openmikes.org

Yay for open mikes willing to adapt! This is a kick-ass open mike in a great, historic feeling culture and community focussed tavern with a real stage, real sound guys, real audience and it seems like there working on some kind of compromise to make sign up smoother. I went a few weeks back and sign-up crowd was light so not so frenzie-fied. The host sound guy had a helper/volunter signing folks up---they did seem to give consideration for those waiting longest AND kudos cuz I seem to remember them offering consideration for 1st timers---nice to welcome out of towners and keep the bewildered first-timers from venturing out and then feeling spooked by sign-up process.

This is a cool open mike and will remain so no doubt. Nice to see that it's also a hang-out for emerging and established musicians shooting the *&^ about projects etc. And there's usually a lot of diversity and cool surprises in the performances. Well worth taking part!

katy Keenan (9/2011)

maybe they did the hat game for a while, but it's back to the worst sign up process i've ever experienced. first, the bright sides: happy hour is awesome (ends at 7pm). the stage is great. location is convenient. i've heard the musicians are top caliber (from other musician friends).

the bad: sign ups are messed up. i felt like a test subject in group dynamics. the process involved swarming around a table and shouting out time slot requests as the host chooses who gets a slot (i didn't notice any favoritism, but i've talked to regulars who say they always get the slot they want. and honestly, i can't understand why a person would want that kind of responsibility if they weren't looking to abuse it). i was among the first musicians to show up, but ended up in the back of the herd, since i was unwilling/unable to push my way around (also, the host told me the process would occur in one spot and then changed it at the last minute, causing the whole crowd to shift from one spot to another). after a few people received slots and cleared out, i was directly in front of the host and requested a slot. i was ignored. as were many others. people shouldn't have to deal with this. i hope the host is unaware of the situation he's creating and not a sadist/egotist. either way, there is another open mic not far away at sweet lou's where you don't have to deal with this sort of thing. i hope things do change, because the venue is great and i'd love to return and play. i'm not the only one who feels this way. i've talked to others who have stopped coming because of this situation (maybe that's the point… to thin out the crowd?) unless this whole process is a way to mask favoritism, i can't see any reason not to go to a hat draw system (like most other busy open mics in this country).

j-diggity (6/2011)

Happy Easter!--I'm guessing it's happening tonite--think I'll head in and hoping it's a hat pick and not a swarm. maybe they were just trying out the hat pick and opted for not. i can't deal with any stress ----- snarks ------gloms-----or elbows. I'm weak… happy musicing…

anonymous (4/2011)

picking out of a hat would be great. they didn't do it this week, though. kind of a bummer. it was more of a swarm towards the front if you don't want to play at 1am… hope they go back to the hat game.

j-diggity (4/2011)

Yay that the sign up process has canged to a hat-picking scene. Cool--- cuz it was getting to be a little snarky. I think I'll try it out this week. no longer sour grapesey tee heeeee---se ya

katy Keenan (4/2011)

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