Tonight I went down to Sam Bond’s Garage in the Whitaker neighborhood for their Monday night open mic.
This is the first time I’ve ever been to this particular open mic and the first time I have ever played at Sam Bond’s Garage.
Most open mics that I have been to have a list that you put your name on, usually next to a time slot and that’s when you play.
I have also been to a few open mics that don’t have lists at all.
This Open Mic was more like the later, there were two jars, an early jar and a bigger late jar, you write your name on a little piece of paper and put in the one or both of the jars and than hope that the host picks your name out of the jar.
Most people play an open mic because they want to see what it’s like to perform in front of an audience and often times it’s because they don’t have any experience doing so.
These people are most likely nervous and may have some stage fright, the last thing you want to do to them is cause them more anxiety.
I not only suffer from stage fright but I also have quite a bit of social anxiety.
I don’t know why but I have a really hard time with small talk and often times I’m not really sure what people are talking about, sometimes it is hard for me to focus on what someone is saying when there is a lot of noise or many people talking all at once.
Most of the time I don’t get too nervous before I play.
I always remind my self that I am only capable of doing my best and if someone doesn’t like it they will probably forget anyways.
When you put your name in a jar and hope that it gets drawn, it adds a whole new level of anxiety.
I wasn’t sure when I was going to play or if I was going to play at all, call me crazy but this caused me a bit of anxiety.
My name did get drawn, from the smaller “early jar”.
This happened while I was in the bathroom, I could hear the host from the stage asking if I was still there and luckily for me I had some friends that told him that I was still there and still wanted to play.
My friends Cris and Amblin
For my set I played: “Ice Cream“, “MJ” and “It Ain’t Me Babe” by Bob Dylan.
I got a free ginger ale and enjoyed a rockin’ set by friends Cris Hardy and Amblin.
Over all it was a pretty good open mic, there were a lot of really good musicians and was cool to play on an actual stage.
That being said, I would probably not recommend this open mic for someone who’s new to performing.
Thanks for listening.
