Seattle's own "Czech Karaoke King" booty-slaps his way to world championships

By Tyrone Beason
Seattle Times staff reporter

ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES Zach Miller, who goes by the stage name Johnny Nighttrain, often practices singing in the shower before showing off his vocal skills at karaoke venues.

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It's a tossup as to who best interprets Britney Spears' hit "... Baby One More Time," the pop princess herself or Seattle's Zach Miller, who goes by the stage name Johnny Nighttrain.

Spears has the right sassiness, the right producers, the right gender.

But Johnny Nighttrain, a 6-foot-4, 28-year-old technical writer with blond hair and thick black eyeglasses, has perfected the coy glances, hip thrusts, booty slaps and deep-voiced delivery that make any song — even Spears' — his own.

These talents — if that's the right word — helped Nighttrain win the national karaoke championship in the Czech Republic last April while teaching English for a year in Prague.

The title allows Nighttrain to compete at the Karaoke World Championships in Heinola, Finland, which kicked into high gear last night.

More than 10,000 people turned out for last year's championship in that city.

The top prize, to be awarded tomorrow, is 1,000 Euros (about $1,200) — and the honor of beating out contestants from 18 other countries with songs that have long since passed their prime.

Ready to karaoke? For more information on the current Karaoke World Championships in Finland: www.khviihde.fi/english.htm

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Nighttrain said last week while nursing white Russians at Bush Garden Restaurant in Seattle's Chinatown International District.

"I'm doing it because I feel it's my destiny. I don't know if I'm meant to win — I'm just meant to go."

Nighttrain said he competes because karaoke is his life.

He started in 1998, when he and a group of friends would travel the Golden Triangle of Karaoke in North Seattle: Leilani Lanes bowling alley, along with the Rickshaw and Mandarin Gate restaurant/lounges.

Karaoke nights became such a fixture on his calendar that Miller felt he needed to separate his real life from his onstage one. So Johnny Nighttrain was born.

He was at Bush Garden last week to rehearse songs he planned to perform in Finland, including "... Baby One More Time," "La Isla Bonita," "Mack the Knife" and "I Will Always Love You."

	ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES Johnny Nighttrain performs Britney Spears' "... Baby One More Time" during karaoke night at Bush Garden Restaurant in Seattle's Chinatown International District. He will be singing Spears' hit, along with other songs at the International Karaoke Championships in Finland.

He takes karaoke seriously, but in a lighthearted sort of way.

When Nighttrain performs around Seattle, he normally wears a polyester print shirt, but for the world championships he scoured thrift shops to assemble a special ivory suit with a white ruffled tuxedo shirt and a red plastic carnation.

It's a getup fitting for an aspiring karaoke king.

"I would have to say that he's the greatest karaoke performer who's ever lived — honestly," said Nighttrain's friend, a fellow performer who goes by the name Rooster.

"He has style, charisma — there's just something that draws you into watching him sing, even when he's bad," Rooster said, half-seriously. "It's like watching a terrible accident about to happen, but somehow, he manages to pull it all together."

Nighttrain, a Puyallup native, describes his style as "goofy," especially the dance moves.

"Basically I just try to have fun," he said. "I just flail my arms and twirl my hips and hope for the best. It can be sexual at times."

Nighttrain's choreographer, Jessica Novo, a modern dancer, gives Nighttrain high marks for his interpretive savvy, if not his graceful moves.

	"I'm doing it because I feel it's my destiny. I don't know if I'm meant to win — I'm just meant to go." — Johnny Nighttrain on competing in the Karaoke World Championships

"He does what I tell him to do, but it's not really a re-creation," Novo said, stretching out the last word in an effort to sound gentle. "Not bad — just different. It's maybe a little funnier."

Nighttrain's version of Madonna's "La Isla Bonita," for example, features "flamenco-inspired" steps rather than actual flamenco.

When it was time for Nighttrain to go on stage at Bush Garden and perform the Spears song, it took him a while to find his groove — and the right key.

"Oh, baby, baby, how was I supposed to know — Can we get a little more volume on the music here?" he commanded into the microphone.

But as he sang "Show me, how you want it to be," Nighttrain was on, thrusting his pelvis wildly to punctuate the last two words.

With "Hit me baby one more time," he used his free hand to smack on an imaginary behind, before doing a spin.

A perfectionist, Nighttrain was not happy with his performance.

He needed a bit more practice, or maybe another white Russian.

For the Czech championships, Nighttrain said he rehearsed by singing three to four hours in the shower each day. He used a jump rope to simulate a microphone and cord.

The acoustics in the shower, Nighttrain explained, helped him determine whether his voice was too sharp or flat.

The technique worked but "the hot-water bill was really enormous," Nighttrain said.

Not that the road to his Czech championship was without a few bumps. One judge who heard Nighttrain's rendition of "The Rose" during a Czech qualifying competition strongly discouraged him from singing songs originated by women. A defiant Nighttrain said last week, "I love to do songs by female artists — a lot — because, well, I think it's funny."

His instincts must have been right, because he won the men's title in the national competition. His family, which has supported his offbeat interest, proudly greeted him at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last month with a sign that read: "Welcome Home Czech Karaoke King."

Over the years, Nighttrain says he has learned which sings to dive headfirst into and which to avoid.

"You really need to like the song," Nighttrain said, referring to his first rule of good karaoke. "If you don't like it, it won't be a great performance."

Also, it's best not to tackle complicated music or vocal stylings.

"I tried 'Too Legit to Quit' once — that's a really fast song," Nighttrain said. "Guns N' Roses is really hard to sing. If you don't sing it well, it can really fall flat."

At the world championships, judges will score contestants on voice quality, rhythm and tempo, vocal expressiveness, stage presence and entertainment value.

"If you love doing karaoke, then you'll be very entertaining to watch," Nighttrain explained. "Some of my favorite performers are not good singers, but it's great seeing people up there having fun."

Nighttrain has a dream. He wants to rent an RV and tour the U.S. with his friends, challenging entertainers with karaoke versions of their own hits.

He'd love to track down Huey Lewis — of The News fame — and compete to see who does a better job with "Cruising," the Smokey Robinson cover that Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow sang in the film "Duets."

"But I would also happily do 'Do You Believe in Love' — if there's a karaoke version," Nighttrain said. "This is a challenge to you, Huey Lewis!"

Tyrone Beason: 206-464-2251 or tbeason@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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