Open Mic Recap @ The Tree House

I’m proud to announce that last week’s sound problems have nearly vanished thanks to Roz and everyone at the Tree House who got the system working properly. Everyone sounded great tonight and I hope that continues.

I made a pretty dumb mistake as the host tonight and I wish I could do it over. We had enough time to let people play again at the end of the night and I totally forgot Sarah Allen who was sitting right in front of me. Everyone would have loved to hear her play again, since she was awesome tonight. Instead, I played an extra set.

1. Ben Garvey – (played “The Genius of it All,” “Why Now Satan?” “Headstart,” “I Hope I Die on the Moon,” “99%,” Nirvana’s “Serve the Servants,” Todd Snider’s “Allright Guy,” and John Prine’s “That’s the Way the World Goes Round.” Sound checked with Beck’s “Lord Only Knows”)

2. Kevin Mulderig – He could possibly be the first person brought in solely through this website. He said he was a fan of the website before he’d been out to the open mic. Cool. Not enough musicians play songs about local things. This guy does and sounds decent. How about a song about the High Speed Line?

3. Sarah Allen – I was impressed with how well she plays guitar at her age and now I’m floored that she plays the keyboard even better. I’m a big fan of Sarah’s and she was so good tonight on the keys that I felt like I have been enjoying her side project all this time. Like I said before, I’m ticked at myself for not getting her back up on stage last night. I wasted her encore, because her set was just great.

4. Keith Lewis – I like how Keith said to come to bengarvey.com to find his website, because he couldn’t remember the URL. I bet Keith misses the days when he used to jam with Jason Wheatley on stage. I’m just horrible at stuff like that. You woudn’t want to hear it. Keith sounded good tonight and much better than last week thanks to a working PA.

5. Anthony – I’m not sure how to describe his music… Emo-Pop? What I like about Anthony is that he seems to enjoy what he’s playing. All the kids today seem to go for that emo-style of singing and I think that’s fine. They have to distinguish themselves from the 90s somehow.

6. Dylan – A cool Jack Johnsonesque rhythm for most of his songs. I’m not sure if he did any originals, but if he did I couldn’t tell among his covers. I hope he comes out again.

7. Dom – I’ve known Dom for a while now. If you frequent open mics you probably do, too. He hosts an open mic Thursday nights at Port City Java in Deptford. He pulled out some short songs for me at my request. My question – Does he ever take off the Gilligan hat?

8. Roz King – Playing this Friday, July 11th at the Tree House! Roz sounded good and made everyone else sound great. I can’t thank him enough.

9. Jason Wheatley – Playing upstairs tonight, Thursday July 10th at the Grape Street Pub at 8:30PM. His fans eagerly awaited his arrival and he didn’t disappoint. Roz talked a little too loud during one of Jason’s songs and he apologized to everyone for it, but we know by now that Roz’s voice travels unnaturally easy through the air. When the wind is blowing the right way you can hear Roz singing as far as Westmont.