KARAOKE FROM HELL'S 33-1/3rd ANNIVERSARY PARTY
Date and Time
Wed, Dec 17, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Location
Star Theater
13 NW Sixth Avenue
Portland, OR 97209
Event Details
Karaoke From Hell 33 ⅓ Aniversary Celebration With a Screening of the Karaoke From Hell Documentary Wednesday, December 17, 2025 at The Star TheaterKaraoke From Hell, a documentary film examining the origin and history of Portlands own Karaoke From Hell Band, will be screened at The Star Theater Wednesday, December 17, 2025 in celebration of the bands 33rd anniversary. The documentary covers a year in the life of Karaoke From Hell, a live karaoke band that has played in Portland for 33 years. Karaoke From Hell is a staple of Old Town Portland night life and the self-proclaimed first live karaoke band on the planet. They have been providing live performances at Dantes on Third and Burnside since the establishment opened and have positioned themselves as a key ingredient of the cultural scene and nightlife of Portlands Old Town community. Founded in 1992, the band has provided income and opportunities to play on Mondays for dozens of musicians over the past 33 years. Mondays are slow nights for musicians and we thought if we could create a regular gig on Mondays, that it would be a benefit to the band members who play elsewhere throughout the week, says Dawn Panttaja, co-founder of the band.The film is a production of Portland filmmaker Chip Mabry, Producer of Rip City, a film about Portland skateboarding culture and Producer/Director of Brutal Beauty: Tales of the Rose City Rollers, about thePortland womens Roller Derby organization. I moved here in 2007 and fell in love with Portland, and I knew I wanted to spend my creative energies exploring its unique subcultures through documentaryfilmmaking, Mabry said.Producer/Director Mabry says he felt the band was a connection to the mythic 1990s Portland scene that has been much mythologized, most notably in the IFC series Portlandia (Peabody Award winningPortlandia Producer David Cress is an Executive Producer of the documentary). When I arrived in Portland, I immediately began to hear of this Golden Age of indie music and film that ended before I gothere. Cheap rent, lots of basements for bands to practice in or make art, talented people everywhere creating art in every conceivable way. I hate that I missed that, but I found that there were echoes of thatscene all over the city and Karaoke From Hell is a prime example, added Mabry. The documentary uses much rare, unseen, archival footage from the 1990s Portland music scene with an emphasis on the short- lived, but influential, X-Ray Cafe as an incubator of talent, art and community.Karaoke From Hell differs from karaoke in the fact that the karaoke performer will be performing with a live band and not a machine playing a track. This includes back up singers, guitar and drum solos and allthe frills of being a lead singer of a band. Their songbook contains over 1,000 songs, many are obscure selections and would be hard to find on a karaoke machine. Since 1992, other bands in other cities in the US and worldwide have emulated the live karaoke formula created by Karaoke From Hell. The documentary will play at The Star Theater (13 NW 6th Avenue Wednesday, December 17th at 7:00 pm ($5.00 in advance, $10.00 at the door.) There will be an afterparty celebrating the bands 33rdanniversary following the showing featuring a live performance from Karaoke From Hell from 8:00 pm till midnight.
Important Event Information
This event is 21 and over. Any ticket holder unable to present valid identification indicating that they are at least 21 years of age will not be admitted to this event, and will not be eligible for a refund.
Pricing
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