Written by Joe Peppercorn | 02 March 2010

Sorry, it has been a while since my last post- actually I am not really sorry- I don't get paid to write this stuff and some guy wanted to hurt me because of the Dump Your Boyfriend thing (he said that his wife left him and it was cause of guys like me?). Samuel Johnson said something along the lines of "only idiots write for no pay," and Samuel Johnson was right about everything. Still, here is my writing for nothing, because I must spread the word about what is going on Sunday nights at the Treehouse.

Remember that part in Lost in Translation where Bill Murray and Scarlett Johnson stay out all night partying, get chased by guys with duck hunt guns in a bar, and end up at a private karaoke club where one of the Japanese guys in their party belts out God Save the Queen, and Bill Murray kills a melancholy laced take on "More Than This?" Remember how you saw that and were all like "WOW, KARAOKE IS THE BEST THING IN THE WORLD EVER!" I remember seeing that and thinking that. But then I went out to a karaoke and sang a Neil Diamond song and realized I was not Bill Murray in Lost in Translation: I was Gwyneth Paltrow in that awful karaoke movie where we found out that - HOLY S***, HUEY LEWIS CAN ACT! He can't, and that movie is lame, and karaoke is mostly lame, and I was way lame singing Neil Diamond at a Monday Karaoke. The only moment of my life more lame than that, was when I took a girl on a date to a driving range (sexy?) and showed her how I could hit 7 iron shots at the guy driving the ball collecting cart (compassionate?) and was shocked to find it did not attract her (a rare miss?), and was even more shocked that the guy driving the cart got out and called me really nasty names (I deserved it, and if you are reading this right now dude, I am sorry). No second date. My high school nickname could have been no second date. I learned my lesson though, I always avoided hitting the collecting cart on all the other driving range dates I went on with chicks man.

But here is the thing, I did karaoke on a Sunday at the Treehouse, and I actually felt as cool as Bill Murray moping through More Than This. Sunday nights at the Treehouse are as cool as karaoke has ever been and looked in the history of the world. It is to karaoke what the reign of Augustus was to the Roman Empire. Parker Paul plays live piano behind you and you sing classics (some obscure, some familiar) and he will follow you wherever you go. I went three weeks ago, had a blast, failed It's The End of the World As We Know It, but slayed Fleetwood Mac's Dreams. His list grows every week and he is the most approachable and friendly of people who I have derived a lot of musical inspiration from. Where else can you sing a version of Regulate with a live piano backing?

Parker Paul is a brilliant musician, whose albums are brilliant and I encourage everyone to check out "Wingfoot" especially. He will be releasing another new record next month with a release party at the Treehouse. Humility is a rare virtue to find in a person, especially in a person as badass as Parker Paul, and his humility rides beautifully alongside his genius like Robin in Batman's sidecar. It is rare to have the chance to play music with a musician this incredible, seriously people.

I do not mean to disparage the karaoke held at other bars in town, it has its place, and although it is not my thing, I've seen some entertaining karaoke nights, but nothing can touch Sunday night Karaoke at the Treehouse. The human element makes for a lot of spontanaeity, charm, and musical expression which you cannot find at other karaokes. If you make a mistake, Parker Paul will follow you, if you hold a note a few bars longer, Parker Paul will follow you, if you decide to go into an impromptu rap verse about how much you love Avatar, Parker Paul will follow you, if you decide to do a verse spoken word, you get the picture. Also, flashing neon words in egregious fonts on a crappy screen gets a FAIL, Parker Paul provides you with the lyrics, a music stand and a lamp. you will feel like one of those guys singing Irish songs in a pub in a Guiness commercial.

We will be putting up some video of what happens at karaoke pretty soon here, needless to say, you are missing out on a brilliant time if you are anywhere else. Karaoke begins at 9 and ends some time round midnight. Don't be shy, the goal in life is not to avoid failure, it is to fail with some sort of dignity. There are grammatical errors in this I am sure, but whatever, I am not getting paid and I need to scrub chili off of my crock pot, and that was not a euphamism for anything, I made a bunch of chili today and my kitchen is disgusting.