want to try a new way, regardless of the fairness of it. ultimately people are ego-driven and want to be heard. it's true that singers don't go to karaoke with the primary intention of listening to other people sing. however, i'm sure you see it all the time; the same people who visit a bar, wait to sing once and leave promptly after their turn. it happens all the time and mysteriously the hosts don't learn from this. it seems to me that they would want to please the people who regularly support the establishment (ie: spend $$$) where the karaoke is as opposed to the singers who visit several bars a night so they can be "seen"
i was at a show a few years back where a host used this sign-up sheet system and let me tell you, it was heaven! i have found a show here in texas that uses this rotation now and it's great!
any feedback?