May | 2012 | Brad Spurgeon's Blog

Astounding Study in Contrasts, Age, Style and Other – Acoustic Bazar vs. Ptit Bonheur

May 16, 2012
bradspurgeon

I never intended my evening to split between the generations, styles and locales. But last night it all just came together that way, and I ended up attending and performing at the Acoustic Bazar open mic and then the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic, two venues divided by the generations and styles and all of Paris….

I have only been two or three times to the Acoustic Bazar open mic at the Satellit Café near the Oberkampf metro, and the last time feels as if it may have been almost two years ago. One problem for me is that it happens only once a month, on a Tuesday, and you can be the first to arrive and the last to perform, and you have to be there right at sign-up time, which is 8:45. But the quality of the performances, the locale, the sound system, and the history of this open mic all make it a fabulously interesting evening whenever I go.

This year the Acoustic Bazar celebrates the 20th year of its existence. It started out being dedicated to acoustic guitar music alone, but eventually decided to allow singer songwriters on the guitar too. You can play cover songs or your own compositions. It is very open, and there is a sound man behind the board throughout the evening, and a quiet and usually large audience. It usually runs on the first Tuesday of each month, but with two national public holidays this month on the first two Tuesdays, it did not run until yesterday.

One of the main differences between this open mic and others is that there is always a very, very high class act in the middle of the night doing a 30 minute set. I have seen some good ones, and last night’s was no exception. Or rather, perhaps I should say, was exceptional. It was the French guitar player Michel Haumont, who specializes in finger picking. He was brilliant, and he invited several brilliant guitar-playing guests, and one singer who knew who happened to be in the audience.

There were several other extraordinary guitar players in the line up during the open mic, and some excellent singers too. For the second night in a row I heard a woman play “Jimmy” by the French/American band Moriarty. There was also Gaelle Buswel, whom I met a couple of years ago at the Cavern vocal jam, here trying out some of her new songs.

Then it was my turn, and after hearing some of these extraordinary musicians I felt very small, and my guitar playing felt worse than small. On top of it, I had not sound on my voice on the monitor – which has never happened at this place for me – so after my slot I decided I needed a change of air despite the coolness of this open mic. In fact, one thing I really noticed here for the first time was that while the quality of the Acoustic Bazar music was very high, mature and accomplished, the audience tended to be in the upper area of middle age. This was normal for an open mic that has been going that long, no doubt. But it also meant a kind of orderliness and professionalism and calmness to the evening that I felt I needed a break from after my average effort on stage.

Looking at the time, I realized I had enough time to get to the Ptit Bonheur la Chance bar on rue Laplace, which is another reason I went so rarely to Acoustic Bazar, because the Ptit Bonheur has been so much fun. I thought I would be too late to get behind the mic, but I ended up lucky and got a slot not long after I arrived. Still, the Ptit Bonheur was full of spectators, musicians, including one of the Frangins, whom I had told about it the night before at Coolin. And most of all, I saw immediately the difference in the vibe. We were not talking about accomplished musicians of the level of Michel Haumont. But we were talking about a crowd of magnificent young people of an average age closer to 22 than 62. Oh, or even the oldest of them, Wayne Standley, who may be closer to 62 than 22, but who has a young spirit and shows up week after week.

There was me, of course, closer to 62 than 22. But I felt immediately at home in the musical vibe of Ptit Bonheur, and after playing my slot and then lending my Gibson J200 to two or three performers – including Wayne – the open mic ended and we went up to the bar. I was still hungry for playing, and I pulled out the Gibson to show it to Baptiste W. Hamon, and then I started playing some songs, and I was soon joined by another guitarist – from the band LA//KVLKD, and soon we were jamming like madmen, and had everyone singing and clapping along.

I then gave the Gibson to one person after another and the jam continued until 2 AM. It was about great music, youth, hope, fun, laid back musical revelry and a general sense of anything goes. It was so revitalizing that I didn’t want it to end. And it also made me think of the extraordinary contrast between the two open mics, defined mostly by the age and accomplishments of the participants. But both have their place. Looking forward to doing it all again sometime.

Back to Coolin in Paris from Barcelona

May 15, 2012
bradspurgeon

Got up real early – for me – to return to Paris from Barcelona yesterday, spent the day landing on earth, and then went out to the Coolin open mic where I had such a great evening last week with the great crowd. Nothing wrong with the crowd last night, but I frequently have a hard time adjusting back to home scenes after being in some far off land at “foreign” open mics and jams, and Coolin was no different last night. For me, it started slow. Then picked up, then turned into a really, really good Coolin. The thing is…

This open mic is getting so popular now that there are more and more musicians. I think last night was a record, with 20 or more musicians having signed up to play. And Etienne and Lena, the hosts, made sure that everyone who wanted to go up, did go up – although people were asking to play right up to 1 AM I think, so maybe not all did play.

I was suddenly surprised to find one of the Frangin duo brothers there, who introduced himself to me, and I had recognized him but forgotten that he had run an open mic at the Polly Magoo bar in St. Michel a couple of years ago. But as soon as I heard him sing and play, I remembered. He told me he was now hosting a new open mic, every second Thursday, at a bar called La Tête à l’Envers” in Vincennes, with the next one on 24 May.

I decided to go out on a limb and sing a song I hardly ever sing, since it really calls for me to be in a certain zone, and even then…. So I did it, A Change is Gonna Come. I was told it went well. I kept my eyes closed pretty much the whole song, so I couldn’t tell!

In any case, by the end of the night and after a long and good open mic, I felt firmly established once again in Paris. Onward I go….

David Sam’s Singing Keyboards, Ed Tulipa’s Pop Terapia, and My Own Bits ‘n Pieces at the Big Bang Bar in Barcelona

May 14, 2012
bradspurgeon

After there was a big bang in the Williams Formula One team garage after the Grand Prix I had to stay later at the race track, so whatever may have been my thoughts about where I might go to play music in Barcelona last night, it whittled the choices down to one as far as I was concerned: The Big Bang Bar. That, of course, was where I had intended to go anyway, since it has a very cool Sunday evening rock and pop jam session. So I went, I played, and I especially enjoyed – oh, and made a few discoveries.

The open jam session is run by David Sam, who sings and plays keyboards, and its the style where you go up with your instrument and play with other musicians. Mostly rock and pop. David did this fabulous thing using the synthesized vocals on his keyboard. I got it on video, so check it out here; it is on the video that starts with a long bass solo – which is cool too – and the scat singing keyboard kicks in around the 55-second point.

I got to play two songs, and David played along on keyboards, someone else played drums, and a performer named Ed Tulipa played bass. I did “Mad World” and “Wicked Game.” Oddly, I blew both of them, forgetting key moments of the vocals. But it went over pretty well, and I had an amazing time. Ed then came over later with David, and gave me his latest CD, which is called Pop Terapia. I have listened to half of it already, and have it waiting for me to accompany my exercises tomorrow morning.

But what I have heard of Ed Tulipa’s album so far is very good, and very Beatles. The story behind the CD is that Ed’s Dad died, then at the same time basically, Ed got cancer, and during his chemotherapy treatment, his girlfriend left him!!! Holy crap! So he did this album as therapy, naming it Pop Terapia. But what is beautiful is that it is not sad, down, and depressed. Very nice stuff, and Ed plays a wicked lead guitar and sings well. The songs are catchy and nice pop. One of the songs is brilliantly entitled, “I’m Only Here for a While.” That one, in fact, was written by, and played with and sung by on this album, the so-named Rory Gallagher of The Revs.

I could write all night about this place, this music, and my time last night – which was incredibly brilliant in more ways than one. But if I did that, I would find myself compromising tonight’s open mic in Paris. I had to travel back from Barcelona today and that took a while, and now I’m in Paris and looking forward to some of my own Pop Therapie…. return tomorrow to hear about that…..

From Foc You to F..k You and a Busking Whore in Barcelona

May 12, 2012
bradspurgeon

I started out last night checking out a musical venue, a bar, in Barcelona called Foc You. That word “foc” means something in Spanish, but the bar obviously enjoyed using it to mean something else, adding that English touch. The open mic was not running last night, in fact, so I just went out for a quiet dinner. But after the meal I decided to take a look at the streets around the Cathedral because I had been told there were lots of places to play music, jam sessions and buskers. I ended up meeting a busker who did not like me taking a video of him and then leaving without paying any money and he ended my night with “Fuck You!” Let me clarify:

But first, before you consider me an ogre, let me note right away that I got a fabulous video out of it, the kind that could go viral perhaps – although no one can ever really figure out what works or doesn’t. So today I decided I would open up an AdSense account and action the video to make money. Any money I earn on the video of this busker whom I did not leave any money, will go 50-50 to him and to me. If, that is, I ever meet up with the guy again or he makes himself known to me…let’s say, in the next 1 year.

Now, back to the story: I had a wonderful meal, wandered over the cathedral, contemplating the meal, my next day of work and my imminent return to the hotel for a good night’s sleep. But as I went around to a back street behind the cathedral, I heard this fabulous violin music. The streets were beautifully lit, old Barcelona, ancient brick and just a medieval sort of feel to the whole thing. And with the music it was stunning.

The busker had a recording of a classic piece on the radio and he played along on his violin. I recorded for about two minutes, taking in the scene and appreciating his music. (I have cut the video to under a minute.) I realized that I had no coins of any kind left in my wallet as I had left the last coins in a tip in the restaurant. And in euro bills, the smallest I had was a 50. Way too big. So I knew that I could leave him no money.

But I thought that he could see I appreciated his music and that I was making a video out of respect. In fact, I had remembered seeing a video on YouTube about a star violinist from the Washington symphony (I think it was) playing in the subway in Washington and being ignored by almost all passersby. I thought of that and decided I would do the video of this guy and put it on my blog as an example of a great busker in Barcelona.

I know what it is like to be a busker. I lived off my busking in London in the late 1970s when I ran out of money and lived in a crappy hotel and did not eat for three days, as I wrote in the old piece I link here. In fact, last night I had my guitar in its bag on my back, and so I knew the violinist could see I was a fellow musician and know what it is like. I got called over by a busker in Istanbul three years ago to play with him, and I did, having a reminder of how demoralizing it can be.

So I was quite surprised when the violinist, playing this beautiful classical music, saw me about to leave around the corner without leaving any money in his case, and he stopped playing, said, “Fuck you,” and gave me the finger. He then went on to tell me about how he only played for money, he had to pay his bills, etc. I was so surprised by the contrast of the classical music, the setting, the peace… and then this vicious verbal assault! Moreover, for me, despite all my own experience, this was tantamount to whoring. And, of course, while I am occasionally paid to play my music today in the gigs I perform, I am lucky enough to have a job to enable my music to be something I do to share with people for free since I love music.

I would never, ever, not in my most destitute days as a busker, have ever given the finger to anyone and sworn at them and told them they had to pay for my music. Having said that, I would never want to profit by this man’s reaction without giving him a share of the profits. So I have set up that advertising account mostly in order to see if I can earn a bit of money for him, but also to justify putting up the video. I considered whether I should give him ALL of the profits, until I said, “No, I have bills to pay, kids to feed, electricity and food for myself to pay, too!”

Still, I feel no animosity toward this busker. A little pity, yes. And a difference of opinion on the purpose of sharing music. But variety is what makes life so interesting….

Three Jam Night in Barcelona’s Multi-Tiered Musical Cornucopia

May 11, 2012
bradspurgeon

Sagrada Família

The Sagrada Familia is an iconic weird looking incomplete church in Barcelona that was designed by Gaudi, as most people know. Last night’s adventures in Barcelona’s music scene for me were about as weird looking and seemingly never-ending as the Sagrada Familia. But while it is expected to see the church and other Gaudi buildings when you come to Barcelona, the kind of musical night I had last night was far from expected for me – given my experiences here in the past.

Not that I had bad experiences, but they were limited mostly to the highly organized jam sessions of the Jazz-si venue or the Big Bang bar, or the classic expat open mic of the George Payne Pub. Last night, I ended up having a three-tiered experience, a whole cross-sectional experience of the open mic and jam session, from three different levels and kinds of society. Or maybe it was all an expression of the same thing, in this country with such a high unemployment rate – especially amongst the young – and where music is one of the few releases for a suffering population, but also where it is also illegal in most venues at nighttime due to the strict anti-noise laws.

For the four years that I have been coming to Barcelona I have been hearing always in the background of my musical adventure the talk of the police crackdowns on live music at nighttime. The death of live music in Barcelona, etc. Last night was no different. But I saw one of the outgrowths of it too.

The first place I went to was more or less an expatriate open mic, run by an Englishman named Matt Kemp. It is held at the Bar Ese Efe in a cosy maze of tiny streets in the El Raval area, which has been compared to the Lower East Side in NYC. I had started the day thinking I would find no venue until Sunday, and then I received a message from my friend LadiesDi whom I met at open mics in Paris, who has lived in Barcelona and is currently in Finland but who originally hails from South America!

So I was saved by LadiesDi who told me about Matt Kemp’s open mic. I went and found a neat little bar with a back room and a cool mural of a kind of apocalyptic image behind the small stage and what turned out to be an acoustic open mic, ie, no mic. That, I later learned from Matt – and you can hear him talk about it in my next in the year’s series of podcasts – was directly due to the Draconian music laws that outlaw loud music at night.

barrilonia barcelona

There were a few Spaniards in the place, but mostly it was an open mic with foreigners – from England, the United States and elsewhere. It got quite full with a warm audience, and given the small size of the room it was quite possible to do it without a microphone. The ambience actually reminded me a lot of the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic in Paris.

I got to go up twice, as I was the second performer of the night and later went up on the second half of the evening too. In fact, Matt prefers to call it an open stage as opposed to an open mic, as he allows and encourages everyone to take to the stage – magicians, actors, poets, musicians, etc.

Just after I finished that evening and interviewed Matt, I started to make my way back to my hotel when I suddenly heard music emanating from a building on the corner of Carrer de San Rafael. The front of the building was wide open and I walked in to see what looked like a jam session going on, acoustic, but with a mic and amplified guitar and some South American-sounding vocals. I was immediately invited to go up and start playing, by some man whose face I could barely see in the shadows.

I wanted to case out the joint and the music first, and said, “No.” I turned out to be a squat called Barrilonia. And in my mind I equated it with the current economic and real estate situation in Spain, and the crowd was a vast mixture of people from different social classes. But the overall vibe, of course, was that of an illicit squat and people bearing with life’s vicissitudes through a need to express themselves and listen to others in music.

If live music is not allowed in Barcelona late at night – and it was after midnight – it will find its way out nevertheless. Music has healing powers, and Barcelona has a huge need for that now. All of Spain does. And far from not being a musical city, there is live music all over the place. It is just highly regimented, and where it cannot be done with amplification, it will be done acoustically.

I did go up and play a song at the Barrilonia squat, and I was joined on my guitar and vocals with the other guitar player and a guy drumming on his knees. I spoke to a couple of middle-class looking guys about the place, and one of them gave me a link to a web site to find more music, and told me that the area around the Cathedral is full of live music and jams at night.

I left the squat and continued heading towards my hotel when not far up the next street I heard live acoustic music emanating from a bar, a real bar, a bona fide middle class person’s bar with wooden interior. I glanced inside and as someone saw me with my guitar on the back he gestured me in to join the jam. There were a couple of guitarists and a flute or recorder player, and one of the guitarists also sang.

I was not there long before I was asked again to join in. So I did. This time I played along to a few of their songs, they played along to my songs, and I spoke to a couple of them about life in Barcelona. One man in particular, a teacher, was angry about how Spain was in the south of Europe and had a southern culture – like Greece and Portugal – and that it would never be able to fit into the norther culture and economy pushed by Brussels and the big European Union countries of the north. And he lamented the death of such things as impromptu jams and music in the streets, and again complained about the crackdown on live music.

But had I not just lived a full evening with three live music events that the city is apparently teeming with? Everything is a matter of perspective and expectation….

Bad Timing at the Baroc

May 9, 2012
bradspurgeon

Yesterday I spoke about the importance of a great audience, and how it affects the whole performance and ambience, and how I found that audience on Monday at the Coolin. Today I will write a footnote to that post by saying that the audience and the timing of when a performer takes to the stage can also have its part to play. I think the audience at the Baroc open mic last night was no doubt superb. But I had the bad fortune to arrive very late for the open mic and just get squeezed in at the end of the list, and it was really, really bad timing.

I mean, it was only midnight when I took to the stage, but the audience had been through several nice acts, some good clapping and foot stomping and singalong songs. And then it was announced that we had to unfortunately cut down the volume as it was too late for the neighbors, who do not want to be disturbed.

So I took to the stage when the volume was turned down and I decided to do a quiet, fingerpicking version of “Cat’s in the Cradle.” Big problem. I could not hear the guitar or my voice in the PA, and people immediately started clearing out to smoke – after a great act before me – or to stand around the bar and chit chat. There was no way I would reach any of them with that song, and I did not have the right or the desire to jump into a loud and raucous “What’s Up!,” which I have done far too many times.

Nor did I want to compete for people’s attention over the sound of the PA by shouting. So I did something uncharacteristic for me, I pulled off to the side, sat on a chair away from the mic and just sang the song for myself – which is exactly what I thought I was doing behind the mic anyway. I finished the song, then said thanks and left the Baroc. There were a couple of kind spectators who said they liked my song. But I could not have asked for a colder shower response to my moment on the stage as compared to the night before at Coolin, or even at Le Baroc last week. So important is timing – the audience had had enough by the time I got up there. So had I.

A Great Crowd at Coolin, and a Bunch of Grateful Musicians Too…

May 8, 2012
bradspurgeon

Last night at the Coolin open mic I had a fabulous lesson, or reminder, in the crucial role that an audience plays in the success and atmosphere of an open mic or concert. The musicians add their part, the locale or venue gives its part, but the actual real people that make up the crowd of spectators can make ALL the difference. On week after last week’s rather rowdy, uninterested soccer crowd on the eve of a French national holiday, I again attended the Coolin open mic on the even of another French national holiday. The crowd was just as big, but this time, it was a warm, music-loving, singalong crowd.

There was an incredible connection between the spectators and the musicians, and virtually all the musicians it seemed to me had a feeling of how they had to communicate with this particular crowd. Songs people could sing along with, but not entirely. Some were rocking wild, and got everyone going crazy, while others were more calm but still drew people in.

Most of the people gathered around the singers for more than half of the evening. There were some people who I think got up and sang despite not turning up to do that during the evening. I enjoyed my own sets, with “Father and Son” to start with, then “Year of the Cat,” which I did not expect would go down well, since it is not a singalong song, but it did. Then I did “What’s Up!” because it IS a singalong song. And finally, I closed off the evening with Etienne, with me doing guitar and backing vocals and guitar to his rich singing on “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

The owner of the bar was so happy with the evening that he wanted it to continue, it seemed. But it also seemed that it was better to stop leaving everyone wanting more – I know that I do! I will be back….

Louise de Ville, Beauty-With-Brains One-Woman-Show and a Brainless Kararocké

May 6, 2012
bradspurgeon

Betty Speaks – Louise de Ville

It was a huge contrast last night as I visited two great venues in Pigalle to see two completely different kinds of shows. I ended up feeling that my expectations of each had been reversed: The burlesque woman’s monologue was the brainy thing, and the Kararocké was the brainless thing. Both had their place and made for a great evening, since brainlessness is a great counter reaction to braininess.

What had given me my advance notions about what I might find was that I had seen Louise de Ville’s burlesque act not long ago – and written about it here – and it was part of her stock show, of a kind of burlesque, fun, brainlessness, well, not really. But anyway, the last thing I expected to see at Les Trois Baudets last night after I was invited by a friend of Louise’s to see her one-woman show called “Betty Speaks” was a fabulous and inventive monologue written by Louise in French – she is American – and acted out and spoken in great French – with a strong American accent – with all sorts of playing on words, and fun, psychological insights into womanhood.

josephine baker

Having said that, the thing that also surprised me was that here I was watching a one-woman-show that has a burlesque element to it – she is sexy as hell and has some moments of strip tease – but most of the laughter I heard around me came from the women in the audience. This was a one-woman comedy, burlesque that has sex as one of the main themes, but which is speaking very directly to women. Oh, it is also very camp, and can clearly please men who like camp, too. Having said that, Louise can transfix men who don’t like camp as well, just by being there.

As an American in Paris entertaining the French in their language with witty playfulness and issues that women think about, but at the same time appearing like a sexy burlesque, I had to think where Louise could fit into any kind of tradition. Could we call her a white Josephine Baker? Probably best just to call her Louise de Ville.

Oh, as it turns out, that entire mixture of things I just spoke about with Louise are very clearly fixed in her knowledge of herself and her approach. Here are words I just found on Louise de Ville’s web site today about herself:

“I may look like it, but I’m not your average burlesque girl,” she writes. “I love glitter and feathers as much as the next girl, but I love feminism even more! I’ m a beauty with brains and I’m not afraid of showing off either.”

So after that show I saw I still had time to go to the monthly Kararocké at the Bus Palladium. It was more densely populated than at any time I have seen it in the last six months. A massive success, and a wild, wild time. I rinsed out my brain with the music and then took a nice brisk 5.5 kilometer walk back home through the rain and rinsed off my body.

Blanchisserie Open Mic, Like Going to Brooklyn for an Evening of Laid Back Whatever

May 4, 2012
bradspurgeon

blanchisserie

I was sitting at the Blanchisserie art gallery, performance space, bar and myriad other venues contained in one, when I turned to my friend Adam Hay-Nicholls, a fellow Formula One journalist and friend, and said, “This is really kind of cool here, this open mic. But at the same time, we’re way the hell out in the middle of nowhere!” I was worried about how this new open mic on Thursday nights would fare, being located in Boulogne-Billancourt, so close to Paris yet so far at once from the center of town. Adam, with his usual perspicacity and world traveler’s knowledge, said: “Actually, it feels like we’re in a performance space in Brooklyn.” He got it! And then pointed out how a lot of NYC’s alternative cultural life is moving to Brooklyn – and people are going.

So bury my thought for the moment. In fact, the Blanchisserie is indeed a very cool location for an open mic. Just look at videos to see who showed up and what backdrop they played against. It was a great idea for the Blanchisserie to use the main room for the open mic, instead of the concert room where I have seen bands in the past. This way, like at any open mic, people can hang around the bar and listen to the music at the same time. Had they held it in the concert hall, no doubt it would clear out whenever there is an act people don’t want to focus on.

The loft feel to the place is very neat, the terrace a great place to go for a break, and the organization and people it attracted were cool. I thoroughly enjoyed it. In, fact, as it turned out, if it had not been for Adam, I was ready to drop the long trip to the Blanchisserie at the last moment and go to my usual haunt of the Mazet. I had been severely distracted around dinner time and so ended up being very late, not arriving until 10 PM. But I checked out the situation with Adam on SMS, and he encouraged me to show up and he got me signed up on the list.

Boy was I happy to discover that my favorite lead player, Félix Beguin decided to show up with some of the other members of his band, The Burnin’ Jacks. I immediately asked if he would accompany me on lead, and he immediately agreed. We had a great time doing, “Mad World,” “Wicked Game” – for only the second time together – and my song, “Except Her Heart.” I loved it, and Félix encouraged me to book some dates so we can continue the jam more often.

There was quite a great mixture of musicians, but it was hardly overflowing with them, either, with probably around 8 to 11 acts total. A comfortable, fun and laid back night – and great to hear the Burnin’ Jacks in acoustic mode again. Definitely a Brooklyn-like evening in Boulogne-Billancourt.

Point-Form Highlander Report (Just One)

May 3, 2012
bradspurgeon

Point form post (a first!):

– Got to Highlander earlier than ever in last year at least – 8:45.
– Still did not play until after midnight.
– Got to have several nice conversations.
– Got to see lots of different performances from usual. (The most important aspect.)
– Got to blow out my emotions with the same songs I do far too often, but that I still like: “Mad World,” “What’s Up!” and “Wicked Game.” Same mad thoughts throughout.
– Could have done Cavern, but decided for the first time in three days to limit things to one open mic only.

– End of post.

– Here are the videos:

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Monthly Archives: May 2012