Monday I made my regular appearance on Arizona Midday, which is put on by our sister station KPNX Channel 12. I picked karaoke because I like it and it's near Christmas, when karaoke machines become popular gifts.
I took my daughter and her two BFFs (they call themselves the Leopard Divas). We prepared for a taping, but they ended up going live. Except for one tiny glitch in the promo (which was live), all went well. The best part for them was singing Hannah Montana.
After we appeared on the show, I went back to the office. One of my fellow employees saw them on TV and complimented their performance. One of the girls immediately thought they found fame. It was cute.
As I mentioned the segment was about karaoke. I did it also to promote our top 10 discs list.
Here are a couple more tips for finding the right machine and music (I didn't get to spend much time chatting about this).
1. If you have kids that like the popular song, most discs I've seen will indicate explicit lyrics (just like regular music CDs). Some will say so on screen and others will just give a general warning.
It's best to stay on top of what they are listening to if suggestive/explicit lyrics concern you. Most songs carrying the "explicit" warning are to let parents know that profanities are in the lyrics. You don't necessarily get warned about sexual innuendo.
2. You can always find a few karaoke discs and bargains at popular retailers, such as Target, Best Buy and Sam's Club (at Christmas), but for extensive song selection you need to seek out a karaoke specialty shop. One local place is Karaoke Star, off Loop 101 and Cave Creek Road, carries all kinds of discs and equipment. (My daughter likes Rihanna's SOS and I found a disc full of Rihanna songs, as well as the Eagles, Foreigner, Guns N Roses, No Doubt, Pat Benatar, Corinne Bailey Rae, etc.) Their web site is www.karaokestar.com.
3. You can find machines under $80, but you do get what you pay for. I think these inexpensive machines are great to find out if you or your kids like karaoke. But sound isn't great, and they don't seem to last very long. We got one (GPX all-in-one player w/black and white screen) as a present two Christmases ago. The CDG part of the player died after about 18 months.
We found a great console player (V2GO GO-100 karaoke DVD player) that we hooked up to our home theater system. Last Christmas I found it on sale for $130 (regularly $160, I think). I got one for my dad, too. (Side note: totally selfish thing so that my sis and I would have karaoke when we visit our parents.)
In prepping for the TV segment I got to play around with a portable player, the RSQ P70 - borrowed from Karaoke Star. This sounded as good as my machine that's hooked to my home theater system. It is pricey - $329 on sale - but the sound is incredible and you can take it places.
4. Once you pick what you want in a machine, look for a good starter disc pack. From my list, you know there are great single discs for kids, but there are some good starter packs for the entire family with several hundred songs.
A good inexpensive choice is SuperCore, which will have more than 250 songs from various genres. I spied the 2007 collection at Karaoke Star for $89 (which has sold for $149). The 2008 collection will be out soon, which I'm sure is why it's on sale, but from experience, you won't find a huge difference in one year to the next. I have the 2006 collection and it's almost the same as 2007.
Another expensive, but cool collection is the Chartbusters Pop Value Pack, which features 100 songs. It's on sale for $29.99 at Karaoke Star. Sam's Club - for members - also features a cool collection of fairly current songs in the PartyTyme Karaoke Pop Party Pack 2. It's 64 songs for $27.88.
OK. I feel like a karaoke ad, but hopefully these tips will help if your are searching for a karaoke present this Christmas.
Arizona Moms Editor Yvette Armendariz shares stories about raising her kids and tips for busy parents in her Time-starved (goddess) Mom blog. She and her husband are raising two children, ages 8 and 11.
