BayAnime karaoke meetup

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(51 posts)

Started 2 years ago by Ann
Latest reply from ColdDuck

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karaoke

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Ann
Key Master

Hey all... so the plan is currently karaoke on Saturday, July 11th at Fillmore Karaoke from 6pm - 9pm. I'd like to meet up a bit earlier (around 5pm) to grab some food in Japantown or Safeway to bring in there (they don't serve food but they do allow you to bring it in). It's happy hour there before 9pm, so price is only $24 per hour for the biggest room they have, which fits about 15 people. Unfortunately this place and none of the private room places in Japantown except for some Korean place called Playground actually serves or allows alcohol.

Who's in?

Posted 2 years ago #
akatsuki kasai
Member

im there. so did you rule out the mint?it just got named best karaoke in the city by the weekly.it doesnt matter to me either way. just consider me there!

Posted 2 years ago #
Dracil
Member

Fillmore karaoke? Last time I went there I remembered they had like almost no Japanese songs...

Posted 2 years ago #
Ann
Key Master

Oh hmm have you been there, Dracil? I've been to two other karaoke places in Japantown that weren't so great (Do Re Mi and Town Music) and this place is the only other private karaoke room-type place I haven't been to except for Playground. I heard they have slightly better machines and a good English song selection so I figured it was worth checking out.

It would probably be better to get a private karaoke room rather than go to a bar because for one thing, at least Chris is underage, and for another, if we went to a bar we'd have to not only sing in front of random people but also probably wait for a long time to get up there. (Reviews say that the Mint is REALLY crowded on Saturday nights, so if you ever plan to go there wanting to sing be prepared for a LONG wait!)

Posted 2 years ago #
Dracil
Member

Yeah, I ended up not singing anything when I went there (I only really sing Japanese songs). They have a very good selection of Chinese songs.

I liked DoReMi actually from the one time I went there, but their English/Chinese selection isn't as good (one of my friends didn't sing because of that)

The place my friends and I usually go to is Music Tunnel in Richmond (99 Ranch place), which has a good selection of everything. But one of my friends also has a member card, so we get pretty good discounts there too. If someone's birthday is on 7/11 you can also get a discount based on the person's age.

Posted 2 years ago #
Ann
Key Master

Unfortunately the karaoke places here can't compare to the karaoke places in Japan and Hawaii. Here it's always midi instrumentals and the same awful video sequences if any. So you wouldn't sing English songs, Dracil?

Well to be fair I'd say the people who don't sing anything shouldn't have to pay, so if you'd like to come, eat, hang out, and just watch/listen to the rest of us wail away that would be cool too! I'm hoping we get at least 10 people who actually want to go to sing though...

I think I've actually been to Music Tunnel once, a LONG time ago. Sadly Richmond's a bit far. (And isn't it scary around there?)

Posted 2 years ago #
Stythys
Member

pfft, richmond is the same distance for me. You all should have to travel for once! bwahahaha

Posted 2 years ago #
Dracil
Member

Richmond's not really that far. You just bart up to el cerrito plaza and it's like a 5-10 minute walk from there.

But yeah, I don't really sing English songs. Sometimes, but it's only if someone else picks it and I know the song or if I'm doing something weird, like singing Cthulhu songs during Christmas.

Posted 2 years ago #
Ann
Key Master

Errm, well Mike is coming from Cupertino and Steve from Palo Alto, so SF is a pretty good midpoint I think... I guess if there were a decent place downtown near a BART station that would likely be better.

Posted 2 years ago #
lifepoint1
Member

Looking at some reviews, it looks like Filmore may have updated their system lately, but I can't tell for sure. How long ago were you there Dracil? 24 dollars an hour for a 15 person room is tough to beat, I'd say. I am cool with any place. I'll be there to mainly watch an cheer on the singers, as well as laugh when you guys fumble your lyrics or can't hit your notes. :P May sneak in a song or two in the process.

Posted 2 years ago #
ultramike
Member

yeah, i like the one in japantown -- let's stick with that for this meetup. party hard!

Posted 2 years ago #
Stythys
Member

hehehe, so we have three different places people want to go to...

anyways, I haven't been to any of these places, but my vote goes to whoever has the best japanese song selection, and most convenient for everyone to get to. Sounds like DoReMi so far?

anyways, how are we gonna decide? =P

Posted 2 years ago #
ultramike
Member

i'm setting up a japantown baau meetup going on july 11, so if we karaoke in japantown also then we don't have to commute.

Posted 2 years ago #
Dracil
Member

lifepoint1 - 10 hours ago »

Looking at some reviews, it looks like Filmore may have updated their system lately, but I can't tell for sure. How long ago were you there Dracil? 24 dollars an hour for a 15 person room is tough to beat, I'd say. I am cool with any place. I'll be there to mainly watch an cheer on the singers, as well as laugh when you guys fumble your lyrics or can't hit your notes. :P May sneak in a song or two in the process.

It was like... 2 years ago? Looking at the reviews, as early as 1/1 of this year, people were still saying they had a poor selection of Japanese songs ("Sadly they have few japanese and korean songs. I mean most karaoke places have at least a few anime songs but fillmore? nope"), though later reviews did generically say there were Japanese songs (but both reviews focused on them having a good English selection)

Posted 2 years ago #
Ann
Key Master

So:

== Fillmore Karaoke ==
Price: $24 per hour for up to 15 people (50% off before 9pm).
Pluses: Cheap, newly renovated, room holds more people, better machines, purportedly good English song selection with some real music vids and instrumental versions.
Minus: Few Japanese songs.

== Do Re Mi ==
Price: Big room is $60 per hour for up to 12 people.
Plus: Better Japanese song selection.
Minuses: Worse English song selection, primitive machines, songs with midi instrumentals, price is 2.5x Fillmore and room holds less people.

IMO, Fillmore seemed like the better option.

Posted 2 years ago #
Stythys
Member

we're definitely gonna get more than 12 people... xD. the price difference is pretty big too. guess fillmore is the better choice.

argh I wish I could see their song selection beforehand...I wanna sing songs that I already know =P

Posted 2 years ago #
Dracil
Member

Fillmore also allows smoking, which can be a + or - depending on you (-- for me) (looks like DoReMi does too though). They also have a Wii in the big room so at worst, I guess some of us can play that.

Price-wise, if we had 12 people, Fillmore is like $2/person/hour+tax/fees which probably makes it the cheapest place karaoke place around, but if we're unlucky, we might need to wait up to 2 hours according to some reviews.

If we go there though, I'll probably either bring some Wii games or karaoke tracks on an mp3 player+boombox+lyrics (something I've been considering given the rather esoteric songs I listen to, though I have no idea how well it'd actually work in a karaoke setting). :P

Posted 2 years ago #
Stythys
Member

smoking is a major -- for me, but I guess it won't be so bad if we have a private room.

oh, so bringing in your own tracks on a boombox would be fine? good to know..

Posted 2 years ago #
Dracil
Member

No idea, never done it, but I feel like it could be done. Just select a random song and mute it in the background while you sing your actual song.

Of course, my friend told me if I'm gonna do that, might as well just karaoke at home. :P

Posted 2 years ago #
lifepoint1
Member

As for smoking, I think it'll be okay as long as no one in our room smokes. Filmore seems cool for a first-time karaoke meet, since it's the cheapest, so even if it's horrible, the financial blow won't be too bad. If the song selection really doesn't work out for some people we can always walk over to Do re mi or somewhere else later in the evening for at least an hour. The group may shrink down a bit too, as the night continues, and we can adjust accordingly.

The important part for me at least is just meeting up with everyone again and catching up, maybe get to see some new faces, etc..

Posted 2 years ago #