Happy Puppy



I don't know why or how this name stuck (I think it may have something to do with their unnaturally-happy zealous mascot), but it has turned into the biggest, hottest, most trusted name in Karaoke in Indonesia! This is a 'family' establishment. No sex, no drugs, no hostesses (ie. hookers). I guess sex and drugs don't go with the rock'n'roll in this joint! (As a side note: They don't serve booze, although you're not disallowed from bringing in your own!)






Indonesia is Karaoke-CRAZY! Karaoke is one of the main forms of Entertainment that Indonesians indulge in... and I feel ashamed (or proud!?) to say that we lived in Indonesia for two years and somehow avoided this activity... until the second-to-last night! Once our friends in Jogja discovered this sad (in their opinion) fact, they insisted that we have a karaoke session. Truth be told, it wasn't as much like torture as I thought it'd be, and I even rocked out to the Supremes, and Marc Antony (seriously, check out the ultra-embarrassing pic!)! We actually did karaoke in English, Indonesian, Mandarin, and Spanish! And everyone joined in, whether they could speak the language or not, and of course, whether they could SING or not! (yes, any longer than 2 hours listening to the slightly off-key singers and it WOULD classify as torture!)



Funny thing is, that since being back in Canada, I've heard about how popular the video game 'Rock Band' has become... to me, this seems like another example of one of the fundamental differences between Canadian and Indonesian cultures; in the West, we want our entertainment on demand, and in private (not to mention the video game addiction)... whereas in Indonesia, EVERYTHING is a communal gathering!

And talk about a creativity-killer! I mean, what if Beethoven had been sucked into a game where he just had to follow a colour-coded mime of a song, instead of thriving on the freedom to CREATE!? I actually played Rock Band one evening with Amy over in Campbellford, and even though I consider myself quite capable musically, there was still lots of room for improvement on my scores! Of course, that's not something I'll be working on... I would much rather GO PLAY OUTSIDE!