Open Mic Blog Highlights by Alan Monasch:
The electricity in advance of the Red Devil Lounge Open Mic last week, January 29, was almost visible in the air outside on the line. So many things came together to make it that way: The first, as always, was the energy and affability of the host, of which more later, but others included (but were certainly not limited to): The return of Julie Mayhew from her trip to Thailand and her Newtown song, Hyejin Yu’s beautiful original song on piano, José Antonio Juarez with his great rendering of “Stand By Me” and his Spanish-language original song, Patrick McCauley, both in his own guitar set and as singer for his remarkable hip-hop artist friend Austin, Salem’s metal stylings on electric guitar, Gary Adler’s pro set, another fine outing by Wesley Woo, Ryan Clark contributing cajon to Bill Fried’s wonderful set and Bill returning the favor by playing with the much-missed Obstacle Course, and David Colón’s (he is tonight’s featured performer!) brilliant KC Turner Songwriting Club entry! And hear this: Gumbo Dave’s stuffed bread is a major innovation and remains a big hit with the hungry hordes!
If you would like to see photos please friend Red Devil Open Mic on FACEBOOK. If you want to hear/download the recordings of the night please visit KCTURNERPRESENTS.COM – If you are interested in performing on a Tuesday, please see performer info.
(As always, I had to leave early to make the last train home (hello, Jefferson Bergey! I was so relieved to see you and hope you were relieved as well!) such that I missed so many sets that I would have very much liked to see, but I heard that the Sugar Ponies were going to give up one of their two songs to someone who would not have gotten to play otherwise, and that, friends, is our community at its finest.)
And Brentando. As he himself said at some point, even though we opened up the mezzanine again tonight (which contributed mightily to the lively atmosphere!), the power and passion of Brent’s singing and guitar playing would have hit the farthest reaches of the balcony even if he had not had a microphone! There is just no one like him. You had to hear the large crowd singing the “Hey yeh!” portion of “Bona Fide” to truly feel the connection between Brentando and his audience, between him and his Red Devil community.
KC Turner‘s energy lit up the room even more dazzlingly than the laser lit the fourth disco ball, and his prizes (hello, glass-shard-encrusted miniature disco ball thrown into the audience like a garter at a wedding!) and notification of the Red Devil ticket contest made it feel like New Year’s Eve all over again.
We have the there-are-not-enough-superlatives-for-him Trent Boeschen on house drums tonight and as I said, David Colón featured, and the buzz is already building! So buzz our building tonight! The line forms on the right!
KC Turner Presents Open Mic 