Got up real early – for me – to return to Paris from Barcelona yesterday, spent the day landing on earth, and then went out to the Coolin open mic where I had such a great evening last week with the great crowd. Nothing wrong with the crowd last night, but I frequently have a hard time adjusting back to home scenes after being in some far off land at “foreign” open mics and jams, and Coolin was no different last night. For me, it started slow. Then picked up, then turned into a really, really good Coolin. The thing is…
This open mic is getting so popular now that there are more and more musicians. I think last night was a record, with 20 or more musicians having signed up to play. And Etienne and Lena, the hosts, made sure that everyone who wanted to go up, did go up – although people were asking to play right up to 1 AM I think, so maybe not all did play.
I was suddenly surprised to find one of the Frangin duo brothers there, who introduced himself to me, and I had recognized him but forgotten that he had run an open mic at the Polly Magoo bar in St. Michel a couple of years ago. But as soon as I heard him sing and play, I remembered. He told me he was now hosting a new open mic, every second Thursday, at a bar called La Tête à l’Envers” in Vincennes, with the next one on 24 May.
I decided to go out on a limb and sing a song I hardly ever sing, since it really calls for me to be in a certain zone, and even then…. So I did it, A Change is Gonna Come. I was told it went well. I kept my eyes closed pretty much the whole song, so I couldn’t tell!
In any case, by the end of the night and after a long and good open mic, I felt firmly established once again in Paris. Onward I go….