KARAOKE AT THE TRAP
THE TRAP RESTAURANT AND BAR
Story and photos by: Kurt “Swingcat” Johnson
The Trap Restaurant and Bar is located at 3805 SE 52nd Ave, in Portland, Ore, at the corner of SE 52nd and Foster Blvd. The Trap has been at this location for many years under previous ownership. But, it is now under new ownership who’ve taken the time and effort to completely remodel and renovate the building. According to their KJ, Robert Bedrossian, “It had been a bad episode of the TV Show, Bar Rescue”. But, not so anymore. With the remodel it has gone from a sketchy dive bar to being a destination entertainment nightclub. With a new exterior paint job, the building is clean and attractive. Inside there is an all new bar, a new hardwood dance floor, a new DJ booth and stage and ceiling to floor replacements and updates. The sound system is completely updated along with furniture seating booths and tables. And the bar staff is upbeat and welcoming. With 3 phases of upgrades, they literally doubled the floorspace. They finished their remodel last November and held their grand re-opening. Since then the crowds have been strong and they have developed an entirely new group of visitors. Bedrossian described their updated sound system: It includes a 15” Yamaha monitor for the singers up-close and QFC reinforcement speakers mounted in the ceiling. This configuration results in a clear, clean, accurate and full sound. The system is computerized and offers many thousands of songs to choose from. The microphones are Vocopro handhelds and they feature a Shure 55 (old-school Frank Sinatra) stage mic along with an 800 watt subwoofer for bass reinforcement. They use Behringer mixing gear. Bedrossian explained their concept for Karaoke at The Trap: “We are filling in a void. Places like the Boileroom, Chopsticks and The Hutch on Holgate have closed. There was a real need for a neighborhood Karaoke bar in this area. We configured our sound to be ‘Singer-Centric’. We try to give our Karaoke singers a little bit more product in terms of values. You can go anywhere and stand in a corner and sing on a mobile rig, but we try to give them a little bit more with a raised stage, stage lights and sound effects. With normal live music, the main speakers go out to the audience. In our singer-centric system, it makes the whole bar for the singers. We want to be the Eastside’s Karaoke home. We do it harder every night and provide our singers with a quality product everytime.” KJ since Robert has been hosting for 20 years since 1998, and has been at The trap since its re-opening. He has also DJ’d and KJ’d in the Miami, Fla, area for 10 years. You can see more of The Trap at their Facebook site: facebook.com/Portland Karaoke Junkies