open mike report
Jan. 10th, 2003 08:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jfbCaffe Verona, 2003-01-09
Second of two frustrating nights at places I haven't been for a while. This one was better.
I was at the first open mike at Caffe Verona in downtown Palo Alto when they started it up last year. It came along just when I was looking for some new places to play. That night, I think three musicians showed up. We ended up going around maybe three times and calling it a night. It was cool, though, and I tried to give it some word of mouth so it would grow.
A cool thing about this open mike is that they record the performances--not for later broadcast or anything, but just for the musicians. You show up, you do your set, and then the next time you show up they give you a CD of it (and, if memory serves, each CD is actually an accumulation of your performances thus far). Very neat, especially for people who are just starting out and don't have a good idea what they sound like.
I haven't been there lately--I was sick, then I was reestablishing ties with the Espresso Garden, then the holidays were crazy. What I found last night is that they're on the verge of a success disaster. It's so crowded at the start of the night that you can't move around, and there's nowhere to put your instrument. It's scheduled for two hours, which at ten minutes per act is room for twelve. Twenty people signed up.
Interestingly, there was almost no one I recognized. There's a lot of overlap between most of the south bay open mikes I play at. Last night I saw only a couple of familiar faces, including KC Jiang, who plays Chinese folk songs on the harmonica. I'm not usually a harmonica fan, but I really like what he does.
Because there were a lot of people and not much time, people were encouraged to keep it moving--minimize setup time, avoid long songs. A few people chose to play only one song. I wasn't one of them, but I did play the shortest song I could think of--"Losing Streak"--and then "Dear Prudence", which moves along. (That, for the record, is the first time I've performed a well-known song a second time.) It went pretty well.
Some of the people I met:
But here's the frustrating part: Some people don't understand the value of brevity (he said, seven paragraphs in). Most songs don't need a lot of verses, or a lot of repetitions of the chorus. Most songs don't need a full verse-chorus of instrumental intro, or two solos and a coda at the end. You know, I love a slow build or a mesmerizing drone in the right moment. But they're rarely effective at an open mike, where you're basically introducing yourself to people, and they're especially aggravating when it's been repeatedly pointed out that there are too many people and not enough time.
So with that in mind, the lowlight of the night: The guy who showed up too late to sign up and complained, cordially but at length, that the system must be rigged. After Chris, one of two hard-working hosts who do this for free just to support local music (they don't even get to play, that I've seen), arranged with the cafe staff for the open mike to go over schedule, the guy ended up getting a chance to play at the end. And there, at 11:45, with the late-stayers and the waiters hanging around, he chose to play... a song he hadn't finished writing. A good unfinished song, sure, until it trailed off into several minutes of blues guitar solo. Good blues guitar, but, you know, too much.
I understand that the guy was frustrated at having driven a long way to get there, and being told he couldn't play. I understand him wanting to show his skills when he finally got the chance. I don't understand getting upset about it if he didn't even have two finished songs to play.
Enough of that. Time to go play some guitar.
Second of two frustrating nights at places I haven't been for a while. This one was better.
I was at the first open mike at Caffe Verona in downtown Palo Alto when they started it up last year. It came along just when I was looking for some new places to play. That night, I think three musicians showed up. We ended up going around maybe three times and calling it a night. It was cool, though, and I tried to give it some word of mouth so it would grow.
A cool thing about this open mike is that they record the performances--not for later broadcast or anything, but just for the musicians. You show up, you do your set, and then the next time you show up they give you a CD of it (and, if memory serves, each CD is actually an accumulation of your performances thus far). Very neat, especially for people who are just starting out and don't have a good idea what they sound like.
I haven't been there lately--I was sick, then I was reestablishing ties with the Espresso Garden, then the holidays were crazy. What I found last night is that they're on the verge of a success disaster. It's so crowded at the start of the night that you can't move around, and there's nowhere to put your instrument. It's scheduled for two hours, which at ten minutes per act is room for twelve. Twenty people signed up.
Interestingly, there was almost no one I recognized. There's a lot of overlap between most of the south bay open mikes I play at. Last night I saw only a couple of familiar faces, including KC Jiang, who plays Chinese folk songs on the harmonica. I'm not usually a harmonica fan, but I really like what he does.
Because there were a lot of people and not much time, people were encouraged to keep it moving--minimize setup time, avoid long songs. A few people chose to play only one song. I wasn't one of them, but I did play the shortest song I could think of--"Losing Streak"--and then "Dear Prudence", which moves along. (That, for the record, is the first time I've performed a well-known song a second time.) It went pretty well.
Some of the people I met:
- Tristan paid enough attention to quote some "Losing Streak" lyrics back at me, which triggered my fear that someday someone will listen to enough of my lyrics to notice what parlor tricks they are.
- Glenn took photos of everyone and posted them on his web site.
- I sat in with Pete on his song "Down Old Page Mill Road" (I think) and the Motown song "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)".
- Teddy admired my mandolin and blew everyone away with guitar tapping technique.
But here's the frustrating part: Some people don't understand the value of brevity (he said, seven paragraphs in). Most songs don't need a lot of verses, or a lot of repetitions of the chorus. Most songs don't need a full verse-chorus of instrumental intro, or two solos and a coda at the end. You know, I love a slow build or a mesmerizing drone in the right moment. But they're rarely effective at an open mike, where you're basically introducing yourself to people, and they're especially aggravating when it's been repeatedly pointed out that there are too many people and not enough time.
So with that in mind, the lowlight of the night: The guy who showed up too late to sign up and complained, cordially but at length, that the system must be rigged. After Chris, one of two hard-working hosts who do this for free just to support local music (they don't even get to play, that I've seen), arranged with the cafe staff for the open mike to go over schedule, the guy ended up getting a chance to play at the end. And there, at 11:45, with the late-stayers and the waiters hanging around, he chose to play... a song he hadn't finished writing. A good unfinished song, sure, until it trailed off into several minutes of blues guitar solo. Good blues guitar, but, you know, too much.
I understand that the guy was frustrated at having driven a long way to get there, and being told he couldn't play. I understand him wanting to show his skills when he finally got the chance. I don't understand getting upset about it if he didn't even have two finished songs to play.
Enough of that. Time to go play some guitar.
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