openmikes.org

Freight and Salvage

Upcoming Dates ?
Tue, Dec 02
Tue, Dec 09
Tue, Dec 16
Tue, Dec 23
Tue, Dec 30

Open Mike
Every Tuesday at 7:30pm

1111 Addison St.
Berkeley, CA

510-548-1761

Tad, I wonder if you would be willing to donate some time volunteering at the freight (at the open mic) and then you could take some positive action to try to correct the things that you mentioned in your critique. how about it?

don murdoch (8/2008)

This is a great place to meet other music makers. The sound there is outstanding, The staff is great and the $5 at the door is a small price to pay for a night of great music.

Mike Glendinning (1/2007)

This pay to sing thing has to be stamped out now! It's corrupting the music world. Performers should never be charged to sing--in a way, it's a kind of cannibalism. Very negative, dispiriting, and cynical. Terrible idea. Really pathetic. I abhor it.

T Fredric Jones (7/2007)

gotta put in my positive 2 cents for the freight. i can see why one would ask about charging a cover for an open mic. however, on the flip end, here are reasons why i love going there and would highly recommend it:

1. your $5.50 contributes to the costs to run this non-profit venue/organization whose mission is to maintain/preserve/promote traditional roots music mostly run by volunteers.
2. if you stay until the end of the open mic, you get a free ticket to any of the remaining shows for the month which would save you around $10-$15. so, you play a song, (or 2 songs if there is at least 2 of you playing together), *and* get a free ticket.
3. the sound system is GREAT
4. very supportive environment
5. there aren't very many places i know of in this area that provides a venue for roots/traditional music. i've seen many shows there and am grateful they exist.

i'm sorry your experience wasn't so pleasant when you came. every place may have an "off" night and you might've just come at that time. i hope you can give them a second shot.

aireene espiritu (11/2006)

The cover is now up to $5.50! And in case no one bothered to tell you yet, it's for one song only. Then you get inside, & they want to sell you a cookie for $2.50, or a thimble full of pretzels for .75ç. (a cup of tap water is free, however). The place is very large and cavernous, and very cold - as are the humorless audience members, but what do you expect when you are shivering and broke. There were 15 performers and only one or two had the guts to sit close enough to the high distant stage to give any support at all to their fellow artists. One who was kind enough to sit in the front row had come all the way from L. A. to perform! Felt sorry for him, though, & noticed he did not stay past the third or fourth act,. I'm guessing maybe because the emcee lady mispronounced his name and then, after he politely said the simple three syllables again very clearly on stage, she followed him for the outro & mispronounced it again, exactly the same. Thanks for paying attention! I thought he had scribbled it, or it had been hard to read, but on my way out, I looked at the signup sheet, and it was the only one written in large clear block print with the precision of a pro draftsman. Picky? I don't think so. Every little thing adds up to make these poor pay-to-play folks feel smaller & smaller. Imagine what that guy said when he got back to his hometown… Stick to the Starry plough if you are looking for a Tuesday night open in Berkeley. Avoid this de-humanizing bull.

Tad Bitter (11/2005)

Don't much care for this pay to sing routine. Freight and Salvage is partly public finded ain't it?

Tom Fielding (2/2005)

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