Clad in red slouchy hipster boots, Courtney Preste’s feet are keeping the beat as she belts out “I Will Survive.” The 23-year-old’s tiny frame gives way to the powerful song; the band behind her crescendos and the crowd swells with her voice.
Over the stage, a banner reads “Can You Rock?”
Every Wednesday night at the Moon Dog Tavern, 15 to 20 amateur singers like Preste — a “struggling musician” and part-time nanny — will try to prove that they can, in fact, rock.
This live-band karaoke contest is the idea of 47-year-old Lisa Sauce, who manages local bands through her company, Blonde Entertainment. Sauce first saw live-band karaoke during a 2005 trip to New York.
“It was just really fun to watch people sitting there with a band,” she says. “I just took that and it evolved into the concept.”
Gathering together members from Blonde Sonja, Zanna-Do! The Flying Toasters and Living Proof, Sauce formed the Can You Rock? band. Working with Michael Read (keys, vocals with Zanna-Do! and Ribs-n-Bone), she came up with a 200-song selection list which burgeoned into the present 300-song list.
The first Can You Rock? contest lasted 14 weeks. The current competition, in its sixth season, only lasts six weeks. Preste won Season No. 5, which ended in July at Champps Americana on River Crossing Boulevard; she made a guest appearance as a singer and judge during a sixth-season show.
Starting at 8 p.m. Wednesdays, contestants can sign up for their first-come, first-served chance on the stage. No song is repeated in one night — so you won’t sit through several renditions of popular tunes such as “Black Velvet” or “Me and Bobby McGee.”
Judges around the room (which have included vocal coaches, local personalities, band members…even Henry Lee Summer) watch the performances and rate all of the singers. Decibel meters around the room guage the audience response.
Four finalists are picked to compete again at 10:30 p.m. Two of those will go into the finals at the end of the six-week round, for a total of 12 finalists.
Lead singer of Living Proof, Leonard Patterson, serves as the emcee.
One after the other, Patterson introduces the singers and their songs, reading from the little sheets of paper that are the competition entry forms.
“It’s a mixed crowd that you get here,” Patterson says. “I think that people like to be in the limelight. A lot of the contestants have said, ‘I don't care if I win. I just want to rock out with the band.’
“Karaoke in general is fun, but karaoke with a live band that will follow you — that's just a feeling that you can’t replace. That draws contestants — and then it's a kick-ass band.”
The band is Michael Read on keyboards, Sonja Meyer on backing vocals, Phillip Powers on drums, Dave Donahoe on bass and Orvis Kirkman on guitar. All of them have gigged around town in their own bands; Wednesday nights are a chance for them to shake things up.
Can You Rock? nights at Moon are full — every booth and table has at least two occupants, if not more. About 150 to 200 people show up, Sauce says. Some dance; all clap — for everyone.
“Nobody boos,” Patterson says. “Everybody says, ‘Hey, I don’t know you, but I’m going to root for you.’”
On this Wednesday night, Bill Paquette is competing for the first time.
“I’m wanted — dead or alive,” he croons, bending deep into the notes as Michael Read directs the band.
“I used to be in a band when I was in college,” Paquette says offstage, following his performance. “I enjoy performing in front of people. Who doesn't want to be a rock star? I think everybody has that fantasy.”
Preste was singing karaoke at another bar when a woman from the audience told her about Can You Rock? Preste threw her hat in the ring on the second week and went into the finals, where she won.
“I love to get up there and do what I love to do,” she says.
She won singing “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” by KT Tunstall; Preste also won some cash, prizes and gift certificates for her talents.
But it was about more than that.
“I think the competition has a good aura,” she says. “Everyone is supportive of everyone involved and the band is amazingly talented.”
GOING?
Can You Rock? is held 8 to 11 p.m. Wednesdays at Moon Dog Tavern, 4825 E. 96th St. Sixth season shows are Nov. 11 and 18 (finals on Nov. 18). Admission is free for both competitors and spectators.
Season No. 7 begins next year, on Feb. 14, at Moon Dog.
For more information, and to see the song list, visit www.canyourock.com.
