More

For those of us aspiring performers, an open mic is an endless source to practice with unfamiliar equipment and audiences. Here is a list of links that you might find useful.

Exuberance: Open Mics

Freight and Salvage (Great sound)

Joe Rizzo's Open Mic List

For Boston Open Mics see Sam Bayer's List

Notes on Venues

I just started taking notes. I plan to fill this out as I can.

4W5 Cafe Wilmington, DE: December 8, 2004. This was such a sweet and bizarre night. My mom was going to have heart surgery in the morning, so after kissing her goodnight in the hospital room, my brother and I ventured into the empty streets of Wilmington to try to find the place. Nestled between Market Street and an alley with no clues to an entrance, several trips around the block and an improbable door on the corner of 4th Street finally led us into a very, very, very quiet diner, which turned out to be the 4W5 cafe. Music was supposed to be happening in the back room, but at the moment it was pretty silent. We were assured by the waitress that this was in fact the place, so we ordered a beer and a sandwich to split and sat down at one of the tables... in the back room. Within about 20 minutes, 10-15 people with guitars arrived, and soon the stage was occupied by one of them, or I should say us. It turned out to be a real singer/songwriter open mic. I think one person played one cover and the rest were originals. Everyone was very attentive, and almost everyone played. I did my three songs, and received sincere applause. The host Sam Smick is a sweetheart and clearly has a vision of making a non-intimidating space for performers to get support. Good man. And there were some hot licks that night too. My brother and I left very contented, and the next day morning, my mom's new valve started pumping just fine. Life is good.

Cantab Lounge Cambrige, MA: I played the open mic there on October 11, 2004 to a very receptive audience. There were probably 50 people in a medium sized bar. Geoff Bartley runs the open mic, and like many hosts was warm and accomodating to a newby to the neighborhood and let me go early in the lineup (3rd). The sound, the stage, and its postion in the bar were great for connecting to the audience which was attentive and encouraging. That night there was a range of perfomers form novice to virtuoso, just like I like to see. The bar itself was also very friendly. They were celebrating one of the waitress's birthday, who ironically ended up serving her cake to everyone in the place.

All rights reserved. © 2003, 2004 David Delp