Tongue & Groove
Open Mic | Second Sundays | Downtown Raleigh
Covers welcome. Originals encouraged!
Tongue & Groove is an open mic hosted and organized by Anna Weaver (that’s me), Sarah Egan Warren, and Andrew Warren, with help from a handful of friends and open mic enthusiasts.
Every second Sunday, local talent gathers at 228 Fayetteville Street (the magnificent VAE Gallery) to co-create a night of ephemeral art—including poetry, music, storytelling, and the occasional interpretive dance. Anything but comedy (not that you can’t be funny).
Door opens at 6:30. List opens at 7. Show starts at 7:30. Slots are 7 minutes (2 songs max, musicians).
How we roll
Our list tends to fill up fast — meaning, there’s often a line at 7. So if you want to perform, we recommend arriving early. When all 15 slots are full, we open a waitlist for three 4-minute slots (aka The Shims) and draw names at the halfway point. So even if you can’t get downtown until 8:30, there’s still a chance to perform!
We provide a mic (of course), pick-up for instruments or tracks (BYO dongle for your phone or tablet), and a box drum. We encourage sing-alongs, kazoo-alongs (BYO kazoo), and other artistic collaboration—spontaneous or planned.
Our show kicks off on time, every time. Performers, the countdown clock starts when you address the audience, so if you rehearse with a stopwatch (highly recommend), include your intro.
No cover ever. Beer, soda, and soda water available. Donations gratefully accepted.
We believe open mic can save the world.
In person when we can, online when we must
Whenever in-person shows are possible, we make our home at the magnificent VAE Gallery in downtown Raleigh at 228 Fayetteville Street (2 doors down from The Big Easy). When weather or public health or anything else precludes us being in the gallery, we will retreat to Zoom.
The best way to know where we’ll be any given month—and to get the link for online shows—is to join our Meetup group or sign up for our email list (see below).
Come to listen, perform, and create
Each month, we close the show with a reading of what we call The Dovetail—a poem collectively written by the performers and audience alike, one line at a time, and read by the Voice of the Dovetail, Andrew Warren.
Find us, follow us, and get on our list
Want a handy email reminder and a heads-up on any cool stuff we’re planning? Fill out the short form below to join our mailing list. We send exactly one email a week before the show.
Prefer to self-serve? All our events are posted on MeetUp in the Tongue & Groove Open Mic Group.
