TJ's open mic night, April. Your host: X-rated Bob

Bob-Dubery

Usual date, time and place. Last Thursday of the month, so April 25. Press Club bar at Marks Park, Emmarentia. Music starts at 20:00. Admission (playing or not) is R25.

TJ's provide the PA. You need to bring your guitar, mandolin, dobro etc. Or you can do an a capella set.

The core audience is attentive and supportive. This is a great place to dip your toes into the waters of live performance. You can do originals or covers. You can do instrumentals. You can do folk or flamenco or anything in between or either side.

I really try to make open mic nights that I host as "open" as possible - which means you turn up on the night and put your name down. If the night is oversubscribed I try to keep things moving briskly so that we can fit in as many performances as possible. As host I have a reserved spot, but I will sacrifice that or cut it short if the evening is busy and we have people who have not played at TJ's before.

So come along. Unless we get oversubscribed the spots are 15 minutes (you can play short if you want) which includes you getting on stage, plugging in etc. So tune up BEFORE you get up there.

We can't accommodate drum kits, amplifiers etc. With a schedule of 10 15 minute spots in a small venue there's not enough time to set this kind of equipment up. Backing tracks are ruled out - the audience usually don't take kindly to them, and again it's a lot of PT for the sound guy to have to accommodate your CD player, DVD player or whatever.

singemonkey

What I've always wondered, for the day I finally make it to TJ's, can you use an electric guitar with magnetic pickups as an accompanying instrument?

Bob-Dubery

singemonkey wrote: What I've always wondered, for the day I finally make it to TJ's, can you use an electric guitar with magnetic pickups as an accompanying instrument?

I suppose so, but what are you going to plug into? We had a guy pitch up with a Parker Fly once, but he played the piezo pickup into the PA.

singemonkey

The soundbox of an electric guitar is a guitar amplifier. If you can carry it with you onto the stage, it should be no more problem to mike than an acoustic or a voice. In fact, in an environment so quiet, there may be no need to mic it at all. An electric guitar and an amp are heavier, but less bulky than a bass-fiddle.

Bob-Dubery

singemonkey wrote: The soundbox of an electric guitar is a guitar amplifier. If you can carry it with you onto the stage, it should be no more problem to mike than an acoustic or a voice. In fact, in an environment so quiet, there may be no need to mic it at all. An electric guitar and an amp are heavier, but less bulky than a bass-fiddle.

So you're not talking solid body?

We mostly cheat at TJ's. Just about every flat top you can buy these days has some kind of under-saddle pickup, so we just plug them in. Some folks like to be miked, and that does go on, but plugging in is quickest and easiest. Sometimes people arrived with fiddles and whistles and such and so that has to be miked.

On occasion we've just dispensed with amplification completely, which is, I think, more comfortable for some folks.

Bob-Dubery

Just a bump as a reminder to those of you who have not started practicing yet. ?

I'll be there by 19:00 (at least, probably earlier) so there's time to get there early and get your name on the board.

Bob-Dubery

A week and a day to go ?

Did you know that the set length at Live Aid was 15 minutes?