What, no reviews? This is a great mic. The back room is crowded, mostly with performers waiting to go up, but Ben K. lets everyone up and almost everyone sticks around 'til the wee hours. Laid-back and welcoming, especially to newcomers, with 8-10 minutes or 2 song limit, whichever comes first. Plus Sidewalk has decent food & drink. Long live Sidewalk Open Stage!
Not only is there no MC (Ben just unenthusiastically roll-calls names like the acts are mindless cattle, but there's no enthusiasm in the room whatsoever. He then walks around the audience a few times asking for money for effectively being a sound guy.
The sign-up process is convoluted and disordered. If you're going to run a bucket mic, run a bucket mic. Don't pretend the 'number in the hands' thing is legit.
Also, give people a reason to stay after they've performed. Perhaps an incentive at the end of the show (or at points throughout the show) -maybe some kind of prize or token for them to get on first in the next show if they stay to the end? Perhaps also limit the number of spots...
Don't punish the people who wait the longest by cutting the time they get in half. If you're going to give people 4 minutes, give everyone four minutes. Don't give the first 20 people 8 minutes, then the people who have been waiting for 3 hours half the time for patiently waiting...
This mic runs until the wee hours, whereupon after over 6 hours, nobody is interested in watching you play, or speak, or sing, or do comedy. It's just an energy-sapped, lifeless room with a stage people are waiting to stumble on to.
I understand the legendary mythical status of this room; of the legends who once performed here. That doesn't mean you can rest on those laurels and run a sloppy room of people jumping up and tuning their instruments for 3 minutes before they even start performing... RUN A TIGHT SHIP; GET A GREAT SHOW.
If you're going to stay behind the booth all night, perhaps use some of the money you collect to modestly pay an MC to introduce and back-announce acts so there's a little energy in the room between acts. To reset the room, to encourage some banter, some crowdwork.
I've been to some bad open mics around the world over many years. This is an amazing venue, and it's being run lazily as a pale shadow of what it should be. It would take some very small, VERY easy changes to make this the best mic in the city.
What, no reviews? This is a great mic. The back room is crowded, mostly with performers waiting to go up, but Ben K. lets everyone up and almost everyone sticks around 'til the wee hours. Laid-back and welcoming, especially to newcomers, with 8-10 minutes or 2 song limit, whichever comes first. Plus Sidewalk has decent food & drink. Long live Sidewalk Open Stage!
ReplyDeleteNot only is there no MC (Ben just unenthusiastically roll-calls names like the acts are mindless cattle, but there's no enthusiasm in the room whatsoever. He then walks around the audience a few times asking for money for effectively being a sound guy.
ReplyDeleteThe sign-up process is convoluted and disordered. If you're going to run a bucket mic, run a bucket mic. Don't pretend the 'number in the hands' thing is legit.
Also, give people a reason to stay after they've performed. Perhaps an incentive at the end of the show (or at points throughout the show) -maybe some kind of prize or token for them to get on first in the next show if they stay to the end?
Perhaps also limit the number of spots...
Don't punish the people who wait the longest by cutting the time they get in half. If you're going to give people 4 minutes, give everyone four minutes. Don't give the first 20 people 8 minutes, then the people who have been waiting for 3 hours half the time for patiently waiting...
This mic runs until the wee hours, whereupon after over 6 hours, nobody is interested in watching you play, or speak, or sing, or do comedy. It's just an energy-sapped, lifeless room with a stage people are waiting to stumble on to.
I understand the legendary mythical status of this room; of the legends who once performed here. That doesn't mean you can rest on those laurels and run a sloppy room of people jumping up and tuning their instruments for 3 minutes before they even start performing...
RUN A TIGHT SHIP; GET A GREAT SHOW.
If you're going to stay behind the booth all night, perhaps use some of the money you collect to modestly pay an MC to introduce and back-announce acts so there's a little energy in the room between acts. To reset the room, to encourage some banter, some crowdwork.
I've been to some bad open mics around the world over many years. This is an amazing venue, and it's being run lazily as a pale shadow of what it should be. It would take some very small, VERY easy changes to make this the best mic in the city.