I have been a regular at Mic Drop since it opened and it’s a fun place. Great K-Jays, super nice staff and a policy that, for a self-described microphone hugger, allows me to belt my heart out multiple times each night for the price of a Diet Coke – and sometimes that’s on the house.
Recently, however, with about 60 songs under my belt, I began to see a few cracks in the karaoke fermement. On Friday, I had decided on STOP, one of the great Erasure synth-pop songs that is massively popular in the gay community. I wanted to be Andy. Well, no go. It’s not on their list. Wow! Shocked, I decided to do a bit more probing and, to my astonishment, there wasn’t a single Erasure track on offer.
A little more research revealed that Andy and Vince are just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, many of the catalogs that are most associated with queer night life are either very limited or absent. As a result, those of us who want to sing our hearts out to
Erasure – nothing on offer.
Culture Club – missing deep and not so deep cuts – no Move Away.
Grâce Jones – nothing on offer.
Donna Summer – missing deep and not so deep cuts – no Sunset People
Sylvester – nothing on offer.
Patrick Crowley – nothing on offer.
have to go elsewhere.
The reason: Mic Drop is exclusively licenced through that old warhorse KaraFun, with its huge middle-of -the-road, country and European catalogs. Unfortunately, it’s not particularly queer friendly. That would be the domain of the much edgier Zoom Karaoke with its extensive gay- friendly inventory. Unfortunately for We-Ho, the Mic Drop can only be contracted to one karaoke giant at a time.
