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Arts & Entertainment

For the Love of Mic: Open Mic Newsletter

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

Stop by the Wood ‘n’ Lips Open Mic at Frubble every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

Hidee ho Neighbor,

There’s turn-outs and there’s crowds—this week we had a crowd.  There were so many people that Greg and I both gave up our sets, which worked out fine because we had just enough time slots to go around—those that showed up late missed out, sadly enough.

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6:30 – Ray Owens – Ray had the honor of playing the first set; he set things rolling with Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” and “Long May You Run”; followed by Leonard Cohen’s “Halleluiah” ; and Jinx Dawson & Coven’s “One Tin Soldier”.

6:45 – Alan Land – Managed to find Frubbles after a couple of wrong turns.  Since meeting Alan at our open mic, it seems that I run into him everywhere I go, musically that is.  Alan has a rich powerful voice; he used it with good effect on Peter Yarrow’s “The Great Mandela”; his next tune he recently wrote to capture a lady’s heart (I think it worked)—he calls it “I’d Rather Be Alone with You”; and Camelot’s (Robert Goulet) “If Ever I Would Leave You”.

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7:00 – Les, Alton & Ray – The guys have such a huge repertoire that they almost never seem to play the same song twice.  Tonight they started with a couple of Merle Haggard’s tunes, “Let’s Chase Each Other Around the Room Tonight” and “Are the Good Times Really Over?”; Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox”; and Keith Whitley’s “I Never Go Around Mirrors”.

7:15 – Bob Setzer– Bob has been recording the open mic lately; if you have a song that you performed and want a copy, contact him— bobsetzer@mac.com .  He played his own “Dreaming of You”; “Shut the Whole World Out”; and the recently re-titled “Turned Me Cold” (What’s Eating Me).

7:30 – Brian Reames– Brian changed things up a bit with an electric version of the Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic”; Bread’s “If”; and an original, “Lullaby”.  It had been a while since we’d seen him, so it was good to have him back—he’s a really talented guy.

7:45 – Steve the Tile Guy – This was his first performance for us, he and his wife came by last week to check us out.  He did the first two Tom T. Hall tunes of the evening, “Your Man Loves You Honey” and “The Old Side of Town”; George Jone’s “Hotter Than a Two Dollar Pistol”; Paul Thorn’s “Love Scars”; and Flatt & Scruggs’ “Crying My Heart Out Over You”.

8:00 – Becky Williams – Becky is recently married but still retains her name.  She played Dolly Partons’ “Jolene”; Stevie Nicks’ “Landslide”; Miranda Lambert’s “White Liar”; Ray Owens joined her for Kid Rock & Cheryl Crow’s “Picture”;

8:15 – Bob Cool & Bob Arsenault – It was great to have Bob Cool back on our stage.  The best friends did “Big Sandy River”; “The Roxanne Waltz”; Ken Orick’s “November Rain”; then Tom Barbarie joined them with his banjo for Buck Owens’ “Ashes of Love”.

8:30 – Tom Barbarie – Tom quickly grabbed his guitar to play Jimmy Rogers “Waiting for a Train”; Ernest Tubb’s “Filipino Baby”; Tom T. Hall’s “Ravishing Ruby” (Tom T. seemed to be getting a lot of play this night);  and Jim Reeves’ “Missing Angel”.  John Movius joined him to add some electric guitar licks to his version of Johnny Cash’s “Big River”.

8:40  – John Movius and James Brown – John already on stage and was ready to go; Greg only had to set James up and they could do their tunes.  James was playing Cliff Niman’s vintage Gibson arch-top.  Greg Gross joined them on Duane Eddy’s “The Lonely One”; Floyd Cramer’s “Last Date”; The Virtues’ “Guitar Boogie Shuffle”; and Santo & Johnny’s “Sleepwalk”.

8:55 – Cliff Niman & John Seever – Cliff started with the Dylan classic “Mr. Tambourine Man”; “In My Time” (??); and The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood”.  John finished Cliff’s set with a harmonica solo he called “John’s Tune”.

9:10 – Karen Rodgers– Brought us a Ken Graydon tune, “Coyote Special”; Kathy Mar’s “Velveteen”; and Christine Lavin’s “Santa Monica Pier”.  Karen plays a mean twelve-string.
9:23 – Davey Jones with his wife, Laurie, & John Seever – We slipped a few minutes ahead and were able to accommodate Dave & Laurie. Upon hearing John’s harmonica skills, he drafted him to play on his songs.  For a first, his wife Laurie accompanied him with some percussion. The trio did Lyle Lovitt’s “North Dakota”; and, appropriately so, Lovitt’s “It’s Closing Time”.  The harmonica and drum added a great touch (good thinking, Dave).

We’ve been on a roll lately; anyone who doesn’t think open mics present great music is sorely mistaken—we have some terrific shows.

God Bless, and see you soon,

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

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