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Arts & Entertainment

Open Mic Newsletter: For the Love of Mic

Once a week local musicians of all ages meet to play music and enjoy the night.

Hi All,

At six o’clock we were wondering if we were going to have any performers; by 6:10 several people had shown up with guitars in hand…whew! One time slot was left by the time we drew for spots, and it was filled by the end of the evening.

6:30 Greg Gross:  As host for the evening, Greg opened the show with Stan Rogers’ “Lies” (he does an especially nice job on that tune); he followed it with Jim Croce’s “Don’t Mess with Jim”; and John Denver’s “Country Roads”. Greg has really matured as a performer since he became involved with the open mic—practice really does make perfect.

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6:45 Cliff Niman: Cliff hearkened back to the first song he ever wrote, “Pathways of My Mind”; “The Abomination”, a political tune written many years ago; “Knowing You as a Lover”; and “Changes”.

7:00 Marlene Levitt:  Brought James Taylor into the mix with “Fire and Rain”; her next tune was an original, “Captured”; then Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire”; ending with another of her own, “Bottom of the Bottle”.

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7:10 Rachael Bradford: We squeezed Rachael into our schedule for one song; she was a first time performer at any open mic and played a tune she had written herself, “Katie’s Song”.  We didn’t see a trace of nervousness, she’ll do fine; her mother heard about us on SanteePatch.com.

7:15 Gregory Martin Campbell: Greg had great versions of The Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes For You”; Eddy Haywood’s “Canadian Sunset”; Pure Prairie League’s “Amy”; Gerry and the Pacemakers’ “Ferry Across the Mersey”.  What can you say, the guy’s a pro.

7:30 Bob Setzer: Bob also led off with one of his earlier songwriting efforts, “A Love That Will Never Grow Old”; followed by one of his more recent numbers, “Dreaming of You”; then “Oh Love”; and “The Wall That Surrounds Me”.

7:45 Cody Kirk:  Cody is a favorite of mine, and I missed seeing him when he was here a couple of weeks back.  He does mostly covers; this evening he played (belted out) Colbie Caillat’s “Fearless”; Never Shout Never’s “Here Goes Nothing”; then finished with an original called “Pretty Girl”.

8:00 The Pony Tales:  All three tales (or ponies) were present and accounted for; the ladies did Pete Seeger’s “If I had a Hammer”; Michael Martin Murphy’s “Family Tree”; and Ken Graydon’s “Three-Quarter Time”.

8:15: John Movius with Greg Gross and Lynda Sterns:  With Lynda drafted at the last minutethe impromptu group did Ricky Nelson’s “Hello Mary Lou” (written by Gene Pitney); Creedence Clearwater’s “Proud Mary”; The Beatles’ “I Call Your Name”; and Buddy Holly’s “That Will Be the Day”.

8:30 Rose Scibelli: Rose gave us Bob Dylan’s “Daddy, You’ve Been on My Mind”; Bob Seger’s “Shame on the Moon”; and Iris DeMent’s “Sweet is the Melody”.

8:45 Jesse Eisenbarth:  Jesse is prepping for a concert at the Epicenter in February; he did his original “Believer”; This Providence’s “Sand in Your Shoes”; and his own  “The Things You Say” and “Big Blue Eyes”.

9:00 Tim Woods: I also tried to play some old tunes I haven’t played in quite some time (the key word is tried); “Mr. Bo jangles”; Johnny Cash’s “Grandfather’s Clock” which I had to bail on (it’s best to warm up on those songs you haven’t played in a long time).  I’ll try it again next week with an appropriate amount of practice.  I closed with a more successful version of The Band’s “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down”.

9:15 Bob Cantrell:  Bob has been coming to our open mic off and on since last summer when he discovered our Music Festival; we had a time slot left so he decided this was the night to finally play for us.  He presented Hank Williams’ “Mind Your Own Business”; Bob Seger’s “Beautiful Loser”; and an original he wrote for his wife several years ago, “A Woman Like You”; and Neil Diamond’s “If You Know What I Mean”.

Another great open mic goes into the books.  Let’s keep the music, the talent, and the brotherhood alive.

This Monday the Bluegrass, Folk, and Gospel Music cruise sets sail, and I’m pleased to say that several of our open mic-ers will be going; we hope Bob Cool will be among them.  I’m sure everyone will have a great time; I’m really looking forward to it.

God Bless, and see you soon,

Tim Woods, Greg Gross, and the Wood ‘n’ Lips open mic crew

Photos by Greg Gross, Tim Woods

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