Brad Spurgeon's Blog

PARIS – Is it just my impression, or are there more than the usual number of open mics in Paris that have closed down for the summer – or the month of August? In any case, I managed to find a new open mic last night that is open all summer. The Olympe bar open mic located at the top of the beautiful Parc des Buttes Chaumont.

I have never been to an open mic in that part of Paris, and strange as it may seem, I’ve never set foot in the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, which is surely one of the most beautiful in Paris.

The open mic is located in a bar that clearly loves music, as there were instruments hanging from the wall around the makeshift stage in a front window with red curtains, closed to create the stage effect. The instruments on the wall were a stringed instrument like a little bouzouki, a banjo and an oud.

It was a very well organized open mic, with a maximum of 12 performers each Thursday, with the need to call up in advance and book a slot with Guillaume, the organizer of the Olympe open mic*, and with a precise starting time of 20:15, and an ending time just before midnight.

Too bad the place was not quite packed to the full last night – but that is part of the risk of running an open mic in August in Paris, no doubt, when the locals all head to the seas for the month. So thank goodness there are still a few bars that remain loyal to the residents who do not leave for the seas, and the tourists who come only for the month of August and still want an open mic!

* I have found out since publication of this blog item that Guillaume was just replacing the usual organizer of this open mic, whose name is James Z.

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