STEVE2.NET

The Open Mic Underground
By Steven M. Wilson

It is a Tuesday night in downtown Lakewood Ohio and the scene outside the Phoenix Coffee Café is typical of what you might see on any night: There are patrons lingering outside the café under the awning of the alcove. They are smoking cigarettes, standing around and chatting beneath the glow of the neon signs. Inside the café the folks sitting around the tables are mostly hip looking artist types with notebooks and guitar cases, they are gathered for the Phoenix Open Mic.
The Lakewood Phoenix has undergone multiple changes of ownership over the course of its existence with the past seven years having been successfully navigated by owner operator Julie Hutchison. With the introduction of the Tuesday Night Open Mic one year ago, Julie has found a way to connect the patrons of the cafe to the underground art and music scene. Those who gather to listen regularly hear a cross section of Cleveland poets and musicians some well known and others completely obscure. Some artists are heard week after week while others show up infrequently. Though the performances are unpredictable, one element of the Tuesday night event remains consistent: Xela, the dynamic and affable host. Xela usually rolls up in his Muthaship (a grey station wagon festooned on the inside with stickers and decals) and unloads his gear into the cafe at about 8PM or so, setting up a single amplifier and microphone. Xela has been playing music in and around Cleveland for well over a decade now and is an immediately recognizable figure as he unpacks a small omnipresent suitcase filled with his wares: Three full length professionally produced CD’s (Cartoonopolis, Clumbsy Luv, and Luv Mutha) and various stickers and promotional materials. On this night, the suitcase is opened up, the amp is turned on, and Xela begins to play the opening set.
At 9:30PM the small café is jammed with people and the energy is high. The espresso machine hisses as the bartender steams lattes and mochas and there is the cacophony of multiple animated conversations. Xela finishes his opening set and is joking around, making character voices, and cajoling audience members to ‘take the Mic’. It is not unusual for Xela to address members of the audience by name; many of the attendees religiously make the weekly Tuesday night pilgrimage to listen and to perform. Xela calls a beautiful young woman out of the audience and she sits down at the house piano and begins to play an original song – the audience is mesmerized, her voice is lovely and the melody is ethereal - most of the conversation is hushed as the young lady plays deftly while singing in a sweet and high voice. After a short three song set the young lady briefly introduces herself and her CD of original compositions, turns out that many of the performers have original CD’s and a few sales are made.
By 10:30 we have heard flute, piano, guitar and poetry and Xela is wrapping up the evening by playing a few choice selections from his “Clumbsy Luv” album. Guest bass player Bearcat sits in with Xela: Playing through a chunky glowing tube amp that looks like it may have been extracted from a 1940’s science lab he expertly rumbles, snaps and pops with finesse the strings on his ancient Fender P bass like they were rubber bands. Xela sings with gusto to the remaining audience who by now are wiggling and dancing around the small café as if it were a Mississippi juke joint.
Closing time is 11PM and by that time almost everybody has filtered out of the modest space and Xela is packing up his gear while chatting. A slim young man has set himself down at the house piano and begins to play a melodic series of chords – he is singing in a whispery voice as Sarah, the bartender, begins to sweep up the shop. With help from a few of her friends it’s a snap to clean up in the aftermath of another magical night of musical revelry at the Lakewood Phoenix. See you next week!

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The author hosts Open Mic Night every Wednesday evening in January at the Rocky River Arabica from 7:30PM to 9:30PM THE ARABICA IN ROCKY RIVER is a smoke-free, WiFi-enabled coffee house and wine bar in Westwood Town Center, 21605 Center Ridge Rd., Rocky River. For more information, contact the ARABICA at 440-356-6625.
Or contact Steven Wilson (AKA: Steve2) via his email: music@steve2.net
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Xela Hosts these Open Mic events around town:
All venues are NO COVER

EVERY*SUN*10:PM-2:AM
@the FLYING MONKEY(bar)
corner JEFFERSON/professor
TREMONT 216.861.6659

EVERY*MON*10:PM-2:AM
@THE RHYTHM ROOM(bar)
corner of S.TAYLOR/cedar
CLEVE.hts.216.321.4073

EVERY*TUES*8:-11:PM
@PHOENIX COFFEEHOUSE
corner DETROIT/gladys
LAKEWOOD 216.226.4401

EVERY*THURS*9:pm-12:am
@CELLAR DOOR(coffee)
26 W.MAIN MADISON
440.428.3689