I was an eleven-year-old kid attending Catholic school in Kentucky and my parents had just gotten cable TV. It was 1982. I had gotten up inexplicably early one morning. Maybe 4:00 or 5:00 AM. I turned on the television and had my brain cracked open by an unbelievably amazing concert film called Urgh! A Music War. I was bombarded with music and bizarre performances the likes of which was unimaginable to me in my sheltered youth. I wasn’t prepared for it.

Some of it absolutely terrified me, in particular, The Dead Kennedys, The Cramps, and Skafish (who were downright blasphemous to me—I didn’t understand camp at that time). But the one act that stood out to me the most—the most bizarre thing I had ever seen up to that point—was Klaus Nomi.

I didn’t LOVE Klaus Nomi at first, nor really any of the acts in Urgh!, save for the big names I already knew like The Police, Go Go’s, and Joan Jett.  I was intrigued and confused by these performances, but in time I came to love them. I love every band and every song in Urgh! It’s a perfect concert film.

Klaus Nomi ended up becoming a bit of an obsession over time. By the time I got to college, I was already fully immersed in punk rock. I had a copy of Urgh! on VHS that I watched over and over with friends in the dorm room. And Klaus was always the highlight. The general comment whenever anyone first saw Klaus’ performance in Urgh! was “what the hell is this supposed to be?” Exactly. That’s the greatness of Klaus Nomi. Klaus’ backing band, looking like super-square rejects from an E.L.O. tribute was also a constant source of hilarious commentary in the dorm. The clash between the highly stylized other-worldliness of Klaus and his backup dancers and the backing band which just looked like “some dudes” actually seemed like calculated genius. The song Klaus and his band performs in Urgh!, “Total Eclipse,” is by now one of my favorite songs of all time.

Moving forward in time, one of the weird side-jobs I ended up doing years later was hosting karaoke. I was a karaoke DJ (or KJ, as we like to be called) for eight years. It was a fun gig and I was really good at it. I made a point to scour the planet for karaoke tracks that no one else had. It wasn’t easy to find punk rock on karaoke, but if it existed, I had it. I was even part of a cabal of “cool” karaoke hosts nationwide (there were like 6 of us) that hired studio bands to record the tracks we wanted for karaoke use, but that were unavailable on the market. As a result, the members of this cabal had dozens of tracks that no other KJs in the world had access to.

The one track I always wanted though, that we never produced ourselves or were able to find ANYWHERE was “Total Eclipse.”

Fast forward to a couple of days ago when I began making plans for an eclipse party. I happen to live in one of the few municipal areas in the U.S. that will be able to observe the full total eclipse on August 21. So, I’m thinking “man, wouldn’t it be awesome to have ‘Total Eclipse’ by Klaus Nomi on karaoke?”

So I did a search… something I had done plenty of times to no avail back when I was working in the karaoke business. But this time I hit paydirt. Some kind soul on YouTube has taken the time to create a backing track with on-screen lyrics for “Total Eclipse.”

This is seriously the best thing to ever happen in the world of karaoke.

Continues after the jump…

 
This morning I woke up thinking “Today, I’m a’ gonna write me a post about the Psychedelic Furs.” I don’t know why that band in particular popped into my foggy noggin early this AM while I was puttering around the house all bleary-eyed, but things can get pretty whimsical here at Dangerous Minds HQ. That’s just how we roll!

So off to YouTube I went, where I searched for “Psychedelic Furs” and then narrowed my search results to videos uploaded “this month,” which is how I found this guy who’d posted his own karaoke version of “Love My Way.” It seemed like an inspired choice of a song for karaoke to be sure, but would he try to imitate Richard Butler’s distinctive rasp? Would he, in the spirit of the best YouTube karaoke stars, give it his charismatic ALL???

Or might he have decided to do a Bill Murray lounge lizard style cover of the New Wave classic, heavy with irony, macking like a BOSS on the K-mic?

See for yourself:

 
Plenty more where that came from, after the jump…

“To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting.” - e.e. cummings

Although they are known for their cover song videos, Bev and Bob Holwager of Newcastle, Indiana are no tribute act. They are never anything but themselves. They are the real thing. As real as it gets.

I first became aware of Bev and Bob four years ago when I was working as a karaoke DJ (that’s “KJ,” to those in the business), and I was looking online for some unique karaoke videos to post on a Facebook page to promote my own gig. As soon as I stumbled upon a handful of Bev and Bob’s blissfully un-self-aware YouTube clips, I was hooked. It’s been a personal treat to watch their channel grow in popularity over the last couple of years. Their persistence and enthusiasm, for the music, their fans, and especially one another, is truly inspiring. That persistence and enthusiasm has also paid off. Their collective videos now have well over a million hits and the cult of “Bev n’ Bob” is growing every day. Anything their videos might lack in technical proficiency, they more than make up for in heart.

I get legitimately thrilled whenever I receive an update that they’ve posted a new song. The authenticity of their performances cuts through all the phoney-baloney autotune bullshit of the music industry and lays bare the true reason why music even exists in the first place: to make a connection from one heart to another. Bev and Bob connect, and they have legions of fans to prove it. When I say they are “un-self-aware,” that comes with no snark whatsoever. Bev and Bob aren’t out to impress anyone, and there’s a good reason why many people prefer their versions of certain songs over the original versions. It’s all about not giving a shit, and having a good time while you’re doing it.
 

 
The Holwagers were kind enough to take time out of their hectic production schedule to answer a few of my questions, in this Dangerous Minds exclusive interview: 

First of all, you guys are the cutest couple in the world. How long have you been together?

Bev: Thank you, we have been together for ten years this March.

I’ve been following and enjoying your videos for several years. It’s clear you two are having a lot of fun with your work. Did you start out performing karaoke live in bars?

Bob: We have never done karaoke in a bar. When we met, Bev had a karaoke machine and we set it up along with a video camera. I had never sang karaoke before. Of course we were just sitting on the couch singing our own songs.

At what point did you decide to shoot videos of your performances?

Bev: We have always shot videos of our sessions. I found people on YouTube doing green screen karaoke videos and thought that it looked pretty fun, so Bob messaged a couple of people and asked about the videos.

There is a lot of layering going on in your productions with the green screen effects. Did you have prior experience with video production?

Bob: I have been a computer geek since the mid ‘80s. Once I bought some video software, its been a learning experience. I try to experiment with things and make advances in our videos.

My favorite videos on your channel are the ones that include multiple Bobs or Bevs. What gave you the idea to do that, and is it difficult to sync up the performances?

Bev: We have tried to include other people in our videos but everyone is too busy, so we make our own party.

Bob: Sometimes it is very hard to try to sync everything up, sometimes it just works out. “Sound of Madness” is my favorite proof of that. It was shot with the intention to cut back and forth, but I was shocked with the final cut.

I’ve read comments on some of your videos from people who think your version of a particular song is “better than the original.” Are there certain songs where you think you improved over the original artist? If so what are they?

Bev: We take that with a laugh because we don’t see that we are better than anyone.

Bob: However there are songs that we have changed whole atmosphere of the song: “Not Better but Different,” “Bring Me to Life,” “Smokahontas,” “Bennie and the Jets”...
 

Bev & Bob at yearly get together with Bob’s dad, at Montana Mike’s Steakhouse in Greenfield Indiana.

I find it tough to pick a favorite Bev and Bob performance, but “Africa,” “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” and “Mother” are up there for me. Do either of you have a personal favorite video you’re most proud of?

Bev: My favorite would be “Mine”

Bob: I love Bev’s version of “Firework.” As for myself, “Blurred Lines” is the biggest production so far.

You guys cover a lot of styles from modern pop music, to heavy metal, to even more out there stuff like your Death Grips cover. Is there a favorite genre that you prefer to work in? Are a lot of your songs requested by fans?

Bev: I prefer to stay with rock music, that’s what we listen to ourselves. Almost all of our videos are requests from fans.

I’ve seen a few crude comments on your videos from “haters,” happy to hide behind the anonymity of the internet. What do you have to say, if anything, to your critics?

Bob: First of all, we make no claims to be anybody except “Bob ‘n’ Bev.” This is our hobby that we spend our time on together as a couple. If you don’t like us, turn off the video and move on.”
 

 
Perfect. Is there any song you haven’t done yet that you are just dying to cover?

Bob: Disturbed’s “Down with the Sickness”

We’ll be on the lookout for that!

In the meantime, we’ll enjoy these killer cuts from the “Bev ‘n’ Bob” archives:

Modest Mouse’s “Float On” gets the Bev and Bob treatment:

 
After the jump, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie à la Bev and Bob…

 
A gentleman performing a karaoke version of Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” gets really steamed when he thinks the wrong track is played. Things start to get interesting around the around the 1:00 mark. I suggest watching the whole video though, the guy’s got talent.

 
(via The High Definite)