James Iansiti | Brad Spurgeon's Blog

Tennessee Bar Gets Smarter: A New Open Mic (and a Documentary about its MC)

April 26, 2013
bradspurgeon

The Tennessee Bar’s open mic on Mondays in Paris is one of the most successful open mics in Paris. Part of this is due to the location and style of the bar: It is in the heart of the Latin Quarter, near the Odeon metro, and it has a cozy small cellar with a good sound system and stage, and walls and ceiling that always remind me of the home of Fred and Barney Flintstone. But it is also a success due to its MC, James Iansiti, an expat American artist and musician. While I was away on my most recent travels around the world, James decided to introduce a second, new open mic at the Tennessee, which takes place on Thursdays – when there are practically no open mics in the city because they all want to be on the same days earlier in the week – and he has changed the format slightly.

The Thursday open mic has a feature performer or band that plays an extended set (last night it featured Jovanny Parvedy). That’s the only, but significant, difference between the Monday open mic and the Thursday open mic. Oh, and the audience is slightly different, James said: Since Monday is the day that most bars have little regular customers, they set up open mics to attract customers. The result is that most of the customers are the musicians and their friends. But on Thursday, James noted that regular customers, and customers passing through who hear the music, also make up the spectator crowd. So that’s nice.

James knows what he is talking about. With more than half a decade’s experience running the open mic, and a lot of music and “happening” experience before that in the U.S., he brings not only organizational experience, but his own singing and musicianship to the evening. So much so that a film company decided James was worth a short documentary himself, showing off his art, his world, his open mic. Called “Point Zero,” it tells things about James and his world that even I, after five years of regular attendance at the open mic, had no idea about. Check it out:

All Round Good Time at the Open Mics, for Paris in July

July 24, 2012
bradspurgeon

By Paris standards it was another relatively quiet evening at the open mics last night. I somehow managed to drive back from Mannheim, eat a meal and get to the Tennessee Bar’s open mic session in time to play there and then to go on to Coolin’s open mic after that. By the standards of most other cities in the world – like Mannheim! – it was a bustling night at the open mics.

I had been singing out loud in my car for several hours a new song I wrote, in an effort to a) memorize the song, and b) not get bored during the drive. So because it was a smaller, intimate audience at the Tennessee bar, I decided I could try to sing the song for the first time in public without the lyrics in front of me. And I still managed to forget a few lines….

But for me the standout act of the night at both joints was that of Brislee and Virginia. I realized what a wonderful voice Virginia has through the great sound system at the Tennessee bar. I had seen them perform once at Coolin; but the sound system there tends to mask the finer details of a voice…. As it turned out, Virginia did a better job at Coolin of the song that Brislee wrote for her, so that is the version I put up here.

Brislee also blew people away with his songs at the Tennessee, and because there were fewer people, the MC of the night, James Iansiti, entertained us with several songs and accompaniments – including with Brislee.

A good evening, all things considered….

Coolin Surprises Again

February 21, 2012
bradspurgeon

After a short visit to the Tennessee Bar open mic where an MC that looked, spoke, acted and dressed just like James Iansiti but said James was ill and he was a replacement – figure that out! – I went to the Coolin open mic at the Coolin Pub. This is the new one I discovered a few weeks ago and which was in its seventh week yesterday. I arrived and felt like maybe it had quickly run out of steam. Wrong!

I mean, when I arrived just after 10 PM there were a number of people there, but nowhere near the numbers we saw last week. I assumed that a whole new group of people tested it last week and quickly decided it was not for them. I found that an odd conclusion, as the vibe, the music, the warmth, the people, at this open mic are absolutely supercool.

And, as it turned out, I was very, very wrong. I got up early and did my set and by the time I got into my third song, after screwing up on the lyrics of one I decided my approach would be to forget about the world and close my eyes and sing for myself. When I opened my eyes I found that the bar had filled up with people and musicians. (Not that there is a difference between the two species.)

Fortunately, they were all in the process of saying hello, kissing cheeks and shaking hands, and very little of what I sang seemed to have been listened to. I would have another chance later – two chances, in fact – and both went down considerably better.

But in the meantime, I was treated to an insanely wonderful evening of music, with once again, some original musicians and instrumentalists. There was a trumpet, a trombone, a soul-like singer from France, a bongo player; Jamie Turner without the cellist; and just all manner of new song and singer.

There was much singing along and applause and carrousing. There was even the post-open-mic singalong around the table after 1 AM. This time, as I had an early morning ahead of me, I did not stay for the jam – although I did pick up a few moments on video as I walked out the door.

Any sense of a decline in the festivities was purely imaginary and due to the later start of this open mic than most others… which also happens to be to my taste….

James Iansiti and His Band at the Tennessee Bar

January 28, 2012
bradspurgeon

I have noticed all over the world that the MCs of open mics have a thankless job. They are most often musicians themselves, and they are most often professional musicians who do the open mics as an off-shoot of their regular jobs as musicians. They are very often much better musicians than most of the musicians who take part in their open mics. And they most often receive not only no thanks from the people taking part in their open mics, but they actually receive people complaining about when their slot is to play, and questioning without stop when their slot is, and just generally giving the MCs a hard time.

Most often this is also without intending to bother the MC, but when you get 20 musicians wanting to play and those MCs have to answer the same question several times a night, that can be hard. Perhaps the worst part is that most of the people who come to play at an open mic don’t really treat the MC as a fellow musician, and one who in fact is more often than not, a better musician than the musicians coming to play….

So when James Iansiti, the MC of the Tennessee Bar open mic, mentioned to me that he had this band he was really happy with playing on Friday nights at the Tennessee Bar – where he hosts the open mic on Monday nights – I thought I just HAVE to get there and listen to James and his band. I went last night, and I did not regret it. James has some very cool songs, lots of artistry, and a very, very well-oiled stage presence. Loved the acoustic bass player too, oh, and the drummer, and the guitarist, and James did a very well balanced show, varying styles and songs throughout. Lots of talk in the audience as usual there, of course. The place is just too comfortable not to talk – but it was also clear the audience enjoyed the music….

Ever Shifting Flow of Open Mic Attendance

January 17, 2012
bradspurgeon

I went to the Tennessee Bar’s open mic to start with last night and found the place almost entirely empty. I think that aside from the three or four musicians there were only there non-musician spectators. For the Tennessee Bar, that is very rare. It turned out that James was absent as MC, but I doubt many people knew that…. It gave me a chance to play early, however, and go to the Galway open mic a little earlier than usual, and there I find a huge crowd and lots of musicians….

I heard this guy named Connor from Ireland for the first time, and he had a great voice and delivery. Very inspiring. He had been there last week, and had complimented my songs, but I had not heard him play. So last night I was inspired by his voice to do my Gary Jules cover, “Andalucia,” and because I was not otherwise prepared to play it, I promptly forgot the words to the second half of the song and had to abort….

The evening ended with the wonderful duo of two former bandmates from Australia, Stephen Danger Prescott, the MC, playing with his friend from Melbourne, who sang in German and played a miniature synthesizer. This was an act from outer space – well worth watching, at least for a little…. Especially since next week will be Stephen’s last time MCing this great evening after three years – before it continues under the direction of Romain of All the Roads.

Absolutely A-Mazet Evening – I Mean, Amazing – at the Mazet

December 10, 2011
bradspurgeon

The open mic on Thursdays at The Mazet on the Rue St. André des Arts in Paris is really turning into something. This bar, remember, is the last bar where Jim Morrison of The Doors had a drink before he went off to die down the street a little way in his hotel. After an evening in the open mic of the Mazet, you might feel the same way – but in a state of bliss.

Starting the night in the open mic the feeling is that this bar is more for the regulars and they are not really there for the music, they are there to drink and talk. But as the night goes on and the musicians change and the feeling develops, you realize that there is the basis here for a wonderful festive time, and the crowd loves music, wants music, requests music, sings along to the music and generally promotes it and having a great time.

As in weeks past, the open mic developed from a classic singer-songwriter thing into something of a free-for-all jam, even with members of the bar crowd just getting up on the stage and singing. I found it a great pleasure to meet a group of people who had come for a week-long course in learning how to use music as therapy for patients in healthcare situations. Some got up to sing. See if you can guess who they were….

PS, James Iansiti, the MC of the Monday night open mic at the Tennessee Bar also popped in for a while and whipped up an emotional storm, and also accompanied me on two or three songs. That was fun. He also did a couple of Rolling Stones songs on his own….

PS, I almost forgot that since my last post reporting on my gig at the 9b bar in Paris a couple of days ago, one of the spectators – in fact, it was Paloma Gil, the previous act – recorded me on her iPhone playing my last song, which was a request by the audience to do Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released,” in which I was joined by two other members of the audience on the singing – one of whom was Mr. Kidd, the first act of the evening…. Check it out, complete with my confusion on rhythm and lyrics:

From the NUJ to the Usual Monday Night Haunts

May 17, 2011
bradspurgeon

I recently joined the British journalists’ union, called the National Union of Journalists. Last night the Paris chapter of the NUJ held a recruitment evening at a bar near Oberkampf. I would have gone anyway, to meet my fellow NUJ people. But when I saw there would be music provided by NUJ members, I thought, YES! I will take my guitar and ask if I can play, and then I will go off and play at my usual Monday open mics.

The NUJ meeting turned out to be a great pleasure, lots of people, loud, a nice bar, and a very open mic. In fact, there was a stream of people asking to go up and play who had not been booked in advance, apparently. And they played, and I played.

But among the best and most interesting musicians were Monkey Anna and a couple who played jazz guitar and sang. I had met Anna Brooke, who calls her band Monkey Anna, at a concert by the French band called Neimo. Anna is a journalist and musician, and she is currently working on an album and preparing her next concert, in Luxembourg, on the 2 July, at MUDAM (Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean). She writes original, interesting songs, sings and does a nice presentation. Of course, it was all recorded music last night. She also writes city guide books and other journalistic things.

After I played a couple of songs at the NUJ evening, I then moved on to the Galway and played five songs, and listened to Stephen Prescott and his fiddle player, Pierre, play a few songs. There were another couple of performers as well, while I was there.

I then went off, late, to the Tennessee Bar, and was too late to play. But I did see and hear a number of interesting acts, and there was a wonderful jam session at the end, in which James Iansiti also got up and sang. His rendition of “Little Wing” reminded me more of Sting’s than of Hendrix’s, but I loved it.

There was even an interesting moment when James opened up the stage for an unusual and different sort of barfly performer than what we usually see.

If you try some time, you just might find…

April 5, 2011
bradspurgeon

“Awaking” this morning after only three hours sleep “last night,” I had the words to the Rolling Stones song going through my head: “You can’t always get what you want….”

In fact, I am writing these words at the airport as I prepare to board a flight to Kuala Lumpur, and a 12 hour or so flight that will have me leaving Paris at noon and arriving in KL just after midnight Paris time…which will be 6:30 in the morning on Wednesday, KL time. IE, the start of the new day, which will culminate in my half-hour slot in an open mic in KL at Laila’s Cafe & Lounge, where I have been booked to play from 10:30 PM to 11:00 PM.

So my idea was that if I only sleep three hours then maybe I will sleep a full “night’s” sleep on the airplane and arrive in KL refreshed and optimistic about life in general…. This was something that happened to me three weeks ago when I went to Melbourne and only slept two hours the night before leaving…thereby sleeping on the airplane all “day” and arriving in really good condition in Melbourne….

So what does all this stuff have to do with the Stones song? Last night as part of my effort to get what I want – ie, sleep on the plane today – I went to my usual haunts of the open mics on Monday in Paris, at the Galway and the Tennessee Bar. It turned out that my musical acquaintance Mathieu Neran also did both the Galway and the Tennessee. And it turned out that the highlight of the evening would be when Mathieu sang the Rolling Stones song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.”

He sang it at the Tennessee, and it moved. He did a great job, and James Iansiti, the MC, got on stage and did drumming and back up vocals and then piano, and they were joined by Chardes Bourdon on tambourine and vocals as well. The audience clapped, the singers sang, the whole thing had a general feeling of the kind of festive atmosphere that is nice, and more rare than you might expect, at an open mic.

So anyway, this all comes together in the thought that I may not have got the sleep I wanted, I may not get the sleep I want, but I will definitely get the sleep I need, since I’ve tried this time…. And I’m really looking forward to playing KL when I wake up!

Now one thing unfortunately that I will not get that I want, is for the video I took of this moment at the Tennessee Bar to upload onto this site in time for my flight. The wi-fi at the airport is not fast enough and I have only 8 minutes left on the counter. and it is only 28 percent uploaded after 20 minutes. So I will have to put the video up sometime later, upon arrival in KL. Just drop back in to check it out again, if you feel like it.

From an Australian MC at the Galway Irish Pub in Paris to an Australian MC at the Bridie O’Reilly’s Irish Pub in Melbourne

March 24, 2011
bradspurgeon

Monday night I should have stayed home and packed for my flight the next day to Melbourne, Australia. But that would have meant missing two open mics in Paris. So I said to hell with it, and I went to the Galway and listened to Stephen Prescott, the Australian MC from Melbourne play his tunes. Then I played mine, did a duet of “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” with Tommy Player, and listened to one or two other people.

Then I did go somewhere. I went home, failed to sleep, got up at 4 AM, packed, slept two hours, got on the Singapore Airlines A380 and slept most of the way to Singapore before changing planes and flying to Melbourne. That was a couple of days’ worth of travel. Arrive in Melbourne wiped out nevertheless, but HAD to check out the local bars in South Yarra, the area where I’m staying and where they said there was a great nightlife.

I did not find exactly a great nightlife, but my ear was suddenly accosted by the sound of a musician playing live music in an Irish pub on Chapel Street. It was one of those typical massive Texas whorehouse-like so-called Irish pubs that you find all over the world. I went in and found Stephen Prescott’s counterpart playing some pop songs, including the usual stuff, Oasis, The Beatles, etc. This guy, like Stephen a few months ago, and like James Iansiti the American MC of the other Monday night open mic in Paris, at the Tennessee Bar, had a Mohawk haircut.

This guy, I would learn was named Matt Bradshaw. And he had a very good voice, some nice emotion came through, and he could play very competent guitar. The guitar, an Australian one, sounded fabulous.

I learned that Matt plays several bars around the city throughout the week, and he has played at the Bridie O’Reilly’s for around three years every Wednesday.

But here was the thing that REALLY made the world feel small and all of a piece. Readers of this blog will remember that I frequently sing Harry Chapin’s “Cat’s in the Cradle.” They will perhaps know that I sing the Chapin version, as opposed to the cover version done in the 1990s by Ugly Kid Joe. Readers of the blog may also recall the duet I did a couple of weeks ago on the same song when Felix Beguin began singing it at my Sunday Brunch at the Mecano bar. Felix knew of the song through the 90s version, but he has begun doing it in a version a little between that one and mine.

Well, last night Matt had a request from the audience that he do that song about Cat’s Cradles and silver spoons… and I knew what was coming. He did a version very squarely in line with the Ugly Kid Joe version, though.

Sometimes the world just feels soooooo smallll….. Hit the right chord and you connect everywhere….

When it Reigns it Pours, At the Tennessee

October 5, 2010
bradspurgeon

A wild, absolutely mad evening at the Tennessee. When it rains the puddles collect water and grow, right? That’s how it seems to be happening at the Tennessee bar these days as Reign Morton has a growing contingent of fans, groupies, and above all fellow musician friends following him to the open mic and turning the place into a happening of unforgettable dimensions.

I first wrote about Reign Morton two weeks ago today, so you can get the biographical details there. Last night, in tow – it seemed – Reign had another couple of great singers. But let me take a brief break to say that the evening at the Tennessee was, in fact, not ONLY about Reign and the gang.

I showed up there in a toss up between there and the Galway. I arrived too late and thought I’d have to wait for hours to play, so I cut out and went to the Galway. Fortunately, I got to play immediately at the Galway, and fortunately, because Stephen, the MC, had to change a string on his guitar and there was no other singer around, I got to do five songs in a row. Unfortunately, the small group of people at the bar was not in the least bit interested in listening (either to me or to Stephen). So I just sang for myself, and then decided to leave without finishing my Kilkenney.

I returned to the Tennessee, thinking I probably would not get up on stage, but that the level of the performers I had seen so far was high. And indeed, it went on and on. Among the interesting acts were a French duo consisting of two young guys, one on guitar – a beautiful Taylor guitar, no less – and the other on the piano. The one on the piano I suddenly realized looked almost exactly like Fernando Alonso, the Formula One driver. They did a fine song called, “So Let Me Go.” Another act was the trio with a guy on vocals, another on piano and the third on cello. I liked this a lot, but it was just a little too much “Star Academy” for me. Then there was Sood, from South Korea, who played his Yamaha guitar like a metronome, and did some pretty fierce vocals too. He also accompanied another singer, and that is the one I did a video of, but I should have done Sood on his own.

Another trio went up second to last, and that was some kind of French trio with a woman on vocals, a man on guitar and vocals and a man on bongos. Unfortunately they were a very “world music” together act and I was elected as the last act, the man to follow them. Just me and my guitar after this trio. I took to the mic and said the cards were loaded so my only choice was to try to do something, real, something true. Somehow penetrate the truth. Otherwise, musically, I’d be roasted. I did not know my first choice was going to be dead on the right one. I chose “Crazy Love,” and it turned out that not only was I in better shape than at the Galway – having had another beer or two – but Reign and his gang all knew the song and so they provided the choral backup, especially between the “Love, love, love”s… It turned out Reign told me he knew the Brian McKnight version of “Crazy Love,” not Van Morrison’s.

So just when I thought the show was over, the stage was opened up to Reign and his friends. And we never looked back. Mostly a question of improvisation, they came up with some fabulous stuff. In fact, Reign had previously done one Ray Charles song, sounding just like Ray Charles and throwing in the movements to boot. Now, he went on to a Marvin Gaye sound, a bluesman sound, and then a Reign-rap-and-I-don’t-know-what-sound with a funny improvisation about making up a song. A couple of groupies stripped down to bras and neck-scarf-over-the-chest-only attire, and the night went mad with dance, drink and music.

Reign gave over the stage to a guy from Senegal who calls himself Mr No Name, and who is damned good too, and I thought he was from Brooklyn or somewhere else in the U.S. Very cool. And then another great addition was the fabulous Sue Giles, who IS from Brooklyn, and who joined Reign and did some great back up and lead vocals. James Iansiti played rhythm guitar and Karim played his splendid lead again.

In all, it was a mad delight. Man, who’d have thunk it at the Tennessee?