Even though winter officially started last week, it didn’t deter the Open Mic faithful from braving the cold and participating at The Dan of The Joiners for some good old fashioned Open Mic fun. From my experience, winter is a popular time to be at an Open Mic especially when the venues provide a very warm and comfortable atmosphere to perform in.

Open Mic @ The Dan
Last weeks Open Mic @ The Dan saw the welcome return to the Open Mic stage of three past performers.

Garth Dutton firmly established his spot as the “first cab off the rank” after a lengthy absence with a wonderfully spirited return performance.

Next was harp-master Lord Stompy who gave us a masterclass in harmonicaship (is there such a word… there is now) and delighted the crowd with his Uke playing and last but not least we witnessed the welcome return of The Texettes who weaved their fine original country tunes around the room.

Lord Stompy & Uke

Included in the mix was indeed another new face. His name is Scott Morphett and he proved himself to be a very fine singer/songwriter on the Open Mic stage. After his performance Scott assured me that he would be back next week. I can’t wait to hear what he has instore for us then.

Scott Morphett

Open Mic @ The Joiners
I think the car-parking issues that have dogged the Open Mic @ The Joiners for the last 3 weeks had temporarily scared away some of the crowd. Even though the Entertainment Centre was empty and there were car-parks a plenty it was a fairly quiet night.

Only 13 spots were filled however, the performers that filled them were all class.

In fact, last weeks Open Mic @ The Joiners was a guitar players heaven. The small but very appreciative audience of performers and Joiners Arms regulars had the pleasure of witnessing players such as Ross Neilson, Looshbaby, Jon Parrish and of course the wonderful Erica Graf.

If Bruce McAvaney were there he would’ve said the night was SPECIAL!

Jon Parrish

We did have one new face in the crowd and her name was Katherine Phelps, a spoken word artist.

Not since the Zen Koans of BT Cassidy in the early days of the Open Mic @ The Dan has a spoken word artist graced the Open Mic stage and let me tell you, Katherine’s performance was truly a breath of fresh air which further reinforces the fact that the Open Mic Network is open to all performers.

Songwriters, musicians, poets, spoken word artists and comedians are all welcome to get out of the house and have a go in a very performer friendly environment.

Katherine has her own blog in which she writes about her experience at the Open Mic @ The Joiners. You can read it HERE. I hope more spoken word artists and comedians utilise the Open Mic Network because the door is always open.

A Very Animated Katherine Phelps

Here is a reminder of what’s happening this week:

As always, make sure you get to the venue early to avoid disappointment and while you’re there, have a meal. I’ll be there at both venues from 6:30pm to take down names

See you Wensdee and/or Thursdee,

Corey
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