The Open Mic

The Open Mic at Escape Java Joint on the night of April 14th, 2007 was absolutely amazing. It was International Night. We had a visit from our old friend Doug Hamilton who was back in town for a few days after having moved to Bristol, England last January. There was also music from a young man from Leuven, Belgium who was visiting friends here in Madison, Wisconsin. He calls himself Milow and he is quite remarkable. He sings and plays the guitar very well. His original songs are not only good, but commercial as well (those two are not always the same thing). I’m always tickled when we get hot, new talent at the Open Mic. He has a website and a Myspace page. http://www.milow.be and http://www.myspace.com/milowbe He has music posted ther. You’ll get a chance to hear the studio versions of what the open mic-ers heard unplugged. The evening of the 14th had us packed to the rafters. We had thirteen performers and a roomful of people there just to listen. There was music from Doug Hamilton Milow Marcy Dunagan (her first time on our stage) Ingrid Frances Stark (poetry and pennywhistle) Tom Zogrofi Joe Crash Kathleen Camilla King (one of our most reliable regulars) James Rotch Ken Jackson Nancy Rost (one of our rotating hosts) Johnny Darco Dave Schindele (who, later this month, will make his debut as one of our rotating hosts) Kid Fear The best part is that everybody was loose and relaxed enough to sit in with with the other acts as back-up musicians. We always close the show with Bruce “U. Utah” Phillip’s tune “Hymn Song”. Everybody sang and half of the instrumental solos we from musicians who had not taken the stage for that number, but were still sitting in the audience. This kind of sharing and generosity of spirit is what an open mic is for. At least, that’s what our open mic was set up to be.

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