Several years ago I went to an open mic in Paris at Le Highlander, an Irish pub on the left bank just across the river from Notre
Dame.
When my husband, Kent, and I went
to check things out in the afternoon before the open mic, Le Highlander looked
like a sleepy little bar.
Not much
space.
No real stage, just a designated
corner with a microphone and some sound equipment.
Not intimidating.
The English-speaking bartender assured us
that it was an English-speaking open mic.
Kent thought it looked like fun -- as always he was standing behind me,
encouraging me.
We weren’t prepared for
the bustle we found when we came back for sign up at 8 p.m. I was able to get on the list. In the fourth slot no less, but the list
filled up fast. And here’s the miracle: so did The Highlander. Not just with people who were playing, but
with people who were listening, too. By 9 o’clock it was elbow to elbow, standing room only. Some people were there to see their friends;
some were there just to soak up the mood.
Almost all of the players stayed from start to finish. There was sense of comraderie in the air and
a communal memory.
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Le Highlander Open Mic Host Thomas Brun
Read more about Thomas here. |
The host, Thomas Brun, was
excited when he read my name on the list because I share names with the most
famous folk singer in Ireland.
That
Christy Moore is a man, but he spells the name the same way.
Thomas thought it was a great treat that he
was going to get to introduce Christy Moore even if it wasn’t the Irish
one.
His excitement about that and his
enthusiasm for the whole scene he had buzzing around him was contagious.
I played my three songs to
a crowd that was more attentive than Poodie’s patrons on a Wednesday night, but
not as reverent as the customers at the Cactus.
It was actually a nice balance.
When I got off the stage, a man in the audience gave me a hook ‘em horns
sign.
He was from Texas and recognized
from my lyrics that I was, too.
We made
friends with him.
Kent was already fast
friends with Thomas Brun.
By 10 o’clock
we were trading drinks and jokes with half a dozen new friends.
We all anticipated each new performer with
hope and received them with glee.
They
were from all over Europe -- France, Poland, Britain, the Netherlands.
Mixed in with some songwriters singing original
songs we heard players doing some mesmerizing covers like a young French man
singing California Girls; a Hungarian woman with a beautiful soprano voice
singing Angel of the Morning; and a bouncy young woman, who appeared to have a
following (everyone was wondering what she’d do THIS week), singing a sultry,
slowed-down version of Baby Love.
It all
worked up to a climax when Thomas Brun and the last performer sang a cover of
American Music by the Violent Femmes.
By
the end of that song we were all singing at the top of our lungs shaking the
rafters of that centuries-old European building with this chorus:
Do you like American music?
I like American music.
Don't you like American music, baby?
Kent and I agreed ever after that it was hands down the most
fun either of us ever had traveling.
Which is saying a lot since we both loved to travel.
Lovely as Paris is, it’s got nothing on Austin, Texas when it comes
to live music. Or open mics. We have some fantastic open mics in town. Jackie James
and John Hudson at New World Deli on Monday nights, Lynette Wolf at Freddie’s
on Wednesday, and Lee Duffy at the Austin Songwriters’ Group on Fridays are all providing a stage
for some of the best players and songwriters in town.
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Tracy Weinberg told me when I hosted my first open mic as a sub Lisa Kettyle
at the Irie Bean that it was the first step on my climb to the top. I couldn't help
reminiscing about that when I introduced him.
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Adam and I are tickled to be joining the assembly and
hosting Tom’s Tabooley’s Songwriters Open Mic on Thursdays. Last Thursday was our third night and it was
fantastic. Again. I’m not kidding. Live music at it’s best. Songwriters Kyle Hamisch, Tracy Weinberg,
George Ostrich, Smoky, Phil Bentley, Nita Lou Bryant, Gino Segovia, Carlos
Rumba, Gregg Miller, Jacques Berejon, Jim Adams, Jason Gray, Janet Dewey,
Daniel Schaffer, and Kate Howard all put on a show that may well have been the
best art to be had in Austin that night.
It was so good to have Nita Lou with us and hear some of the
beautiful songs she’s written since she’s been in Calgary, like Safeway. I loved hearing Carlos Rumba play a song
based on a poem his grandfather wrote.
And Janet Dewey’s song about Anne Boleyn was killer. We had veteran performers on the stage like
Phil Bentley and Tracy Weinberg and a couple of performers who had never played
an open mic before. They were all
great.
