Posted on October 3, 2008 at 9:34 am

The whole thing was just a lark, a little goofy thing to do on an afternoon in July when I didn’t want to write a football song (that I eventually wrote and that eventually got cut, making the whole thing an exercise in superfluousness), and then all of a sudden there were over two hundred entries – and even more that came in after the deadline – and then literally thousands of votes and every time I checked my email someone was yelling at me “Who won the contest? Who won the contest?” and I’m trying to WRITE A BROADWAY SHOW and record an ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM and tabulate the votes and listen to the entries, and it all got way way way out of hand, people, and I’m sorry it’s taken me so long, but Holy Hannah, here she blows: The Official Winners of the 2008 JRB Karaoke Contest! Click below and meet your 2008 JRB Karaoke Freaks!

Natalie Hawkins!

Natalie Weiss!

Jonathan Reid Gealt!

Jonathan Shew!


(Talk about your lack of diversity. Not only are they all white people, they all have the same first names.)

And you can hear all of the winners sing live and in person on October 13, when they’ll be sharing the stage with me and the Legendary Caucasian Rhythm Kings at Birdland!

There were a lot of amazing performances, and I hope to write another entry next week pointing you to some of the particularly special ones. In the meantime, Kevin Ireland over at BestArts.com has done a really nice job compiling some highlights; check out his page right here.

I can’t thank all of you enough for participating; it was a lot of fun for a couple of weeks in August watching my pageviews go up and up and up! And I was so honored by the respect you all showed towards the songs, and the enormous talent you all brought to bear on my music. I am a very lucky boy.

So come see the Natalies, the Jonathans, and the Caucasian Rhythm Kings on October 13 at 7 pm! And support all of the amazing performers who were a part of the 2008 JRB Karaoke Contest!

And get ready for 2009!