52 in 52: Don’t Stop Believin’, by Bryan Raftery
52 in 52 is a project to read a book a week in 2010
Sometime in the early 2000s karaoke, a fringe activity that was firmly in the domain of Asian people and pseudo-exhibitionists, went mainstream. I always had some idea as to why this happened but culture writer Bryan Raftery has done a better job of telling this story.
To him it was the great confluence of reality TV (especially American Idol), the rise of teenybopper pop such as the Backstreet Boys, faux nostalgia and a growing comfort around amateur performance. Don’t Stop Believin‘, is part personal memoir and part cultural history. He talks about a long-gone and once beloved karaoke bar in New York’s Lower East Side, binging on karaoke and more. Yes, I got jealous that he got to fly to Japan and sing karaoke with his best friend as “research” for this book.
For me, a self-confessed karaoke junkie, parts of Raftery’s book are very familiar. Don’t Stop Believin’ is not unlike hearing a stranger at a karaoke night belt out a song that you love. You can’t help but sing along and you sure as hell applaud at the end of the song.
As an aside, check out this great blog post from Flickr, what else, karaoke.
February 7th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Ron,
This book sounds really cool, I’m definitely going to have to pick it up for a nice fun read to beat the serious stuff I’ve been reading lately.
Also, this is a really cool project – I wish you luck with it! (It’s also a great way for me to get book recommendations as one of my New Year’s resolutions was to read a little more this year!)
February 7th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
Sarah, I can lend it to you if you want. It’s an excuse for us to meet up.
February 7th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Sounds good to me! Only free Fridays and Saturdays for the next couple weeks, give me a buzz!