Open Mic Recap @ The Tree House

Hey, my first night on the job wasn’t so bad. There were a few sound problems, but those should be worked out by next week (I hope). Despite playing at hundreds of open mics in my life, hosting one is pretty far out of my normal routine and I think it will be good for me in the long run.

I was lucky enough to have some good musicians out to play. First up was Anthony, a newcomer to the open mic. He had the unfortunate experience of being the sound test (I played two songs before him, but somehow things went screwy after I finished). By his 3rd song things were sounding good and I hope he comes back. Regulars John Shaughnessy, Sarah Allen, Willie Tapps, Jason Wheatley, Roz King, and Mike Scanlon all came out and rocked. Even Keith Lewis finally came back. I hadn’t seen that guy in a while.

I apologize to Willie for not being able to get the sound as clean as I would have liked. Hopefully that occasional feedback will go away when the sound system gets fixed. Mike Scanlon’s keyboard faced similar problems. Every time I cranked up his level enough to hear him the line noise creeped into the speakers. He had his keyboard turned up all the way, so I’m not sure what else I could have done other than have him play through a separate amplifier.

The other newcomer, to me anyway, was Johnny Miles and he was awesome. Sarah Allen thinks he can sing higher than she can and I agree. The guy has an awesome sound and I hope he comes back. Closing the night was Randy and Tina’s band, Enthois, who came in after band practice. I could say the sounded good, but that would be kissing up to the owners.

I played so many songs during slow periods I’ll have to start learning/writing some new ones. I played “99%,” “The Genius of it All,” “I Hope I Die on the Moon,” “Thesis,” Beck’s “Cut in Half Blues,” Nirvana’s “Serve the Servants,” and “Headstart.”

Make sure you stop by and check out Sarah Allen’s new website.

I’m working on being able to sign up for the open mic next week right here on the Internet and it’s coming along pretty well so far. I hope to see many of you out again next week. 1. Anthony –

2. John Shaughnessy –

3. Sarah Allen –

4. Willie Tapps –

5. Jason Wheatley –

6. Roz King –

7. Mike Scanlon –

8. Keith Lewis –

9. Johnny Miles –

10. Entheos –