As I said, the record for open mic performers was smashed last Wednesday when 23 people came out to play. We went a few minutes past 11:00PM, but I think most people at the packed tree house has a good time.
1. Ben Garvey – I played “The Genius of it All” and “Headstart.”
2. Deanna Robinson – A nice girl who came out to play the violin for us.
3. Poetry girl – I can’t remember her name, but she read some of Sam’s (from the Forest Greens) poems. She helped me out a lot because we had a full list, but no one wanted to go on this early.
4. Forest Greens – Mike decided not to play the dulcimer, but they still sounded great.
5. Lance Jones – I feel bad that I called this guy Matt twice. He seemed pretty pissed about it, too. I liked what I heard of his poem, but he needed to speak into the mic more.
6. Steve Flocco – Steve’s songs are pretty long compared to others at the open mic.
7. Matt – I squeezed Matt into the list, but in retrospect I probably shouldn’t have. He sounded good, but there were just too many people to play.
8. Mark and AJ – AJ sounds a lot like Glen Philips from Toad the Wet Sprocket, so their cover of “Walk on the Ocean” sounded really good.
9. John and Dan – These guys played some acoustic rock songs.
10. Sarah Allen – The crowd talked a little through her first song, but I really liked it. Also, I’m playing at her gig this Friday at the Tree House!
11. Willie Tapps – Great set by the Tappster
12. Bob Michel – Sometimes I think Bob is a character from a movie.
13. Phil – Rob actually requested that Phil play his song, “Baking Slave,” at the end of the night. I agree that it’s awesome.
14. Joe – I couldn’t tell if Joe squeezed in three songs or if his songs just mutate somewhere in the middle.
15. Jordan Kelly – Played “Say it Ain’t So,” which could be the best Weezer song.
16. Roz King – Roz may be guest hosting the open mic in a few weeks, so get ready Collingswood.
17. Jason Vertucio – Played some acoustic pop songs.
18. Erica Gibson – Played some acoustic, folk-type stuff
19. Jason Wheatley – It was good to see Jason back at the Tree House. He used to host the open mic back in the Living Room days. He played some stuff I hadn’t heard before and it was great.
20. Ron Tagg – I met this guy at my gig a few weeks ago at Bamboo Bernies. He was running the sound and he said he might stop by the open mic some time. Ron was really good and hopefully he’ll come back.
21. John Quinlan – He broke a string while playing his last song. His style is heavy, acoustic, emo and it looked like he was putting a lot of wear on the strings.
22. Ben Landis – Waited a long time to get recite a poem. I probably should have snuck him in somewhere earlier.
23. Jack Sparks – Covered Edie Brickell’s “What I Am.” Sadly, he still hasn’t figured out how to use the sign up list online.