Open Mic Recap @ The Tree House

Someone at Comcast must be drinking Mug rootbeer because the Internet keeps going on and off today. Last night’s open mic was fun and at least four of my relatives showed up. If there were any more they’d need a blood test to proove it. I don’t know if anyone cares when I talk about the problems and changes with the Tree House’s sound system, but mostly musicians read this site so maybe you do. Some guy I never met before, Tom, walked in last night while I was setting up and said he was the guy who originally set up the sound system and was here to fix it. I knew it wasn’t set up right, but it sounded fine for the last few weeks. Tom’s new configuration allows us to mix the monitors, which is nice and everything else works pretty much the same way. He tried to blame the screwed up sound system on Roz, but he wasn’t getting any agreement from me on that point. When the Tree House first opened some weekend performer ripped apart the mixing board and reconfigured the system enough to make it unusable. Roz worked his ass off for the first few weeks getting it to work and then getting a decent sound out of it. He did it for free, because he likes seeing original music in Collingswood and I’m sure Tina and Randy appreciate that.

1. Ben Garvey – I continued my Johnny Cash tribute with “Big River” and “Folsom Prison Blues.” I also played a ton of other songs including Beck’s “Cut in Half Blues,” and “Daydream Believer” by the Monkees.

2. Mark Garvey – My dad came out for the 2nd time and did a few John Prine covers.

3. John Shaughnessy – I liked the Guster cover he did. He’ll be playing the Tree House on October 4th.

4. garth – He made it this time after canceling a few times and we’re glad he did.

5. Sarah Allen – Awesome as usual and she’s playing the Tree House on October 10th.

6. Cynthia – Paid homage to her favorite blues musicians and Billie Holiday.

7. The TV Food People aka Matt Winn – Matt stopped by to promote the “Rock Against Rape” show in NewARK, DE.

8. Willie Tapps – Trotted out a new guitar he bought at a flea market and it sounded great. Flea markets guitars can be great.

9. Bob Michel – He has one of those voices that slices through the EQ no matter how you mix it. That’s a good thing.

10. Eric and Mike aka “The Forest Greens” – According to Mike their band name has a deeper meaning. He probably thinks he was kidding, but feel free to submit a possible origin for their band name. Extra credit goes to anyone who writes it in the typical “How did you get your name?” style response every stupid band interview has.

11. Maria – She sounds awesome these days. At one point she said her next song was by a Purple man, but it turned out to be “When Doves Cry” and not one of Grimace’s songs as I guessed.