General Music Chat

We need some more topics about music, so here you go.

Tell us all about your worst experiences at an open mic night

Hosting or playing? I've got tons of both.

Open Mics are a great way for starting musicians to start and for closed mics to open...

don't have any funny "open mic" stories but i had some folks chuckling when i related this the other day.

a while back this group PENTAZZ i was playing w got approached on a sat night in january at a gig we were playing by a woman w a tale of woe. she was some muckety muck w a Riverboat company and the band they had scheduled for the next day bailed on them! we haggled over the money and came to an agreement. we'd be travelling from Jefferson MO to Washington MO...roughly around five hrs w us playing the entire time (w short breaks).

anyway, we're chugging along down the MO river in dead fuk of winter w nothing to look at but dead trees and grey sky for scenery. hell, the windows were all pretty much fogged up anyhow.

so, WE are the show. anyway...i'm playing gtr and vibraphone. for those of you that ain't hip....vibes/marimba/xylophone..they're all on wheels. ...wheels that are SUPPOSED to lock. yeah...you see where this is going. well, the vibraphone i was using back then had brokedick "locks" so w the boat rocking... i spent FIVE HOURS chasing after my damn vibraphone and that pretty much WAS the show.

i musta walked five miles chasing that fukker around.

damn grant.... in that new avatar pic you're a dead ringer for a drummer i used to play w back in NYC!

I guess the time I hung around all night, got up to play and puked my guts out all over this guys monitors, and GF.

having to turn down guitarist job offers because I did not have the guts to quit my 2nd shift job to go play a paid gig .. at Tiki Lounge Tulsa.. the other gig offered was from the same Mr. Potts but it was in St.Louis.. can't remember the club? ..anyhow both gigs were approx. 180 miles away.. so many people wanting/willing to play for free it is ruining the music market.. here in Springfield, Mo.,, plus since it's a college town you have tons of young guitarists thinking they are the next No Doubt..

damn grant.... in that new avatar pic you're a dead ringer for a drummer i used to play w back in NYC!

I may have just stole his pic

damn grant.... in that new avatar pic you're a dead ringer for a drummer i used to play w back in NYC!

I may have just stole his pic

i'm gonna see if i can dig one up of my old buddy.

Haha, I like the riverboat story Planet. You could sell that gag to SNL.

My open mic experiences are fairly boring but I can follow with another boat story. I was playing in the band Haven and we were hired to do a wedding reception on the Queen Mary. For those that don't know this is a 100 yr old steam ship that has been permanently moored in Long Beach CA. It is huge and has about 20 different ballrooms of various size.

Our clients were a Lebanese family and man did they know how to party... whew! Everyone was dancing and the champagne was flowing. We were having a blast. Apparently a couple of 14 yr old revelers decided they should grab a couple bottles of champagne, downed em both in short order, and then went up on deck and dared each other to jump overboard Yup, over they went and it was probably 10 stories above the water. Luckily someone saw them jump and called harbor patrol who promptly fished them out.

At about 2 hours into a 4 hour show the harbor patrol entered the ballroom with two drunken, soggy wharf rats and declared the party was over. It was fun while it lasted.

Went to a open mic and none of the singers had their own mic's

Shish, how lame is that!

Went to a open mic and none of the singers had their own mic's

Shish, how lame is that!

LOL! OPen Mics are like that... But there is always that one cool person or two that brings the whole shebang of equipment... Eventually the regulars that keep showing up without contribution will get the lecture...

Open mics around here are 'bring your voice and instrument' unless you need more than the 1 or 2 mics they have set up.