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Ask that in-the-know karaoke-meister at the Beach Bar about all the ins and outs of the legalese of who owns songs, and then go forward with some Neil Young or even Kris Kristofferson. It’s all good … and yes, there’s open mic too

It never hurts to have a knowlegable karaoke-meister, or open mic host, like at the Beach Bar the other night(s). She was all over the fact that the classic heavy metal song Heaven and Hell was the subject of a legal battle for rights between the two main lineups of Black Sabbath over the years, the one led by Ozzy Osbourne and the one fronted by the late Ronnie James Dio. To honor the memory of the latter singer, and his soaring vocals, I decided to do instead Rebel Yell karaoke by Billy Idol, and emulate HIS soaring vocals, which pick up tempo as you plunge through. The crowd really reacted, as was also the case the last time I did this song, in this instance during open mic at the old Dibbo’s many years ago. It turned into a duet going high and low with the former lead singer Brandon of Deviant Distraction, and its bassist Tall Paul said the result impressed him greatly. This praise coming from a six-foot-eight giant. Sadly, the duet was never revived, as the singer was very territorial about his version of this classic. The point? This kind of possessiveness of a particular song wouldn’t happen at the Beach Bar; all for one and one for all, let’s go sing some songs! And it can be a version that’s not necessarily the one you are most used to — one of the guys there poured through a rendition of a ditty by none other than Kris Kristofferson!
Another experienced singer stalked the stage noticably, well into the intro to his song, but in his own particular way, but hey there’s no right or wrong way to sing a song at the Beach Bar. Not everyone is as playful/menacing with their strut as say Ozzy and Rob Halford. That segues into the nights of not karaoke, but open mic, when the house band was all over the top of alt-country type stuff, to name one genre, and rip through the likes of Neil Young — not too all-out loud guitar, but not too acoustic either, and still having great solos, especially to close out a particular jam and wrap up a tune.
Want in? To sing? To listen? Or during open mic, even to play? Every Wednesday at the Beach Bar there is open mic, starting fairly early, and every Friday night there is karaoke. (That’s double trouble, just like a name associated with another musician covered who died way too young, Stevie Ray Vaughn). And we don’t shut down during the holidays, as not everyone wants to peacefully reflect — although there’s nothing wrong with that — some of us also want to rock!

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