August | 2011 | Brad Spurgeon's Blog

From Delerium in Brussels to the Two Monday Night Joints in Paris

August 30, 2011
bradspurgeon

delerium cafe brussels

I’ve been having to double up a lot of blog posts lately with all the travel I have been doing giving me little time to update. But the level of the jams and open mics in Brussels and Paris on Sunday night and Monday were so high that there is no problem matching them together. I finally made it to Delerium, the massive, multi-room, multi-venue, multi-style bar in Brussels, off the Grand Place. I had discovered the place in early August on my personal holiday there, but I was not present at the right time to play. After finding Liege deserted musically with no available jams or open mics, I drove off to Brussels after the race on Sunday, and I did not regret a minute of it.

Delerium has two jam sessions each week, the acoustic one on Sunday nights and a full-fledged electric one with a big stage on the Thursday night. At least, that is what Delerium says. But since the plays is completely delerious, the truth is, it has two electric jam sessions: The one on Sunday night is in no way acoustic at all. I was able, however, to use my acoustic guitar, and I played along with a bass player, drummer and bongo player. Also present through the evening were several lead and rhythm guitar players, a keyboard player, a saxophone player – you have to hear him on the videos – and other bass players, bongo players and singers.

The evening is hosted by Dexter, who warms up the joint beforehand with a few songs. I loved that it did not start until after 11 PM, the jam. That meant I could have a meal first, and then warm myself up with a beer or two. In fact, Dexter asked me if I wanted to play alone with my guitar or with backup, and I opted for backup. So this jam that calls itself acoustic, can in fact be acoustic. There were some cool singers and musicians, and the vibe was very lively with an audience of mixed ages. The Delerium really is a wild place, the bar across the street from the one I was in is massive, and there are hundreds of Belgian beers. The only problem is that it is located in the tourist area of the city, and you don’t want to waste your time getting trapped in the restaurants there – it’s just like all those Greek restaurants in the Latin Quarter at St. Michel.

From there I drove back to Paris on Monday, and after an aborted evening thinking of doing something else I ended up back at the Tennessee Bar and the Galway Pub. I had a great time at both places, even if the summertime blues have still affected the number of musicians attending at least the Tennessee. I was delighted to find that my friend Joe Cady decided to show up a few days before his concert at the Baroc on Sunday, bringing his violin in order to jam. So I had Joe as backup at both the Tennessee and the Galway. And that permitted me to not worry about doing all the same songs I frequently do, like “Mad World,” since with Joe on the violin it became new and different.

There were some other interesting musicians and mixes of Joe and other performers, but the latter happened only at the Galway.

Check it all out in the huge backlog of videos from these last two musical days.

Not Amused, Brad Was A-Meused

August 27, 2011
bradspurgeon

Another night of negatives in Liege, as one of the city’s main jam session bars was closed for the summer – and opens in a few days from now. It was my second night in the Belgian city and the second night that I found jams closed for the summer, closed for good. I couldn’t take it. So I took my guitar down to the river Meuse at midnight and played “Mad World,” on a walkway as late-night pedestrians passed by clapping and stomping to the rhythm. It is indeed a mad world.

Check out at the halfway point of this video where a couple of guys show up in front of me clapping and stomping time with the rhythm before they head off:

Actually, I played four songs. It’s too difficult to go more than a day or two without music, and it was too late to play at the hotel. The Friday night jam takes place at a bar called the Surlet, and is apparently one of the best in the city.

Since I began this worldwide open mic adventure, I have always worried about the fact that a number of races happen during a period that many bars use to close down for the summer holidays. Fortunately I have never until now been affect by it. But since there is nothing left in Liege, I decided that I will go to Brussels for my final night in Belgium, tomorrow night. I know there are at least two jams there.

P.S. At 1 AM I decided to take my unicycle in go for a spin down the same walkway where I played – along with a few other late-night cyclists. It rained, of course, but it was easy to ride with the umbrella.

Stalled Out Between Paris and Belgium

August 26, 2011
bradspurgeon

Suddenly three days appear to have disappeared on the Weblog. No, I have not become a slacker. I did actually attend the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic on Tuesday night, but I had much work to do to prepare for my trip to Belgium – where I write these words – and a slow internet connection here and there. And then there was drive from Paris to Belgium. The result is not a weblog but a backlog. But great stuff at the Ptit Bonheur, and a little letdown and a bit of bonheur in Belgium.

I was particularly happy on Tuesday evening to see my favorite Paris poetess, the wonderful Lisa Marie Guilbot, who writes clever and piercing short poems mostly about love – of one kind or another – and who has a very enticing reading delivery of the poems. She goes to Ollie’s open mic occasionally and it’s always a nice break from the music.

This time Ollie was on holiday and it was Rachel Crocker (it should be “Rocker”) who did the MCing, and who opened with her cool songs accompanying herself on the ukelele. I uploaded a video of her too, but somehow the lousy internet connection meant it did not make it….

The other amazing and wonderful meeting at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance was with Fabien Fabre. I had seen this guy at another open mic several times, and he stands out enormously as he is virtually the only performer who specializes in a weird and wacky humorous singing and songwriting. We spoke for a while and I learned that he is not only an open mic addict, but he is an artist of the bicycle. Fabre makes extraordinary bicycles out of pure materials. Check out his stuff at Fabien Fabre Bicyclettes.

The Musical Story in Liege

Upon arriving in Liege, Belgium yesterday, however, I learned that the jam session I intended to attend at the famous Bouldou bar was not taking place in the summer, and I’m not even sure it will continue. I also learned the terrible news that the Art Cafe closed down. This Art Cafe jam was the open session I had hoped to take part in on Sunday evening, as it was a high point of my musical adventure in Liege last year and the year before.

The Art Cafe ran into the same problem facing such musical venues and bars in so many parts of the world – what is really hurting Paris too – that residents wants cities to be quiet now so bylaws are being written and enforced to cut out live music. And close down the bars and venues if they don’t obey – or the places close down because they cannot afford to do the work needed to make the bars soundproof.

The good part of the whole story was that I did meet up with Raph Charron again. He is the one I speak of in the post on the link above, describing my experience at the Art Cafe last year. Raph and I talked music at Bouldou and then managed to shoot a video interview for my open mic film, with Raph reminiscing on the Art Cafe and talking about the music scene in Liege.

Summertime – and Brad – Returns to the Paris Open Mics

August 23, 2011
bradspurgeon

Paris is known around the world for its habit of closing down in the month of August, as all the French people migrate south or elsewhere for vacation. I had been thinking it was miraculous that any of the open mics remained open during this period, but as Stephen Prescott, the MC of the Galway open mic, pointed out to me, his expat pub gets a lot of foreigners, and they come to Paris in August. Still, several of the preceding open mics I had attended were just as well attended or better than usual. But last night, finally, the trend stopped and changed and it seemed finally that Paris had found its real August at the open mics. Both the Tennessee Bar and the Galway Pub’s open mics were pretty empty, comparatively speaking.

On the other hand, that provided a chance to those who DID attend, to play more songs than usual. I did four or five at each one of them. I felt good and free and loved it. There were some new, visiting musicians whom I really enjoyed too, especially Barbara Breedijk from the Netherlands. Jesse Kincaid was back from another part of his European tour, and there was a Frenchman with an interesting guitar at the Tennessee. I had returned to the Paris open mics after my New York City sojourn, and the first playing I had done in public for nearly a week. All together, a reasonable evening in Paris, although it really felt like one of those dead sunny Sunday afternoons. Oh, check out Barbara’s “Summertime.”

Brad’s Other Life, in New York City

August 20, 2011
bradspurgeon

Liberty

I am still recovering from the cold I concocted in New York’s torrential rainfall and torrential air conditioning. I therefore did not play any music in Paris since my return, as I’m in a state of “can’t sing very well.” But looking back over my one-week trip to New York City, it occurred to me that maybe I had something to blog about anyway. Sometimes it is difficult to judge between pure self-indulgence, and showing off, and something that will be of interest to others. Not sure which one this is, but there was something fabulous and unique about my trip to NYC.

I have spent very little time in NYC in my recent life, but it was pointed out to me by a friend with whom I had a brunch in NYC that although I live in France, I have a whole other life in New York City. This, in fact, was very true, and very surprising to me. When I first went to NYC in 1976, it was with an ambition to succeed in show business. I ended up living in a crappy building in the horrendous, war-torn neighborhood of the Lower East Side, East Third Street, between avenues B and C. I was about as much of an outsider as you could possibly be, and my talents were un-honed to say the least. Last week I returned for 7 nights and eight days, and I found myself in the following strange situation, ending up at the following places:

1.) a full afternoon tour and (attendance at the Page 1 meeting) of the New York Times, where I work at both the global edition of that paper, also known as the International Herald Tribune and do an F1 blog on its web site, and see my newspaper stories occasionally published in the local NYT pages as well;
2.) a meeting at About.com where I went out to lunch with my editor there concerning the next step in my career as the Formula1.about.com “guide”;
3.) an interview for my documentary film at the Music Building, a huge building devoted to music studios since the late seventies, where so many of the punk bands and many more since then worked and jammed – including even people like Madonna – and where my interview took place with someone from the Bitter End in his studio, which was formerly the studio of The Strokes;
4.) an interview with a top executive from Warner Music, also for my documentary, and in the offices of Warner Music;
5.) a lunch and talk with a friend at HBO, the massive television channel and production company, whom I had met at an open mic in Paris, along with her friend, the musician Woody Lissauer;
6.) attendance at the opening show of a Formula One film about Ayrton Senna at a Houston Street cinema and being warmly welcomed by the writer of the film, and later the next day having a drink with one of the film’s main players at a bar around the corner;
7.) playing music and receiving truly felt applause at places like the Bitter End and certain other – but not all – bars and clubs throughout the city;
8.) staying in a hotel in Chelsea that was miles above my former residence in terms of earthly comforts;

But also learning that if I wanted to live on East Third Street between Avenues B & C now, I could not afford it as it has become “the” place to be. Yes, I may not be the huge star I had envisioned in 1976. But the life principles I learned around that time and decided to apply to my life, without seeking out fame or fortune, have meant that I returned 35 years later kind of on top of the same world I used to be on the bottom of – and having, indeed, another life in New York City.

Last Night in NYC: American Trash

August 19, 2011
bradspurgeon

If my first night in New York City seemed to be launched figuratively by a little taste of American trash, my last night in NYC was literally an American Trash experience. I went to Dan Schteingart’s open mic on the Upper East Side at the American Trash bar. I had been advised to go to an open mic in Brooklyn, but I began to fall heavily into the cold I had contracted after walking through the record rainfall monsoon from Common Ground to the Bitter End a couple of days earlier. And I also thought that since all the open mics I had done so far were in the lower part of Manhattan, I ought to go to the upper part for a taste of something different. Paradoxically, where the Upper East Side is supposed to be a little classier than the Lower East Side, this open mic takes place in a bar that celebrates American trash.

The walls are covered with American trash-like things, paraphernalia, objects – like a racing car (kart) – and each table is adorned with “yellow” mustard. You’ll get the idea from the videos. I went to this open mic two years ago, quite close to the time it began, I believe, and it is still going strong. Dan is a friendly, easy-going host, and while it takes a while to adapt to the spirit of this open mic after the ones on the Lower East Side, it ended up being a very fun, unpretentious evening with a great jam at the end. In fact, the jam just made the whole thing so worthwhile. We played a number of songs together, from “Mad World,” at my suggestion, to “Just Like a Woman,” at someone else’s suggestion, to “Hotel California,” “Like a Rolling Stone,” and many others.

It took me a couple of days to get this blog item up as I had to travel back from New York to Paris, and also recover from the aforementioned cold. I now ready myself for the final foray into the world on the third annual open mic adventure around the world.

P.S., thanks to Kama Linden’s friend Alejandro for doing a video of me in the jam below:

And here is Kama herself:

Old-Time Greenwich Village Location-Modern NYC Open Mic, at Caffe Vivaldi

August 17, 2011
bradspurgeon

Caffe Vivaldi in Greenwich Village

It is difficult to figure out which angle to swoop in on the Caffe Vivaldi open mic experience, that I went through last night. Although the Sidewalk Cafe open mic is often cited as the main one of Monday nights in New York City, while I tried to figure out where to go – to avoid the legendary No. #381 position at 3 AM at the Sidewalk Cafe – I kept on hearing from people about how I should go to the Caffe Vivaldi.

Located on Jones Street in Greenwich Village, I decided that I would go there and forgo the Sidewalk Cafe, but it was partly also because I had to run off to interview someone for my open mic film right in the middle of the open mic, and I figured I might succeed at the Vivaldi but would be too far away at the Sidewalk, among other considerations. So I went to the Vivaldi, and I had the most comfortable, wonderful night, beginning to end.

This is a phenomenon. It is run by Kate Sland, who is a fine singer herself, and an exceptionally talented organizer of open mics; she is authoritative without being pushy. She is fair, too, and kind and appreciative of her singers. In fact, the Vivaldi is one of the great examples of “community” in an open mic. Kate has her people who come regularly because they love her and the Vivaldi’s vibe.

I got there at 5:30 PM for the sign up, as the open mic starts at 6:30 PM, but you have to be there early. I was the third musician to arrive, but within 15 minutes there were around 30 musicians. They all stood in an orderly line waiting to sign up and then choose their lottery number for order of appearance. This is a method much in practice in NYC, but which I rarely encounter elsewhere. It’s also a system I cannot understand.

I lucked into No. 13 – but it turned out to be bad luck, as I will say in a moment. Kate puts a maximum of 30 performers up, and up to 10 PM each one has two songs, after that one song until it ends at 11 PM. In fact, she fit in a few more people and went on until after 11 PM. That is when she did a fabulous singing number at the bar with a local regular old-time singer guitar player named Erik Frandsen, who is a long-time Greenwich Village songwriter, actor and co-author of an off-Broadway musical called “Song of Singapore.” (Frandsen has also played with Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan, by the way.)

Speaking of “old-time,” that is exactly what the Vivaldi is all about. And if the Bitter End has landmark status, so no doubt should the Vivaldi. It was founded and is still run by an Indian/Pakistani immigrant named Ishrat Ansari. It has been running for 28 years. The feeling I get and the buzz I hear is that this kind of old style cultural and musical bar in Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side – like Banjo Jim’s too – is under serious threat of extinction. Where the buildings in the past were owned by individual landlords with more than the bottom line as their goal in life, such real estate has been bought up by massive corporate entities that are closing them down for reasons linked to the bottom line. Or they are raising rents so high that small businesses cannot afford them. The area risks losing its character, and above all its culture.

But for the moment, the few places like this that remain, are still delivering. The Vivaldi was used by Woody Allen as the set of a film, it was where Joseph Brodsky to give press conferences when he won the Nobel Prize, actors and actresses pass through, people like Sissy Spacek. There is just a massive history. And the business model is beautiful: Ansari has musicians playing every day, up to four acts per day, and he does not charge a cover charge. Moreover, the food is not bad at all – I started ordering one dish after another.

Anyway, why was No. 13 bad luck for me? Well, I had to rush out after signing up and taking my number and listening to the first four acts. I calculated that I would have an hour and a half to go out, take a cab, do my interview and return and do my two songs. When I returned, however, within the hour and a half, I discovered that I had JUST missed my turn to sing and play. Kate said that she would put me on later, however, but I would be in the final part of the evening, the zone where you get just one song. I could not complain. She lived up to her promise, and when you considered it, it was fair. You know you are in good, honest hands with Kate Sland – as with the Vivaldi itself. The level of the other musicians was very high, as well, and one of the beautiful things here is that you know you are going to be given a chance by the audience too, which rates listening to the performers as a higher priority than talking.

Happy End at the Bitter End

August 16, 2011
bradspurgeon

bitter end

The name of one of America’s most famous music venues almost became the best description for my night out at the open mics last night. Thanks to Mark Greenberg, the guy who runs the Sunday night open jam session at the Bitter End, however, the night ended fabulously happy and on a high for me, and was not a bitter end.

In fact, it was a dream come true to play with a band at the Bitter End. This, remember, is a place in Greenwich Village where every musician and comedian that you can think of played since it opened 50 years ago. The list is too long, but ALL the names are on it, and you can see these performers on the site of the Bitter End. But of course I have to mention Bob Dylan, Simon and Garfunkle, Harry Chapin, Patti Smith, Woody Allen, Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell… okay I better stop.

Since the jam at the Bitter End doesn’t start until 10 PM, I first found a very nice and cozy open mic at a bar called Common Ground, at 206 Avenue A. There I signed up and played as the first guest. Each musician gets a 20 minute slot.

There I met a woman from Latvia named Dacesita, who would later show up at the Bitter End too, and who sings and plays keyboards. And I also met Ace Elijah, whom I had already seen play at Arctica last Wednesday. It IS a small world in this big city.

But I was NOT going to miss the Bitter End. So I left Common Ground just after 9 PM in a torrential rainfall. And that is when I began to get bitter. By the time I arrived at the Bitter End I was wet, head to foot.

Then I sat under an air-conditioning vent for a decent seat to see and hear the music. I was bitter again. Not to mention freezing. Then the house band came on to open up the jam session. That gave me another reason to be bitter: They were so damn good and tight and flashy and neat that I said, “There’s never going to be any place for me to play anything up there amongst these great musicians.”

But I loved the place. This is the high-ceiling room with the red brick wall backdrop to the famous stage. How could I not be touched? Say nothing of the ancient posters on the walls of people like Simon and Garfunkle and friendly bar service and a pretty good crowd of people.

The more the night went on, the more I felt there was nothing I could play at this jam. It just wouldn’t fit in, I’d be the laughing stock of the night. Moreover, the music leaned toward blues, rock, funk.

So I sat there for nearly three hours listening to these amazing musicians – I have learned today that Mark Greenberg’s CV is almost as impressive as the Bitter End’s, and the jam is an institution within the institution.

So after avoiding signing up to the list for as long as I could, I finally decided I would pack up and leave – near 1 AM. But I had heard two or three performances that made me think that maybe with a bit of a stretch of the imagination I could play something. I had heard a strange, original rendition of “Helpless,” the Neil Young CSNY song sung kind of jazzy. I had heard Sonny, some Hendrix stuff. And was I not in a place where Van Morrison had played? Why not “Crazy Love?”

But I justified myself and say, “Naw, forget it, you have to leave and just say, ‘This ain’t my kind of thing.’ Too bad I would not play in the legendary club, but you had to draw the line somewhere.

So I left with all my things, and Mark was standing out front talking to people on the sidewalk. He looked at me as I left and said, “Do you play?”

I expressed my fears that I wouldn’t fit in. He asked what I could do. I told him mostly ballads. Then I said maybe “Crazy Love,” would work. But I worried about how there was a bridge and a chorus in addition to the regular verses and it could screw people up – the other musicians. He asked if I had any other ideas. I said, “Mad World.” It’s only the same chords more or less throughout, I said, telling him the simple chords. He said, “Do it.”

So I turned around and went back in.

So after another couple of songs, it was my turn. And it worked out phenomenally well. In fact, I loved it. The sound system was great – could have had a bit more monitor on the vocals – I could hear the band, they were tight and easy to play with (I was the weakest point) and the audience, I could see, was listening and appreciating.

In fact, when I finished, Mark and several people in the audience congratulated me. It had gone over well. I COULD play the Bitter End. And when I left, I was NOT bitter.

Stumbling into the Last Open Mic at a New York Institution – Banjo Jim’s

August 14, 2011
bradspurgeon

I never seem to learn from my lessons. My previous post talks about how you have to never give up and just turn up at an open mic place anyway, even if you think you’re late, and maybe you will find you can play. Yesterday I left my hotel with my guitar on my back and plans for about five possible things to do, only one of which seemed like a real open mic possibility. But I had heard it ended at 6 PM, and I was leaving at around 5:30, so I returned to my hotel room and left my guitar in the room, saying, “I won’t need it.”

So I went to my first rendezvous, the Formula One car collection near the cinema where the Senna film is showing, down on Houston Street. There was only one car left, a James Hunt thing. So I filmed it for 15 seconds and decided to wander on towards Banjo Jim’s open mic anyway, since the thing I really thought I would do – a show at a venue on 11th Street – was not starting until 7 PM.

When I arrived at Banjo Jim’s corner pub at 9th Street and Avenue C, I found a funky-looking exterior with graffiti-like painting on it, a musician with a guitar in a case talking with a woman, and a few other people standing out front talking. So I went inside the bar to find an equally funking looking interior. And I found myself witnessing the last performer of the last open mic in history at Banjo Jim’s. I recorded it, and the final words of Wayne Kral, who has organized the open mic there for nearly five years. The bar itself is closing down, which is why the open mic is over.

In fact, Wayne said the open mic would nevertheless move to another bar – Otto’s Shrunken Head – but as experience has told me, the success of an open mic is as much about its location as other key factors (like the host and the musicians and spectators). But this was clearly an institution in the open mic scene in NYC, and it came recommended to me by both openmike.org and the MC of another open mic. And I could see instantly that this was indeed an open mic with a soul.

I spoke to Wayne, and told him I was traveling to New York from Paris just to play in open mics. So he told me there was a two-hour tribute session starting immediately after the open mic that featured many of the top performers from the open mic over the years, and that I would be welcome to play in that if its organizer – John Powers – accepted. John was one of the guys standing outside, and once I established with the musician outside – PJ Jestry – that I could use his guitar, John said he had no problem with me playing at all.

So I found myself not only witnessing the last act of the last open mic at Banjo Jim’s, but also taking part in the tribute show afterwards. And it was a warm and cozy tribute, MCd by John Powers, who was also the one to sing the last song in the open mic. He was also one of these people I have such great respect for that I meet occasionally around the world who accept a complete unknown, a stranger who has not shown what he can do musically, to play a couple of songs on their bill. That is the true spirit of the open mic, and it is all the more special when it is carried over to a regular concert program.

Clearly this warm NYC open mic in a neat, ramshackle neighborhood, will be missed by its locals. As it turns out, I also saw at least two of the people who were at the previous open mics. The bar was a local one for the singer of Ash Gray and the Girls, that guy who had the trio with two women backing singers at the Arctica open mic on Wednesday, and it turned out that the man I met in front, PJ, who lent me his guitar, was also in attendance at the open mic at Lucky Jack’s – although neither of us realized it until he read my blog item and remembered me shouting out that I was present but not on the list!

Lucky Jack’s Very Cool Open Mic in NYC

August 13, 2011
bradspurgeon

Day 2 in New York City was not only much more reassuring than Day 1, but I also learned something about open mic attendance. I had such an interesting time on the first night – in more ways than one – that on the second night I said to myself, “Well, if you don’t find a place to play, it’s not a tragedy.” I got enough out of the first night to please myself for a bit. But of course I am always aching for more.

The problem was that the only place I could see on the very extraordinary openmike.org web site, was a place called Lucky Jack’s and it looked like the sign-up time was 7 PM and I was finding the place after 7 PM already, and one of the reviews by a former participant was very negative.

So I thought, “Just go out, eat a meal, relax, don’t worrry about doing an open mic tonight.” But as I said, I was itching. So I go and eat on Great Jones Street in some kind of restaurant I stumbled upon that served late, good salad, good pork, nice carafe of wine. I read my newspapers and magazines – the Village Voice, NYT, other things – and then I decide to continue the trip over to Orchard Street.

I find the place, and discover that the open mic is taking place in the basement. Sign up time was 7 PM, I’m there well after 10 PM. As I arrive, however, the MC, Sacha Chavez, is going over his list of participants and saying into the mic the names of person after person, followed by, “Not here…” There was a nice comfortable crowd, however, a bunch of musicians, comedians, and a warm little room with brown brick walls, mirrors, benches, chairs, just a very cool feel to it, with the mic up against the wall and the place reminding me of my ancient memories of the Improv club – in smaller.

So I yell out from my seat, “I AM here but my name is not on the list.”

Sacha responds with some quip and then adds something about joining me for a whiskey, the inference being that maybe I’ve already been drinking several….

In any case, I went up after the next act and added my name to the list and he said, “No problem.”

So what I began to really like about this place was that contrary to the first open mic I went to in NYC, this was an open open mic. And I soon realized that the criticisms of the person on openmike.org were probably based on one bad night there. But that this place really had a cool feel to it, and Sacha was a very different and interesting MC. I loved his preaching about life between acts.

The one thing that was more difficult to take was the mixture of comedians and musicians. This is very good from a spectator’s point of view, as it adds variety. But when you are a musician and you have to get up and perform and sing something woeful and heartfelt and sensitive immediately after a comedian who has blown everyone and everything into smithereens and had you and the whole audience laughing in the aisles, then you have a hard time finding the right emotional note.

This is what happened to me last night. Still, I somehow managed to pull through, and while I played my songs “Borderline” and “Except Her Heart,” Sacha drummed along with me, and the audience clapped and/or grooved along too. So it all worked out for me.

But especially interesting and cool were some of the acts, like the luscious Eve Blackwater, with her wonderfully emotional and strong voice, or the luscious Laura Summerhill, with her coolly camp and retro song and dance number. Or the luscious… well, there were a few others, and there were some surprisingly good comedians. All in all, a great surprise. Very hip, cool, but above all OPEN open mic. Oh, and not a soul said anything about me sitting there doing videos the whole time. Why should they?!?!?

Lucky Jack’s open mic, in any case, is to be recommended. And so is going despite it being late, having bad reviews, and you just think it would be more comfortable to do something else – it won’t.

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Monthly Archives: August 2011