Brad Spurgeon's Blog

The Highlander open mic every Wednesday in Paris has always surprised me by how well-attended it is, how difficult it is to get on if you’re a little late in arriving, and how raucous and noisy it is when you play – usually. Last night for the first time it was none of these things. But the atmosphere was not only very pleasant, it also brought out the best of many of the performers present, even regular ones.

But there were new ones also, and there was an artist, Itamar Faitlowicz, who likes to attend open mics and draw the performers while they play. I put up on this post the drawing he did of Ollie Fury, who showed up to play despite hosting his own open mic every Tuesday.

One of the performers who did something different was Meg Farrell, who is usually full of bluster and bursting, moving, massive rhythm and crowd pleasing singalong sounds. She played something very much more quiet and slow last night, and I enjoyed that a lot.

There were some new people too, and the one who impressed me the most was the dynamic and deadly sexy Kimberly Wyma, who is on her first visit to Paris, and who usually plays in New York. She has a very good voice, really rich and pleasing. Her guitar playing just barely passes, but she is not a guitarist, she is a piano player. But she is learning the guitar, and it worked fine. Her freaky cool video on YouTube of her song Roller-Coaster shows her full talent.