Saturday, September 16, 2006
Open Mic Ettiquette
With my new DVD player I've been watching a lot of Tenacious D: The Complete Mastworks. The features are all really cool, and the concert footage is a lot of fun. I'm glad the time I saw them it was in a bit more of an intimate setting, but an D show is a lot of fun.
For me, though, the best part of the compilation is the 6 fifteen minute HBO episodes. Incredibly odd, but just plain funny and containing really great songs to boot. All of the episodes began with the D on stage at an open mike (hosted by Paul F. Tompkins). On entering the club one time, they passed a sign that said:
OPEN MIC NIGHT
LEARN TO PLAY GUITAR
IN FRONT OF A
REAL AUDIENCE
It's a funny line, but even funnier to me because in a way that's the way it happened with me. I learned to play guitar when I was in junior high, but I stopped in high school and concentrated on trombone. I even played trombone for a year in college. When I got a guitar for Christmas in 2002, I started playing again. I had picked up harmonica while in college, and realized that I could make a whole lot of noise for just one guy.
After moving back to the RC in 2003, I started looking for places to play where I could be in front of people. I thought I was pretty good, but my first evening at Knight's Cellar in Spearfish only served to show me how much I really needed to learn. I attened a show at Cheers in Rapid a few weeks later. SMB made me do about an hour my first night because practically nobody was there. I learned even more that night. I hooked up with a couple of guys named Andy a couple of weeks later and we started Patient 957. That's when I really started learning. I was forced to learn to make the harp fit in (I had pretty much given up playing guitar with these guys, they were a lot better than me). We got better and better, got a few paying gigs, but continued playing open mics.
When 957 broke up, TSA and I kept playing open mics. For a while, we were playing two shows every week. I started playing solo a bit, I'd play at Steve Thorpe's open mic in Piedmont, Joe Buchholz's show at Borders and a few other shows when I got the chance. I sort of relearned to play guitar a third time.
The point is, I did learn to play guitar, to play harmonica and sing in front of a real audience. I learned to beat the nerves. I learned to open up a little bit and I learned to deal with an audience. I owe all of the open mics I attended, their hosts and the businesses that allowed them to operate a huge debt of gratitude. I am who I am today, for better or worse, in a large part because of open mics.
I've always had some pet peeves about attendees to open mics. I find some of the behavior to be really poor. I always attended open mics as much to hear the other performers as I did to play myself. I've always found that if I actually listen to people I can actually learn something.
I found a post about this at OpenMikes.org and followed it to a myspace blog post by Marissa "Con Gusto" Meizel, an open mic host. She offered the following Open Mic Ettiquette tips on her blog:
I honestly couldn't have said any of this better myself. She pretty much hit on all of my open mic pet peeves. Thanks.
BOJ
For me, though, the best part of the compilation is the 6 fifteen minute HBO episodes. Incredibly odd, but just plain funny and containing really great songs to boot. All of the episodes began with the D on stage at an open mike (hosted by Paul F. Tompkins). On entering the club one time, they passed a sign that said:
LEARN TO PLAY GUITAR
IN FRONT OF A
REAL AUDIENCE
It's a funny line, but even funnier to me because in a way that's the way it happened with me. I learned to play guitar when I was in junior high, but I stopped in high school and concentrated on trombone. I even played trombone for a year in college. When I got a guitar for Christmas in 2002, I started playing again. I had picked up harmonica while in college, and realized that I could make a whole lot of noise for just one guy.
After moving back to the RC in 2003, I started looking for places to play where I could be in front of people. I thought I was pretty good, but my first evening at Knight's Cellar in Spearfish only served to show me how much I really needed to learn. I attened a show at Cheers in Rapid a few weeks later. SMB made me do about an hour my first night because practically nobody was there. I learned even more that night. I hooked up with a couple of guys named Andy a couple of weeks later and we started Patient 957. That's when I really started learning. I was forced to learn to make the harp fit in (I had pretty much given up playing guitar with these guys, they were a lot better than me). We got better and better, got a few paying gigs, but continued playing open mics.
When 957 broke up, TSA and I kept playing open mics. For a while, we were playing two shows every week. I started playing solo a bit, I'd play at Steve Thorpe's open mic in Piedmont, Joe Buchholz's show at Borders and a few other shows when I got the chance. I sort of relearned to play guitar a third time.
The point is, I did learn to play guitar, to play harmonica and sing in front of a real audience. I learned to beat the nerves. I learned to open up a little bit and I learned to deal with an audience. I owe all of the open mics I attended, their hosts and the businesses that allowed them to operate a huge debt of gratitude. I am who I am today, for better or worse, in a large part because of open mics.
I've always had some pet peeves about attendees to open mics. I find some of the behavior to be really poor. I always attended open mics as much to hear the other performers as I did to play myself. I've always found that if I actually listen to people I can actually learn something.
I found a post about this at OpenMikes.org and followed it to a myspace blog post by Marissa "Con Gusto" Meizel, an open mic host. She offered the following Open Mic Ettiquette tips on her blog:
1. ALL THE RECORD EXECUTIVES I INVITED TONIGHT CANCELED AND ARE NOT COMING, SORRY. You're probally not going to be discovered tonight. So, relax and enjoy yourself.
2. YOU DON'T GET ENCORES AT AN OPEN MIC. Any exceptions are for good reason. You will have to take my word for it.
3. TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO SHUT BE QUIET. Unless you want us to talk through YOUR set, can it.
4. TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO JOIN US, PLEASE. We're there for each other. LISTENING ROOM. Not "LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME NOW LETS GO OUTSIDE AND SMOKE" room.
5. GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER. Get onstage and offstage quickly. In tune. No playing around. No special requests WE DO NOT HAVE TIME.
6. WATCH YOUR VOLUME. It's a FRIGGEN coffee shop.
7. DON'T BE A DIVA. We can't perfect your sound IT'S AN OPEN MIC NIGHT, THERE IS A LINE.
8. BE NICE. The host/ess a great deal of the time gets NOTHING and even when they do get money, it will barely cover gas.
9. DO NOT TELL THE HOST/ESS ABOUT HOW MUCH OF A BETTER JOB YOU WOULD DO. Suggestions are different. There is one major difference between the job YOU could do andthe job THEY are doing... THEY'RE DOING IT AND YOU ARE NOT. Might I add they do it EVERY WEEK.
10. RESPECT YOUR FELLOW PERFORMER. If your ego is so big that you see fit to make fun of other performers, that same undeserved ego is like a big fun house mirror, blocking the true view of your own talent. Like your own window label, "TALENT VIEWED IN EGO MIRROR IS BIGGER THAN IT ACTUALLY APPEARS."
11. WHEN I SAY UNDER 8 MINUTES I MEAN UNDER 8 MINUTES. Stick with the time people. I am going to invest in a hook to drag people offstage from if this continues.
12. ACTING LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING IS NOT THE SAME AS KNOWING WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Okay, now this should probably just go under the "don't be a diva" thing but I must say self-confidence is wonderful and necessary. Sometimes we must pretend... but I'm not talking about that. I am talking about getting onstage, throwing a fit about the sound or your mic, or whatnot... and then being out of tune or off-key.
13. To the kids: I'D WATCH YOUR ATTITUDE TO THE "OLD GUY" YOU'RE IGNORING. You don't have to be young to be talented or interesting or for that matter have incredible experience.
14. TO THE ADULTS: Well, I would tell the adults to respect the kids because they're just getting started but you know what? They've always been respectful.
15. BUY COFFEE. How else is the place supposed to survive?
I honestly couldn't have said any of this better myself. She pretty much hit on all of my open mic pet peeves. Thanks.
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 11:45 AM 
