Music as Community

Subject: Music as Community
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 04 Dec 05 - 03:00 PM

I hate saying, "Goodbye".    For the past two years I have had the pleasure of running an open mic at a little place in Madison, Wisconsin called Urban Market and Coffeehouse. On Friday December 2nd, 2005, at the conclusion of the open mic, Urban Market closed its doors for the last time. We've tried to create an atmosphere in which people can comfortably perform, relax, and grow. We evidently succeeded. Aaron Nathans who edits the monthly newsletter of the Madison Songwriter's Group called us "the most welcoming open mic in town".

    When word started getting around that we were losing our venue and why (the landlord wanted to tear down the building to put up condos) we were all quite pleased and somewhat amazed at the number of supportive e-mails and phone calls that we received. Many suggested new places to which we might relocate. The latter, more than anything, is why I am telling this story in the first place.

      
I found out that Urban Market was closing late last Wednesday night. The first
person that I told was Karen Darcy, the editor of the music listings in Madison's alternative weekly newspaper the Isthmus, so that we could kill
the listing. She sent me back an e-mail telling me about a place called Escape Java Joint, the
owner's name, the phone number, and the suggestion that I tell the
owner that she sent me.
    The second people I told were Sandy Andina, Amy Curl, and Ron Dennis,
all of whom were booked to work my annual Christmas show. We had
planned to stage it @ Urban Market and it was too late to find another
venue. Ron started spreading the word about the demise of Urban Market.
Darlene Buhler of the Madison Folklore Society suggested that Ron
should call Escape.
    I called the place on Thursday afternoon and talked to the owner Duane
Erickson. Ron stopped in to talk to him on Friday afternoon. On Friday
night Ron came into the last open mic @ Urban Market full of good news
about a possible new venue. He had even made a mock-up for a flyer. That's when he found out that I had
already talked to the guy. I stopped in on Saturday afternoon to nail
down final details. The open mic will move to Saturday nights (Duane
already has asuccessful show going every Friday). We satrt up in the
new venue on January 7th, 2006. It would not have happened any where near that quickly had it not been for a number of people pulling together to MAKE something happen. That kind of communal effort is what this music is all about.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: Music as Community
From: Peace
Date: 04 Dec 05 - 03:18 PM

CONGRATULATIONS, Stephen. And of course to the rest of the team who made it possible.

Subject: RE: Music as Community
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 05 - 03:25 PM

Well done, wotta crew.

A

Subject: RE: Music as Community
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 06:34 AM

Thank you. This is an ongoing effort. Escape Java Joint is our third venue. The first was sold out from under us two years ago. Urban Market was the second. The whole thing has taken on a life of its own. It's the Open Mic That Won't Die! That's because there are so many people who have come to support and care about it.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: Music as Community
From: Leadfingers
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 06:43 AM

Its always nice to hear that an Open Mic session is 'doing it right' !! Congratulations !

Subject: RE: Music as Community
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 06 Dec 05 - 11:33 PM

Thank you.

Subject: RE: Music as Community
From: open mike
Date: 07 Dec 05 - 03:28 AM

good for you!
and thanks for sharing the news with us..
good and bad...well, it looked like bad
news, but it turned around for you!

What are you dong right? How exactly
does your event work? sign ups? spot
light on someone each time? how long
are the time slots? what sound system
do you use? do people pay to come in?
how many get to perform each session?

there is an open mic near here where
everyone signs up and then slots are
chose by chance by dealing playing
cards to determine order in the line-
up. sometimes you only get to do one
song, and time slots are too short.

good luck to the continuation of your
event.

Subject: RE: Music as Community
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 01:03 AM

open mike,
       We sign up a bit differently from most open mic's. Most of them have a sign up sheet with about ten to fifteen slots on it, This causes a lot of jockeying for position and people leaving until thier slots come up and leaving after thier done. The founder of our open mic, Ira McDonald, came up with a unique solution to the problem. each performer writes his or her name on a slip of paper. Those are then put into a hat and drawn more or less randomly (I'll explain the "more or less" in a moment). Since nobody knows exactly when they'll be up they tend to stay, at least, until thier slot is over. That gives everyone a larger audience to work with. Most have gotten into the habit of staying through to the end. They've figured out that the rest of us are having a good time. This system also gives us a bit of flexibility. If someone really does have a good reason to get in and out quickly we can help them out without getting anyone's nose out of joint.

    Everyone get three songs or fifteen minutes, whichever comes first. This gives everyone an equal shot. The three songs gives everyone a chance to stretch out a bit. The time limit prevents someone from trying to do "American Pie", "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald", and all 124 verses of "Tam Lin" in a row (Don't laugh. years ago I saw someone actually try to do that and then, when taken to task for it, gripe that he only did "three songs"). The other rotating hosts and I hold ourselves to this rule as well.

      One other little habit that we've gotten into is thanking the performers ( collectively from the stage and individually face to face) for coming in to share thier music or poetry or whatever with us and encouraging them to, please, return.

    We don't charge a cover. Each of the hosts is a volunteer. The only time any of us make any money off of this is if one of us manages to sell a CD. I can't speak for the motivations of the other hosts ( Aaron Nathans, Julia McConahay, Ron Dennis, and the new kid, Nancy Rost), but I do it as a way of giving back what I've been given (for details see the"Who Are Your Influences" thread). It is also a great joy to watch performers grow and develope. The previously mentioned "new kid", Nancy Rost started coming in when we first moved to Urban Market ( our previous venue had been sold out from under us). She lived accross the street. It took Ingrid and I about a month to convince her to bring in her keyboard and to sing for us. She plunked along haltingly and mumbled her songs in the general direction of the mic. Now, two years later, she's grown into a fine performer, keyboardist, songwriter, recording artist, and, in January, will join us as one of our rotating hosts. We're very proud of her.

       In our last two venues we've had time for only about ten performers or so. Both venues closed early. At Escape we'll be starting at 8:00pm and going until we run out of steam. They close at midnight.

Stephen Lee

Subject: RE: Music as Community
From: katlaughing
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 02:39 AM

That sounds wonderful, Stephen! Congratulations! Sounds like a very sensible and equitable way to do it, too.

Subject: RE: Music as Community
From: Stephen L. Rich
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 02:46 AM

Thank you.

Subject: RE: Music as Community
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 07:45 PM

It seems to me that it is this kind of thing that really determines whether something is "folk music", whatever kind of music it actually is.

Subject: RE: Music as Community
From: Pauline L
Date: 08 Dec 05 - 08:53 PM

It must be wonderful to know that people really appreciate you and what you do.