Instead of a number of songs, performers should be allotted a number of MINUTES. Then it's up to the performer to decide whether to do a lot of short numbers or a few long ones.

At the Neutral Ground Coffee House in New Orleans, the weekly (Sunday night) open mike allows 15 minutes per act. The other six nights a week, it's one hour each for three, four, or sometimes even five pre-scheduled acts (8, 9, and 10 pm every night, sometimes 7pm as well, once in a while an additional 11 pm slot). There's a nice big clock on the wall, everyone is aware of it, and there are no arguments about running overtime, being cut short, etc.

The basket is always passed for contributions to the performer, at the Sunday 15-minute sessions as well as at the hour-long sets during the week. No guarantee as to how much or how little you'll collect, of course.

A decent 15-minute performance on a Sunday will get you on the monthly schedule. Most of the acts are beginnners, amateurs, or over-the-hill "returnees" like me, but there are a dozen or so well-established local acts who have real paying regular gigs elsewhere, but who maintain their relationship with the Neutral Ground and do a monthly show, if only as a "rehearsal."

With timeslots for 100 or more acts a month, this is a great local institution that encourages live music and continually nurtures new performers.