I went to another open mic last night. It was a good experience, but nothing glamorous. Open mics involve staying up all night in a crowded room listening to a lot of bad performances (and being blown away when someone half-decent takes the stage) only to play just a couple songs when your name is called. It is unlikely anyone will buy your CD or even remember you the next day because most of the people just came to play their own stuff - they aren’t really interested in listening to the other acts.
Open mics are to a new singer-songwriter as moring sunrise shoots are to a new photographer, or as blogging is to a new writer. They are good practice and they do help to get your name out there, but, in a way, you have to force yourself to go to them.
For as realistically dull as I made open mics sound, I actually did have a great time last night. There was one girl who had a fantastic voice, and there was another group that was fun to listen to. And there were a handful of other decent acts as well. And of course, I got to play, which is always enjoyable. There is something indescribable about shaking off my nervous twitches, stepping on stage and just givin-er. Some people actually started dancing to “Shame on Me“, which was so awesome to see.
Tony actually came with me to the open mic and we shot some video footage for a Jeffisode (…that’s right… I’ve combined the word episode with my name, Jeff, for my new web reality series). I believe this one will be for Jeffisode #2. Stay tuned. I believe we’ll post Jeffisode #1 (behind the scenes of the music video) pretty soon.
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Tags: Jeff Hawker, open mic, singer songwriter, Tony Bookless