Being the out of control karaoke addict that I am, I decided to visit every karaoke venue in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho in 12 days. Here is a listing of where I am going, when and how it went.....Enjoy!
Tour of Albuquerque
Tuesday, January 17th
The Soch (Gong Show Contest)

Wednesday, January 18th
Sunset Grill
Coaches
Maloney's
Elliott's

Friday, January 20th
Hollywood Casino

Saturday, January 21st
The Brio
Effingbar
Fiesta's
Louie's

Tuesday, January 24th
Barley Room
Retro
Geckos

Wednesday, January 25th
Ed's Pub @ Liesure Bowl
Graham Central Station
Evolution
Lucky Lanes

Friday, January 27th
Punky's Place @ Silvas Lanes
The Bird
Spectators

Tuesday, January 31st
Lucky's Lounge
Sandia Casino

Wednesday, February 1st
Post 99

Monday, February 6th
Blackbird
Sidelines
Desert Greens

Thursday, February 9th
The Press Room
Allure

Friday, February 10th
Slate Street
Ten Pins

Once I have confirmed all of these locations the voting will open for the BEST KJ, THE BEST VENUE and THE BEST KJ COMPANY. This will be a people's choice award so make sure you support your favorite ones. 
Tonight was night #1 of my 31 stops (more or less) in 12 days (or something like that) Tour of Albuquerque with no better way to start it than at a gay bar with a Gong Show. Sabrina Williams really knows how to put on a show, she is bubbly, lively and fricken hillariuos! Anytime you see this opportunity pop up on Kammo Facebook, you need to go! Don’t' worry about being strait in the gay bar, it only makes it's that much more fun. I did not win 1st 2nd or 3rd but I did not get gonged and that in itself was a relief. Kammo knows his sound and made it great. The video from Mr Crowley which I sang is here for you. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO
Tonight was night #2 on my Tour of Albuquerque which began at Sunset Grill with Charles. Not a very busy place, kinda mellow with a pretty regular crowd of singers. Charles has been around a long time, he was my first KJ when I first started at the The Brio. It was pretty much love mellow songs so I decided to sing a love song as well, Welcome To The Jungle….they liked it he he he…then I hopped on down to Coaches with Howling Coyote, unfortunatly there was a Lobo Basketball game so karaoke got started late, had a nice chat with David from Howling though, sorry I couldn't wait for the game to finish but when I am out, it's to sing….so I scooted on down to Maloney's where Kammo had it rockin….it's funny at Maloney's this crowd is shy to sing but once someone starts it's all over, when I got there, there was only 5 singers, after I Rocked Them Like A Hurricane, there was a 36 singer rotation….geez! So off to see Tommy Huikane at Elliots…kinda a quite night, but Tommy is a show in himself, about 10 singers with a few audience folks….loved the way he made me sound on NIB, and then finished the night off with Stairway To Heaven…BTW rumor has it Tommy will be appearing at vallley location on Thursdays starting in February….you know where to go to get all the latest news…..www.callmeozz.net
Night #3 on The Tour! Unfortunatly had a slight family emergency that ran me late but none the less I was not going to miss THE HOLLYWOOD CASINO night with HOWLING COYOTE. It's only a 20 minute drive and well worth it. 40 foot stage, lights, spotlights, the best sound period. What do you expect? You are singing in an auditorium made for the best sound. This is not a weekly event so when you see it come up, you should put all plans aside and plan on being there. Bring your friends that don't sing too! They will love the show I promise. You really will think the actual performers are there, and if you like to dance, the dance floor is phenominal. If you or them get bored in between songs you can try your luck in the casino, and maybe go home with more than you came with (like one singer did). The next show is March 30th….don't miss it.
Night #4 of my tour of Albuquerque concluded at 1:45 this morning at Fiesta's. Started at The Brio at The Radisson Water Park, which is where my karaoke career started 6 years ago with Charles. Now Olivia from Boop runs it on Saturday nights, although they were having speaker issues I still got 2 songs in…for those of you who stayed away till the kids were gone…good news/bad news-kids are not longer allowed at The Brio, they start at 8 great place to warm up. Then I hopped up to the Effingbar, not a seat in the house, although the rotation was only 12 singers, sang Mr Crowley and headed off to Louie's…BTW Amos is now at Ned's On The Rio Grande on Tuesday's at 7:30. Louie's was hoping with DJ Speed from Kammo…and wow did he make Mr Crowley sound perrrrfect, and the crowd response was awesome! There were a lot of singers there. Then I landed at Fiesta's for the night, Mr Toby was off playing in Angel Fire (WTF?) but Zack handled the HUGE rotation perfectly even going into overtime, although I only sang once it was good see everyone out and singing last night. Way to go karaoke addicts, keep it up.
Night #5 of my tour of Albuquerque was one of those where the hell are you kind of nights?! The only thing I could think of was everyone got thier credit card bills and thought it would be best to stay home. Stop #1 was Retro's where I ran into someone I hadn't seen in a while but he asked I keep it a secret so I will, but then I proceeded to hand Twig his nomination for the best KJ...he wanted to know who the heck was on crack...ahhh that's for me know, not you lol. So I cranked out Mr Crowley as the ice breaker (which sounded fantastic) and moved onto Gecko's where Zero was just getting started.  There were these two girls there that I had never heard before and wow they were amazing, can't remember thier names though, ugh, all them drugs catching up I guess...so I sang Mr Crowley and Rock You Like A Hurricane and cruised on up to see DJ Speed at Barley Room (both nominated for the peoples choice awards), where I practiced Material Girl for the Madonna contest on February 4th...can't wait to wear those cone boobs...Now it's time to go home, get some rest and be ready fro tomorrow night! I would recommend all of these venues.
Night #6 of my tour of Albuquerque was as I promised...interesting....just as I thought it might be. I was going places I hadn't been in a while, and there were reasons I didn't go back the first time. But none the less things change so I always give the benifit of the doubt. I started my night at Ed's Lounge at Liesure Bowl. Nice little nieghboorhood bar in the bowling alley. Elizabeth does a great job with what she has, she is a million times better than the last time I was there. It would be nice to see the owner of the bowling alley get behind the cause though, upgrade her system as such. Then I scooted over to Graham Central, after paying $5 to get in I wondered why? Alley Cats has the potential to be the best venue location in the city limts but again, I think the only reason the owner as karaoke is cuz he thinks he should, kinda like a walmart. They could really use an upgrade to their system and selection, sound is good, love the stage and the KJ's do have the energy. It was aboout 11 o' clock when I headed down to Evolution and Lucky Lanes. They were both all closed up. Personally I think Evolution need Lenore back, and Lucky Lane's I don't know, I'll be back on a Friday. So I went ahead an ended my night at Coaches which was great sound but not real busy....could be that way until basketball season is over.
Night #7 of my tour of Albuquerque was a Friday night. It started at Spectators with Telles. I gotta say, watching him start as a KJ for Boop, to jumping out on his own, from the ground up I am impressed. His sound sounds great and he now has a great selection. The only drawback is he is in a sportsbar which always means sports comes first, so before planning your night there, make sure there are no sporting events going on. From there I headed over to Punky's Place at Silvas Lanes. Where Kid is the DJ. This place was unbelievably packed.....with...mostly hot women! Great KJ, Sound and Venue...selection, not so great. Then I scooted on over to The Bird of Paradise... this was kinda unique, I hadn't seen CDG's being loaded in a while. I did walk out without singing but don't take that wrong, the people there were having a blast. I had a little time on my hands so I finished my night at Fiesta's...where once again it was busy. 
Night #8 of my tour of Albuquerque was not much hopping as I had to take care of some business at The Barley Room, which by the way is one of my favorite hangouts, DJ Speed is awesome and Andy the GM is totally cool. Saw some new faces in there, that's a good thing. So after leaving there I headed over to Sandia for the first time in my life, they have an awesome stage, lights and sound really is great. I lost the lyrics on the screen so it was a good thing I knew the song, I def recommend it, they are on Monday's and Tuesday's and start at 8 and end about midnight.
Night #9 of my tour of Albuquerque was kind of a make up night, It turns out Live mic only does karaoke at Post 99 every other Wednesday and this was not the one, so I will have to reschedule them for February 22nd. But I did use the night to catch up on some places I missed last time and places I needed to drop off nomination forms, so I stopped in to visit Lenore at Evolution, nominated for best venue, because it is a very cool place to sing with fantastic sound. Then I headed downtown to see Mr Kammo and sing a song at Maloney's again awesome sound. And then cruised up Central to see Howling Coyote at Coaches, again awesome sound, and really had an awesome crowd, and then ended my night with Tommy Hurikkane at Elliots....what can you say, Tommy will rockit hard for you! All four of these places were nominated for best venue....sure am glad you the people are judging, not me. 
Night #10 of my tour of Albuquerque concluded about a quarter after midnight last night at Sidelines out on the west side...Mr DJ Zero was behind the sounds and doing a damn fine job I must say, they don't have a huge selection with that system over there but I made it work....opened them up with Crazy Train and shut them down with some southern fried Ozzy Osbourne doing Sweet Home Alabama...and got to se someone I have not seen in a while...TINY! Most of you know him, I got his picture and posted it in the Hot Venue page...why do they call that guy Tiny anyways??? But it all started at Blackbird Downtown with the one and only Mr DJ Speed Racer, you know he really does have a loyal following...that's because he is so good at what he does. Anyway, there you have it.....till Thursday!
Night #11 of my tour of Albuquerque began at The Press Room which I have not been in since Ed Sol did it for Kan U Karaoke on Tuesday nights, now they have Bad Boy Karaoke doing it on Thursday nights, the crowd there was mostly a rock crowd and Bad Boy cranked it hard, there was alot of the Fiesta's regulars there, guess that's where they get thier fix on Thursdays. I did not make it to Allure, but did drop into Lucky's where Potato from Kammo was supposed to be debuting his first night, unfortunatly Lucky's Lounge did not have thier act together and it did not happened. Personally I don't think Lucky's Lounge will ever be sucessful with karaoke. TnZ was thier on Tuesday's and the crowds didn't come, and now this with Kammo was not ok in the karaoke community. Besides there is never any parking because of Dirty Bourbon and the manager there is to say the least...not a very friendly guy. Just my thoughts. Tomorrow night I conclude my 12 day tour, now realizing there are more venues to visit, I will continue with my addiction!

​Night #12 of my tour of Albuquerque concluded tonight at Slate Street, but before I got there I had the pleasure of singing at The Desert Greens Country Club with Mr Tommy Hurikkane. They had a nice comfortable crowd there, in fact ran into a friend I hadn't seen a long time. I didn't think the country club folks would take well to some hard rockin Ozzy at first so I opened with Wonderful Tonight, then Sweet Home Alabama, then my last one Photograph (Def Lepard)....this is really a nice place karaoke friends, you really should plan on hanging out there one night....then I was supposed to see Charles at Ten Pins but due to logistics I went strait to Slate Street...man this place really has it going on. This is another place I would recommend going to, it was packed (not many singles, mostly couples) they got food, lots of pool, dance floor and oh yeah! KARAOKE! Go figure lol, met BenJammin for the first time, they were limited on Ozzy but they did have I Don't Wanna Stop and then I did Photograph. That concluded this tour, time to get the next one ready, I try to be honest about my experience at these places to better prepare you the singer on what to expect and whether or not to go. To the KJ's and the Venue Owner, I don't post anything to be mean or vendictive but to let you see an hear what a karaoke person thinks about your place and either improve on your shortfalls or increase your strong points. In my final I would say this, venues that put karaoke first are the bestplaces to go. Sports bars do not look at karaoke as a priority, it's a fill in between sporting events and live bands cost more. I am really not sure why bowling alleys and venues that have dance halls have it, it seems like its because we need to have little of everything here (like a wal-mart). SERVICE....take note venue owners, if your service sucks, I don't care how good your KJ is, you WILL LOSE YOUR PEOPLE. There are 50 places to sing in Albuquerque, the singers run the show, and KJ's dont' ever get a big head and think your the king, I guarantee you there is always someone better out there, either already, or in the making. You better value every one of your singers. How long you've been in the business, does not matter.Today's KJ's have thousands more songs, more technoligy and more energy and personality than ever before. So if you are expecting your length in the business to carry you, you better shut your doors now.