Open Mic "Compliment"

[mottshoople]

My band played a local open mic night last night. It was really cool and interesting. There was a house band and then a bunch of people came up and either sat in with the band or played with their own band, as we did. My band is fairly new and is down from a five piece to a three piece. All of the performers played either country-rock or country. We were a bit different and did three songs, Debris-The Faces, Locomotive Breath-Tull, and Ziggy Stardust. Needless to say, we stood out. We were nervous, but it went ok. It was my first open mic, so I was satisfied. And everybody there was real friendly and supportive.
A while after we played, another musician( a really talented and well known guy in our area) approached me and I had one of the funniest conversations I've ever had:

Him: (shaking my hand)Hey man, you guys were great.
Me: Thanks man, that means a lot.
Him: Yeah, and your singer was really great too.
Me: (pointing to my singer) Oh, yeah, he's real good.
Him: (looking at my singer with a confused look) Oh, I'm sorry. I have you confused with another band.
Me (laughing) Obviously.

A minute of me giggling and his awkward silence before he just walked away.

[bound'n'blocked]

Some guys I play with go to a club that has an open mic night every once in a while and play. It is a hoot to do. Most of the acts at that place are usually like a solo or duo act doing originals. We are guitar/bass/drummer and singer. We would usually do 4 or 5 of the songs from our set.

One time, we were doing Blackfoot's "Train Train" and it has a neat slide guitar part in the middle. There was this 3/4 drunk chick leaning on the stage in front of the guitar player with a beer bottle in her hand about half full. When the solo came up, he took the bottle out of her hand, used it for the slide part, drained the rest of the beer out of the bottle when he finished and handed the bottle back to her. She had this "hey, what happened to my beer?" look on her face. The club owner came up after we finished and said "That was the neatest thing I've ever seen!"

BnB

[fhm555]

The only regular jam hereabouts is put on by the local blues society and they had to adopt a blues format requirement as well as a strict no organized band thing. At first they just had it open and bands of all styles started signing up to play a jam thinking it would at least get them some exposure...

Now it's pretty much a sign up sheet from which names/instruments are drawn at random, as needed, and at the discretion of the Meister. He runs the show and does a decent job of rotating folks through. Some get one song, some get 3. If you are the only bass or drums, be prepared to play until someone else shows up. it's up to him and he will put you back in rotation after your turn if you want. Show up with an instrument, and you will get to play. They mix electric and acoustic formats from time to time but electric bass is usually welcome at the acoustic only jams so long as volume is kept low enough. It's the perfect thing for a little cube amp with a single 10.

[Doctor Dirt]

BnB, I met a guy years ago known as "Beer Bottle Bob" who played a pretty good slide using................you guessed it a beer bottle that stated off as his first and as the night went on it became 5,6,7 on on on, I'd heard a few months back that he's passed away a while back. Your post reminded me of that great character, he did a lot of gigs down old Matte Leche' (Pine Island)way on the S.W. coastline of Florida. That guy was a Playing Party on the move, hope he rests well. Doc

[Ubersheist]

Originally Posted by bound'n'blocked

Some guys I play with go to a club that has an open mic night every once in a while and play. It is a hoot to do. Most of the acts at that place are usually like a solo or duo act doing originals. We are guitar/bass/drummer and singer. We would usually do 4 or 5 of the songs from our set.

One time, we were doing Blackfoot's "Train Train" and it has a neat slide guitar part in the middle. There was this 3/4 drunk chick leaning on the stage in front of the guitar player with a beer bottle in her hand about half full. When the solo came up, he took the bottle out of her hand, used it for the slide part, drained the rest of the beer out of the bottle when he finished and handed the bottle back to her. She had this "hey, what happened to my beer?" look on her face. The club owner came up after we finished and said "That was the neatest thing I've ever seen!"

BnB

Awesome! I like.

I remember the first time I did an open mic night, I killed it an got the biggest response. The guy who ran the thing said something like "Wow, you must have played a ton of acoustic shows!" My response was "no, this was the first time ever in front of people."

That was true... sort of. I neglected to tell him that I'd played tons of shows as a bass player, just never in public with my acoustic guitar before.

[KJL]

Debris is a great cover - good job...KJL

[Lazylion]

Originally Posted by fhm555

If you are the only bass or drums, be prepared to play until someone else shows up.

And eat before the jam starts. Last jam I was at, I played 4 songs with the house band lineup to start the night, then the first jammer (singer/guitarist)came up. He had his own bassist, so I had a break, during which I ordered dinner. I figured "how long can it take to make a club sandwich?" Just a little longer than the break, as it turned out. I spent the next 2+ hours onstage, watching my sandwich dry out & curl up, while the bandleader (who got lots of breaks)pretended to pull the bacon out of it. Ha ha, real funny. I finally got to eat when the night ended.

[mottshoople]

Originally Posted by KJL

Debris is a great cover - good job...KJL

Thanks. It's a lot of fun to play too. Unfortunately, the crowd wasn't familiar with it. I don't think it went over well. Things picked up with Tull and Ziggy.