Radio Days: Klingon Karaoke

At the same time I worked for country music station KWJJ in Portland, I also worked for our sister station a talk radio station called KOTK on 1080 AM.  On this station we had Don Imus in the Morning, Rick Emerson, Jeff Rense, Clyde Lewis and a few others. Rick and Clyde actually produced their syndicated shows live from our stations.

Always Prospecting…

I had been dropping in at a bar called Bodacious Classics and Pump House in Portland, Oregon trying to catch the owner to talk about advertising. Every time I went I was told the owner was out of the country. After several weeks he returned and was willing to sit down and chat with me.

I spent a lot of time listening in this appointment. Ralph (the owner) had a lot of great stories from his travels as he had just returned from Machu Picchu. It was a very spiritual experience for him and he had come home with a lot fun ideas for his bar, one of which was he was determined to paint a glow-in-the-dark “landing strip” on the roof of the bar to encourage “visitors”…if ya know what I mean?

Anyhow as I let him talk somehow the conversation turned to Star Trek. As I listened, I began to formulate a promotional idea, but not to blow it too soon I made a follow-up appointment and told Ralph our next meeting would include a couple of the talk show hosts from the station.

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

When I returned to the station I sat down with Rick and Clyde and filled them in on all the stuff Ralph had shared with me, then I asked the big question, “Do we have any Klingons handy?”…

Fortunately Clyde Lewis was tied in with a few Trekkies who also had the full-on “Klingon” get-ups and who also just happened to speak “Klingon”. If you doubt the language, let me assure you there is even a “Klingon Language Institute” and a website or two devoted to it, including a “Klingon” translator, but I digress…

So, anyways…after talking to the boys I discovered these “Klingon” friends of Clyde’s would possibly be available for an event at Bodacious Classics…if I could sell Ralph on the idea.

I went back for my follow-up meeting with the boys in tow. Ralph was dutifully impressed I showed up with real radio talk-show hosts, i.e. local celebrities and I had his full attention…and that’s when I hit him with my big idea for Klingon Karaoke!

Go Ahead and Laugh, But….

Not only did Ralph like the idea, he loved it and we sat down and worked out all of the particulars and a brand new event was born and it was a huge success. In fact it made the papers then and continued to do so for many years as the event had serious legs and Ralph kept it going.

From there, the “Klingons” moved on to other bars around town. They even have their own website if you want to get hooked up with some serious silliness.

There are also several YouTube videos you can check-out if your curiosity has the best of you…

Sadly, although countless people have enjoyed this event over the years, few knew it was me that started the whole shebang.

Have you ever seen Klingon Karaoke? Do you speak Klingon? What crazy events have you been to at a local bar in your area?

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