#31
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#32
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- A high school girl playing guitar and covering a couple of modern singer-songwriter songs, tentative but true, with her dad filming her up on a chair. She got a huge ovation for getting up there. - A standup comic who did 10 minutes and got a couple of laughs. - I got up and played Take me to the River, Roll Over Beethoven and Brand New Cadillac - A regular got up and sang Broadway tunes over an iPhone instrumental track. Always gets great reception. - An older singer songwriter sang three of his songs. - Two young HS girls sang - one played guitar, the other clearly was a Broadway kid. - A guy got up with a electric keyboard and programmed rhythm tracks and sang originals. - Stand up - Poet - Excellent young woman singer - covers Smiths, and does an amazing solo cover of Toadies’ Possum Kingdom. I know of a few open mics elsewhere on the Peninsula, but during the week so I can’t make it because I can’t do school nights. They are out there.
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An old Gibson and a couple of old Martins; a couple of homebrew Tele's |
#33
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Nope. Too many cars.
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#34
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let's not get into the 'providing entertainment for free' venue thing again. I get younger players at my open mic - but not every time, and not the same ones consistently. But they do come back - and that's the key, what is the host doing to make them feel they should go back? Open mics, as mentioned already, can fail or be successful dependent on the host, not just the venue and its location. There are tons of open mics around here, so people have choices. Go to others to see which ones are successful, and why they are successful. Besides Facebook - and you need to post it in EVERY local FB music group you can find, do a few every night for several days prior to the open mic - advertise on craigslist, openmics.org, Meet-up, etc. I take photos of every player and post them on FB within a couple of days of the event - I try to get everyone who comes to friend me on FB so they can be 'tagged' - this gets the word out to the players' friends. I share the photo album on the venue's Facebook page. At the open mic itself, I try to talk to all the players, and if they come by themselves, try to make them feel included. I let people know when they are 'on deck' to play so they can get ready, make sure I announce them before they play, and try to say their names when they finish too.
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Mike My music: https://mikebirchmusic.bandcamp.com 2020 Taylor 324ceBE 2017 Taylor 114ce-N 2012 Taylor 310ce 2011 Fender CD140SCE Ibanez 12 string a/e 73(?) Epiphone 6830E 6 string 72 Fender Telecaster Epiphone Dot Studio Epiphone LP Jr Chinese Strat clone Kala baritone ukulele Seagull 'Merlin' Washburn Mandolin Luna 'tatoo' a/e ukulele antique banjolin Squire J bass Last edited by MikeBmusic; 01-28-2020 at 07:30 AM. |
#35
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On a related note, has the venue considered livestreaming for additional exposure? Many younger artists I have discovered will stream via Instagram Stories, Twitter's Periscope app - and yes, even Facebook Live. Based on the discussion of traffic and working schedules, I can see why there's a bigger turnout on weekends. Mondays and Tuesdays are not generally known for the night life. "Free entertainment" arguments notwithstanding, but I wonder why Saturday afternoons aren't explored?
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(2006) Larrivee OM-03R, (2009) Martin D-16GT, (1998) Fender Am Std Ash Stratocaster, (2013) McKnight McUke, (1989) Kramer Striker ST600, a couple of DIY builds (2013, 2023) |
#36
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Yep, especially 4-8PM when every engineer is leaving google, facebook, etc around here, and especially going certain directions where there's a single 1-lane path to get there - the issue with getting to HBM from the peninsula.
BTW, you (6L6) mention you post this event to facebook - just a heads up that I've never seen it, so you may not be getting the word out to the greater bay area as much as you think. Facebook's a bit of a black hole as far as who you reach with your posts, of course.
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Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar Last edited by Doug Young; 01-27-2020 at 09:24 AM. |
#37
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Interesting.
I think there have been a number of post that may be addressing some issues. And I am guessing as Doug mentioned the traffic and logistics could well be an issue . And one thing I have noticed is the Gen X and Millennials do not seem as willing to commute long distances. Likely because of the time and traffic involved now days. And to add to his comment about retired having the time to handle an hour or two travel time. I am not familiar with the Bay area but if HMB is an expensive place to live it may well be that the older types maybe the majority of local residence . Living where I do in the proverbial "middle of nowhere" My "local" open mic's are 45 to 65 miles away BUT the good news is for me (being retired and no traffic to speak of) that is a 45 min. to an hour 15 minutes travel time. Interestingly enough even though the Jackson Hole area is very expensive to live in. Because of the Skiing and all the other summer and winter mountain recreation available, and virtually within minutes of downtown. It does attract hosts of young adventurous types. And the Open Mic's reflect that with always a good mix of younger and older.
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Enjoy the Journey.... Kev... KevWind at Soundcloud KevWind at YouYube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...EZxkPKyieOTgRD System : Studio system Avid Carbon interface , PT Ultimate 2023.12 -Mid 2020 iMac 27" 3.8GHz 8-core i7 10th Gen ,, Ventura 13.2.1 Mobile MBP M1 Pro , PT Ultimate 2023.12 Sonoma 14.4 |
#38
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First off, my hats off to Cameron's as the open mic is better than most and really was my "proving ground" for doing gigs. Which is one of the reasons I haven't been back in a while.
Some thoughts: 1. Traffic - early start time would not work as most of us are commuting from San Francisco (45 min to 1 hour) or Palo Alto are (same) or worse, the south bay (1.5 hours) 2. Promotion - I see some random FB posts about Open Mic, but I don't see Cameron's actively promoting on their site (which probably has a much bigger audience) 3. I will post this morning about the open mic. How great it is and how we'd like to see more people there. I would suggest that 6L6 you do the same, as well as asking Ken and others as well. Also, at the open mic maybe we can do a PSA at the beginning asking people to "like" the Open Mic FB page and to please tell their friends to come out. It's still a great place, going through probably the same ebbs and flows as it always has.
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-Mike www.montaramusic.com https://www.instagram.com/mikemccall_guitarist/ https://www.facebook.com/Mike-McCall...-250327412419/ A few guitars, a uke, a banjo and a cajon |
#39
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Thanks Mike!
No doubt that the traffic situation is severe and has a negative effect on the turnout at Cameron's. There is also another O/M at Princeton's Old Landing that competes and, from what I hear, grabs more of the younger crowd. Maybe we should switch to another night? For those who brought up the venue owner's financial incentives for having an Open Mic, it's not a factor. The O/M is named after the original host who was beloved by all who knew him, including the venue owner. He had a special stage built in the room we play in and named it after this original host when he passed away from cancer. The O/M is an ongoing tribute to the original host's memory. Thanks for the input above! |
#40
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here is another listing page you might try , it is by state and is what I used when traveling
https://openmikes.org/
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Enjoy the Journey.... Kev... KevWind at Soundcloud KevWind at YouYube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...EZxkPKyieOTgRD System : Studio system Avid Carbon interface , PT Ultimate 2023.12 -Mid 2020 iMac 27" 3.8GHz 8-core i7 10th Gen ,, Ventura 13.2.1 Mobile MBP M1 Pro , PT Ultimate 2023.12 Sonoma 14.4 |
#41
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Probably not big competition for you, but in the south bay, the long-running South Bay Folk OM is also on thursdays as is the Los Gatos Coffee OM. Neither draws a particularly young crowd, tho. I think there may be yet another thursday OM in the area that I'm forgetting - popular night :-)
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Music: Spotify, Bandcamp Videos: You Tube Channel Books: Hymns for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), Christmas Carols for Fingerstyle Guitar (std tuning), A DADGAD Christmas, Alternate Tunings book Online Course: Alternate Tunings for Fingerstyle Guitar |