A great 5th of June, Before Perils, Happy Birthday Thunderegg

Hello Red Devil Open Mic performers and fans!

This is your host, KC Turner “speaking” and I want to welcome to the first edition of this weekly newsletter/blog.  Be sure to read through the bottom because there is a chance to win $1 off your next drink, woo whoo!

Tuesday June 5th was AWESOME!  90 good looking folks were chillin’ in the cozy intimate Red Devil Lounge.  It was the night of the listening crowd and the reason was because the talent was fantastic!  It was a very eclectic mix of musicians that ranged from Hip-Hop to Heavy Metal.  We had regulars come through and rock it out and we had quite a number of first timers too.  Below is the photo of musicians lined up to sign up before doors opened at 7pm.

During the first half of the night, I stumbled across an amazing little book called “A Hipster Joke Book“.  Why would I randomly come across this book?  Well, because Anna our bartender wrote it!  YES!  Freaking awesome right?  After we offended a few hipsters in the beginning of the night I was satisfied 🙂

Gumbo Dave came by with seafood gumbo and vegan gumbo. (Below)

Our featured performer was “Before Perils“.  Holy awesomesauce.  They enticed the fans with their versions of famous songs – they did a Michael Jackson medley- as well as their own tunes.  They had the crowd enthralled, and get this, it was ALL INSTRUMENTAL. If you can get a room of singer/songwriters to listen to your full 35 minute set when you’re not even singing anything, you know you are doing something right!

OK so here is the brief story.  A few months ago this instrumental band of 4 drove all the way from Fresno to Red Devil Lounge Open Mic to perform 2 songs like everyone else.  For those unaware, that is a 3.5 hour drive one way.  WOW!  When I first met them they were SOOO nice.  I was like, “oh please be good…”  They were so kickass.  The whole club had their jaws on the floor.  We ended up giving them a 3rd song (which we NEVER do).  I instantly had to schedule them for a featured performer set.  Those lucky enough to be there last night know exactly what I’m talking about.

A soft spot in the night came a little bit after the feature when our good friend Julie came up to do her short set. It was only the 4^th time in her life performing on stage and she made me aware that she was having herself a little case of the jitters.  So I rallied the crowd to say, “We’re with you Julie”, and that seemed to put her at ease.  Then she ran out and bought everyone fresh Bob’s Donuts! (Recently featured on Bold Italic)

Another crowd-joined moment came at the end of the night, at midnight to be exact, when we sang a great big happy birthday to our good friend Will, of Thunderegg.  “Thunderegg”, who was our feature last week, is becoming ubiquitous at our Open Mic and we couldn’t be happier.  Below is his new music video shot by another open mic regular (they met at the Red Devil Open Mic) Rob Cox!

Lets take a break and get a little technical – here is some sound advice from our in-house sound superstar, Dan Foldes:

“When singing into an SM58 microphone, always sing within 1 to 3 inches of the mic.  It will help your voice sound more full and warm.”

And lastly, here is a joke/riddle from our bartender Anna

Here are the rules: next Tuesday, you go up to Anna and give her your answer – whether it be right, wrong, silly or crazy, she will give you a $1 off a drink – but you HAVE to know the question part of the joke.. “How do you catch a hairy alcoholic?”

If you would like to see photos of each performer, please friend Red Devil Open Mic on FACEBOOK.  If you want to hear/download the recordings of the night please visit KCTURNERPRESENTS.COM

Thanks for reading our first newsletter/blog post!  And a HUGE thank you to Jasmine Pritchard for helping with content and the secret sauce.

See you Tuesday!

Cheers,
KC Turner

Posted by KCTP Open Mic on June 6, 2012

https://reddevilopenmic.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/a-great-5th-of-june-before-perils-happy-birthday-thunderegg/