The primary, event-oriented foundation of The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational comes by way of our "Music Festivities"! Since 2006, "the world's most extreme Asian culture fusion festival" has featured some of the most dynamic & enigmatic events in this genre of Asian culture fandom appreciation, including the uber-sexy "TAKII Show", "Ota-Rave", "Say WTF Karaoke", & "Makenai: Fusion Charity Benefit Concert", among others. Our unique blend of musicality with a heaping helping of TAKII charm has produced countless priceless moments for attendees & guests/performers alike, including Natsuo Kimura's 1st acoustic concert on the USA's East Coast, TAKII Show Champs becoming future guest performers, & so much more! For this brand-new season of The Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational, let's check out what "Music Festivities" the passionate TAKII faithful can expect to eagerly anticipate:

"The world's most extreme Asian culture fusion festival" wouldn't be complete without its very 1st festivity (& most popular), the "often imitated, but never duplicated" "TAKII 8 Show"! Known as a premier Asian-themed vocal & talent contest in the realm of Asian culture fandom & respected for its lyric-free & Asian language focus, this season's version of the "TAKII 8 Show" will feature contestants battling it out in 4 rounds of chaotic awesomeness, including:

    * ROUND 1: PERSONAL PLEASURE
          o Contestants perform a song of their own chosing.
    * ROUND 2: JUDGE'S CHOICE
          o Contestants perform a song as chosen by a guest judge(s).
    * ROUND 3: PRO-MOTION
          o Contestants promote swag from our sponsors.
    * ROUND 4: DANCE TO DESTINY
          o Contestants get a crash course Asian MC dance lesson.

There will be 3 very special judges, all experts in their fields, adding their own brand of "constructive criticism" to the mix. Scores will be based on a combination of a judge's numeric evaluation & audience support/applause. Reasons why a contestant's score can drop include, but are not limited to, the song not being in an Asian language, using lyrics when not permitted to do so, non-compliance with time limits, & lack of stage presence. Upon conclusion of the "TAKII 8 Show", the fans in attendance will choose who they believe should be crowned the ultimate winner (in the event of a tie, the decision will be made based upon who scored higher amongst the judges). Once an "Asian Karaoke Idol Invitational 8 Show" Champion is crowned, the winner shall receive some sweet swag from this season's sponsors/affiliates & get the opportunity to perform during our "Makenai: Fusion Charity Benefit Concert"!

As if there weren't enough championships to compete for at TAKII, here comes another -- making its return, it's, "StepMania Shining Stars"! Re-invented & re-vamped for your entertainment pleasure, those who wish to participate will have to be #1 Contender's Pass holders & gather in front of the Main Stage in pairs. Afterwards, each pair will be given a mic, song lyrics, & a dance pad to perform an uber-secret, randomly selected song from TAKII's version of the cult-classic conglomerate homebrew game dedicated to Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), StepMania! Each pair will be evaluated by a combo of special guest judges & a very opinionated TAKII audience, based upon a combination of lyrical accuracy (1-10 pts.), StepMania dance rating (1-10 pts.), & overall guest judge & audience support (1-10 pts.), making 30 pts. the highest score a tag-team can achieve. In the event of a tie, a representative from each pair will step up to dance a random song of random difficulty, with the highest score winning top honors. Once the dancing dust has been settled, the winning pair will earn some great gifts from TAKII 8's sponsors/affiliates, as well as be declared "StepMania Shining Stars" Tag-Team Champions!

Created in the 1950s & lasting until the late 1980s, the original "Name That Tune" gave sofa savants (aka couch potatoes :-P) nationwide the chance to enjoy their favorite songs in a variety of ways as TV contestants did so for plenty of prizes & mad moolah. With "Name That TAKII Tune", we bring back that vintage sense of nostalgia with an Asian version of the gameshow the rocked the socks off of your parents & grandparents, with a TAKII-branded twist! Ready to go with their #1 Contender's Passes, participants will gather into 4 groups of 8 people & endure....

    * ROUND 1 = PICK-A-TUNE
          o Correctly guess the song title from a series of word jumbles on the big screen.
    * ROUND 2 = BID-A-NOTE
          o Accurately name song aspects in less time than your opponent.
    * ROUND 3 = GOLDEN MEDLEY
          o Guess as many songs as possible in a limited amount of time.
    * ROUND 4 = NAME THAT VIDEO
          o Name the song that is playing while its video is muted.

The highest scoring group of each singular round gets to keep their remaining members, while the remaining ones have to expel 2 members a piece! Once the scores from all 4 rounds are tabulated, the team still standing & with the highest score will be declared our "Name That TAKII Tune" Champs!!

In Japan, it's known as "Isu Tori Game". In Thailand, it's known as "Kao'ee Dontri". In America, it's known as "Musical Chairs". AT TAKII 8, it's fans will know it as "Last Otaku Standing", our extreme twist on a tried & true classic game of epic proportions! Participants will be in it for themselves, as they each bring their #1 Contender's Passes & a seat around the Main Stage -- each seat will have, underneath it, an especially-hilarious, musically-related task. Before the music starts, a seat will be randomly pulled, meaning someone will be left without a chair (DUH, lol). When the music starts, everyone will be walking around the chair, jockeying for position by any means necessary -- as when the music stops, everyone music immediately sit down, with the person left out being asked to walk away, empty-handed. This cycle repeats itself until there is 1 chair left & that last person must perform that special task under their chair! In a special twist of events, the TAKII fans in attendance will then judge if they adequately accomplished the mysterious task & should win, or if everyone who previously got knocked out should get the prize instead!! So, just who will be crowned TAKII 8's "Last Otaku Standing" Champ? I guess you'll just have to wait & see.... ^_*.

"Makenai" is the Japanese word for "I will not lose", or "I will not give up". It also appropriately describes the soulful vibe of TAKII's "Makenai: Fusion Charity Benefit Concert"! Featuring the musical stylings of this season's esteemed guests & performers for the 4th season in a row, audience members will be treated to J-Rock solos, J-Pop duets, acoustic remixes, K-Rap rips, & festival frenzy as only "The House Of Hardcore Asian Music" can provide. During the entire "Makenai Concert" (as well as throughout the rest of TAKII 8), we'll be educating TAKII faithful about the selfless aspirations of & accepting donations (of all kinds) for this season's Charity Beneficiaries. In anticipation of your participation in "Makenai", we've got 2 words for ya....DOMO ARIGATO!

There is only 1 way to cap off a perfect weekend & end a fusion festival such as TAKII 8, & that is to bask in the afterglow of our awesome "Ota-Rave ~PDNMZ: Asian Multimedia Entertainment Network (AMEN) LiVE~"! If you are familiar with the rave from other previous live PDNMZ DJ-ed events, then you know that this is 1 dance that you know you aren't going to wanna miss! Guest DJs will be spinning some of the hottest tracks from the continent of Asia, as well as taking some of your live playlist requests. TAKII guests, performers, & fans-alike will rave with glo-sticks, dance, release their inhibitions, & express themselves in extreme TAKII fashion. Throw in the dance craze known as "TAKII Rhythm D-Generates" & we have ourselves the making of a fabulous fusion-oriented festivity!

Get up in front of all of your friends, or random strangers (^_^), & sing to your hearts content, sans heartache! "Say WTF Karaoke" is a spin-off from the wildly popular MTV show that brought vocal joy & general craziness from the shores of Cancun, Mexico to Ocean City, MD, & points all over the world. You may bring your own songs, or you can rely on PDNMZ's massive library of Asian Music, Anime, & video game themes, songs, & the like, consisting of hundreds of thousands of songs to choose from! Feel free to also utilize TAKII's available instruments & lyrics, or bring your own! Be exciting....be extreme!