Note: I will review what I experienced, but know that much of this will change beginning January, 2017. First, that which does not change. As you know from the Important Info, signup is done ahead of time. When I showed up, I was told they contact the talent the day of or day before to verify those who phoned in their spot are still coming. No one had contacted me, but they had no problem fitting me in very close to the time slot I requested. As it turned out, a number of people were no-shows, and I ended up going up second. Talent gets 15 minutes. You may go PG-13, but even then, be classy with your material. The open mic takes place in a book store; there are children in earshot. There is no mic. But that’s okay. Because it’s a bookstore, the room is quiet anyway. Anyone who is there to see open mic will hear you. For a stage, there is a 4 inch platform that could support 3 talent comfortably snug. Also, the bookstore provides pizza and soda to both the talent and audience attending. Just don’t bring in your own food and drink from outside. The whole evening ends at 9pm. What follows will change. The stage is located immediately to the right of the front entrance. It is purposefully done so foot traffic outside will see there is a show and hopefully draw people in. I get that. Glass windows. Why not? Certainly, as the evening progressed I saw more and more people come in. When the open mic started there were about 15 in attendance. The first name called was a no-show. (It was raining in the L.A. area that night, and it may very well have kept some people home.) The next name called was a comedian who brought his own mic but ended up not using it. After him the next talent called was a no-show, as was the talent after that. Another talent called was present but not ready to go up. Then my name was called and I accepted. By the time I went up the audience had increased to over 20. Mostly, people were standing. Personally, I think the seats set up may have been a bit too close to the stage. It may have intimidated some of the audience, sitting so close. I did about ten minutes, and was very pleased with the response. The audience does listen, even if you can see some people in the aisles perusing books. Hey, you can’t win over everyone, right? But I had a great time nonetheless. I stayed afterwards to support and the size of the audience continued to rise. People satisfied appetites and cravings with pizza and the philosophical argument “Is the one liter soda bottle half full or half empty” was quickly answered when someone depleted it to a fifth. But most importantly, they were enjoying the open mic, the variety of talent, the energy coming from the stage in song and joviality. Open Book is relocating from their current spot to another building about ten minutes away. Upon learning the new address, Badslava will update all pertinent information. The women who run the open mic tell me the store is moving to a place twice the size of their current site, and they are going to put more effort into the open mic. Perhaps more chairs can be put out. Maybe the stage will get bigger. Maybe they’ll have a mic, but just keep the volume reasonable. Who knows? What I do know is having had such a terrific experience as is, it could only get better for anyone doing a future show. Starting in their January, 2017, show, open mic takes place in their new location. I strongly recommend hitting this room. As long as your material is reasonably clean, you will have a terrific time. The audience is on board, and 15 minutes is a lot of stage time for the Los Angeles area.
Note: I will review what I experienced, but know that much of this will change beginning January, 2017. First, that which does not change.
ReplyDeleteAs you know from the Important Info, signup is done ahead of time. When I showed up, I was told they contact the talent the day of or day before to verify those who phoned in their spot are still coming. No one had contacted me, but they had no problem fitting me in very close to the time slot I requested. As it turned out, a number of people were no-shows, and I ended up going up second.
Talent gets 15 minutes. You may go PG-13, but even then, be classy with your material. The open mic takes place in a book store; there are children in earshot. There is no mic. But that’s okay. Because it’s a bookstore, the room is quiet anyway. Anyone who is there to see open mic will hear you. For a stage, there is a 4 inch platform that could support 3 talent comfortably snug. Also, the bookstore provides pizza and soda to both the talent and audience attending. Just don’t bring in your own food and drink from outside. The whole evening ends at 9pm. What follows will change.
The stage is located immediately to the right of the front entrance. It is purposefully done so foot traffic outside will see there is a show and hopefully draw people in. I get that. Glass windows. Why not? Certainly, as the evening progressed I saw more and more people come in.
When the open mic started there were about 15 in attendance. The first name called was a no-show. (It was raining in the L.A. area that night, and it may very well have kept some people home.) The next name called was a comedian who brought his own mic but ended up not using it. After him the next talent called was a no-show, as was the talent after that. Another talent called was present but not ready to go up. Then my name was called and I accepted.
By the time I went up the audience had increased to over 20. Mostly, people were standing. Personally, I think the seats set up may have been a bit too close to the stage. It may have intimidated some of the audience, sitting so close.
I did about ten minutes, and was very pleased with the response. The audience does listen, even if you can see some people in the aisles perusing books. Hey, you can’t win over everyone, right? But I had a great time nonetheless. I stayed afterwards to support and the size of the audience continued to rise. People satisfied appetites and cravings with pizza and the philosophical argument “Is the one liter soda bottle half full or half empty” was quickly answered when someone depleted it to a fifth. But most importantly, they were enjoying the open mic, the variety of talent, the energy coming from the stage in song and joviality.
Open Book is relocating from their current spot to another building about ten minutes away. Upon learning the new address, Badslava will update all pertinent information. The women who run the open mic tell me the store is moving to a place twice the size of their current site, and they are going to put more effort into the open mic. Perhaps more chairs can be put out. Maybe the stage will get bigger. Maybe they’ll have a mic, but just keep the volume reasonable. Who knows?
What I do know is having had such a terrific experience as is, it could only get better for anyone doing a future show. Starting in their January, 2017, show, open mic takes place in their new location. I strongly recommend hitting this room. As long as your material is reasonably clean, you will have a terrific time. The audience is on board, and 15 minutes is a lot of stage time for the Los Angeles area.