Open mic at Honey Moon was not easy to find. The address is misleading. Parking is on the street, but the venue is in the alley behind the building where the bar is located. You can walk around the corner to the alley from the main street or go through the Mexican restaurant next door and take the stairs down to Honey Moon. The mic has been going on since 2007. All genres are welcome. There are no language restrictions. Talent gets 15 minutes, and there are 11 slots only. Signup begins at 5pm, and, believe me when I tell you, it filled up in just a few minutes. We purposefully showed up to the location to make sure we got on the list, and I saw the woman answer the phone nonstop till all the slots were filled. There are two standby slots, in case of a no-show, and sure enough, we had one that night. The lineup is random, but the emcee give you a little advance notice when it’s your turn. When our weekly host, Pace, learned my friend and I were here to do standup, he purposefully spaced us apart and towards the middle of the show for the sake of variety. Otherwise, we had one spoken word artist, one a cappella singer, and the rest musician/singers. The room goes from 8:30pm to 11:15pm, but all the talent go up no matter how long it takes. The business seats just over 30. The audience can either sit at the bar or at a table and watch the show. As intimate as the room is, wherever you sit, you can see the performer. While there is no stage, a part of the furthest corner from the entrance was the designated “stage” with two mics (a third on standby) and a stool. Already in the room was a piano, which one talent took advantage of. The place serves beers, wine and ciders, and to eat, small plates like cheese and fruit or mac & cheese. Ciders are only $4. Mostly, this mic attracts musicians, but they get about one comic per show. There were 18 people in the room when the show started at 8:40pm. I am told that when the sun sets later, the room can start later. The room has no distractions like TVs turned on. People are good about whispering when talking. You almost felt like you were in a library. To get to the bathroom, however, you had to walk past – not in front of, though – the talent, so everyone can see you go and return. Our emcee Pace plays music between acts to keep the energy up and the fact that it’s open mic night. As the evening went on, attendance decreased a bit. By the time I went up at 8:50pm, 14 people were in the room. Other people who saw the act earlier were still around, just outside, either smoking or needing to talk on the phone. At 10:25pm we had 18 again, including the bartender. There was a tip jar on the piano behind the talent, and on it a note that said something which meant any contribution would go to the talent at the end of the night. We left before we got “our cut”. Guys, I gotta say, this was a phenomenal room. I had them howling with laughter, and 15 minutes is a great slice of time when you’re rocking the room. Our host asked me to come back if I was in the area with the idea of promoting me for a show, and our bartender said she couldn’t remember the last time she laughed so hard. High praise, indeed! But two things: signup waaayyyy early, as soon as 5pm hits. Showing up is better, though. And, two, where the mic is located, a light directly overhead shines down on you and places the comedian in shadow. My friend didn’t see she did that and for half her act she was in shade. A bit of a disconnect. I moved the stand back a foot, and I could be seen much better.
Open mic at Honey Moon was not easy to find. The address is misleading. Parking is on the street, but the venue is in the alley behind the building where the bar is located. You can walk around the corner to the alley from the main street or go through the Mexican restaurant next door and take the stairs down to Honey Moon.
ReplyDeleteThe mic has been going on since 2007. All genres are welcome. There are no language restrictions. Talent gets 15 minutes, and there are 11 slots only. Signup begins at 5pm, and, believe me when I tell you, it filled up in just a few minutes. We purposefully showed up to the location to make sure we got on the list, and I saw the woman answer the phone nonstop till all the slots were filled. There are two standby slots, in case of a no-show, and sure enough, we had one that night. The lineup is random, but the emcee give you a little advance notice when it’s your turn. When our weekly host, Pace, learned my friend and I were here to do standup, he purposefully spaced us apart and towards the middle of the show for the sake of variety. Otherwise, we had one spoken word artist, one a cappella singer, and the rest musician/singers. The room goes from 8:30pm to 11:15pm, but all the talent go up no matter how long it takes.
The business seats just over 30. The audience can either sit at the bar or at a table and watch the show. As intimate as the room is, wherever you sit, you can see the performer. While there is no stage, a part of the furthest corner from the entrance was the designated “stage” with two mics (a third on standby) and a stool. Already in the room was a piano, which one talent took advantage of. The place serves beers, wine and ciders, and to eat, small plates like cheese and fruit or mac & cheese. Ciders are only $4. Mostly, this mic attracts musicians, but they get about one comic per show.
There were 18 people in the room when the show started at 8:40pm. I am told that when the sun sets later, the room can start later. The room has no distractions like TVs turned on. People are good about whispering when talking. You almost felt like you were in a library. To get to the bathroom, however, you had to walk past – not in front of, though – the talent, so everyone can see you go and return. Our emcee Pace plays music between acts to keep the energy up and the fact that it’s open mic night.
As the evening went on, attendance decreased a bit. By the time I went up at 8:50pm, 14 people were in the room. Other people who saw the act earlier were still around, just outside, either smoking or needing to talk on the phone. At 10:25pm we had 18 again, including the bartender. There was a tip jar on the piano behind the talent, and on it a note that said something which meant any contribution would go to the talent at the end of the night. We left before we got “our cut”.
Guys, I gotta say, this was a phenomenal room. I had them howling with laughter, and 15 minutes is a great slice of time when you’re rocking the room. Our host asked me to come back if I was in the area with the idea of promoting me for a show, and our bartender said she couldn’t remember the last time she laughed so hard. High praise, indeed!
But two things: signup waaayyyy early, as soon as 5pm hits. Showing up is better, though. And, two, where the mic is located, a light directly overhead shines down on you and places the comedian in shadow. My friend didn’t see she did that and for half her act she was in shade. A bit of a disconnect. I moved the stand back a foot, and I could be seen much better.