# Live band vs karaoke - what's wrong with you people? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 23, 2004, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-band-vs-karaoke-whats-wrong-with-you-people/235842 "2004-03-23T03:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2004, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-band-vs-karaoke-whats-wrong-with-you-people/235842/21 "2004-03-23T23:07:43Z")
> [@Indygrrl](#): > > Here’s a link from our local messageboard discussing how the music scene in Indy has progressed over the years, you might find it interesting, Phase 42. Wow! Read the whole thing - sounds like you’ve got a great scene there in Indy. I get the impression from your link, and from other sources, that the live music scene is way better in the major cities - Indy, Seattle, etc. I’m in a relatively small city - about 60,000 people. And it’s an agricultural community. I have noticed over the years that, when a big trend finally makes its way here, it then sticks around way longer than it should - longer than it sticks elsewhere. About original music - a local “originals” band simply is not going to get booked around here, unless they’re nationally known. And of course, no nationally-known act is going to show up here. When we _have_ had good original bands/artists here, they’ve tended to pack up and get the hell out of here. We have a sort-of local artist named Michael Dickes who has had a moderate amount of success playing original folk-rock. He’s quite good. However, he gained his “fame” elsewhere, and only plays a show here maybe once a year. Of course, when he does show up to play, all the trendy yuppies go to his show so that they can be seen listening to the “famous” guy and tell their friencs that they know him. Years ago, national acts _did_ come here, although they were usually “nostalgia” tours. The Ventures played a concert at the local convention center, and that was an excellent show with a good turnout. Jan & Dean played here, in a junior high school gymnasium. That also had a good turnout, but the show was terrible. Whichever one was in the car accident mostly wandered around the stage like he didn’t know where he was. He would start singing songs, and then wander away from the mic in the middle, and one of the sidemen would step up and finish singing his part. But people were there to hear them, because they were famous. But both of those shows were almost 20 years ago. Nobody books shows like that any more, because the locals just don’t give a shit. But I suppose I should mention that the problem here is mostly confined to the native white population. Our Hispanic population has steadily grown over the years, and now we have about 30% Hispanics here, which is cool. They have added some welcome cultural variety to this inbred community. The Hispanics (mostly Mexicans) bring in touring Mexican bands and have big _bailes_ - dances. They absolutely _love_ hearing and dancing to live music, and turn out in huge numbers for these events, which seem to take place almost every week. I’ve seriously considered trying to get into a _norteno_ band. 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/live-band-vs-karaoke-whats-wrong-with-you-people/235842.md?page=1)