Paris open mics | Brad Spurgeon's Blog

Blinded by the Light: A Great New Host at the Galway Open Mic in Paris, and The Guinness Tavern’s Rock ‘n’ Roll

August 9, 2016
bradspurgeon

Galway Pub Paris

PARIS – Now that is the first time I’ve seen a woman at an open mic singing “Blinded by the Light” by Bruce Springsteen! Or maybe I should say that it is actually the first time I have seen ANYONE at an open mic singing “Blinded by the Light” by Bruce Springsteen. But not only did it inspire me just now to pick up my guitar and seek out the chords and lyrics myself to give it a try, but it also made me realize in just what good hands the Galway Pub open mic is now after having passed from the second or so generation host – All the Roads – to Tess Liautaud. Nor should I be surprised about Tess singing Blinded by the Light – after all, this is the woman who got invited up on stage by the Boss himself at Paris’s Bercy stadium (it has a different name now, I believe) a few weeks ago to join him for a song on guitar and vocals….

And so there I was last night at my first visit to the Galway run by Tess. I also realized tonight just how devoted Tess must be to Springsteen, as I realized that learning all those lyrics is the mental gymnastic equivalent of learning any of a number of Dylan songs, like maybe, “Shelter From the Storm,” and requires huge memory skills…. what?:

Madman drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
D G A7 D
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
D G A7 D
With a boulder on my shoulder, feelin’ kinda older I tripped the merry-go-round
D G A7 D
With this very unpleasing, sneezing and wheezing, the calliope crashed to the ground

Tess doing Blinded by the Light at the Galway

Anyway… back to the open mic. It was a quiet night in August, with half of the open mics closed down for the month of streets emptied of Parisians by night, but full of tourists, and I decided to check out the Galway and Tess’s new presentation of the evening.

And there, I immediately discovered that not only was I seriously low on battery power on my Zoom recorder, as well as seriously low on my telephone, as well as having no charger for the phone and no charged batteries for the Zoom, but I was also around No. 10 or 12 on the list at the Galway, and it was 3 songs each and after 10 PM when it all started.

So having met a friend at the Galway who suggested we go check out a band at a bar I’ve never gone to, I accepted, and decided not to perform.

So off we went to the Guinness Tavern, a Paris institution for live music, with house bands that play until after 4 AM every night – I think it’s every night! Located on the rue des Lombards, I did notice that across the streets, the Duc des Lombards, the famous live jazz music joint, was closed. That was either because it was Monday, or again the month of August. No idea.

Anyway, we stayed an hour and a half or so and listened to the highly adept band play hits from the time of Blinded by the Light until today. And had a nice time listening to the band, Jesters, and when the musicians saw a couple of us had guitars, they even invited us at the break to go up and play. I will regret it for the rest of my life that I did NOT go up and play. How dumb of me. How unlike me. I’m always ready for a musical adventure. I guess I was feeling my music was so different than what the band was doing that I’d only let either me or the spectators down – but now I regret it.

Oh well, the Guinness Tavern will stay there, I assume….

And so, the good news is the Galway continues despite the departure of Romain “All the Roads.” I’ll miss his time there, but at least we still have the joint, and a fabulous new host…. Decidedly, the calliope has not yet crashed to the ground!

P.S. How strange is memory. I discovered as I was adding the tag for Guinness Tavern that I had actually already been to this joint, way back in 2011, just for about half a song or something, as I was clearly not impressed at the time!

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High Gear Before Low Gear in Paris Open Mic Scene, at the Beginning of the Dead Month

August 6, 2016
bradspurgeon

Paris Skyline

PARIS – Regular readers of this blog over the past whatever many years it has been will know that I hate the month of August in Paris. This is the period when a vast majority of the open mics close down because they think that the national addiction to vacationing in August will mean fewer customers. But it entirely overlooks the huge influx of tourists who want not only to be climbing the stairs of the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame, but want to attend an open mic at night. Anyway, over the last four days I attend four open mics, as they wound down, or continued valiantly forth….

It was, in fact, three days in a row, although I chose not to perform at an open mic on Thursday where I had otherwise been aiming to, but did go to two on Tuesday, one on Wednesday and another one on Thursday at which I did not perform…. (I re-wrote that sentence a couple of times, so if it’s a mess, that’s why!)
Ant Henson’s great new protest song

The Tuesday night was the usual trip to the Café Oz open mic of Brislee Adams, near the place Blanche. It was the last open mic of the summer while it closes down maybe for two weeks or so. A classic night with some great performers, including my friend Ant Henson, who runs his own open mic in London, and who was here for a summer trip. He tested out a fabulous new protest song of his, and I suggest you listen on the video below….
another at oz

From the Oz we went less than 10 minutes walk off to the real Oz, which is to say the one where Dorothy found herself. I’m referring to the Pigalle Country Club, which is one of the most open and crazy open mics of Paris, where anything goes, the mic is not just open, but has to be grabbed between performers, and where there are indeed some pretty cool performers, with the emphasis usually on the 1960s garage rock…. A crazy cool clientele also at this joint.
Ash Orphan at oz

Wednesday was one of the most intelligent, consistent, fun open mics of Paris, and one that does NOT close down for the summer – knowing its clientele perfectly – although the regular and founding host, Thomas Brun, does go off on a summer vacation. So Wednesday was Thomas’s last night at the Highlander before his vacation, from what I understood.
bit o pembroke at oz

Again, it was a classic Highlander night, with each musician singing three songs and the list going to some 20 or more performers, and the crowd ready to be entertained – mostly by crowd pleasers, but not exclusively – and all together I had a great time there. Except my guitar pick up was acting up again, as it has frequently since the horrible day when a woman used the guitar as a dance floor at the Pigalle Country Club earlier this year….
Jake at oz

And finally Thursday I dropped in to the Cabaret Culture Rapide for the weekly open mic of the Paris Lit-Up group, which is mostly an expat thing geared towards spoken word, but includes music, poetry, prose, comedy, just about anything you want to do up there behind the absent mic. Yes, it’s a tiny cool café in Belleville, with no mic, and a consequential pillar in the middle of the room that blocks the view of about 50 percent of spectators in the place. But those who present their schtick loud will be heard.
john cotton at oz

I was admirative of the Paris Lit-Up people that they are continuing into August, but the crowd of spectators and performers was a lot smaller than the last time I saw this open mic. On Thursday, thanks to arriving late, having had a good dinner and feeling open-mic-ed-out, I decided not to play any music. In fact, in a very atypical manner for me, I didn’t even make any videos.
yet another at oz

But I made so many videos at the other open mic evenings that there are far too many to look at on this page ANYWAY!!
another at Pigalle Country Club

Back next time with more open mic madness in Paris, no doubt. Or maybe not. Depending on how many close down for the annual August Parisian exodus….
craziness at pigalle country club

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another great cover by Scottish guy at Highlander

another at highlander

Ant Henson’s great cover at highlander

final one at highlander

last moments of another great cover at highlander

on his mind at Highlander

A Bit of Texas in Paris at the Café Oz, meanwhile a bit of Paris in the Féline

July 14, 2016
bradspurgeon

Spectator with Tea at Tom’s Tabooley

PARIS – No sooner did I return from Oxford on Monday – Oxford, England, by the way – than I decided to attend very quickly the open mic on Tuesday night at the Feline bar, since I can never get to the Café Oz early enough for a good spot, so popular has that open mic become. So I went to the Feline, played my songs, and THEN wen to the Café Oz, because I knew there would be some friends performing from Texas….

And no sooner did I arrive at the Café Oz than I found the place bubbling with energy and activity, and guess what? It was precisely the moment that Christy Moore from Austin, Texas, and her friends began their invasion of the “stage” at the Café Oz.
Christy and friends at Oz

So we spoke when we could, sat around and listened to the talent, and then called it a fairly early night. I was still recuperating from the Oxford trip, in any case, and preparing for the next…. But it was a great pleasure to see Christy Moore – who used to run an open mic in Austin called “Tom’s Tabooley,” and her friends, four women from Texas, lighting up the stage in Paris near the Moulin Rouge. I always feel sort of surreal when I see people from one country where I play, playing in another country – as I do myself all the time, but somehow don’t expect of others….
third at Feline

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christy duet at Oz

P.S., I hope I did not provide any confusion to anyone with my headline for this post, as in the past I wrote about a French friend who used to call himself “Texas in Paris,” and did some pretty crazy songs. He’s now Baptiste W. Hamon, and still does some crazy songs, although not quite as crazy, oh, and now in French!

first at oz

final at oz

second at feline

Romain Leaves the Galway, Takes to All the Roads

July 6, 2016
bradspurgeon

Galway Pub Paris

PARIS – But on Monday, knowing it was Romain’s last open mic, I drove as fast as I could from Graz to Vienna, then flew as fast as I could from Vienna to Paris, and then took the RER public transport as fast as I could from the airport directly to the Place St. Michel and the Galway pub, as I was not going to miss that last night for anything in the world….
A Romain from the Galway a while back

For the last I don’t know how many years, Romain Bretoneiche has been hosting the open mic on Monday nights at the Galway Pub in Paris, beside the place St. Michel. He has been doing a great, a fabulous job, having taken over from the previous man, who was already a very tough and seemingly impossible act to beat. As of this week, last Monday, in fact, Romain has left the job as the MC in order to pursue a life on the road. Given that his band’s name is, “All the Roads,” that seems fitting. But Romain will be missed in the Paris open mic scene – for the next year or so, or however long it is he will be on all the roads travelling the world. The open mic will go on, though.
A Romain from last year at Galway

And I did not regret a minute of it. In fact, I was so deeply involved in enjoying the open mic that I was completely loath to do my usual thing of making videos, and to record this momentous last event. Can you imagine?
Romain three years ago at the Galway

Of course, I had to get a little bit of Romain doing his act, so I got a few bits of a song he did with a violinist, and then I got someone else, and I must say, though, that I have mountains of videos of Romain on this blog, so any search for Galway will lead to them.
Romain’s last night at Galway

Romain pointed out to me that I attended his first open mic at the Galway, and there I was at the last, remembering some of the first times I met Romain. At the time, he wore Elvis Costello-like horn-rimmed glasses. And when I first heard his velvety voice, I thought, hey man, this IS Elvis Costello – a French Elvis Costello, 40 years later! He dropped the glasses – to my great regret – but his sound only got better.
Another at last night for Romain at Galway

Check out the Galway videos on the blog, and return to the Galway for the new master of ceremonies – who, I understand, will be the amazing Tess…. more on that later….

An Update to My Paris Open Mic Guide

June 17, 2016
bradspurgeon

Thumbnail Open Mic Guide

Just a note to say that I have updated my main open mic city guide, The Thumbnail Guide to Paris Open Mics, Jam Sessions and other Live Music.

I removed the open mic of the Bombardier, and I added a couple of new ones which I should have added long ago, but for some reason did not, as these open mics – the one at the Féline and the one at the Paradis – have been around for a while now, and are both excellent in their own ways. I also added information about the Baryton, which actually takes place on three days a week….

Backing Poetry Beauty, Open Mic Playing and Gig, Part II of the Whirlwind Adventures

April 8, 2016
bradspurgeon

Brian Scott Bagley

PARIS – The adventures continue now in Paris, after the weekend in Bahrain and that last night of craziness mentioned in the previous post. Well, no sooner did I return home than I received a message from an old friend whom I had met at open mics a few years ago, and who recites poetry. She wondered if I could accompany her on my guitar while she recited her poetry, in French and in English. If you ever saw and heard this woman recite her poetry, then you know that I would never refuse such an offer….

So off I went on Tuesday late afternoon to practice with her and see if we could come up with some chords and rhythm for her poems in English and in French. We got it down in an hour, then trundled off to the Café Oz open mic, where Lisa Marie – the poet – wowed the crowd and I felt for the first time in my life comfortable accompanying someone on my guitar. Unfortunately, I could not make a video of her incredible performance, her outrageous poetry, which sometimes has themes that shock, surprise or titillate – like comparing a certain part of the male anatomy to the leaning tower of Pisa in the final lines of the suggestive poem….
Brad Spurgeon doing Except Her Heart at Soirée Buzz

From there it was off to the Pigalle Country Club, the scene of the crime of a couple weeks earlier, where a woman used my Seagull as a dance floor. I was not going to allow anyone to discourage me from attending my favorite Paris haunts, especially when I knew there was nothing personal to that attack on the poor Seagull. And my feelings were confirmed when within half an hour of attending this raucous open mic I barely missed being struck by someone else’s nice new acoustic guitar being hurtled across the room by a frustrated guitarist. Somehow the guitar resisted snapping to pieces upon landing at the foot of the microphone. (I swear I am not making this up!!!)
Brad Spurgeon doing Mad World at the Tres Honoré

This was no environment for poetry of ANY kind, so I simply took to the mic and jammed away with some old friends and other musicians at the Pigalle Country Club, playing for maybe half an hour and feeling triumphant to be doing so with my Seagull – which accompanied me wherever I happened to move in the bar throughout the evening.
Brian Scott Bagley performing at his Soirée Buzz

Late Wednesday afternoon – we’re in the next day already – I suddenly recalled that I had received a telephone message from a musician friend. I called him back to find that he was offering me a gig that very night at the crazy mad Soirée Buzz open mic at the very chic Très Honoré cocktail lounge on the Place du Marché St. Honoré. It was to start at 9 PM, and I would play until 10 PM, and be paid with a free meal and drinks! This I liked, and despite still recovering from the excitement of the previous days, I accepted.
Another bit of jamming at Soiree Buzz green room

No sooner did I accept than I invited the poetess to the evening as well, since after my feature act performance the evening turns into that crazy mad open mic, hosted and organized by the inimitable Brian Scott Bagley, American male cabaret and burlesque artist. And I KNEW that my poetess’s poetry would go down well at the Très Honoré.
Another act at the Soirée Buzz

So I arrived, showed the house band a few chords of the songs I thought I’d play – my own songs as well as some covers – and off we went to playing on this chic stage in this basement room, darkly lit and feeling like some purposeful high class contrast to the Pigalle Country Club. It would turn out to be what is the longest period of time I’ve spent playing with a band that has never played my songs before, as we did about four of my originals and four cover songs, and somehow it all felt just great. It got me to thinking about what it really means to play with really great musicians who can follow anything! Having now seen it on video, well, I could have done a lot better! But I include a couple of videos taken by my friend, Mr. Lafleur, who invited me to the soirée, and whose new album I will write about later….
Fun in the green room of the Soirée Buzz

Of course, it was all helped by the fact that I had my faithful lead-playing fiddle player, Joe Cady, who agreed to come and provide the necessary color between the drums and bass and my rhythm guitar playing. But somehow, it all felt like it held together, and it was a personal moment of satisfaction of doing something I never thought possible: IE, playing a series of my own songs respectfully with a band who had never even heard them before, let alone play them.
Second at Café Oz Open Mic

I also spent some fun moments in the artist’s “Green Room,” which actually has a green theme of wallpaper, and listened to and jammed with some of them. And there discussed the idea of doing our act again with Lisa Marie. She was all ready, we went on stage, and if the night before it had been my first challenge to accompany the poetess, well, it then grew into another challenge for both of us, as we were also joined by the drummer, bass player and Joe on the fiddle! And as predicted, her poetry was more than well received in this crazy mad, chic environment – to say nothing of her appropriate personal beauty.
Syd and Co at Pigalle Country Club

And so it went, from unpredictable to unpredictable, a series of musical adventures that I had never imagined Sunday morning as I awoke in the heat of Bahrain…. Tonight, another one awaits….

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The Sad, Sorry End of My World-Traveled Seagull Guitar – As a Dance Floor

March 23, 2016
bradspurgeon

destroyed Seagull 2

PARIS – Some woman decided to use my Seagull S6 guitar as a dance floor last night. This fabulous guitar, which has been around the world with me 7 times, which just had all the frets replaced two weeks ago for 260 euros (so much do I love the sound of this guitar), which has a few battle scars that added to its charm and changed nothing of its fabulous sound, it is finally dead. I have debated for several hours now whether I can again help this Seagull rise from the dead, so great a guitar is it. But reading up on guitar repairs, and looking closely at the damage both inside and out on the table of this fabulous guitar, I have decided it must be time to put it up on my wall for retirement. (Note posted later: After many kind reactions on my Facebook to this post, I was encouraged to contact my luthier, who, in the end confirmed that the guitar was so badly destroyed it would never sound the same again if it were to be reconstructed, as it would be too full of glue and added parts to maintain its original integrity.)

Out of a Jam

In a way, it closes a chapter: The guitar was used as a dance floor by a woman who was told to watch out for it, while I was waiting to take a piss, in the the back room by the toilets at the Pigalle Country Club, where I was intending to play in the open mic. I had left the guitar in its case against a pillar where I always leave it. It was a soft case, and the guitar got knocked over and stomped on by the manic woman. The Pigalle Country Club is the bar where the guitar features on the cover photo of my CD. The CD consists of songs from my life over the last few years, all of which were composed on that Seagull S6. The guitar actually features on only four of the songs, however, with the rest of the songs being performed with my Gibson J200.
Johnny Borrell sings Vertical Women with my Seagull S6

What is certain is that I will attend even fewer open mics in the future with my J200. For if the Gibson had served as a dance floor to this drunken woman, then I’d be finding it even more difficult to be light-hearted about it. And come to think of it, I’m not really light hearted about my Seagull. I’m as broken as the Seagull is.
Daniel Haggis of The Wombats playing my Seagull S6

This is the Seagull that has been played at various times and in various countries of the world by people like Johnny Borrell of Razorlight; by Daniel Haggis of the Wombats; by one of the guitarists of The Cribs; by many of Paris’s former “baby rockers;” by Andy Flop Poppy of the Flop Poppies; and by countless other great musicians both known and unknown, around the world.
Andy Flop Poppy using my Seagull S6

Having said all that, I seek solace and attitude in the memory of my meeting with the great, wonderful and hugely human singer-songwriter Harry Chapin when I was 18 years old. I’ve frequently recounted the story of how this fabulous performer with the hit “Cat’s in the Cradle,” and I met while he was performing on a television show in which I was both performing and working backstage. Called “Bang, Bang, You’re Alive,” it was recorded in Ottawa, at the CJOH studios. I met Chapin backstage and we were talking in his room while he awaited his moment taping in front of the cameras and live audience. We learned we were both born on the same day – December 7 – although he was maybe 15 years older than me. We learned we both wanted to get into acting school.

another seagull shot

Chapin reached out his hand and said, “Let’s make a wager to see who gets to acting school first!” I don’t know if he was just trying to encourage me, or what. But we shook hands. Soon, an assistant producer came and told him that he had to go on stage. He leapt out of his chair, grabbed his Ovation guitar, lost his grip, it fell on the floor and a rib broke inside the guitar. Where I would have been furious, and frustrated and sad, Chapin broke out into laughter and said, “Well, I’ll just have to use it like that!!!” And he ran off laughing to the stage….

destroyed Seagull 1

After all, it’s just an object, right?!!!? Still, I could never imagine using someone’s guitar as a dance floor.

Harry Chapin

neck area breaks

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A Mile-Long Post About My Week of Open Mics in Paris – But Some Real Discoveries!

March 14, 2016
bradspurgeon

Le Paradis

PARIS – I cannot believe that it has already been a week since I last posted about my escapades in open mics and jam sessions in Paris, and that I’ve done another pretty full slate of open mics in Paris again since that post! That was not the way this blog has gone for the now six years of its existence. I’m usually very timely in my writings about the open mics – a day or two maximum afterwards. But like I mentioned recently, I’m really hard at work, and very excited (that’s corporate-speak, but true!) about the progress of my open mic documentary, which, like my CD that I just got finished and made, will also be called, “Out of a Jam.” But now, on to a few notes about the last week….

Monday, I decided to return to some old territory I had not been to for a very long time: The Tennessee Bar has started its Monday open mic again. This, remember, was one of the best in Paris when it was run for well over half a decade by James Iansiti. After some kind of difference of opinion between James and the bar owners – if I have my facts straight – James left the open mic. And so began what would be eventually a descent into the dark ages, and the open mic fell so low that it stopped. Now there is a new MC, and it is trying to build its way back into its once glory days. There is no reason that it should not succeed, if the environment of the fabulous cellar room were the only thing that counted. Let’s wait and see! (Oh, it also continues on Thursday nights, by the way.)
First bit o jam at Paradis

I then headed over to the new open jam session on the Ile St. Louis, at the Chez Madame Louis bar. It turned out to be as lively and kicking hot as usual. I managed a couple of songs on stage with a bassist, drummer, lead player and me on my guitar. But what ended up being the highlight of the night for me was that on my way out of the joint, I found some people outside the front door to the bar, struck up conversations, and pretty soon one of the guys took out his guitar and started playing out there. In all, a couple of people ended up playing and singing. But in the end, the bar owner decided it was time to take pity on the neighbors, so the music had to stop. But it was a fun moment of the kind I love at open mics and jams – spontaneity.
Second bit o jam at Paradis

On Tuesday, I finally decided to see if I could show up on time for sign-up at the Café Oz open mic near Place Blanche. I ended up maybe 12 to 14 or so on the list! But it was just two songs each. Still, I calculated that would give me at least two hours before I got up. I then thought of going to the many other open mics along the line 2 of the metro on Tuesday nights, but ultimately I calculated that, Hey, I bet I could take the metro all the way across Paris down to the Bastille, and then walk over the open jam session at the Nul Bar Ailleurs and take part in that, and then return to the Café Oz and do my bit there.
Third at Zebre Rouge

I was actually really kind of proud of myself when it turned out that I COULD do that. In fact, I was quite simply happy as anything because I thoroughly enjoyed my moment at the mic in the Nul Bar Ailleurs jam. It’s called, “Jam around the table,” because it has that kind of feel to it, and there are tables around it…. But it is very intimate, and extremely well organized. My only criticism would be that in between the main bits where you get to the mic, the jamming of the rapping and reggae kind can go on a long, long time, as it did Tuesday – but that’s only a criticism because I was so excited to get behind the mic again myself!
Second at Zebre Rouge

In the end, I figured I better get off to Oz again…. And I did, and I played, and I had time for a beer before, and after. So it was the perfect night!
First at Zebre Rouge

Thursday, it was back to the Zebre Rouge open mic and another fabulous time in the cellar of this bar. In fact, I had to go and pick up my entirely re-fretted Seagull S6 in Pigalle before the Guitar Garage closed, so I was very early for the open mic. But I decided that I would try out the food at the Zebre Rouge, and man did I have a great African meal! And I managed to find a table in the back of the room very secluded, where there were about four or five places in the wall where I could charge my telephone and plug in my computer. So I spent an hour sitting there, drinking my dinner wine, eating, AND editing my documentary film. Can things get any better than this?
Third at Nul bar ailleurs

Evidently, they can! For on Saturday night, I finally had the time and inclination to go and check out the jam at the bar called, Le Paradis, which is near the Barbès métro. I had seen this one for months, since there is little else on a Saturday night in Paris. And because it is usually run by the same guy who runs the Nul Bar Ailleurs jam. So I went to le Paradis, and found myself in Paradis! The bar is just the right size for a jam, i.e., small, with a back room where you can go to breathe, nevertheless. But best of all, the bar manager lets the music go on until nearly 2 AM or so, and it is loud, and it is drums, it is saxophones, it is guitars, basses and keyboards and vocals.
Second at Nul Bar Ailleurs

But it IS a jam, and the audience is so big and crowded around the “stage” area that you are best off playing crowd pleasers of one kind or another and having the audience sing along. To my total surprise, I also met Stephen Saxo there, and so we managed to jam together. There is no doubt for me whatsoever that I will be returning to this fabulous jam, which I finally got to. In addition to everything else, I arrived and found the mic ready for me the instant I arrived, and in ripping off my coat, buying a beer and taking out my guitar in about one movement, I did not see it but I had dropped my expensive new cell phone on the floor by the bar. An hour later – after they had announced the discovery of the phone, and I had not heard them – they still had the phone behind the bar and when I was running around in a panic thinking I’d lost it, that it was stolen, there it was being kept in a safe place for me.
First at Nul Bar Ailleurs

“We’re serious in this establishment,” the manager said. I agreed, and thanked him profusely.
First at Café Oz

I will definitely be back to the Paradis – it’s a paradise (for jammers, anyway).
More jam at Madame Louis

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Jamming outside Madame Louis

First at Tennessee

Bit o jam at Madame Louis

Three Open Mics and Two Jams (one non-existent) in Paris

March 6, 2016
bradspurgeon

O’Sullivans

PARIS – Days are slipping by so fast as I move into overdrive on the editing of my open mic film. That has not prevented me from attending four open mics and one jam session this week over a three-day period. But it did prevent me from writing about it on the blog…. If excuses are allowed. But the open mics allowed for plenty of discoveries, and fun moments, and some videos to show that….

On Tuesday, it was the Féline open mic time again. I played a three-song set, and left in the middle of the open mic like an ungrateful guy who doesn’t like to listen to other musicians or socialize. But that was not the case: I had simply said that I would attend Rim Amine’s gig at the Petite Mercerie, about a seven minute walk away on Oberkampf. I did that partly – and mainly – to listen to Rim, who I had discovered the week before at the Zebre Rouge. But I also went for what had been announced as a jam session afterwards.
A bit of Melodie’s own song

Since there was no jam – I think they started the gig late – I decided to head on and take my chances at the Café Oz, metro Blanche, thinking I’d be too late to get to play. But no, when I arrived, I found that most of the musicians and spectators who had been there earlier on had now left, and there was room for me to play – so I did. I actually enjoyed singing to the small remaining crowd, since it allowed me to do some quieter, less “crowd pleaser” stuff. (I finished with “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go.”)
a final one at Murphy’s

Thursday I decided to go all the way out to St. Germain des Près and the O’Sullivan’s Pub where I wrote about the great open mic a couple of weeks ago. This time, it was not an open mic, but a gig – there is an open mic every second week, and a gig followed by a jam in the other week – but I went because I knew that it was guaranteed a fun night, and there would be the jam afterwards. And this time, there WAS the jam, and I played for maybe 30 minutes or more. Played with other musicians, too, and it was fabulous – thanks to the great organization of the pub and Stephen Saxo….
another at Murphy’s

From there, Friday, it was the monthly open mic at Murphy’s in Paris, behind the Opera. Again, I was so certain the atmosphere would be convivial and friendly and that there would be lots of interesting people, that I had no difficulty choosing this open mic over other possibilities. And I was not let down. Plus, I got to meet a new Canadian friend (visiting Paris) and her daughter, who played int the open mic.
band at La Feline open mic

All in all, a worthwhile time at the open mics in Paris – although I’m not sure it makes for great reading…. So there’s always the videos to fall back on!

Rim at the Petite Mercerie

trio at Murphy’s

band at O’Sullivan’s in St. Germain en Laye

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duet at Murphy’s

another at the feline

second at the Café Oz

The Incredible Not-Jam of Mammalia, in Paris, and Leaving Your Comfort Zone

March 1, 2016
bradspurgeon

Mammalia

PARIS – Push yourself, push yourself, push yourself. Get outside your comfort zone. Take a risk. Those are the thoughts that come back to me once again after my open mic experiences last night. Those are themes of this blog since it started – themes of my life. But last night, the proof came to me again. I was trying to decide if I should go out to my regular open mics in the Bastille area again, near dinner time, but I also wanted to stay home and keep working on my film and other projects. Then suddenly, a flash on Facebook pops up and I see my friend Stephen “Cat” Saxo is going to some kind of open mic jam – “not jam.” It’s a once-a-month event, and it takes place in a very cool bar called the Café de la Presse, and it calls itself Mammalia. So I went.

I went partly because it was in the Bastille area, so if I didn’t like it, I could do the Rue de Lappe open mics as a backup. So I arrive on the Boulevard de la Bastille quite early, and find the bar, and I speak to the organizer. (I also meet Stephen Saxo and another musician friend.) I learn that they liked to call it “not a jam” because although it’s a kind of free-for-all onstage, the idea behind it is to just get up there – drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, whatever – with people you do or don’t know, and to start off on some kind of theme and just go at it and see where it leads, maybe even create a new song.
Been a long time at Mammalia

Well, as much as I loved the concept, and as much as I loved what I saw of the people, and as much as I thought the neat little stage and sound system, all under spotlights, looked stupendous, I’m not so comfortable making stuff up in public onstage! The Café de la Presse was the kind of place I could hang out all night, I thought, though, as it was wide open dance floor and spectator area in front of the stage, a mezzanine, a front terrace and other areas – a swing set – and so the place seemed to have ALL the ingredients for a great night.
Saxo and lady at Mammalia

But I generally like to play songs, not jam stuff. It’s just my predilection. I love playing with other musicians, but songs I know, not just repetitions of chords for 25 minutes non-stop, as some jams go. Well, I watched a bit of the beginning, got Stephen and some other musicians on video, then decided to go to the Rue de Lappe to play my stuff.
Beatin em at Mammalia

Before I left, though, I also met with a musician I have written about on this blog many times a few years ago – Yann Destal – and I told him about my reservations, and he said it really depended on who was on stage, what the situation was like, etc., but that doing songs from beginning to end was also done at this place…. Despite the “not a jam” name.
Heartbreak at Mammalia

Still, I felt worried, inferior, not likely to be comfortable. Comfort zone in some other place. Not here. So I returned to my usual Monday haunt of the Rue de Lappe and found the Some Girls open mic in full swing. It was great. I even got to…jam, or rather, play with other musicians, i.e., the host on lead guitar and another guy on sax, while I played my guitar and sang. But the whole time I was doing it, I kept on seeing the visions of the stage of Mammalia in my head and said, “Brad, get out of your comfort zone. You can probably, maybe do something there. And the ambiance is super cool, and it happens only once per month. Go for it!!!”
More jamming at Mammalia

So I immediately returned to Mammalia, asked if I could go up, and soon after arrival, I got on the stage, found myself doing three cover songs I do a lot – Mad World, Wicked Game and You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere – along with fabulous musicians, a guy on bass, Yann on keyboards and another on drums. And a huge crowd of people in front of the stage giving me someone to cry my heart out to!
More oldies at Mammalia

It was a wicked game all right, in the good sense! I had the time of my life, and will definitely return to this exceptional “not jam,” and perhaps I will even learn something, and figure out a way to do the not-jam thing, and not just songs…. Above all, I realize once again that it happened because I pushed myself out of my comfort zone, and the reward was high.
Old rockin stuff at Mammalia

The concept of Mammalia, the whole thing is really, very cool. Definitely, I highly recommend Mammalia to spectators or musicians.
Second at Mammalia

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performer at Some Girls open mic