Here in Indianapolis, there's a once a month open mike on the third Friday of every month, at a coffeehouse called (imaginatively) The Corner Coffeehouse.

The lady who runs it starts the evening out singing, before much of an audience or many (any?) singers/musicians show up. She puts out a signup sheet, on which you can put yourself in a slot during the evening.   Each performer gets something like 20 minutes, assuming there aren't TOO many wanting the mike, in which case the slot may get cut back to maybe 15 minutes.

I don't like to be first after my hostess, and maybe not second, because the audience may not have built up at that point. I like third or fourth. For more or less the same reason that I don't want to be the earlybird, I don't like to be at the end: By that time some of the audience is melting away. However, signing in the third slot doesn't guarantee that's when I'll be on, because if there's no-one else there yet the hostess may ask me to take the mike early. And just once or twice the hostess has asked if she can slide in someone who just HAS to get away, and

It's a small room. Maybe 15, usually not more than 20 people, including performers. There are a number of regulars, including myself as a semi-regular.   Some real good, some okay, some rather so-so, and one or two rather unskilled. But a good time is had by all.

Dave Oesterreich