Phoenix, Mayhalls, McNamaras, Audra K.

Gossip at the Phoenix Open Mic in Lakewood: The "Kid with The Hair in his Face" (Jeremy of Food not Bombs fame) reports that the Mayhalls Bowling Alley in Lakewood Open Mic Monday was 'blown out' on a particularly crazy Monday. He mentioned that the owners, after a particularly grueling evening of beer and bands, decided that the combination of punk bands and bowling leagues just weren't 'working', or something to that effect. Jeremy said that they had at least one night when a table was reportedly broken, oooooh. So he will be looking for another venue into which to pour his expertise. And if you know anything about The Kid With the Hair in His Face at all then you know he has a reputation for running an aggressive and punked up Open Mic. He started at the sandwich brewery place down the East end of Madison Ave. at, uhm, I think it was called the Rockwood or something, I was only in there once and it was lots of leather and loud aggresive bands and then a singer songwriter and then more bands, heh. And then when that place closed down he went over to the Capsule futher up West on Madison and had a nice long run over there as well. I was at the Capsule with a few of my friends one night, I liked the scene, there was an 'art rock' duo and some singer songwriters, the place was kinda gritty and dingy, the once nice spiffy Orange furniture was kinda run down looking by that time...there was a big PA...anyhow I guess after Capsule went under Jeremy talked the Mayhalls people into letting him do the open mic band night over there, I suppose they hadn't heard any of the stories from the Capsule Bar and maybe if they had they would have thought twice? I dunno. At any rate, I hope that Jeremy can find a new home for his energetic band oriented open mic night!

XELA open mic Tuesday at Phoenix in Lakewood: Of course Lakewood Phoenix Open Mike Tuesday night is still one of THE most happening acoustic events in the city, Lakewood or otherwise, and it continues to go strong attracting lots of different folks, poets, songwriters, and hippie types. I love it there, kid friendly, smoke free, nice scene, kinda quiet and sweet. I had a chance to corner Xela for a few minutes and ask him what happened to his promotional team, the Luvly Luv Muthas, I hadn't been getting any email from them and wondered. Well, the news wasn't good, sounds like either he fired them or the three of them just kinda peetered out one after the other, sticking the Xela Monster with a large credit card bill, and a stack of 'packaging material' that I assume was to be used for mailing out promo stuff, ack. Keep up the good work Xela Man, don't sweat the little stuff, and get that Summer tour lined up man, go man go! (hmmm maybe Xela and I and Audra oughta hit the road together this summer ... what a crazy idea)

McNamaras Monday Night Open Mic with Jim Snivley is no more, the management (or the owner, one in the same I suppose) pulled the plug on the Monday Night event just this past Monday. The rumour had been circulating just that day that it was going to be the last open mic night Monday at the quaint little bar, and sure enough when Jim rolled in, he wasn't even aware that the popular Open Mic Night had been cancelled. At any rate, Jim didn't seem to upset about it, he has other places to be and other events to run, he is a popular guy and the McNamaras event was a popular Open Mic, the guests (myself among them) will simply follow the host to another venue. So we drank our beers and smoked our butts and played our songs and said our so longs see you later at ____ (fill in the blank).

My Detroit friend singer songwriter Audra Kubat has recently sent me a couple of emails, and I was so happy to get them, I was worried about her! She is still in Detroit, working restaurants and bars, and has written a bunch of new songs for her next album. I am not sure about the details here, but I think she has one more album to go with Times Beach Records before she has fullfilled her recording contract. Seems like Times Beach has done a great job making the recordings and distributing the CD's (two of Audra's albums are available through Borders Books and Music) but beyond that, I dunno, Audra wasn't to busy this past Summer, it is my humble opinion that Ms. Audra needs an aggresive manager who can set her on the path of a Summer long tour of the USA, with stops at every major city, and it is my dream to go with her in capacity as Tour Manager (I hope Audra reads this, heh).