ArtKore open mic returns home, sorta
What a fun night at the Goldhawk in Hoboken. It was a sorta homecoming for the ArtKore open mic which has its roots at the GH’s predecessor The Liquid Lounge. At first I was a bit nervous at the light crowd. By 8:15 there was still only the opening act clueLess and two sign ups. Poet/story teller Michigan Jackson and my own project Ya-Ne-Zniyoo.
I swear I turned away for a moment to get a drink when host Dave (of the band Butterspy) was introducing us and he said that we were up to thirteen performers! Wow! Now that was good news. My night was spent snapping pix (which will be uploaded soon) and mingling. A couple of noticeable changes to the old days:
– Dave runs a strict first come, first served sign-up list now. No more favoritism at all. I know this because I asked if I could sign up into slot 4 or 5 when slot 3 was the next opening. Needless to say, we played third. This was cool because it can get outta hand for the host trying to keep everyone happy. Plus it’s still a hell of a lot better than a lottery.
– The Goldhawk has an 11:00 live music cutoff on weeknights due to noise regulations, but that in no way killed the buzz. They have a great set of CDs in the player and the bar keeps serving until 2:00. So the main ingredient that makes this Open Mic so much fun for me remains after 11:00. That is the socializing.
– With a full service bar in the same room with the performers, the volume of drunken revelry can be a bit much for poets to be heard. Even some quieter musicians will find the banter a bit unnerving.
All in all it was fun, fun, fun. And it’s only a couple of blocks from my apartment. So you know where to find me on Tuesdays.
Oh and on top of all that, Butterspy drummer Greg said to me, “Man I never knew you played that good.” Nothing will make my night more than a solid boost to the old ego. I didn’t realize in all the time we’ve hung out that he’d never seen me play before.
