Chinese Garden KJ host provides
Karaoke ettiquette for good time
The Chinese Garden Restaurant and Lounge, located on S.E. 162nd, one-half block north of S.E. Stark, offers traditional family dining and a separate, charming lounge. The restaurant menu is served in the lounge, so you can enjoy the best of both.
KJ/DJ Dawn Gunn
(Photo by KT)
The menu lists a good selection of different Chinese dishes, combination plates and group servings. The chicken lo mien is a generous serving of soft noodles, sprouts, vegetables and hunks of chicken with a warm, buttery, salty flavor.
KJ Dawn Gunn hosts Karaoke in the lounge Wednesday – Saturday evenings, starting at 9 p.m. on weekends. The seating is open and comfortable, with a nice little dance floor and Karaoke staging area. Gunn is a skillful and “user-friendly” host, whose main goal is to make the Karaoke experience fun for everyone.
In order to make people happy and comfortable in the spotlight, she proposes the following list of “Karaoke Etiquette,” useful for new singers and those with more experience.
1. If this your first Karaoke experience, please do introduce yourself to the KJ and state that this is your first time. A good KJ will explain how things work.
2. For the first-timer or even second-timer, pick a song that you know well.
3. If you’re in a duo or group that wants to sing together, the rotation rules are a little different. You get one song per rotation, so make sure that you understand when you sing solo, your song will be in a different rotation from the group or duo song.
4. Probably the most important technical rule is: Don’t hit the microphone to test it. This causes extra wear-and-tear on the mike and the speakers. Microphones are not made to be hit or tapped. When you get the mike in your hand, talk! You can just say hello, say your name, enough talk that the KJ can get you dialed in. You can say the word “check”; this word is designed to test the reverb and other tone settings, to avoid unwanted sound effects.
5. Similarly, don’t point the mike at the speakers. At the Chinese Garden, the speakers are up overhead, but not every venue can accommodate that placement.
6. Also very important, don’t get up and sing along with the onstage singer if you are not specifically invited. This isn’t a jam session – it’s kind of the opposite. If you want to sing, talk to the KJ.
7. Even though you love the KJ, the KJ is working, so please wait to try to start a conversation with her/him, even if you’re just saying thank-you. Hold off on the hugs until you can see the KJ looking up. Wait for eye contact, hold out your hand, and the KJ will reciprocate the best she/he can.
Gunn says, “If you are singing for the first time, I want to know. I want to make it fun for you.” Sometimes, if the rotation is rather full, she can ask a group if they mind having a first-timer slipped in right before their song. Usually they will say ok. This is a courtesy the KJ offers to all present.
KJ Gunn has her own system of handling the rotation. She lists the singers’ names on a white board and puts a little magnet by the name of the person whose song is getting cued up. You can look at the board and see where you are in the rotation. If there are six people in the list, you won’t have to wait for more than five other singers. If there are 12, however, you can see clearly how long it will take to get to your tune. This is fair to everyone and makes the rotation clear and understandable.
KJ Gunn is very good at her job, and even sings a number every so often.
The Karaoke system at the Chinese Garden also features a digital scoring system, so if you’re really trying to emulate the standard arrangement, she can tell you your score. If you get 100 percent, you get a sweet little prize.
Gunn also features theme nights (every night!) The so-called “Suicide” night is your opportunity to bravely try a song you’ve never done. Sometimes, it’s “pick the oldest song you can recall.” You can even bring in your own CD and she will play it for you. (The Chinese Garden lounge now offers 80,000 tunes.) If you need the key of the song to be higher or lower, ask for it.
“I’m a radio baby,” says Gunn. Her favorites were the likes of Arrowsmith, AC/DC. Judas Priest, Ted Nugent and many other favorites of the ‘70s. She also was familiar with the‘50s-‘60s era tunes sung by this writer.
The sound system and the KJ are successful in creating the evening’s entertainment in a comfortable and supportive atmosphere. The food is wonderful. The service is prompt and focused. The parking lot is easy to get in and out of, and is well-lit. Various video games are available and one wall of video lottery machines.
Now there’s so many reasons to go have fun at the Chinese Garden; try it and find a “new home.”