Open mic month recap

Open mic month turned out to be kind of a bust. I only successfully attended 2 out of the 6 open mics that I planned on. It turns out that the same procrastination that led me to attempt a whole month of open mics also left me with lots of other things to take care of before the start of school (which started, for me, this week). So I sacrificed the open mics to take care of other things.

The first open mic I attended was at the Half Price Books flagship store in Dallas. I’ve attended this open mic several times in the past, but since the last time I was there, the job of open mic host has changed hands a few times, and the current host is looking for someone new to fill the role soon. If I weren’t teaching at the same time as the open mic, I would volunteer, because what could be better than hanging out playing and listening to music in one of my favorite bookstores?

The Half Price Books open mic is always a good time, especially if you like to people-watch. I don’t know why, but every time I’ve been to this open mic, no matter who was hosting at the time, it was one of the most musically diverse open mics I’ve experienced.  The people are always friendly, and there’s an attitude of openness toward all kinds of artistic expression. That can lead to some strange experiences, but it also leads to some wonderful ones.

The next open mic I attended was at Opening Bell Coffee. Opening bell has a well-deserved reputation for a high-quality, well-run open mic. I got there early, at 6:30 to sign up. The sign-up sheet went out promptly at 6:45, and I was still last to sign up because I was already a little too comfortable in my seat and there were that many people in front of me. The point, of course, is that if you want to play at Opening Bell’s open mic (and I highly suggest it), you should arrive early and stay alert. 

Here we are at Opening Bell. We played  "Psalm 120," "Never Turn You Away," and "Wonderland."

As usual, the open mic at Opening Bell was a wonderful evening of very good music. There really is so much talent in Dallas, and a great way to hear some of it is to come to an open mic. The featured artist, Joel Megli, charmed us with beautiful self-penned songs and an Australian folk song. All the other artists were enjoyable, too, and with the atmosphere and crowd of familiar faces at Opening Bell, it felt very much like I was part of a community of like-minded artists and music-lovers. I'm very sad that my teaching schedule this fall keeps me from attending this Tuesday night event.

You might not be hearing about too many concerts from me now that school has begun. I’m in full-fledged dissertation-writing mode, so I have to keep my focus. I hope, though, that I will be able to check out some of the open mics that I missed this month. Also, we are already on board for "Dallas Does Carol King and James Taylor" -- more details on that to come.