In attending my first open mic for this project at Kettle Coffee and Tea, I asked one of the performers, also the main sound guy for the open mic, if I could interview him. A little over a week later we sat down in the same coffee shop and this is most of what he had to say....
Concerning what is played at open mics...
covers and original folk songs. Not incidentally, he mentioned that a lot of open mics get shut down for allowing cover songs to be played. (the following is my input) So although they might seem like a good venue for someone to go play their favorite songs, doing so leads to the deterioration of the open mic community. Not only that but not allowing cover songs to be played leads to a slow down of passage through oral communication. (back to the interview) BUT there is some good out of this, there is a greater need for originality and creativity.
Defining Folk...
Well for the most part it's acoustic, but it's really it's "music of the people", people singing about what is going on. (This is consistent with the definition of folk that I got online and wrote about in my last post). My interlocutor also described a criteria for folk music, that is has to be extremely honest and about real life, or that it's not good folk music. This term, honesty was also used by my first interviewee to describe the basis of what folk music is.
Who plays folk...
During the interview we would get sidetracked and talk about other musicians and their projects. For example he described to me a musician who is a psychedelic rock organist. Definitely not folk, but yet this musician has a folk project going on, and my interlocutor accounts this to the notion that everyone has a side folk thing going on, even if they don't share it with anyone. (my analysis) Again this reinforces the notion that it's "music of the people". He describes that anyone can play folk music...(he pauses he and makes an great point)... "But there's blues"...
"But there's Blues"
Although it seems simple enough to define what the premiss of folk music is and who might play it, it's not that easy to categorize it, as is evident by the title of this section. When asked what marks the difference between blues and folk, there was no real answer. (my analysis) It something that is hard to define, as we talked about in class, one can't play the blues if they haven't got something to play the blues about! This is on par with the notion that folk must be honest, and if using these criteria to define such musics (define in a non musical sense, of course there are musical differences, but these are not the ones being addressed), then it is clear to understand why it's difficult to separate the two.
Why acoustic music is played at open mics...
"It's gentle". In the sense that it is hard to set up a bunch of equipment when your set time is only ten minutes.
"Unconditional positive regard"
My interlocutor describes the role of being the host for this specific open mic, and emphasizes the need to support and encourage every musician alike. He also describes a practice that this specific open mic has, that of rotating host. The idea is that each week there is a different host announcing musicians. He describes that the purpose of this is to create a greater sense of community and all around support for everyone.
This is the bulk of our interview, BUT he went over into the cafe kitchen a brought out one of the employees who is actually in charge of of the cafe's open mic! This led to my third interview
In conclusion he stated that the reason to keep open mics going, or at least this specific one, is because there is no music scene in North County and so to him it is a vital part of the community. He attributes the continuation of open mics and other casual venues like house shows to the reason that in these environments "no one is buying your bullshit", that people want to feel at home, and these intimate settings provide that.
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