Open Mic (Mike?) in Claremont

I am genetically predisposed to getting to places one-half-hour later than I intend, I have decided. My intention was to get to the Folk Music Center early enough to get on the first half of the sign up list. Unfortunately for me and music history, that was not to be.

UF got there plenty early and even he was performer number nine. I was fifteen. I think that I have always ended up being fifteen.

There were a lot of people there to perform. I think over thirty signed up, causing the management to cut each performer down to one song. The only exception was Trailer Park Mac and his band, whatever their name was. Mac and the boys are pretty good, and Mac is a well-known regular, so they got to play two songs. I was a little afraid that Open Shirt Guy would have insisted on playing two songs, because he has a pretty inflated idea about his talent. But he didn't.

Speaking of Open Shirt Guy, he was pretty friendly over all and joked with some of us and complimented each player as they stepped down from the stage. He also stayed until the end, which he doesn't often do. He's one of those performers who makes you sit through his set, and then leaves. When his turn came up, he tried to set up a sing along to a song that was pretty nice, but complicated lyrically. I t went something like this: "Oh, hie thee faire maid/for thine ample young bosom/Doth heave and sigh for I./Aye, I doth know./ For it's I'm goin' fro to yonder/to a maid who is much blonder/And I would'na spare protection far below."

Or something like that.

It made me long for the simplicity of "Wimoweh."

But it was an entertaining moment. Many of us "oohed" along. Some chuckled.

UF sang his Walmart song. It got a pretty good response. But, this being my second or third listen, I think it needs more ambiguity. I find it very Randy Newmanesque. I just wish I didn't know what he meant by it. I love that sort of thing.

A young woman sitting in front of me was wearing low-hung jeans and a thong. That was a bonus.

The guy who played second that night sang this great song he had written about surviving volcanoes and other disasters which prepared him for surviving some unnamed woman's love.

There was one guy who sang one original song and still managed to clock in at over ten minutes. It wasn't a bad song, but the intro, mid-waytro, and outro was a little self-indulgent and could have been edited. As soon as he finished, he left.

There should be a law. This particular open mic has a communal sense about it. If you don't want to be a part of the community, go play at Starbucks.

There was a trio that reminded me a little bit of the three stooges. I kept expecting them to be funny, but they weren't. They were good and their harmonies were unique.

Donita and John performed a blues song, "Make Love Like a Man," that simply smoldered. Her voice and his guitar played very well together.

Billy Canary was in the audience, but did not perform.

I performed U2's "Wild Honey." I don't know why this crowd made me nervous. I sang the same song in front of 1500 screaming teenagers at an assembly last month and that didn't phase me. But I was nervous last night. I think the only way it really manifested itself was that my voice was a little wavery and I repeated part of the second verse twice.

Next month is the Claremont Folk Music festival. So there won't be an open myque until June.

I need to practice more. It is hard to find time. I am hoping that I can find someone to practice regularly with.