by Anna Weaver | Dec 27, 2020 | All Posts, tips for open mic performers
At my first open mic, as the host worked his way down the list and my slot got closer, I suddenly found myself wishing for a guitar. When the musicians stood on stage, they didn’t look alone. They had a safety blanket. Something between them and the audience,...
by Anna Weaver | Oct 25, 2020 | All Posts, tips for open mic performers
Scan an open mic audience and it’s a safe bet that at least half the people in the room are on the list to perform. And if that’s you and you don’t already model during every performance the behavior you’re hoping for when you’re on stage, then...
by Anna Weaver | Oct 17, 2020 | All Posts, tips for open mic performers
The first reason to go to any open mic is because it will be memorable. No matter what night you choose, there’s always at least one performance that you couldn’t have guessed at, had someone asked you what you were expecting to see. Spontaneous interpretive dance?...
by Anna Weaver | Aug 2, 2020 | All Posts, tips for open mic performers, virtual open mics
Here in the US, we’re at month four of not being able to gather in large groups. For people like me, that takes some of the sparkle out of my calendar—no shows to stalk and anticipate. (As a close friend of mine—who keeps a reminder of upcoming events where she can...
by Anna Weaver | Jul 25, 2020 | All Posts, tips for open mic hosts, tips for open mic performers, virtual open mics
One of the things I say a lot when I try—and I try often—to convey just how great an open mic is (or was) is that you just had to be there. In the room. In the space. With all the other people. Breathing in the poems and the music… …and the air. Which in most states...
by Anna Weaver | Nov 30, 2019 | All Posts, US open mics
For a flatlander like myself, New England is kinda…well…confusing. As in easy-to-get-lost confusing. As in bring-a-roll-of-thread, keep-an-eye-out-for-Jared-the-goblin-king confusing. It’s hilly, for one thing. The trees are too many and, by Oklahoma standards, too...
