Pat Hipp on the Open Mic

I stopped by Pat Hipp’s website today and he wrote the following about the last two open mics

“I made it to the Tree House on Wednesday and played “Running Around,” a new song put together from old music and new lyrics called “Followed By Stars,” and the requisite secret weapon. I got it all recorded, although my vocals overpower the mic in a bunch of places. Not bad for a first try, anyway. I also have to find somewhere to put the microphone that won’t pick up so much of the conversation going on during songs.

I missed my friend Chris’s set, which may or may not have been a good thing, and a little bit of Ben Garvey’s set. I always hear “Genius Of It All” and can’t remember what the name of the song is until he sings it. Then I remember, obviously. He always plays a good set and then wanders the coffee house like Moses, who also ran an open mic night during the Jews’ exodus into the desert. Other highlights were Willie Taps, Jedi Farmer Roz King, and an unrelated Ciccione covering “Like A Prayer.” I downloaded the song when I got home because I like to steal from worthless, irrelevant artists. I like to kick horses when they’re down and still think they’re standing.”

“This week at the Tree House, I played an ungodly set consisting of Incubus’s “I Miss You,” one of the songs I’ve written that’s verse are under my vocal range (“I Know When I’m Wrong”), and ended by completely botching The Beatles’ “Glass Onion,” mentioning to forget how the last verse ends, and covering up by singing about John Lee Hinkley, who I’m convinced was given permission to leave hospital grounds unsupervised because what I did offended God himself.

Speaking of which, Ben brought my attention to something I had never seen before at the coffee house:

Testamints. Jesus Christ, they’re good!”

The Testamints are little individually wrapped mints given out freely at the Tree House. I picture a preist on an assembly line blessing them as mints ride down a stainless steel mat-top conveyor. I couldn’t bring myself to actually eat one, but Pat definitely looked enlightened after ingesting a Testamint.