Last Wednesday, musicbyoscar and I discovered a decent karaoke show at the Indigo Joe's that is very close to us in Stone Oak.  The KJ was decent (although I've decided that we own the only DJ business in San Antonio that knows how to start a show on time), the sound system was good, the song selection was good (although he only had 2 books), the drinks were inexpensive and for once I didn't come home smelling of cigarette smoke.  Yahoo!   We thought we had finally found a place to go for karaoke until Oscar finishes his degree and we start our shows back up.  Yeah, it was at a place with dreadful food and a crappy decor, but they had pints of domestics going around $1.50 and pints of imports running closer to $2.  (And I'm a happy girl when I can get pints of Harp for $2, even with the place is a dump.)

Last night after dinner we hopped in the car and returned to Indigo Joe's.  We walk in to the bar, and the bartender explains that there is no karaoke.  Not tonight, or ever.  Apparently the corporate office found out they were having karaoke shows on Wednesday nights, and the corporate office put an immediate end to the karaoke show.   Apparently the reason was that "karaoke" didn't fit with the company's "atmosphere and reputation", so it had to go.

I'm shocked to think that a place that looks rundown (it opened around a year ago), has absolutely no atmosphere, and serves inedible piles of crap is concerned that "karaoke" will tarnish their reputation.   What reputation is that?  The "We're a crappy, run-down, s**thole that never has any business except for when the Spurs are playing"??  Yeah -- there's a reputation worth protecting.

Suffice to say, we walked out.  Annoyed.  No reason to ever go back there.

Winner from this week's karaoke contest is posted.  I must admit that I've never hear the Leader of the Pack [mp3] sung with quite this inflection before.

Don't forget -- this week's winner will be the final contestant for the August 30th grand prize contest -- the winner earns a limo driven tour of all Lion and Rose pubs in San Antonio, $50 worth of food and drink at each location, and $100 cold hard cash.  Then we start this 8 week contest all over again!  What's not to love? 

Hope to see you this Thursday!
 

When we first moved to San Antonio, we tried attending some of the local meet-us for rennies, and we decided they were not the crowd for us.  (And I used to think I could get along with any group of rennies!)  Anyway -- fast forward to a few months ago, and we met some fun people at the Very vodka festival.  Turns out they were members of the San Antonio Parrot Head Club.   Believe it or not -- these folks remind me of most of my rennie friends from MD.  They party with a purpose, and do a lot of events to raise money for charity -- and most of all, they're FUN.  (while the local rennies seem to be mostly depressed, rude, self-centered, humorless Johnny Depp wannabes who wouldn't help their own mothers cross the street.)

We joined the SAPHC at last month's happy hour and attended their charity night golf event earlier this month.  Met lots of folks and had a great time at both events.   Tonight is our monthly happy hour, and I'm totally looking forward to it.   Although I'm bummed that we'll have to leave early due to our karaoke show at the Lion and Rose. 

Speaking of the karaoke show ---
The contest is coming to a close, and we've had some interesting competitors so far.  If you're interested, check them out at MusicByOscar.com.

Our karaoke show is really starting to pick up steam. This past Thursday, the crowd was large enough that Oscar and I only sang one song, and that was only by request. Unfortunately (unfortunate for die-hard karaoke singers, but fortunate for Spurs' fans), our show is on a 2 week hiatus due to the the NBA Finals. (The hiatus could possibly stretch to 3 weeks if game number 7 is needed.)

What can I say? The crowd at Lion and Rose would rather show their civic pride and cheer on their beloved home team than sing off key to background tracks of pop tunes from a bygone era. Who knew?? The good news, is that the Thursday Crazy Cruzan Nights drink specials will continue to be available during the Playoffs (along with beer buckets and Shiner pint specials). So kiddies, enjoy the playoffs, scream yourself hoarse (you don't need your singing voice for at least 2 weeks), and have a great time. The Music By Oscar craziness will return in a couple weeks.

In closing -- at the risk of upsetting any LeBron James fans that may read this --
Go Spurs Go!!!!!

Although we've done some karaoke and DJ gigs for single events, we held off on anything that would require too much time when we first moved to San Antonio.  But, now that we've been here a year and things have settled down, we can finally get back to the karaoke shows that we loved so much.
So, I'm happy to announce that Oscar and I are starting a weekly Thursday night gig at The Lion and Rose's Park North location on May 3rd. They're a British restaurant/pub that has great food and a fabulous beer selection.