
Rush Bar open mic
I was wondering when Paris might have a newcomer open mic to rival the great ones of the past (like Earle’s open mic that started at the Shebeen, moved to the Lizard Lounge and then to the Truskel, or like the Ptit Bonheur La Chance open mic), these places that attract a loyal crowd of spectators and musicians and almost feel like – or are – a scene. Last night I found a worthy successor to the best of them at the Rush Bar. And this open mic has only been running for 18 sessions, weekly, which brings it to what, nearly five months?
momentary glance of Charlie Seymour opening the Rush bar open mic
I found all the perfect ingredients at the Rush last night: A bar manager who loves the open mic and music – and no doubt behind him a bar owner – a fabulous, friendly and fair presenter in Charlie Seymour – a longtime Paris expat musician –, and finally, a locale of the kind that seem to always work: A very small, cosy room where everyone is tightly knit together before the stage area. Interestingly, the Rush Bar also has a couple of very cool cellar rooms, and a kind of back room, or secondary room on the ground floor, all of which could host the open mic.
Kinky one at Rush bar open mic
But I think in that immediate entrance room of the bar – that also contains the bar itself – they have found the best location for the open mic. Additionally, this open mic is located in a cool part of Paris, not far from the Bastille, about halfway to Republic. In other words, ALL of the important ingredients are there. And the result is that the Rush Bar open mic has attracted a loyal and very diverse group of spectators and musicians.
French one at Rush bar open mic
The sound system is great for the voice, and not bad for the guitar, and they are open to adding instruments like lead guitar and bass. The styles played last night run the full gamut from folk to pop rock and blues. The age of the performers and spectators also runs the full gamut, from 20s to 60s…at least I think so…! So this is not just a young scene, but a real, vibrant open mic with all sorts of nationalities represented as well: Brits, Irish, Canadian, lots of French, North African and who knows what all else!
Diggin for Gold at Rush
It’s interesting that the Rush Bar open mic has become such a clear success in such a short period of time. There has been apparently not huge labor to attract people to it, for as one spectator and participant said to me last night, there has been practically no internet campaign to make it known. I think it just lit up because Paris still needs great open mics – despite the many it has – and because, above all, of those essential ingredients I mentioned.
nice quiet one at rush
Oh, by the way, I was happy to play near the beginning of the night, because I got to do five songs, even though the usual number is 2 or 3. There were not as many musicians early as there turned out to be later – the place was packed! And I felt that the guitar that was already plugged in was good enough and I chose not to use my new D-42. It did, indeed, turn out fine. I felt great, and what I noticed above all is a detail I have not yet mentioned: The spectators were there to listen. Or if they wanted to talk briefly, they would do so outside the bar, on the street, or on the exterior tables.
Perry at Rush
A perfect open mic evening at the Rush bar. Or as I say in my headline, a real rush!!!
Great Beatles one at Rush
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PARIS – It was a kind of quiet night on Friday and I had planned to stay home and do some work on my various projects, as I have all week. But I received a message from a Facebook acquaintance who told me he had a friend who was as fascinated with open mics as I am, and I should contact him. So I did, and then I found that he had recently started an open mic near the Gare de L’Est in Paris, and it was for Friday night – which is a pretty barren night for open mics in Paris. So I decided to go and check it out, and use some of my meal tickets to treat myself to a meal out, at what turned out to be an interesting, hidden-away old-time Paris café on a kind of lost street running parallel to the railroad tracks.
This was enough for me, being once again in a situation where I was taking my guitar to an open mic and it wasn’t working. So the next night, Saturday, I decided I would take the whole thing apart and see if I could fix it. The B-Band pick up was, it turned out, pretty cluttered with a furry substance – no idea where that came from – and the connection between the bridge and the pick-up processor looked suspiciously not quite entirely plugged in to its limit. So I unplugged that, then plugged it back in, straightened out some of the wiring, restrung the guitar and put it all back together, and… it worked in an amp and with a cable that half an hour before it had not worked from. 