hosting Open mic

[fopoman]

Any good idea's or experiences with hosting an open mic night. It's getting to be a carnival freak show! To many soloists!

thanks
Nate

[Reeltarded]

Ask the best people to come back, and have an early signup list.

Is it singer/songwriter stuff, or a band that swaps out players?

[Andy Le Blanc]

band-a-oke, make a book with the words for guest singers, if its in the book at least you can make a stab at it...

one of the best suggestions I heard is to make a few board game spinners
one for key, one for style, and one for time....

you could end up playing honky tonk in Db, 9/8.... hilarious

but in the end its open mic, every one gets a couple three tunes, and thats it
and a sign up can help organize things.

[vibratoking]

In general, open mic IS a carnival freak show. The best suggestion to avoid it is to not host or participate. Otherwise, all you can really do is keep enough 'good' musicians on stage with the 'bad' ones to make sure that a complete train wreck does not occur. Inviting back the good ones is a nice idea, but the reality is different. The good musicians don't frequently attend jams because they have better outlets. The 'bad' ones have no other outlet and will keep coming. Good luck, remember 'it is what it is'.

[Gibsonman63]

If you have good attendance and the bar is making money and is happy, then there may not be anything to fix.

I used to play at one place in a previous band where one of the regulars always came to see us and brought a table full of friends who stayed all evening because we let her sing House of the Rising Sun. I never learned her name, she was always House of the Rising Sun Girl to me. It was the most unbearably loud and shrill vocals you ever heard. I learned to unplug my monitor right before she started. She always got an exuberant response though. She was happy, the bar was happy and I lived through it. Go figure.

[fopoman]

Thanks for the responses. I think I'll have it under control this week in West point, MS!

Nate

[Reeltarded]

one of the best suggestions I heard is to make a few board game spinners
one for key, one for style, and one for time....

you could end up playing honky tonk in Db, 9/8.... hilarious

Best EVER