- Paperback: 288 pages
- Publisher: Da Capo Press (5 Feb 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0306815834
- ISBN-13: 978-0306815836
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.7 x 1.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,018,195 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
'Karaoke is a word built from "kara" (empty) and "okestura" (orchestra) and Raftery loves karaoke: loves it "without qualifiers, apologies or actual singing talent". He'd like to teach the world to sing; probably not in perfect harmony or even in tune but with heart, a few belts of tequila and a prerecorded backing orchestral arrangement in every hokey-karaoke bar from Honolulu to Hoboken. There are Karaoke World Championships: Raftery is there. There is a heavy metal karaoke band: Raftery hangs out with them. Karaoke, he says, validates the self-actualised Pop Idol amateur in us all.' --The Times, January 31, 2009
Review
'You can taste it in his addiction. His passion is, like the collective yearning to sing Total Eclipse Of The Heart, contagious.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This is such a charming, warm book - I also found it laugh out loud funny. It explains how the author became drawn into karaoke singing, how it became the bedrock of his social life, how it made him change and evolve (build confidence, meet women etc). He then goes on a bit of a voyage of discovery (meets the inventor, meets the people who produce backing tracks etc) to get a big more of a backstory about how this phenomenon took off.
The author's been covered in quite a few online places (Salon, the Guardian), if you want to find out more before you buy.
This is the kind of book this is: I re-read it recently when I was feeling pretty down - and it cheered me up (and made me book a k-box session).
I'm giving it 4 rather than 5 stars because I've never heard of many of the songs the author focuses on at length - might be almost too culturally specific (late 30s North Americans), but that's what you get in a personal memoir innit?
The author's been covered in quite a few online places (Salon, the Guardian), if you want to find out more before you buy.
This is the kind of book this is: I re-read it recently when I was feeling pretty down - and it cheered me up (and made me book a k-box session).
I'm giving it 4 rather than 5 stars because I've never heard of many of the songs the author focuses on at length - might be almost too culturally specific (late 30s North Americans), but that's what you get in a personal memoir innit?
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Don't have to be a Karaoke lover to love this book!
25 Jan 2010
Format:Paperback
A friend gave me this book for my birthday since he knows I'm a karaoke dabbler if not budding enthusiast and I just have to say- it's an AWESOME book. Mr. Raftery is witty, humorous, introspective and an excellent storyteller.
Sure, there are tons of valuable and interesting tidbits about karaoke but there's so much more to the book. 'Don't Stop Believing' is equal parts travelogue, self help biography and informational on karaoke. The best thing is that all of those parts add up to a very well written and thoughtful book about one of life's most ironic pastimes, amateurs grabbing the mic in a crowded bar, singing popular (or not so popular) songs to a group of mostly strangers.
It took me by surprise, honestly, I thought I'd enjoy more information on a topic I was already interested in but what I didn't expect was the insight that Mr. Raftery shared. He was able to sum up what makes karaoke not just a fun thing to do on a drunken weekend but a majorly life affirming rite of passage that everyone should partake of.
I loved it and for the first time, I can more easily express why I love to sing even though I'm so bad at it and why I want everyone to join me in this ultimate freedom of publically enjoying your own follies rather than trying to hide them.
Read it and go sing your heart out!
Sure, there are tons of valuable and interesting tidbits about karaoke but there's so much more to the book. 'Don't Stop Believing' is equal parts travelogue, self help biography and informational on karaoke. The best thing is that all of those parts add up to a very well written and thoughtful book about one of life's most ironic pastimes, amateurs grabbing the mic in a crowded bar, singing popular (or not so popular) songs to a group of mostly strangers.
It took me by surprise, honestly, I thought I'd enjoy more information on a topic I was already interested in but what I didn't expect was the insight that Mr. Raftery shared. He was able to sum up what makes karaoke not just a fun thing to do on a drunken weekend but a majorly life affirming rite of passage that everyone should partake of.
I loved it and for the first time, I can more easily express why I love to sing even though I'm so bad at it and why I want everyone to join me in this ultimate freedom of publically enjoying your own follies rather than trying to hide them.
Read it and go sing your heart out!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Raftery's text does the culture justice like no other
11 Jan 2009
Format:Paperback
I love Karaoke. I love it so much that I sang, among other things, M. Manson's "The Beautiful People" while aged strippers shook their thing a few feet away (aka Stripperoake) and braved a lethargic version of Radiohead's "Optimistic" just because I wanted to show off my Thom Yorke dance. A connoisseur, yes, but my participation and devotion to the art are nothing compared to Brian Raftery's, a former GQ and Spin journalist who spent years perfecting his craft. An equal mix of history (interviews with inventors, track production houses and members of live karaoke bands), the author's White Whale chases (i.e. Fugazi's "Waiting Room", "Thirty Songs I'll Never Find at Karaoke"), karaoke cruise ships and underlying sadness over age versus the desire to get up - and get your friends up - to rock, Raftery's text does the culture justice like no other.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Does karaoke justice!!!
15 Jun 2009
Format:Paperback
I'm in the middle of reading this book, and I am impressed by the author's thoroughness and thoughtfulness of the karaoke experience. His coverage of the types of songs that are karaoke-worthy, the story of the business behind the CDGs that are produced, and even the theories as to why karaoke has become more acceptable as a social activity all resonate in the experience I have accumulated over the last 15 years that I have participated in and eventually hosted karaoke shows.
Little nuggets of the history of karaoke in the USA and, ultimately, of the origins from Japan help ground the book to general culture.
If I were to write a book, this would be a definite topic that I would have enjoyed researching first hand! A great read for karaoke lovers. Kudos to Raferty!
Little nuggets of the history of karaoke in the USA and, ultimately, of the origins from Japan help ground the book to general culture.
If I were to write a book, this would be a definite topic that I would have enjoyed researching first hand! A great read for karaoke lovers. Kudos to Raferty!
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