Althouse: "The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling 'My Way' in karaoke bars..."

February 6, 2010

"The authorities do not know exactly how many people have been killed warbling 'My Way' in karaoke bars..."

"... over the years in the Philippines, or how many fatal fights it has fueled. But the news media have recorded at least half a dozen victims in the past decade and includes them in a subcategory of crime dubbed the 'My Way Killings.'"

35 comments:

Anonymous said...: Justifiable homicide.

Peter; 2/6/10, 9:41 PM
Tibore said...: Ok, first of all: Cotabato (the province Gen San City is located in) is the southernmost tip of Mindanao, and is very much Moro territory. As big and modern as Gen San is (over 500,000 people), that provincce that city is in is still a violent part of the Philippines. Go a bit more west, and you're in the heart of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front territory, as well as Abu Sayyaf's and Jema’ah Islamiyah's stomping grounds. The NYTimes can make cute stories about Karaoke all they want, but I think this is far less about that and far more about where it's happening at.; 2/6/10, 9:42 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/6/10, 9:45 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Wacky and tragic at the same time, like so many stories out of the Philippines.

Back in the 80's when I was stationed in Japan, I used to hang out at various karaoke bars and "My Way" and "Yesterday" were usually the only English language songs in the catalog so I sang "My Way" often and badly. Nothing exciting ever happened, though...everyone just clapped politely and ordered more drinks. Totally different karaoke culture.; 2/6/10, 9:47 PM
Ron said...: Well, not My Way...but bad enough....

http://fluffystuffin.blogspot.com/2009/04/ol-big-chin.html; 2/6/10, 9:50 PM
Anonymous said...: you're in the heart of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front territory

Of all the world's terrorist groups, it has the best acronym.

Peter; 2/6/10, 9:54 PM
Clyde said...: My favorite version was one that the late Andy Kaufman did, I think on Saturday Night Live, years ago. Never could find the clip of it. Then there was the version done by the late Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols. Add in the late Frank Sinatra and the late Elvis, and you're singing a song sung mostly by dead guys. It's like sitting with your back to the door holding aces and eights -- there are some things you just don't want to do...; 2/6/10, 10:17 PM
Unknown said...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZC3gCCD2HM; 2/6/10, 10:30 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: You don't care about anything except you. You just want to persuade people that you love 'em so much that they ought to love you back. Only you want love on your own terms. Something to be played your way, according to your rules.

Citizen Kane (1941); 2/6/10, 10:35 PM
Chris Arabia said...: I think Sid Vicious was actually in his post-Sex Pistols life windup when he did My Way.

His is the only version that I can tolerate.

I think this was excessive, though. It's not like it was "Feelings."; 2/6/10, 11:36 PM
XWL said...: "Go a bit more west, and you're in the heart of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front territory,"

Take care when you do a web search for MILF, you aren't likely to find information on a terrorist group . . .

(how pissed are they about the meaning their English language acronym has taken on?); 2/7/10, 1:29 AM
Revenant said...: Ok, I acknowledge that this is tragic and a senseless waste of human life. And I'm probably a bad person for reacting this way. But ever since I read this line:

a Thai man killed eight of his neighbors in a rage after they sang John Denver’s "Take Me Home, Country Roads".

... I haven't been able to stop laughing.; 2/7/10, 3:16 AM
Ben (The Tiger in Exile) said...: Okay, I know that some people are bad singers.

But focus, people -- you can leave the bar. Or order another round of drinks...; 2/7/10, 7:41 AM
Mark said...: Hey! How come this post doesn't have a label "Paul Anka" ?; 2/7/10, 8:16 AM
virgil xenophon said...: How many killed?

Ans: Not nearly enough....; 2/7/10, 8:50 AM
Jason said...: Don't make a fucking maniac out of me. I will slice like a fucking hammer.; 2/7/10, 9:08 AM
Phil 314 said...: There's something deeply profound about this story......
or not.; 2/7/10, 9:09 AM
KCFleming said...: I usually reserve my karaokean rage for renditions from any of the Barry Manilow oeuvre.

Even God hates Copa Cabana.; 2/7/10, 9:24 AM
Fred4Pres said...: They take their Sinatra seriously!; 2/7/10, 9:34 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Althouse could flip if someone screwed up Dylan. If you are going to do a song, do it right or don't do it at all.; 2/7/10, 9:35 AM
Unknown said...: Back in the 60s, there were always stories on the wire services of shootouts at Filipino campaign rallies and the like. Haven't heard one of those in years, so maybe that sort of tendency has found a new home.

XWL said...

"Go a bit more west, and you're in the heart of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front territory,"

Take care when you do a web search for MILF, you aren't likely to find information on a terrorist group . . .

Maybe that's their nefarious intent.

WV "palingls" (no kidding) What Andy Sullivan is obsessed with.; 2/7/10, 9:41 AM
Anonymous said...: SId!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIXg9KUiy00; 2/7/10, 1:23 PM
comatus said...: Sounds like the guys did not get shirts. That's just the way it is.; 2/7/10, 1:34 PM
Quilly_Mammoth said...: It's the embalming fluid they use in sealing the bottle. They reuse old caps and in order to keep it from going south they put a few drops of embalming fluid in. Sometimes a wee bit more then a few drops.

This is more common the further you go from Manila...except for really dingy places in Manila.; 2/7/10, 1:35 PM
Hucbald said...: Yes, I blame MILF terrorists. You have to do everything their way or you're shot on the spot... so to speak.; 2/7/10, 1:39 PM
Stosh2 said...: Karaoke singers bumping each other off? As one internet personage would say: "Faster, please."; 2/7/10, 2:31 PM
algie said...: Definition of KARAOKE:

Tone deaf drunk with a microphone

As I sing expressing my soul
I am wished to a distant black hole
Those folks close by
Think that they will die
For I sound like a castrated Troll

....uuuu..'o^o'..nn!n....algie
Illegitimi nOn carborundum; 2/7/10, 2:36 PM
Tibore said...: "ironrailsironweights said...
Of all the world's terrorist groups, it has the best acronym."

"XWL said...
Take care when you do a web search for MILF, you aren't likely to find information on a terrorist group..."

Great, folks. Now poor Professor Althouse here's going to get flooded by a whole lotta pervs lookin' for a thrill.

;) (tee-hee); 2/7/10, 3:16 PM
Unknown said...: Q: What do you call 10,000 karaoke singers on the bottom of the ocean?

A: A good start.; 2/7/10, 3:50 PM
Ice Nine said...: ironrailsironweights said...
Justifiable homicide.

Yep, now...and when Frank sang it.; 2/7/10, 4:02 PM
Amadeo said...: Some notes on Cotabato. The original Cotabato province has been cut up into several provinces, thanks to feudalism. Now we have Cotabato and South Cotabato, and more provinces like infamous Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, etc. Gen San city used to be Dadiangas.

The NYT reporter should have known, the locals now have a different lingo for the place and the activity, it is now referred to as videoke, rather than the dated karaoke.

Even in big and nice cities one can find these bars, many hole-in-the-wall affairs, dotting many of its seedy underbellies, like in and near marketplaces, squatters’ areas, etc. Perfect set-ups for trouble and violence.

I surmise it is less that one particular song (an English song the masa easily identify with) incites one to violence, but rather the explosive environment where it is spawned. They could very well be singing Xmas songs as a prelude to violence. After all violence of this nature rises during the holidays.; 2/7/10, 4:29 PM
Nancy Reyes said...: The NYTimes is so stupid that they probably think the political murder of our nephew (at a cockfight) was about cockfighting, not about killing the opposition candidate in our town so the mayor could win the election and keep his hand in the moneypot.

With the libel laws in this country, you can't point fingers, so they blame the kareoke machine, even though everyone knows why the person is killed.; 2/7/10, 5:06 PM
Marco said...: To quote Dr.Frank N. Furter: "It was a mercy killing."; 2/7/10, 6:31 PM
Fat Man said...: The man who really knows the score in the Philippines is Wretchard, proprietor of the Belmont Club.; 2/7/10, 7:12 PM
Chris Arabia said...: Gene Wilder, walking in chains with a new friend into prison in Stir Crazy:

Friend wondering how Wilder got here: "What about you?"

Wilder: "Well, my buddy and I were doing a song and dance routine."

Friend: "Oh... must've been pretty bad."; 2/7/10, 10:41 PM