Since I'm not a musician, my open mike experiences have been reading poetry, but some of them have mixed poetry and music. The big problem that I've noticed is that too many venue managers seem to think that all music, including laid-back, intimate folk songs, will sound better if they are amplified at REALLY HIGH VOLUME. Preferably over a cruddy cheap sound system which will sound even more painful than usual at REALLY HIGH VOLUME. And best of all is music played over a cruddy sound system in a room with brittle bounce-off-the-wall acoustics at REALLY HIGH VOLUME.

Blues or rock at a bar might have some some excuse for being played at REALLY HIGH VOLUME so it can be heard over the enveloping cacaphonous bacchanal. But a coffee house? A folk-and-poetry open mike? Perhaps some venue managers reading this could explain what perplexing process of ratiocination leads to the conclusion that this is what their patrons want.

Jon Corelis
Kaleidoscope: Great Poems Set to Music