Columnist Jerry Fink: What would you do if they sang out of tune?

Friday, Feb. 8, 2002 | 9:39 a.m.

Jerry Fink's lounge column appears on Fridays. Reach him at jerry@lasvegassun.com at (702) 259-4058.

Karaoke is the kudzu of the entertainment landscape.

Kudzu is a plant native to Japan imported in the 1930s to prevent soil erosion in the South. The vines grow as much as a foot per day during summer months, climbing trees, power poles, sleeping cows and anything else they contact.

It's impossible to get rid of the plant.

The late Southern author James Dickey ("Deliverance") wrote a poem called "Kudzu," in which he observed:

"In Georgia, the legend says ... That you must close your windows ... At night to keep it out of the house."

He was referring to kudzu, of course. But the sentiments might be the same for karaoke.

The karaoke machine, which displays the words of a song on a monitor while seemingly tone-deaf amateurs sing, was invented 20 years ago in Japan and imported into the United States to prevent profit erosion in many nightclubs.

The word comes from the Japanese words for "empty" ("karappo," not "krappo") and "orchestra" ("okesutura").

Jack Greenback, owner of Las Vegas Karaoke, got into the karaoke business in 1987. He had the first equipment in town, which he set up at Ellis Island.

Today there are about 150 bars in the Las Vegas Valley where karaoke is advertised as the main source of entertainment. Hundreds of other venues may have it, but don't advertise.

"Karaoke has become a multibillion-dollar business, worldwide," noted Greenback, who rents KJs (karaoke jocks) to most of the major local hotels and clubs and bars.

He said "karaoke boxes" are one of the latest developments. The boxes are rooms rented out to those who want to cut a record using karaoke equipment.

In Japan there are karaoke machines in taxis and snack bars. There are karaoke machines at children's birthday parties and at nursing homes.

"There's no end to it," Greenback said. "It's the most popular form of entertainment in the world."

Even private citizens are putting the machines in their homes.

"I sold over $10,000 worth of equipment to a doctor who made the whole bottom of his house into a nightclub for private parties," Greenback said.

There are countless karaoke DJs in Las Vegas who make a handsome living, or just extra income, setting up at weddings and private parties.

Renee Dawn, who is also a professional singer, has been in the karaoke business for five years.

She and karaoke DJ Tom Kelly (who does it for fun, not profit) set up for a private party recently at the Sunrise Casablanca Bar & Grill on East Charleston Boulevard.

Sunrise Casablanca, under various names, is a neighborhood establishment that has been around more than 50 years and used to be a hangout for the original Rat Pack.

"Karaoke has gotten so big," Dawn said as members of the Air Force, holding a going-away party, sang off-key in the background. "When I first started a few singers might get up, but now everyone wants to do it. In some places there's an hourlong waiting list to get up and sing.

"You go out to karaoke bars with groups of friends. There isn't one place you can go to that you don't see some of the same people."

Being that this is Las Vegas, Dawn (no affiliation to Tony Orlando) says karaoke DJs get international crowds.

"Chinese, Japanese, Russians," she said. "We get them all."

While most singers are amateurs, professionals sometime sing karaoke just to keep in practice. Dawn recalled an out-of-work opera singer who impressed the crowds. And members of some of the tribute shows sometime do karaoke.

She said one of the local Elvis impersonators was discovered while doing karaoke. Bobby Barrett, who does a knockout Frank Sinatra at MGM Grand, started that way in Boston.

But with karaoke you don't have to be a star, or even want to be a star, to have fun.

"When you get up there, you become a star," said Kelly, who makes and imports furniture and sometimes acts as a karaoke DJ for free. "You feel pretty good. A lot of them are nowhere near in key, but they are having fun."

Several years ago Kelly and Dawn were in a band together. They are sensitive to the issue of karaoke possibly putting live musicians out of work.

"I have a very good friend, a keyboard player and singer, who is having a hard time finding work," Dawn said.

But she said it makes good economic since for smaller venues.

"A bar can pay a karaoke DJ $300 for four hours, or it can pay a three- or four-piece band $1,000," Dawn said.

"I appreciate live music," Kelly said. "But karaoke has got its place. It's fun."

Greenback, 67, used to play in big bands in the '50s and spent two years with Bob Wills' band in Tulsa, Okla. Greenback says he doesn't believe karaoke has hurt live music.

"Most of the smaller clubs can't afford a band," he said. "Most of them have very small budgets and can only afford one person, anyway."

And so karaoke continues to spread.

Like kudzu.

Lounging around

Bobby Brooks, recently heard singing late night at the Bootlegger, has the lead in a film scheduled to be shot in Las Vegas this summer. Executive producer David Macarthur describes the movie, "Mr. Excitement, The Life and Times of Jackie Wilson," as a "cross between 'Cabin in the Sky' and 'Moulin Rouge.' " Wilson ("Lonely Teardrops") was one of the top R&B and pop singers of the '50s and '60s. He suffered a stroke in 1975 at age 41 while onstage in Cherry Hill, N.J. and died in 1984.

Pianist Dennis Mellen will perform tonight and Saturday with Jimmy Mack & the Blues Attack at "The Lift," 3045 Valley View Drive. The gigs start at 9 p.m.

Las Vegas blues vocalist Jimmy Carslake and his group, The Motormen, are among the musicians who have been chosen to perform for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City at Ethnic Village. They begin Feb. 18.