Open Mic Recap @ The Tree House

I’ve been keeping track of how many performers we have each week at the open mic and as of last Wednesday the record for the most was 17. I think we matched this 2 or 3 times, including last week’s open mic. This week, we smashed the record with 19 performers and did it in the middle of winter! I just finished Wolves of the Calla and 19 is an important number…

1. Ben Garvey – I played Beck’s “Lord Only Knows,” “99%,” and a “All My Dreams are in Cartoon.”

2. Mike Martin – I believe it was his first time playing the open mic and he mentioned an upcoming gig opening for Ziggy Marley! He was really good and I hope he stops back in some time.

3. John Shaughnessy – After a few starts he played John Faye’s “Deathbed” and a great version of “Punk Rock Girl” by the Dead Milkmen (this guy’s old band). “Punk Rock Girl” is probably the best song ever written by a Philadelphia band, but I think that says more about Philadelphia than the Dead Milkmen.

4. Barry Dwier – I love it when this guy plays the open mic. He put a new pickup in his guitar that put out so much juice I had to turn his gain and the mix all the way down so it sounded normal. He did an awesome cover of “House of the Rising Sun” by the Animals.

5. Jason Vertucio – He borrowed my guitar and played a few good tunes.

6. Steve Flocco – He played a few folky/hippie songs and his friend joined him on the harmonica.

7. Sarah Allen – She rocked as usual and the crowd lover he for it. The sound guy from Bamboo Bernies, who I met last week at my gig there, stopped by and said he was really impressed with her.

8. Bob Michel – Bob and I had a conversation about the mini-disc recorder he uses sometimes at the open mic. He said to check out minidisc.org for more information on it. If I registered that site, it would be called, minidisco.org.

9. Willie Tapps – Willie rocked the audience with a couple of his usual crowd pleasers.

10. Johnny Q – He used to be the guitar player for my old high school band, Stickfigure. He did a pretty cool original and then “Crucify” by Tori Amos.

11. John Brennan – It’s too bad John didn’t bring a small amp, because I think his guitar would have sounded better through that than through the PA. It didn’t sound bad though.

12. Forest Greens – A solid night by the greens, this time with Eric back on guitar.

13. Matt Winn – I hadn’t heard Matt in a while and he was really good.

14. Sara O’Brien – She and Cyndi did a few good songs together, alternating the lead. Sara also played a few verses from her requested “New Jersey” song.

15. Cyndi Harvel – She has such strong voice and it’s great to hear Cyndi and Sara play together.

16. Jack Sparks – He did a john Mayer cover, but it took me a while to get his guitar sounding good, so blame me for any tone problems.

17. Keith Lewis – UI and System Modeler by day, acoustic rocker by night.

18. Entheos – Got their praise on.

19. Joe/Jadis – Belted out a scream like I’ve never heard at the open mic, especially at 11:00PM. Rumor has it he did his vampire song at the Christian open mic and scared some people.