You put the Boom Boom into my Heart

posted be Melissa Baumgart
The Baumgart house has been rocking the karaoke.  I have to say a huge Thank You to our friend, Kenny, for loaning us the karaoke machine.  It has been so fun to sing and not be all in front of people, or at a bar every night.  And yes, I have karaoke'd everyday since December 1st!  I like finding songs that are "in my range", if I can even say I have one.  It's very humorous how good one can think they sound singing along to the stereo, and then hear the harsh slap of reality when their voice is piped through a mic for all to hear.  Loudly.

Some of my personal favorites thus far have been:

Wake Me Up (Before You Go Go) by Wham - I think song this might have been my all time high score of 96!  There are so many, songs that is, not high scores, that it's hard to remember.
Summer of '69 by Brayn Adams
Paint it Black by the Rolling Stones
Edelwiess by Julie Andrews
Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi
Live to Tell by Madonna
It Ain't Over Til It's Over by Lenny Kravitz


Some songs I am real bad at:

Saving All My Love For You by Whitney Houston
Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree by Tony Orlando
Endless Love by Diana Ross and Lionel Ritchie
(I know there are more, I am probably just blocking them out)

One not to sing with kids around:

My Name Is by Eminem (Have you ever heard those lyrics, whoa!  This karaoke is does not include the "clean" version apparently.  And we learned this the hard way, with kids present.  Ooops.)

Keep on Rocking,
Melissa

Oh, thinking about our younger years

 posted by Melissa Baumgart
I kicked off karaoke month family-style.  Of course my kids were not into the idea when I brought it up during the day.  Tallulah said I was embarrassing.  "But no one will be here, just us."  I rebutted.  "Well, they might be walking by and hear you."  She thoughtfully added.  Levi never wants to do anything I ever suggest, so that was no surprise.  And Lily thought it was weird.

Love the graphics.

After dinner, we set up the Filipino karaoke machine.  It is a microphone that has buttons for selecting your song after you have chosen it from the menu of options in the little book it comes with.  You just plug it into you TV and you have instant karaoke.  Song choices range from Elton John, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Bob Marley, Debby Boone, the Kinks, and Gene Autry.  A wide range of choices.

I started out the fun with a moving rendition of "Heaven" by Bryan Adams.  Man, that took me right back to middle school.  I desperately wanted to go see Bryan Adams at the Wheeling Civic Center, but my parents thought I wasn't old enough to go without supervision.  And supervision would have been so un-cool.

Levi grabbed the mic next and did, of course, "Thriller."  He loves to dance like Michael Jackson and I think he does a pretty good job for a 10 year old white boy.  Lily jumped up from her homework to join us, and she always does Beatles tunes.  She scores very high with "Let it Be", so she usually starts there.  Next Tallulah popped over for her favorite song, "Blackbird."

Yes, in the end all three kids were fighting over whose turn was next.  And no one seemed the least bit embarrassed by my singing, only frustrated that they had to wait.  There were lots of smiles and time spent snuggling on the couch while someone else sang.  Lots of "I love you, Mama."

Levi singing "Thriller", I should have video taped it.

Kids are so odd.  Mine never want to participate in "family" things, and then, when they do...they always have a good time.  You'd think they would get it by now, that, hey...my Mom and Dad are pretty cool.

But then again, I wouldn't have been caught dead with my parents at the Bryan Adams concert.  I chose not to even go.  I remember being on a bus going to a football game and hearing the older kids belting out "Summer of '69" and I sunk lower in my seat, feeling sorry for myself that I couldn't go to the upcoming show.  I guess kids just are who they are.  And maybe it's really all part of growing up and becoming an adult.

-Melissa

Once I was happy...

posted by Melissa Baumgart
It's not that I'll miss jumping off of a 23 foot high platform, or that I'll miss being bruised by silk, but I definitely feel like I am moving on reluctantly this month.  I was listening to more versions of "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" today (and now again) and I felt forlorn.  Abandoned by the circus, by the magic, the quirkiness of it all.  But it's me that's leaving the circus behind, I feel like I am running away from the circus.

I really adored learning more about the circus by watching the documentary, and learning more about the circuses right in my back yard.  There's SANCA, School of Acrobatics and New Circus Arts, and the Emerald City Trapeze, both of which offer not only classes, but also performances that the public can come and see.  We heard that on December 10th, SANCA is having a show highlighting their Junior Fly Team.  I definitely want to catch that!  (no pun intended, not even a high one.  OK, that pun was intended.)

With the calliope music in the background, and the Chimpmunks singing sharply in my ear (maybe it was their album where I first heard the trapeze song), I must move on.  On from the child-like awe that the circus brings, taking with me that feeling of knowing that we have it in us all to be extraordinary.

And I also must move away from the computer and all the You Tube videos of circus music, accordion music and watching trapeze performances.  Trust me, there's a lot of good stuff out there.  I'll leave you with this, and while it is certainly not the best video I watched in the past hour (yes, HOUR, I am unemployed, so what), it does bring together the circus and karaoke in a unique way.

"Circus life
Under the big top world
We all need the clowns to make us smile "

Who doesn't love a good Journey song for karaoke?

-Melissa