Thursday, October 5, 2017

Thursday Mic at Rock The Dock

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  1. Hosted by a gentleman named Dustin, this room has been going on for nine years at Rock the Dock, a full bar and café located on the water. The place serves some above average food, I think, for a café: a la carte items like fried zucchini and quesadillas, seafood baskets, soups & salads, and some nice entrees like seafood Alfredo and baked salmon, as well as traditional café food, e.g. burgers and sandwiches. Of special note, on Thursday they also offer $2 tacos and $3 margaritas. Looking like one giant square, the room seats about 80. This room doubles as a sports bar; eleven TVs were on, half showing Thursday Night Football, half showing other sports. During open mic, the TV closest to the stage is turned off, and after TNF ended, the nearby TVs on one wall are also turned off, the focus ideally being on the stage. Fortunately, this business has its own parking lot.
    The format of the room is typical: signup is first come first choice; talent gets four songs or 20 minutes; there are no language restrictions. While all forms of talent are welcome, this room categorically attracts musicians. Dustin tells me he’s had a couple comedians over the years, but it never went off well. (All the more reason why I was determined to do this room.) There is no stage. Three mics are set up in one corner of the room. The lighting was not spotlighted, and during my performance, Dustin did the best he could to make the light strong on me, since comedy is a visual medium.
    The signup sheet was out when I arrived at 7pm, one name already on it. I took the fifth spot, wanting to make sure football was over before I went up. Sitting at the bar, arguably the farthest corner of the room from the open mic, looking out at all the people talking, I knew I was going to be competing with a lot of noise. I understand why Dustin told me standup has never gone over well. By 7:50pm, there were six signups.
    The evening started early. Dustin and another gentleman opened with some songs at 7:55pm. No introduction. They just started playing music. About 36 people were in the room. I saw maybe five people watching the stage. For the rest of the evening, the room hovered at that number of attendance: 32 peeps by 9pm, 40 peeps by 9:15pm. After Dustin finished, he welcomed everyone for coming out and started to bring up talent. Between acts, even if people were not watching the performers, at least the audience was courteous enough to applaud, and probably a number of them were enjoying the music while talking to their companions.
    After the third signup – a group of five men performing – Dustin asked if I wanted to go up, be the variety act in the middle of an all music lineup. I said yes. The football game had ended. The TVs close by were off. Dustin informed the room that the next talent was from L.A. and he is going to come up “and talk to you.” Ugh. Not even “doing standup” or “comedy”, but “talk to you.” What an intro.
    So, I went up there, performing to over 30 people. At first, only the immediate tables were watching. But as people figured out I was telling jokes, I actually got the whole room to quiet down and listen. I performed for probably just over ten minutes – I told Dustin I’d just do ten – and not only did I get laughs left and right, but I got a couple of applause breaks. If standup had never gone over well before in this room, that curse stopped with me. Afterwards, people congratulated me, thanked me, appreciated the treat of standup where before they thought they were only going to hear music.
    Guys, this room is a great room to do. Yes, I am biased when I say that because I had a great set, but separate from that, not only was this room packed, not only will the audience respond to your material, but it is an inviting room. Rock the Dock makes it inviting with their Thursday night specials. The energy is high. The people care.
    BTW, the baked salmon was friggin’ delicious. Come with an appetite.

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