Monday, August 21, 2017

Thursday Mic at Toros Mexican Cantina And Gaming

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  1. Open mic at Toros takes place outside. A Mexican cantina, the business has a large parking lot, shared with other businesses, and serves typical Mexican food, and their selection of wine and beer is a good one. They also offer specialty drinks and draft beers run $5.50.
    Joe runs the room, has been doing so for two summers. This is a seasonal open mic; it goes from May to the end of August. While the room attracts musicians only, Joe allows standup as well. There is no signup sheet; Joe just remembers who showed up and puts people up accordingly. Very informal. Except for me being a visitor, Joe knew everyone who came out to perform. Musicians get ten minutes, while comedians get five to ten. Outside, the place seats over 40.
    There is no stage. Three mics are set up near the entrance of Toros, the parking lot being your backdrop. It wasn’t as noisy or distracting as I first thought it would be. However, anyone entering or exiting the cantina will cross in front of “the stage”. Nearby businesses can hear the open mic, so for comedians, you are asked not to use foul language.
    I arrived almost 6:15pm. I met Joe and spoke with him for some time. He has run open mics at other businesses, mostly music, being a musician himself. There were five people in the audience when we started at 7pm. Joe played for a half hour as people slowly started to fill in the seats. Some children were present with their parents, and one of the singers early in the show was celebrating her 15th birthday. She did five songs, Joe accompanying her a couple of times, playing his guitar.
    A tip jar is placed at the corner of Toros’s entrance, and any money dropped in is divided equally among all the people who performed. I had an over four hour drive, so I did not stay till the end to get my portion of the money collected. I did throw in a few dollars for the other talent.
    After the birthday girl performed, Joe asked if I was ready to go up. There were 23 people seated outside by the time I performed. Fortunately, there were no distractions. Mostly people were talking to each other when singing and music took place. It took a minute or two for people to get that I was doing comedy, but eventually the people outside focused on my performance, quieting themselves and paying attention. Not only did I get a lot of laughs, I even got an applause break. Till the end of my set, I had their attention.
    Guys, this is a room to do, especially because they’re not used to standup, and sure appreciated the diversity in a room that normally only has music and song. As the evening went on, nature’s lighting went away, but the artificial lights streaming overhead was enough illumination that you could still see the talent. I also suggest staying till the end and getting paid a little for your time and talent.

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