Au Ptit Bonheur La Chance | Brad Spurgeon's Blog

A Tour of Two Open Mics in Paris Tuesday Night

May 2, 2012
bradspurgeon

Continuing on in the same theme and lifestyle of Monday night, last night I attended two Paris open mics – O.K., not the three of Monday, but still. What happened was I arrived late at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance, found my name last on the list, and decided to cut out before I played, in order to be still on time for the Baroc open mic. Still, I was on time to hear some good and interesting musicians at both places.

It was no doubt inevitable that Tuesday would be a reaction night to Monday: Most people had gone out, got drunk, celebrated too late, slept until 5 PM, and therefore did NOT go out on Tuesday night, the last of the days of the long weekend in Paris. So the Ptit Bonheur was not as full as usual, although it developed into an O.K. crowd.

So I whipped off to the Baroc in a taxi, found it to have a pretty good crowd and some musicians I had not seen before. And I was there just in time to go up after two or three other acts. I had a riot! I played some of my most pounding rhythmic songs in order to impose a different feel to the previous performer, and with the thought that maybe, perhaps, as in the past, someone might come up and play with me. And that happened – piano, another guitar and percussion. We went mad. I met people, spoke, mingled, had a great time.

What next?

More Bonheur at the Bonheur

April 4, 2012
bradspurgeon

Did the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic last night. Had fun, bonheur. Now running like a madman to be a little earlier than usual at the Highlander; it never works, the metro will be delayed….

But, the Bonheur was fun, and I took my Gibson J-200 after many requests to do so by Wayne Standley. So I chose to play without plugging in or using a mic. The room is deceptively small – my voice did not carry as far as I thought it would…but the guitar, no problem.

There were new performers, regular performers, returning regulars. It was not the busiest of nights at the Bonheur, but that made it fun and comfortable. A great couple of friends from the US on a ukelele and other fun things….

Rushing off so fast, this writing is almost point-form this time….

“Billie” Megg Farrell and Other Musical Discoveries at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance

March 28, 2012
bradspurgeon

Holy crap. I was just blown away last night by the music at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic. Of course, I went to one of my usual weekly hang-outs in Paris suffering a little bit of a withdrawal syndrome after traveling around the world over the last couple of weeks and being electrified by one new musical sensory perception after another. So I arrived at the Bonheur not quite in a state of Bonheur, but probably feeling just a little bit blasé. That would be soon entirely wiped out by the music – and the first to wipe the table clean was Meg Farrell.

Was it year or two ago that I first heard Megg playing around town, starting with the Highander open mic? My first impression of her, I recall, was that she jolted me out of a somewhat soporific state at whatever particular evening I had been sitting there drinking beer and waiting for my turn to play. She had this driving, hard playing way with a ukelele that was designed to wake up anyone and rouse any crowd that had sunk into a stupor or a state of agitation in talk that sometimes accompanies certain open mics.

But from my early feelings of praise I soon identified an aspect of the Megg phenomenon that I eventually grew bored with: Everything was this hard-driving, raucous, energetic and rhythmic singing and ukelele playing. I desperately wanted to hear a little bit of variety, something a little softer. Got it in heaps last night!

Meg went off to New York City and has been haunting jazz clubs. She has returned for a short visit to Paris and I discovered a new Megg. You might call her “Billie” Megg. I was sitting at the back of the little cave room at the Bonheur when I heard the soft ukelele strumming and I did not know who was performing. It was too dark for my aged eyes to make out the facial features. I rarely like the ukelele stuff these days, but when I do, I really do. But last night suddenly what emerged, bit by bit – so not “suddenly” – was this incredible feeling, this voice that sounded like a cross between Janis Joplin and Billie Holiday, but more to the latter than the former.

And bit by bit the image in my mind began to form and I said to myself, “This could not be Megg?” Surely not. Not hard driving, hard moving rabble rousing Megg Farrell of the rhythmic uke. This was something super soft and sensitive and truly bluesy beautiful.

Anyway, to cut the praise short – it was Megg Farrell. Returned a changed performer. Check out the vids.

Now, it was not only Megg who impressed me and lifted me out of my lethargic state. There was Jelila, too, with her vaguely gypsy look and sound, and a sumptuous voice. There were many others. I got videos of ’em. Put ’em up. And am glad I went to my regular haunt once again….

Too Much Fun at Bonheur to Write About It

March 7, 2012
bradspurgeon

I had so much fun, such a great evening at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic last night that I stayed far too late, got home too late, got up too late, got to the office too late, to have the time to write about it here before I rush off to tonight’s bit of bonheur. No chance. Not a good sign, no doubt, to say that if I have THAT much fun I can’t write about it.

In any case, I DID take videos of the night and will put them here as a record of the evening – much of the fun of which happened AFTER the open mic in conversations in the bar on the ground floor. But the open mic itself was equally fun and held me. I am heading into the area of verbal whatever, so will stop now and rush out….

A “Pop In” Feel to the Ptit Bonheur

February 29, 2012
bradspurgeon

It was very strange last night at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic as Yaco took a night off MCing the show and he was replaced by a familiar voice and style, in the form of Kim Giani, who is one of the presenters of the Pop In open mic. It was really in many ways like taking part in the open mic at the Pop In … which I have not done in a year and a half, after having an unfortunate encounter with a strange Pop In barman with the even stranger name of “Ta Geuele.”

Actually, I think the barman was even one of the owners. Anyway, that is past history. But it was great to have Kim doing the show last night and to have that nostalgic evening, as the Pop In had always been one of my favorite open mics. And last night, it was a great Ptit Bonheur open mic, which, in fact, it seems to be no matter who MCs it.

This time there were not only some new and rare performers – such as the Romanian music band and Baptiste W Hamon – but also the return of some old favorites, like Victoire – whose act I missed as I was coming down with a beer upstairs after doing a fairly poor singing slot of my own trying to sing a song I finished writing only on Sunday….

The evening wound down with a jam on the ground floor, and that was a classic cru, as the French would say of a good wine…. even if the only video I did was of a famous Beatles song where we all had a bit of a problem making it hang together….

Debates and Jams and Other Things at Ptit Bonheur

February 22, 2012
bradspurgeon

It felt ever so slightly slow at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic on Tuesday night, but it became a very cosy and agreeable affair. And I said to myself, sometimes these less highly populated evenings are the best.

I mean, it was far from empty, a good crowd really, but not the kneeling room only things we sometimes see at this excellent open mic. It did not start well for me either in the sense that I realized that I had once again left home without my Zoom Q3HD recording device and only had my iPhone to bear witness to the great moments of the evening.

Both the image and the sound are less good on the iPhone in these conditions – still, it is better than nothing.

I realized it was really a “different” night at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance when Yaco Mouchard, the MC, played a golden oldie, the song from the 1960s called “Crimson and Clover.” No one, not me, not Yaco, not even Wayne Standley, could remember who it was wrote and played the original, but it turned into a real live debate through the room. I said I thought it was someone of the Peter, Paul and Mary ilk, without thinking it was them. In fact, it was Tommy James and Shondells and it came out in 1968.

Yaco also played “The Weight,” by The Band, and everyone still at the open mic joined in to the chorus and it turned the evening into a bit of a jam.

Notable also was the return visit by a couple members of the band Natas Loves You, who played a Fleet Foxes song and a Beatles song – no doubt the most representative groups at either end of the spectrum of what Natas itself is all about….

A Return to the Ptit Bonheur la Chance

February 15, 2012
bradspurgeon

I have missed a few nights recently at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic in Paris due to problems of a lingering cold, a late start, or various other things. But I returned last night and did not regret it, especially thanks to the return of someone else – Ollie Fury, the man who started the whole thing maybe two years ago….

Ollie has been away in another country – like Stephen Prescott of the Galway open mic – lately but returned to delight us with his extraordinary voice and cool guitar fingerpicking.

There were some other interesting musicians as well, including one very adept at beat box stuff, an Italian rap thingy, and some new voices from elsewhere that I had not seen before.

My own personal set was done with a terrible feeling of how small my repertoire is and the knowledge that any of my songs I do there will have been heard several times before. That is the advantage of my worldwide travels to open mics where I play only once a year or never before – people are not hearing me do the same songs over and over again. But I find it difficult to take time off to close myself up in my apartment and learn, say, 10 new songs. Especially given that my memory is one of my weakest functioning traits…. Another weak trait is rambling on and on with little to say. So I will stop that right now!

Good Night at the Bonheur; Though Not for Me

February 1, 2012
bradspurgeon

After the amazing Monday evening at three open mics in Paris, I figured there was no way Tuesday could stand up to that. Well, I was sort of right. Personally speaking, that is. I went to the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic and found it just jammed with people, I found some new music, new spectators, and I even managed to get there late but be the last one to play for the evening. So what was not quite right about it?

Well, due to all the excitement of the night before, a) I had developed my second cold in three weeks, b) I pulled out my Zoom Q3HD sound and image recorder only to find that I had only enough battery power for about two minutes of recording and no spares, c) it was so full I could only get a seat at the back and so got even worse quality video. But I was lucky to get a seat, and lucky to be able to play. Oh, forgot this one: d), partly because of the cold, partly because of the heights I had felt I had reached playing on Monday night, and partly because I was still “coming down” my singing felt absolutely crappy to me. I did “Runaway Train,” and it felt dreary; and I did this new song I have just started singing – actually, it is not entirely new, but I had dumped it a while back and then revived and changed it. But I’m still not sure what I have, and it did not feel sensational last night.

The good in all this? The wonderful, huge crowd at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance, and some of the really interesting musicians, especially that flute player.

So on the blog today, I have managed to put only the four videos I managed to get, two short ones on my Q3 and another two captured on my iPhone 4, with both its crappy image – due to the dark – and crappy sound, due to the mic. But anyway…. as someone said last night after I expressed my disappointment, things can’t be great ALL the time!

Ptit Bonheur at the Ptit Bonheur

January 18, 2012
bradspurgeon

Yesterday I wrote a post about the ups and downs of open mic attendance figures. Today I can write another in that series, as I attended the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic last night and it suddenly returned to its normal level of high attendance, standing room only, and a number of very cool acts.

It all started fairly slowly, but as the evening built up and moved onwards there was an inexorable flow toward a huge audience and more and more people inspired to play inspiring music. The whole first came to an end with the acoustic session in the basement, but that was so much fun that once it went beyond the allowed time to play there – out of respect for neighbors – it carried on in the ground floor bar with a fabulous performance especially by the singing of Morgane sitting at the bar, with Thomas Arlo on the guitar.

This moment reminded me profoundly of the closing of the evening at the Caffe Vivaldi open mic in New York City last August when Kate Sland sang “86d” at the bar with Erik Frandsen providing a guitar and singing accompaniment.

Thomas Arlo had taken over the running of the open mic for the first time, and he lucked into quite a successful evening and did a great job. Actually, I don’t think it was JUST luck, as Thomas had been sending emails out to people saying: “Come!”

Anyway, it was a fun night, and I played my newly learned cover song, “Wicked Game,” of Chris Isaak, and it went over qutie well – thank goodness, as I was worried.

Among the interesting new singers was Kit Buchan with his original song, “Virginia,” and Maddie Speed, from England, whom I had met at Leander Lyons’ show at the Baroc on Friday. Small world. She had some interesting melodies and lyrics and played on a cool Dean guitar, with her lovely voice and presence – which I had missed at the Baroc on Saturday, when she had opened for Leander… as had Ollie, the original founder and MC of the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic. Even smaller world!

Three Paris Open Mics in Two Days, Two Different and Cool Ones

January 5, 2012
bradspurgeon

Tuesday I took advantage of a slightly slower night than usual at the Ptit Bonheur la Chance open mic – which I have been raving about for a year or so as the best in Paris – to go to the open mic of Le Baroc, near the Belleville metro. Last night, I skipped the Highlander, where I go all the time, in order to check out the new open mic at a bar on Boulevard de Clichy. I regretted nothing, and had a great and slightly different time – at all of the places.

At the Ptit Bonheur la Chance I was particularly happy to be able to record Dr. Chouette. This is a young Frenchman who I first met at my last gig, at the Hideout, as he turned up to listen with his guitar and said he was a reader of this blog. We had a nice talk, and then next thing I knew, he was playing at the Tennessee Bar open mic on a night when I did not bring my camera and he was very cool, different, and at times hilarious. Check out his song about being “So French….”

The fun thing about Le Baroc was that the atmosphere there always leans toward jamming, but it is also completely a classic open mic. I went up and played my songs, and eventually three other musicians joined in, one on bongos, one on piano – he played a fabulous bit during “Borderline” – and Réjean, the MC of the evening, on his electric percussion table. We blew the place apart. But then after the amplified open mic ended, people continued playing and jamming acoustically, and that was some of the best stuff of the night. A very, very nice and laid back atmosphere. And it makes for a difficult choice between it and the Ptit Bonheur la Chance on the same night – even if they are completely different kinds of places and vibes.

Last night I went to an open mic that has only existed for the last couple of months. Taking place every second Wednesday at the “French Flair” pub on Boulevard de Clichy, it was a completely different experience again. Run by the very kind and lively half-French, half-American Alex, it started out with long lists of musicians, but like all other places in the last couple of festive weeks, it hit a slow spot. That was fine by me, as it meant I could play for nearly an hour. I also lent my guitar to a guy from Italy who happened to be there and decided to do a song, and I played rhythm guitar for Annhnna so that she could sing her reggae-rhythm song.

The bar had a nice, open feel to it, an English pub kind of place, with pool tables in a back room. Worth checking out the open mic.